Lt RG Jennings

The Airmen who started at Sea

Flight Lt Hay lost his life “flying in Typhoon 1B JP247 of No 182 Sqn which was shot down by flak near Falaise” on August 18th 1944. The squadron’s South African commanding officer Major DH “Dormie” Barlow who had held that position since April having previously commanded No 80 Squadron in Italy, had been captured by the Germans after being shot down three weeks earlier while two other South Africans serving on the “Second Tactical Air Force” squadron were killed in quick succession. Seconded SAAF pilots Captain GH Kaufmann DFC and Lt RG Jennings were coincidentally from the Eastern Cape and educated at Dale College. Twenty-five-year-old Kaufmann had been with the squadron for six weeks when he lost his life on July 18th while 20-year-old Jennings killed a day after AJ Hay having been with the squadron for two weeks, had travelled to England on the “Rangitata with former “General Botha” Cadets SH Capstick-Dale who was killed in a Typhoon flying accident in 1944 and, Captain Martin Overed.

The Airmen who started at Sea

Hay, Jennings, Kaufmann and seconded SAAF Typhoon pilot Lt WA “Shorty” Gale who lost his life on August 17th having joined No 245 Squadron on the 8th, were killed during a three month period between D-Day and August 31st which, on the basis of information extracted from Volume 3 of Norman LR Franks “Royal Air Force Fighter Command Losses of the Second World War”, cost the lives of 139 Typhoon pilots and 222 aircraft. Lt Pat Clulow also joined No 245 Squadron on the 8th was shot down on the 18th, evaded capture and resumed operational flying in March 1945.

SAAF Airmen in RAF Squadrons

The Montevideo photograph of the seconded SAAF airmen tells a story of its own. Twenty-three of those airmen including Begbie, Carby Thompson, Collett, Gale, Higgins, Jennings, Lens, McGregor, Swales and Wright all of whom signed the mounting lost their lives.