Hurricane P3878 and 'Birdy' Bird-Wilson
HURRICANE P3878 (YB-W) and ‘BIRDY’ BIRD-WILSON
Shot Down
At the height of the Battle of Britain, 21-year-old Flying Officer Harold ‘Birdy’ Bird-Wilson was flying his personal aircraft, Hurricane I P3878 YB-W, leading ‘Green Section’, as part of a No 17 Squadron formation on yet another ‘scramble’ to engage the raiding enemy formations. It was September 24 1940 and ‘Birdy’ rejoiced in ‘his’ Hurricane wearing the initials ‘BW’ in its code letters.
On this morning the Luftwaffe made two major attacks over the Thames Estuary and Kent, one at about 0830 and the second at about 1115, with around 200 enemy aircraft involved in each raid, and with 15 RAF fighter squadrons sent up to engage them on the first attack and 18 fighter squadrons scrambled against the second.
The 17 Squadron formation was flying over the Thames Estuary, east of London, near Chatham, and was being vectored under ground control in a stern chase onto some ‘bandits’, as the German bomber raid withdrew, when they were ‘bounced’ from above by unseen ME Bf109s of JG26, diving down on them from out of the blue.
Momentary confusion and mayhem ensued and, almost before he could react, ‘Birdy’s’ Hurricane was hit by cannon shells, it was fatally damaged and immediately burst into flames. Other pilots in the formation, busy fighting for their own lives, heard him transmit on the radio, “Mayday, Green 1 on fire”, just before he baled out of his burning cockpit.
The voice of his colleague and friend David Leary was then heard on the R/T, “He’s out. There’s a parachute. I’m going to circle him to guard him down.” He didn’t know it at the time, but ‘Birdy’ had just become the 40th victim of the renowned and high-scoring German fighter ace, Adolf Galland. Hurricane P3878 plummeted in flames into the water and ‘Birdy’ parachuted down into the Thames with shrapnel from the guns of Galland’s ME109 embedded in his body and suffering from burns for the second time in his flying career. Fortunately, he was soon rescued by a Royal Navy Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB-104) and taken to a hospital in Haywards Heath.
Ironically, he was gazetted for the award of the DFC on the same day that he was shot down, the citation stating, “Flying Officer Bird-Wilson has shot down 6 enemy aircraft and shared in the destruction of several others. He has shown fine fighting qualities and determination in his attacks.”
‘Guinea Pig’
Affectionately known throughout his career as ‘Birdy’, Harold Bird-Wilson joined the RAF in 1937, straight from school, being awarded a short-service commission in September 1937. After completing training he commenced his operational career with No 17 Squadron at Kenley flying Gloster Gauntlet biplanes.
Shortly after joining the squadron, he was sent on navigation course at Brough, near Hull. Whilst on this course, in September 1938, he crashed in a BA Swallow aircraft after being caught in bad weather near Cranwell. He was fortunate to survive the accident in which the other pilot in the aircraft was killed.
‘Birdy’ was badly burned and lost his nose. He underwent plastic surgery at the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead and was one of the earliest aircrew ‘guinea pig’ patients of the famous, pioneering plastic surgeon, Sir Archibald McIndoe. For some months ‘Birdy’ walked around without a nose whilst McIndoe rebuilt it for him; he subsequently became the No 2 member of the famous ‘Guinea Pig Club’.
Battle of France
By April 1940, ‘Birdy’s’ face was restored and having regained his fitness he quickly returned to 
operational flying with No 17 Squadron, which by this stage had re-equipped with Hawker Hurricanes. In May and June 1940, the Squadron was involved in the heavy fighting over Holland and Belgium, deploying to French airfields to cover the retreat of Allied troops from France via Dunkirk, and moving to Brittany in June, as the remnants of BEF and RAF units in France were evacuated.
During this time, ‘Birdy’ was involved in several combats and shared in the destruction of two enemy aircraft as France was overrun by the Germans. The surviving 17 Squadron aircraft and pilots, including ‘Birdy’, escaped back to England from Brittany at virtually the last opportunity, operating from the Channel Islands for two days, before the Islands became the only British territory to fall into enemy hands.
Battle of Britain
Throughout the Battle of Britain No17 Squadron and ‘Birdy’ flew in action over southern England. Mainly based at Debden and Tangmere the squadron was heavily involved in the fighting. Unlike many other units, the squadron was never rested but fought all the way through the period of the Battle and into November 1940.
In later years ‘Birdy’ retained vivid memories of attacking formations of more than 100 enemy aircraft as one of a force of only 12 Hurricanes, “Your throat dried up as you got nearer. I don’t believe any man who said he wasn’t afraid”, he said. “We just went ploughing in, picked our target and fought”.
He also said later that he was shocked when the Battle of Britain ended in the autumn of 1940 to realise that, “There was hardly anybody left of the pilots who started out with me - all one’s friends had gone.”
It is sobering to study the photograph of ‘Birdy’ standing by a Hurricane with other 17 Squadron pilots in 1940 as, apart from him, all his friends and colleagues in the line-up lost their lives during the war, three of them (Dennis Wissler, Cedric Williams (the CO) and David Leary) had been killed by the end of 1940 and the fourth (Jack Ross) was killed in November 1942. ‘Birdy’ was the only one to survive the war and he later said about his feelings during the conflict, “There was no time for tears, only sorrow and off into the next scramble”.
During the Battle of Britain, ‘Birdy’ shared several kills against enemy aircraft with other pilots of 17 Squadron and was credited with two personal ‘kills’ and numerous enemy aircraft ‘probably destroyed’ or ‘damaged’. On Wednesday 21 August, ‘Birdy’ now a section leader flying as ‘Green 1’, shot down a Junkers 88 bomber and saw it force land on the very tip of Selsey Bill. After landing he went off in the squadron car to inspect it and returned later with a trophy for the squadron, part of the Luftwaffe aircraft’s tailplane, which he nailed up to the ‘B’ Flight dispersal hut at Tangmere.
The next day he had an emblem painted on the cockpit escape door of his Hurricane (P3878, coded YB-W) – three vengeful swords flying towards a Nazi eagle and swastika symbol. On the reverse of his own photograph of this ‘cockpit art’ he wrote, “A logo painted on my Hurricane YB-W at Tangmere during the Battle of Britain August 1940. Thought up at the spur of the moment in the 601 Squadron dispersal hut… scrambled thereafter.”
Like many, many other Hurricanes during the Battle, YB-W’s luck was to run out on 24 September 1940, whilst ‘Birdy’s’ luck just about held. Having been shot down in flames, having baled out with shrapnel and burn injuries, and having been rescued from the water by a MTB, this was the end of the Battle of Britain for ‘Birdy’, as it was not until November that he was able to return to flying duties, and by then the Battle was officially over.
Sequel
However, this was certainly not the end of the war for this courageous fighter pilot. By 1941 he was a flight commander flying Spitfires with No 234 Squadron, and subsequently he commanded No 152 Squadron and No 66 Squadrons, both equipped with Spitfires. Later he commanded No122 Wing as a Wing Commander.
After a long and distinguished post-war career, he eventually retired from the RAF in 1974 as an Air Vice Marshal having been awarded the CBE, DSO, DFC and bar, AFC and bar, having flown various jet aircraft types and having been the Commandant of the Central Flying School who endorsed the formation of the Red Arrows as the RAF’s official display team. He died in August 2000 at the age of 80.
Hurricane LF363
Since 2006 RAF BBMF Hurricane LF363 has faithfully replicated the colour scheme of ‘Birdy’s’ Hurricane Mk1 P3878 ‘YB-W of 17 Squadron. No 17 Squadron is currently the ‘nameplate’ of the Typhoon Operational Evaluation Unit based at RAF Coningsby alongside the BBMF; the unit’s Typhoons proudly wear the mailed gauntlet emblem from the Squadron crest. Coningsby is, therefore, home to two types of aircraft operated by 17 Squadron, separated by over 65 years, one (the Typhoon) demonstrating the cutting-edge technology of the 21st century and the other representing a dangerous, crucial and venerated period in the Squadron’s history.
(Copyright: Sqn Ldr Clive Rowley MBE RAF Retd)
Images:
Header Image: ( Larger size) Hurricane LF363 in flight
Image 1: ( Large size) Harold 'Birdy' Bird-Wilson in a cockpit
Image 2: ( Larger size) Harold 'Birdy' Bird-Wilson
Image 3: ( Larger size) Hurricane P3878 'YB-W' with 17 Squadron Pilots (Birdy sat on the tail)
Image 4: ( Larger size) 'Birdy' and his friends who all lost their lives. L-R: Wissler, Ross, 'Birdy' and Leary in 1940
Image 5: ( Larger size) The emblem painted on the cockpit escape door of 'Birdys' Hurricane P3878 (Image 3 painted in 2010, John Heard Focal Plane)
Image 6: ( Larger size) Hurricane and 17 Squadron Typhoon
