Model tribute to Black Country fighter pilot at Heritage Centre
WOLVERHAMPTON’S Tettenhall Transport Heritage Centre has put on display a one quarter-scale model of a Boulton Paul Defiant night fighter in the colours of a Wolverhampton-born fighter ace, Christopher Deanesly.
Wing Commander Edward Christopher Deanesly was born in Wolverhampton on 27th January 1910. His father was Sir Edward Deanesly, consulting surgeon at the Royal Hospital.
Edward was appointed in 1893 as house surgeon to the Wolverhampton and Staffordshire General Hospital, and from there till his retirement in 1931 identified himself with the medical and civic life of the town. He was a town councillor in Wolverhampton from 1901 till 1917, and married, in 1898, Ida, daughter of Alderman John Marston, who was of course the founder of the Sunbeam Motor Car Co., as well as John Marston Ltd, manufacturer of bicycles and motorbikes.
Ida’s brother Charles Marston, Christopher’s uncle, was the founder of Villiers Engineering.
Edward Christopher Deanesly was educated at Wellington College and Birmingham University where he read Commerce. In the early ’30s while working as a sales executive with a radiation company, he joined the Territorial Army, serving six years in the South Staffs Regiment, but in 1937 moved to
the Auxiliary Air Force, joining No. 605 Squadron, where he acquired the nickname ‘Jumbo’ because of his large frame.
At the outbreak of World War II he was called up and joined No.152 (Hyderabad) Squadron, initially flying Gladiators, but by December converted to Spitfires. In his first major engagement on 25th July 1940 he shared in the destruction of a Dornier 17 and a Junkers 87, but his aircraft was hit by return fire from the Ju 87 and he was wounded and forced to ditch in the sea.
On a subsequent engagement towards the end of the Battle of Britain on 26th September he was again shot down, this time by Bf 109s and bailed out, wounded once more. He was rescued by RAF launch and spent some time in hospital.
On his recovery he was posted to a new squadron equipped with the Wolverhampton-made Boulton Paul Defiant, No.256, as B Flight Commander. His gunner was a New Zealander, Sgt Jack Scott. No.256 was thrown into the fight against the Luftwaffe night attacks, and was largely based at Squires Gate, Blackpool, occasionally being moved forward to Tern Hill in Shropshire.
On 10th April 1941 nine Defiants were moved to Tern Hill in preparation for a ‘Fighter Night’ over Birmingham – Fighter Nights were when the night fighters were given free reign over an area with no anti-aircraft fire.
At 21.55pm Deanesly and Scott took off and headed towards Birmingham, to begin with at 10,000ft. They could see a large fire on the ground and condensation trails above them running north to south, so they climbed to 20,000ft. Scott spotted a bomber to starboard but then lost sight of it. Then at 23.55 pm he saw another to port, 300 yards away and 300 feet below them. The bomber was already diving for home so Deanesly turned and dived after it, closing rapidly.
When they were off its port beam Scott opened fire and saw strikes on the engine. A second burst set the aircraft on fire, and the flames highlighted the glazed nose confirming that it was a Heinkel He111. They followed the blazing bomber down to 10,000ft when Deanesly climbed away, worried about Barrage Balloon cables. The Heinkel hit a cable and crashed on a house in Hales Lane, Smethwick, unfortunately killing seven inhabitants, who had not gone down to their Anderson shelter because it was flooded.
Two of the Heinkel’s crew bailed out but the rest died in the crash, Deanesly landed back at Tern Hill where Scott was praised for only having used 494 rounds of ammunition.
On 5th May the team took off from Squires Gate, Blackpool, to patrol over Liverpool. There were several fires on the ground in the city and by the light of those and the half moon they spotted a Junkers 88, only 140 yards away at the same height. Deanesly slipped below the bomber and Scott gave it several bursts. The Ju 88 dived vertically and crashed near Wrexham, only one of the crew bailing out.
With plenty of fuel and ammunition left, they continued to patrol and just before midnight spotted a Dornier 217 which flew almost right over them. Deanesly dived after it and approached from below. Scott fired upwards in short bursts, and there was answering fire from the bomber which swerved from side to side. They followed it down to about 2,000 ft where it disappeared into haze, and shortly afterwards there was a huge flash as it hit the ground.
This time Scott was found to have fired only 416 rounds in the two combats, but they were shaken to discover bullet holes in their Defiant’s glycol header tank, the port petrol tank and the rear fuselage. They also found marks on the propeller blades which suggested they it had struck a wireless aerial.
Deanesly asserted that they would not have achieved the three victories in a fighter with fixed forward firing guns, as moving into a firing position would have caused them to lose sight of it.
Just after midnight on 8th May they took off to patrol over Manchester where there were huge fires burning. Eventually they spotted a Henkel about 800 yards away and Deanesly turned after it and approached from below, they could even see the crosses on the wings highlighted by the fires burning below. When about 100 yards away Scott opened fire and the bomber dived away. Deanesly followed it down, with Scott firing bursts into each engine in turn. The bomber crashed in Hazel Grove near Stockport, though all of the crew had already bailed out.
For their achievement of four victories in a month Deanesly was awarded the DFC and Scott the DFM. With his two shared victories in the Battle of Britain Deanesly qualified as an ‘ace.’
As the nights shortened the Luftwaffe was less seen over Britain, and they had no more actions. Deanesly became Squadron commander in 1941, and then Station Commander at RAF Castle Camps until October 1942 when he was posted to West Africa to command No 298 Wing which was operating the aircraft delivery route from West Africa to the Middle East.
On May 1st 1943 he forcedlanded
The bomber was diving for home, so Deanesly turned and dived after it
a Martin Baltimore bomber on a road near Jos in Northern Nigeria, the last of his forced landings and crashes.
In March 1944 he came back to the UK and became CFI for 107 OTU training Dakota pilots for supply dropping and glider towing at Leicester East airfield. Later he was given command of 545 Squadron and took part in the Rhine Crossing, towing a glider with his Dakota.
He was demobbed immediately after VJ Day and went to work for a brass foundry, before starting his own plastic moulding company.
I met him a couple of times at his Edgbaston home, and he gave me a signed print of a painting of him flying a Defiant against the background of a sunset.
He died in 1998, and his wife Kuni donated several of his tools, which have ended up in the Heritage Centre, still in use.
When we bought the unfinished model of the Defiant, which is Wolverhampton’s highest profile contribution to World War Two, it was an easy decision to choose to represent Deanesly’s aircraft, a local hero.
We have to thank Tim Wall and the Midland Model Flying Club for the marvellous job they have done in finishing it to such a high standard.
It represents a Black Country-made fighter, flown by a Black Country-born pilot, who was almost ‘Wolverhampton royalty,’ and who helped defend the Black Country in the darkest hours of the War.
Tettenhall Transport Heritage Centre is open, free to enter, every Saturday and Sunday 10 am to 3 pm.