Flying Officer Frank Jeffery (page 59)

Frank Jeffery (right) began his war service with the Royal Engineers on bomb disposal in the London Blitz. He had wanted to join the RAF but his parents had stopped him because it was too dangerous.

When an opportunity came up to join the RAF, he had many postings for training including time in Greenville, Miississippi. He flew Beauforts and Beaufighter Mk IIs amongst other types and was rated as of “Above Average” suitability as a night fighter pilot. He ferried a Beaufighter to North Africa on the route Lyneham - Portreath - Rabat-Salé (the last leg taking over five hours).

He arrived with No. 600 Squadron on 12 April 1944. The CO by this time was W/C “Laurie” Styles whom Jeffery remembered as being very approachable. Other names he recalled include “Pop” Coleman (OC of ‘A’ Flight, October 1944); George Browne, his own Nav/Rad; “Junior” Crooks; “Happy” Hine; Jerry Beaumont (Nav/Rad) and John Brewer.

S/L Jim Bailey commanded A Flight in July 1944; S/L Burke took over in August. According to Jeffery, at the end of November S/L Archer was CO of the Squadron (possibly acting between Styles' departure and January 1945 when W/C Drummond assumed command).

Frank Jeffery flew his first patrol on 29 May. A patrol was always preceded by an NFT to get the aircraft properly trimmed and otherwise ready. He was not flying with George Browne, his regular Navigator, when he shot down a Ju 87 on the night of 7/8 July 1944 but with John Brewer (who guided pilots to five victories against NSG 9).

On the night of 20 October 1944, Jeffery attacked a German I-Boat in the Adriatic. A report of this at the time refers to a "miniature Dunkirk" with 16 German sailors rescued afterward. Told by one of his superiors that this was not the job of a night fighter pilot, he responded that, “someone’s got to win the bloody war!”

Jeffery did not realise at the time that his own aircraft had been hit during the attack but remembers that next day, landing from an NFT, "the whole thing fell apart" as the port undercarriage collapsed. The Chief Warrant Officer was inclined to blame the mishap on pilot error, much to Jeffery’s annoyance, but then a corporal appeared at the mess door to ask for him. An examination of the Beaufighter had found that a bullet had damaged some metal tubing which had subsequently parted, causing the hydraulic system of the Beaufighter to fail.

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