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Wing Commander Roger Morewood Signed Naval Art
Wing Commander Roger Morewood
An uncle suggested to Roger Morewood that he should join the RAF so Roger did at the age of 17. Roger said : I was going be a pilot, that was the only reason to join. Roger trained to fly in a Tiger Moth biplane before joining 56 Squadron - regarded within the RAF as an elite unit - flying open cockpit Gauntlet fighters. The squadron were then re-equipped with Gloster Gladiators - the last RAF biplane - then the Hawker Hurricanes that would join Spitfires in fighting off Hitlers Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. While serving with 56 Squadron Roger Morewood was assigned the dangerous role of long-range fighter sweeps over the coast of occupied France and Holland but left to help form 248 Sqn at Hendon with whom he served throughout the Battle of Britain flying Blenheims. Roger said: We had a few panic station alerts when we were scrambled. We wouldd be leaping into our aircraft with flying suits over our pyjamas as we tried to get into the air in a minute and a half. In July 1942 Morewood went to 9 OTU and later HQ Transport Command. After a long post-war career in the RAF he retired in 1957. Roger Morewood once said of his squadron: It was damned dodgy. We had a high loss rate on operations. And on one sortie - then aged 21 - he nearly met his maker : I flew across to Den Helder (Northern Holland) in a long-nosed Blenheim to look after this battleship at the entrance to the Zuiderzee. We flew round this thing and sure enough I saw some aircraft coming up. They were twin-engine bombers naturally - Messerschmitt 110s. That was a bit hairy. My two blokes (other pilots) shoved off in a hurry into a cloud, and there was me popping away until I ran out of ammunition. There was just me left. I realised there was no point chasing - I was not going to knock his wings off. So I started flying home. After making hardly any noise all flight the chap (navigator) in the back said you haveve got somebody on your tail now - you had better move swiftly. So I moved to left and right. We got a pretty hefty clobbering. His turret disappeared at the back. My poor navigator wore a tin hat and I dont blame him. He got a bullet half way through his armour. He was alright. I had a dreadful wound. If I shook my hand really hard I could get blood out of one finger. I was hit all over the place. We took dozens of bullets. The aircraft was ruined. That is all there was to it. We were still going home - even with the North Sea to go across. So I trundled off back and ditched the damn thing. Thank God it didnt blow up. We literally got away with it. It was the hairiest trip I ever did. On another occasion, Roger intercepted a German weather forecasting flying boat called Weary Willy : I was in a Beaufighter at this time. I flew upwind and had a shot at him downwind. Then all the guns jammed. So I pulled alongside him - not too close - and waved him good luck lad. Anyway he sank when he got back to Norway. That was that one finished. Flying from Shetland, his squadron attacked German shipping off Norway. Roger was rested and spent two years training new Beaufighter pilots but still managed to go on some operations, mainly attacking convoys off the coast of Holland. Roger Morewood said: job was to attack the flak ships, floating anti-aircraft batteries, so other Beaufighters could attack the cargo ships. It could be pretty hairy as 12 Beaufighters lined up to have a crack at the target. You wouldd see tracer shells from your mates plane whizzing over your head or underneath you. They were a bigger danger than the Germans Wing Commander Roger Morwood was posted to the Mediterranean where he contracted TB. He recalled: "In hospital, they treated you with whisky in milk and a pint of Guinness for breakfast, very primitive stuff." When the war ended and the RAF were scaled down, Roger continued to serve in various postings around the UK until 1947. after leaving the RAF Roger was recalled again as an instructor at the Central Flying School, but with the rank of flight lieutenant. He was posted to Edinburgh and then Glasgow University squadrons. finnaly leaving service in 1957. Wing Commander Roger Morewood notched up more than 5000 flying hours in 32 different types of aircraft. Roger Morewood died in early December 2014.
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Last Days by David Pentland. Berlin, Germany, 24th April 1945. Following an escort mission near the capital, the Ta152H of Stabsschwarm JG301 encountered a group of Soviet Yak 9s. In the ensuing dogfight, Hauptmann Hermann Stahl was shot sown while Oberfeldwebel Willi Reschke Green 9 and Oberfeldwebel Walter Loos Green 4 claimed 2 Yaks destroyed each. |
Night Reaper, 4th May 1942 by David Pentland. Hawker Hurricane IIc of top Czech ace Flt. Lt. K.M. Kuttlewascher, No.1 Fighter Squadron on a night intruder sortie from RAF Tangmere. On this mission he destroyed three Heinkel IIIs over their own airfield, St. Andre, in occupied France. |
Stabsschwarm by David Pentland. Etaples, Northern France, 13th October 1941. Me109F-4s of Stabsschwarm JG2, flown by Geschwaderkommodore Major Walter Oesau, Oberleutnant Erich Leie, Oberleutnant Rudolf Rudi Pflanz, and Gefreiter Gunther Hupatz Seeger. Each was a notable ace in his own right but together they were a formidable combination. On this sortie alone they accounted for 5 RAF Spitfires. |
Kannonenboot by David Pentland. Adriatic coast, Greece, 20th Dece,ber 1943. 20mm cannon armed Messerschmitt 109G-6/R6 trop, flown by Oberleutnant Josef-Emil Clade, Staffelkapitan 7/JG27 White 9 and his wingman White 7. |
Victory Over Malta by Ivan Berryman. George Beurling in Spitfire VC BR301 in action against a Macchi 202 over Malta in 1942. |
Spitfire! by David Pentland. Sussex Coast, England, 16th August 1940. For Donald MacDonald, Squadron leader of 64 Squadron, this particular day was fairly eventful. Catching the JG54 fighters and III/KG55 bombers on the coast, he personally accounted for one Me109E destroyed, another damaged, and a third probable. Continuing his attack he shared in the destruction of a He111P-2, and heavily damaged a second. |
Strafing Run by David Pentland. Flt Lt Alex Thom DFC of No. 87 Sqn strafes an enemy convoy in Hurricane LK-A during his second mission of the day to Dieppe on 19th August 1942. |
Fairey Battle, 218 Squadron by Ivan Berryman. A Fairey Battle of No.218 Squadron gets on the tail of a Ju-87 Stuka over France in 1940. An aircraft carrying the codes HA-J was shot down by flak on the afternoon of 12th May 1940. The three crew of aircraft K9353, J B Horner, L C Flisher and L D Davies were all lost. |
Tribute to the Boston Crews by Ivan Berryman. Boston IIIs of No 88 (Hong Kong) Squadron. These aircraft were involved in the search for the Scharnhorst in February 1942 and frequently attacked targets in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. |
A Dunkirk Encounter by Ivan Berryman. A moment during the fraught encounter on 27th May 1940 over Dunkirk between Spitfires of 610 Sqn and an estimated 40 Bf.110s during which three Zerstorers were shot down. |
Terminal Morane by Ivan Berryman. On the evening of 25th May 1940, Luftwaffe Ace Hans-Ekkehard Bob claimed his third victory, bringing down a French Morane 406 near Cambrai during the Battle of France. |
A Day for Heroes by Ivan Berryman. The afternoon of 25th July 1940 was a desperate one for the already exhausted fighter pilots of the RAF defending the South coast of England. As convoy CW8 made its way through the English Channel, sixty JU.87 Stukas and forty JU.88 bombers launched a brutal attack on the ships below, backed up by fighter cover of over 50 Messerscmitt Bf.109s. Eight Spitfires of 64 Sqn (Kenley) were scrambled, together with twelve Spitfires of 54 Sqn (Hornchurch) and Hurricanes of 111 Sqn from Croydon. The British pilots found themselves massively outnumbered, but nevertheless put up a spirited fight against the teeming enemy. This painting shows Spitfires of 54 Sqn entering the fray, the pilots scattering as they choose their targets and go after the JU.87s. To the right of this, Bf.109Es of JG.26 are roaring in to join battle, whilst Adolf Galland's aircraft engages a Hurricane of 111 Sqn. |
Into the Schwarm by Ivan Berryman. The lone Spitfire of Maurice Peter Brown of No.41 Sqn, single-handedly attacks a group of eight Me109s on 25th October 1940. |
Operation Jubilee by David Pentland. (P) Flt Lt Alex Thom DFC of No. 87 Sqn in his Hurricane (LK-M) encounters heavy ground fire on a mission over the Allied raid on Dieppe on 19th August 1942. |
Textbook Attack by David Pentland. Bir el Gobi, North Africa, 8th August 1940. A full squadron sweep into Libya by 80 Squadron, designed to give the enemy a bloody nose was devised and implemented by Squadron Leader Paddy Dunn. In all 13 of the unit's Gloster Gladiators engaged some 16 Fiat Cr.42s and 2 Ro.37s, inflicting considerable damage on the enemy. Last to enter the fray were the top cover vic of Pat Pattle, Sid Richens and Greg Shorty Graham. By the end of the brief 5 minute battle 9 Italian aircraft were confirmed destroyed plus 6 probables. |
Ground Force by Ivan Berryman. Routine, though essential, maintenance is carried out on a 501 Sqn Hurricane at the height of the Battle of Britain during the Summer of 1940. Hurricane P3059 SD-N in the background is the aircraft of Group Captain Byron Duckenfield. |
Revenge of the Raider by Ivan Berryman. The 79 Sqn Hurricane Mk.I P3877 of P/O E J Morris receiving hits from a Dornier 17 on 31st August 1940. Morris was forced to crash land his aircraft and was slightly wounded following the combat. |
Can Openers by David Pentland. Two Hawker Hurricane Mk.IID tank busters of No.6 Shiny Six Squadron about to attack retreating axis mechanised units, November 1942 at El Alamein. |
Tribute to the Blenheim Crews by Ivan Berryman. Blenheim IVs of No 21 Squadron, here being attacked by Adolf Gallands Bf 109 on 21st June 1940. Galland claimed two Blenheims and a Spitfire that day before he, too, was shot down by the defending Spitfires of 303 Sqn. |
Charity by David Pentland. Malta, 22nd June 1940. Some 12 days after the air battle for Malta began, the recently raised ad hoc Gladiator flight claimed its first confirmed victory. Flt. Lt. George Burges, and Flg. Off. Timber Woods were alerted to a lone S.79 from 219 Squadriglia on a reconnaissance sortie. They managed to intercept the intruder over Valetta, and although Timber's first attack was unsuccessful, Burges in Charity shot off the Savoia's port engine sending it crashing into the sea at Kalafrana. |
In the Playground of the Gods by Ivan Berryman. A lone Royal Air Force Spitfire is shown high amongst the clouds over the southern counties of England during the hieght of the Battle of Britain. |
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