One of the first Spitfire aces was Flight Sergeant Bill Franklin of No 65 Squadron, a general labourer’s son from London’s East End, but how often does his name appear in lists of the stars of Battle?
The Memorial Trust is, however, aware of his feats and an article on him appeared in 1940 magazine, no 18.
In my submission there were other kinds of hero at the time whose status should be equal with the aces, an argument recognised on the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall at Capel-le-Ferne, where names are listed alphabetically with no indication of rank, decorations or ‘victories’.
The need for trained fighter pilots was desperate in 1940 and the result was that men were passed into the front line who, in other circumstances, would never have been selected to go to Hurricane or Spitfire squadrons. That is a major reason why so many of the Few spent much of the rest of the war as instructors, staff pilots, ferry pilots, in Bomber or Coastal Commands or in ground postings. Their talents fitted them to oppose Nazism in light blue uniforms but not in single-engined fighters once the situation became less desperate.
Surely they were equal heroes in overcoming the apprehensions they must have felt diving into massed Luftwaffe formations?
A poignant example can be found on the website of the Battle of Britain London Monument, in recollections sent to the aviation historian Andy Saunders by David Cox, a Sergeant-Pilot with No 19 Squadron in the Battle of Britain. He was recalling his friend, Sergeant H A C “Jock” Roden, and wrote: “Jock and I were the first pre-war VR Sergeant Pilots to join 19 Squadron. The result was that we were treated rather coldly by the other NCO Pilots who were all Regular with lots of service. This attitude resulted in drawing Jock and myself closer together…………
“I had no trouble flying the Spitfire and landing it. Poor Jock had trouble with the Spitfire from the start. In the first four weeks he damaged two with four landings. I think that if the CO at that time had not been shot down over Dunkirk Jock would have been posted away……..
“He never did like the Spitfire and in some ways I think he was more frightened of it than he was of the Luftwaffe!!
“As I had the next bed to him I realised he lived in a state of fear. However in no way did this state of fear stop him engaging enemy aircraft.”
Indeed it did not. On 11 September 1940, Sergeant Roden claimed a Messerschmitt Bf110 destroyed.
Cox wrote further of Jock Roden: “He was rather short, tubby, jet black hair and quite a dark complexion. Nothing really to look at – but a great favourite with the ladies. My wife, who joined me near Fowlmere, thought the world of him.”
On 15 September, now Battle of Britain Day, Sergeant Roden was engaged with Messerschmitt Bf 109s and his aircraft sustained a glycol leak. He attempted a forced-landing in Suffolk but the Spitfire hit a tree and the pilot suffered multiple injuries. He died the next day in East Suffolk Hospital, Ipswich.
Adrian Roden (as he was known to his family) was 24. He lies in Linlithgow cemetery, West Lothian.
If anyone feels inclined to make a list of heroes of the Battle of Britain, I recommend Sergeant Roden for inclusion.
Geoff Simpson, FRHistS
