Caesar Hull

Caesar Barrand Hull, DFC (26 February 1914 – 7 September 1940) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) flying ace during the Second World War, noted especially for his part in the fighting for Narvik during the Norwegian Campaign in 1940, and for being one of "The Few"—the Allied pilots of the Battle of Britain, in which he was shot down and killed. From a farming family, Hull's early years were spent in Southern Rhodesia, South Africa and Swaziland. He boxed for South Africa at the 1934 Empire Games. After being turned down by the South African Air Force because he did not speak Afrikaans, he joined the RAF and, on becoming a pilot officer in August 1936, mustered into No. 43 Squadron at RAF Tangmere in Sussex.

A skilful pilot, Hull dedicated much of his pre-war service to aerobatics, flying Hawker Audaxes, Furies and Hurricanes. He reacted to the outbreak of war with enthusiasm and achieved No. 43 Squadron's first victory of the conflict in late January 1940. Reassigned to Norway in May 1940 to command a flight of Gloster Gladiator biplanes belonging to No. 263 Squadron, he downed four German aircraft in an hour over the Bodø area south-west of Narvik on 26 May, a feat that earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was shot down the next day, and invalided back to England. Hull returned to action at the end of August, when he was made commander of No. 43 Squadron with the rank of squadron leader. A week later, he died in a dogfight over south London.

With eight confirmed aerial victories during the war, including five over Norway, Hull was the RAF's first Gladiator ace and the most successful RAF pilot of the Norwegian Campaign. He was buried among fellow fighter pilots at Tangmere, and a monument to his memory was erected near his birthplace in Southern Rhodesia. This remained until 2004, when the plaque was transported to England and donated to the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum. Other memorials to Hull were built in Bodø in 1977 and Purley, where his aircraft crashed, in 2013.

Early life Caesar Barrand Hull was born on 26 February 1914 at Leachdale Farm, a property near Shangani in Southern Rhodesia. His childhood years were divided between Rhodesia and South Africa, and in his early teens the family moved to Swaziland. He was educated at home until 1926, when he began to board at St. John's College in Johannesburg. A champion boxer, he represented South Africa in the lightweight division at the 1934 Empire Games in London.

Hull attempted to join the South African Air Force in 1935, but was turned down because he did not speak Afrikaans. He joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) instead, enlisting in England in September 1935. Completing the pilot's course on 3 August 1936 with the rank of pilot officer, he joined No. 43 Squadron at RAF Tangmere in Sussex five days later.

Much of Hull's early air force career was dedicated to aerobatics. He and Peter "Prosser" Hanks perfected a routine in which they would change places in a two-seater Hawker Audax in mid-air. Along with Peter Townsend (who joined the squadron at the same time as Hull) and Sergeant Frank Reginald Carey, they formed an aerobatic flight that performed stunts such as loops, barrel rolls and stall turns. Piloting a Hawker Fury, Hull flew the individual aerobatics at the air show at Hendon in 1937 honouring the coronation of King George VI.

Hull was promoted to flying officer on 16 April 1938. As war loomed, the squadron began to prepare for combat in late 1938, and in December that year was re-equipped with Hawker Hurricane Mk Is.

Air war in Europe Early war Hull reacted to the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 with great excitement; according to Hector Bolitho, No. 43 Squadron's intelligence officer, the Rhodesian leapt from one foot to the other in the officer's mess, repeating the words "wizard, wizard". In November 1939, No. 43 Squadron moved to RAF Acklington, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, flying Hawker Hurricane Mk Is. Amid severe weather conditions, Hull scored the squadron's first victory of the war on 30 January 1940, when he shot down a Heinkel He 111 bomber of the Luftwaffe near the island of Coquet. On 26 February the squadron was transferred to RAF Wick in northern Scotland to help protect the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow. Hull, Carey and three others together downed another He 111 on 28 March 1940. On 10 April 1940, Hull took part in the destruction of a reconnaissance He 111. The aircraft had been sent out in advance of a major raid launched by He 111s from Kampfgeschwader 26 and Kampfgruppe 100, aimed at covering the German invasion of Norway.

When No. 43 Squadron returned to its home base at Tangmere in May 1940, some of its leading pilots were reassigned to other units: among these were Townsend, who was assigned to No. 85 Squadron RAF as its commanding officer, and Hull, who was posted to No. 263 Squadron to command a flight of Gloster Gladiator biplanes during the unit's second committal to the Norwegian Campaign.

Norway

No. 263 Squadron was deployed to the area around Narvik, a strategically valuable port city in northern Norway then under German control, but fiercely contested by the Norwegians and Allies. Crossing the Norwegian Sea aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Furious, the pilots took off on 21 May while at sea, in groups of three each led by a Fairey Swordfish of the Fleet Air Arm, and encountered thick mist around the island of Senja; the Swordfish and two Gladiators from one of the groups crashed into a mountain. Hull led the first four aircraft through and landed safely at Bardufoss airfield, about north-east of Narvik, at 04:20. A further 12 Gladiators followed four hours later. Fourteen Gladiators were operational and began flying patrols from Bardufoss on 22 May, carrying out 30 sorties on the first day. Hull and two other pilots together downed a He 111 over Salangen on 24 May 1940, killing two of the five German crew; the other three were captured by Norwegian troops after making an emergency landing at Fjordbotneidet. In all, during its two weeks of operations in northern Norway, No. 263 Squadron was to claim 26 confirmed kills and nine probable victories during 70 dogfights.

Hull and two other pilots, South African Pilot Officer Jack Falkson and Naval Lieutenant Tony Lydekker, volunteered to be detached to an improvised airstrip at Bodø, a port about south-west of Narvik, on 26 May 1940 to cover Allied troops who were retreating north for evacuation under Operation Alphabet. Arriving to find the airfield extremely muddy, the pilots had great difficulty moving their aircraft to drier ground to refuel from four-gallon (18-l) tin cans. A He 111 was spotted overhead while this was in progress, prompting the three pilots to scramble having only partially refuelled. Falkson's plane crashed after mud clung to its wheels, and while Lydekker took off successfully, he had so little fuel that Hull almost immediately ordered him to land to add more.

The Rhodesian pursued the He 111 over the main valley in Saltdal Municipality and, with three attacks from astern, set the bomber ablaze, forcing it to crash. Hull then downed a Junkers Ju 52 transport plane and, after unsuccessfully chasing another He 111, destroyed two more Ju 52s. The transports had been coming to the aid of the hard-pressed German forces fighting around Narvik; one was loaded with supplies, while the other two were carrying Fallschirmjäger paratroops. One of the latter aircraft successfully landed in German-held territory before burning out, allowing the crew and paratroopers aboard to exit safely, but the second spiralled out of control and crashed, killing eight German paratroopers. Hull then attacked another He 111, which soon retreated, giving off smoke. Having used up all his ammunition, Hull returned to Bodø. In the space of about an hour, in a technologically-outdated aircraft and without assistance, he had destroyed four German planes and damaged a fifth.

Hull, Falkson and Lydekker spent the night of 26/27 May 1940 patrolling the area around Rognan, about inland from Bodø. After driving German bombers away from British and Norwegian forces fighting at Pothus south of Rognan, the Gladiators strafed German ground forces. Around 08:00 on 27 May, Bodø was attacked by 11 Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bombers from I./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 (StG 1 – Dive Bomber Wing 1) and three Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighters attached to I./Zerstörergeschwader 76 (ZG 76 – Destroyer Wing 76). Lydekker claimed one of the Stukas, but was ultimately forced to limp north to Bardufoss to land, his Gladiator heavily damaged. Having initially been caught on the ground by the German attack, Hull got his fighter airborne during a pause in the raid. After engaging the German aircraft and shooting down Feldwebel Kurt Zube's Stuka, which fell into the sea, Hull was overcome by one of the Bf 110s, piloted by Oberleutnant Helmut Lent, and forced to crash near the Bodø airfield. Wounded in the head and the knee, he was initially treated at Bodø Hospital before being evacuated back to Britain for further treatment on a Sunderland flying boat via Harstad. Hull's kills during the Norwegian Campaign made him the RAF's first Gloster Gladiator ace, as well as the most successful RAF fighter pilot of the campaign. On 17 June, while convalescing, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions in Norway.

Battle of Britain Hawker Hurricane Mk I, similar to that flown by Hull as commander of No. 43 Squadron during the Battle of Britain Hull was declared fit to return to operational duty after about two months' rest and recuperation in Guildford, and on 31 August 1940 he was appointed commanding officer of his former unit, No. 43 Squadron, replacing Squadron Leader John "Tubby" Badger, who had been shot down and grievously wounded the previous day. The unit was still based at Tangmere, flying Hurricanes, and was by now fighting in the Battle of Britain, the Allied participants of which would later be dubbed "The Few". Concurrently promoted to squadron leader, Hull expressed disbelief at his sudden elevation and "as if to emphasise his surprise", Andy Saunders records, suffixed his first description of himself on paper as "Commanding No. 43 Sqn" with four exclamation marks.

The first engagement of Hull's command, on 2 September, resulted in three of the squadron's Hurricanes being shot down in return for two Messerschmitt Bf 109s. On 4 September, Hull led a group of Hurricanes in a decisive aerial victory over coastal Sussex against a large group of Bf 110s from ZGs 2 and 76. Flight Lieutenant Thomas Dalton-Morgan destroyed a Bf 110 north of Worthing and chased another until it crashed near Shoreham-by-Sea, while Sergeant Jeffreys shot down another Bf 110 in a field. Pilot Officer A E A van den Hove d'Ertsenrijck, from Belgium, pursued a fourth back out to sea and sent it crashing into the English Channel, but was hit himself and compelled to make an emergency landing at RAF Ford. Hull and Pilot Officer Hamilton Upton together seriously damaged two more Bf 110s.

Around 16:00 on 7 September 1940, nine Hurricanes of No. 43 Squadron scrambled to intercept a large formation of German aircraft over Kent on their way to London. Hull led six of the aircraft towards the German bombers while Flight Lieutenant John "Killy" Kilmartin, from Ireland, headed a section of three tasked with countering the fighter escort. Hull took his aircraft above the bombers, then dived towards them, telling his pilots to "smash them up". A very fast engagement followed in which Hull was killed while diving to the aid of Flight Lieutenant Dick Reynell, an Australian pilot who had come under heavy attack. Hull was last seen firing at a Dornier Do 17, and was shot down by a Bf 109. Reynell was also killed. The Rhodesian ace's body was discovered largely burnt inside the shell of his Hurricane, which had crashed in the grounds of Purley Boys' High School in Purley, Surrey. He was 26 years old.

The loss of Hull and Reynell, two of the squadron's most popular pilots, affected morale deeply. Kilmartin, arriving back at Tangmere on the evening of 7 September, simply muttered "My God, My God". Dalton-Morgan took over command of the squadron. Hull's remains were recovered and returned to Tangmere, where he was buried among fellow fighter pilots at St Andrew's Church.

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