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On August 8th the C/0 praised us fitters and thanked us on behalf of the pilots and himself for all our very hard work!
The expected results of the Jet Kites visit came on the early morning of August 12th. All three of the Lentini dromes were plastered with anti personnel bombs for 1% hours. 80 Spitfires were damaged, 12 out of our 18, the tented camps were also attacked and 32 airmen died and many more were wounded. I was calm during the raid but got the shivers the next day. We worked all out and had 10 kites serviceable the next day. In the North of the Island, Messina fell on the 15th and the Germans left Sicily. That was his reason for the bombing of the 12th. To allow his retreat into Italy. This is our 2nd Victory!
Our advance party left for Milletto (near Messina) on September 2nd, and the invasion of Italy began at 4:30am the next day. All bed and work. The kites are out all day strafing the retreating Germans. Our skeleton staff is exhausted, I have not washed for 3 days.
5am September the 6th, we fitted 90-gallon tanks to the Spits and saw them off. Then on to the transports. We passed through Catania, skirting mount Etna, which is dormant. Then over the mountains, which are beautiful, with a multi covering of flowers, through many ruined villages to Milletto. The airfield has been made on a plantation of pomegranates. Fine dust hangs everywhere. We are all filthy and exhausted. Italy surrendered on September 8th, and the landing at Salermo began the next day. We all knew that this would stretch to the limits both the Spitfires range and our physical endurance.
In England when any Spitfire needed new parts replacements were available in the store depots. On overseas campaigns spares were in short supply. We solved this problem by cannibalising all crashed and badly damaged aircraft. The fitters not only repaired and serviced the Spits, they supplied the replacements. Mobile cranes were not always available, so engine changes were carried out with a block and tackle under a nearby tree. I changed several main planes (wings) with the help of seven airmen of various heights holding the wing on their shoulders with the largest at the wing tip while I used an old browning gun barrel to line up the seven connecting bolts. We became very versatile and adaptable. Many spare wheels were kept as Spit tyres wore out quickly. Changing tyres with just a few levers was not a popular task, neither was tail squatting, where 2 or more men sat on the tail wile the engine was tested. The propellers set up a mini hurricane of flying debris. The flight mechanics had to tail squat while taxiing from the perimeter to the runway. On the temporary Mediterranean airstrips this was a binding chore. After our bombing at Lentini we had plenty of spares. We would need them when the Salerno landings began.
We fitted enormous 120 Gallon fuel tanks to all the squadron Spits to allow more time for the long journey to Salerno and protection of the beachhead. These tanks reduced the speed of the Spitfire considerably, so when in combat with the Luftwaff, which was often, they had to discard the tJ0 Gallon tanks. We had to fit brand new ones before the next sweep. Our depleted B party were exhausted, but we knew that the forward troops needed all the air cover we could give. My diary for the 5 days, 16th to 20th was just a scrawl. I quote "The kites are out all day, the Yanks are having a bad time at Salerno, the 8th army is flying along, they should meet up soon, for me its all work and dust. We are lucky if we get back for dinner at 9pm." The 'A' party left for Salerno on September 11th. The Germans are still resisting fiercely with the continuous counter attacks and shelling of the beachhead. The first Spits to land were destroyed so our squadron returned very short of petrol. Some did not make it and crash-landed on beaches, the pilots returning days later. We heard on September 13th that the Italian Fleet had surrendered at Malta, news came that a safe landing strip had been made at Salerno, and on September 23rd we saw the kites off at 6am. We packed up, drove to a transit camp and slept. Up at 5am next day and boarded the landing craft still aboard the lorry. We bathed in the sea off the boat and sailed at 8pm. We woke to find us running up the Italian coast - green and beautiful. In the background was the volcano Vesuvius belching a ball of fire and smoke every 4 minutes. We were told this was normal and had been like this in Nelsons time. A sight never to be forgotten. As we approach Salerno beachhead we saw the bulk of the battleship War spite. It was listing on its port side. It had been hit by a radio-controlled bomb, the first ever to be used in wartime. War spite stayed on station still shelling the Germans and boosting the morale of the troops ashore. The beachhead seemed to be organised chaos. Some American soldiers tried to board our ship before we could land. They were ordered away by their officers at pistol point. I did not see many Americans; most of the armour and troops were British. Mostly Infantry of the Leicestershire regiment. We had been told it was an American invasion. If it was it was spearheaded by English troops, and when the breakout came it was the 4th armoured division who led it, almost straight off the boat. The blue sky above us was alive with allied aircraft, and the noise of machinery and battle was horrendous. Still on our lorries we drove off the boat on to the beach and away south to an orchard where we pitched our pup tents then lay and watched a lethal firework display, the war spite shelling the enemy positions in the hills surrounding Salerno bay and the German shelling the beachhead. The 16th Inch war spite shells glowed red hot at low trajectory, turning white at higher levels. The resolution crump came later. On September 26th we moved into a deserted tobacco factory with hanging racks of drying tobacco leaves suspending from the roof. We rolled these leaves around a length of copper wire and smoked these large cigars all our leisure time. That night we experienced the first of many electric storms. The lightening was striking everywhere; on the drome it jumped from kite to kite, but did no harm as they are earthed through the tail wheel. However five airmen on night guard were electrocuted. We would all stand out in the teeming rain for a shower bath, our airstrip was green and beautiful. It reminded us of England.
Naples fell on October 11th and I was given a day off. I went to see the small town of Battipagular that had been captured and recaptured several times by both sides. It was just a heap of stones. Not one building was standing above its first floor, and was deserted. I stumbled on an unexploded 16-inch shell from war spite and best a hasty retreat. There is a surfeit of fighter aircraft, the drome is full of Spitfires and life was much easier for us with days off work. On one trip to Salerno we swapped German uniform souvenirs, caps and badges etc. From our plentiful store collected in the African and Sicilian campaigns. We traded these for loaves of white bread with the navy lads off the destroyers in the port. I met an old school pal Archy Beadsmore from Hinckley. I visited beautiful Amalfi and Positana where I met a beautiful Italian girl called Rosetta. We spent hours swimming and sunbathing on the lovely beach of Positana.

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