IN SUPPORT

Fortresses of 214 Sqn participated

in the jamming effort before D-Day,
flying as part of the ABC force. The
jammer aerial is apparent on the
fuselage. Authors collection

Easy as ABC
Jamming operations played a key part in blinding the enemy and masking the
approach of the invasion fleet, as Squadron Leader Andy Thomas explains

Six 218 Sqn Stirling IIIs, including HA-U and HA-P, flew on
Operation Glimmer, dropping Window over the Channel as part of
the complex deception plan. MJF Bowyer

A 101 Sqn Lancaster is prepared for flight at Ludford Magna the

long aerial under the nose is for the ABC jammer. PG Davys

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ROYAL AIR FORCE SALUTE 2014

he complex planning for Operation

Overlord involved not only keeping the
proposed landing areas secret, but also
deceiving the enemy into thinking that the
invasion would be elsewhere. These deception
operations were grouped under the overall
title Operation Bodyguard, using small boats
and Bomber Command aircraft to simulate the
approach of an invasion fleet.
The shortest route for an invasion force
was across the Strait of Dover to land on
the sandy beaches of the Pas de Calais and
to feed the assumption that this would be
the Allies chosen route, on the night before
D-Day, aircraft simulated an invasion fleet. Two
essentially similar operations were mounted,
Glimmer threatening the Pas de Calais and
the better-known Taxable mimicking a fleet
headed for the Cap dAntifer, north of Le Havre.
The former was flown by six 218 Sqn Short
Stirlings led by Sqn Ldr J Overton, while the
latter was carried out by 16 Lancasters from
617 Sqn, led by Wg Cdr Leonard Cheshire.
Timing and aircraft positioning were absolutely
critical for the navigators, since each aircraft
had to drop bundles of tinfoil Window, or chaff,
in a progressive pattern, which as the Window
bloomed presented a return on enemy radar
screens that slowly moved forwards at the
pace of a fleet of ships.
Beneath these chaff blooms, small boats
towed balloons fitted with radar reflectors
which also simulated the radio traffic that

IN SUPPORT
might be expected of an approaching naval
force. These two operations supported a
deception plan that had been running for
several months and pointing towards landings
in these areas.
Instruments Of Darkness
While deceiving the enemy had been the
tasks of Glimmer and Taxable, other aircraft
deploying instruments of darkness also
flew to mask the approach of the invasion
fleet. Their task was to confuse enemy radar
and air defences by jamming, a role largely
assigned to aircraft from the specialist
radio countermeasures (RCM) squadrons of
100Group.
Among them were 16 Stirlings of
199 Sqn based at North Creake, Norfolk, on
their first operation fitted with powerful
Mandrel jammers, a device that was
specifically designed to jam the German Freya
and Wrzburg radars. These aircraft flew in
pairs in circular patterns at 18,000ft (5,486m)
over the centre of the English Channel, to the
south of the Isle of Wight.
As the invasion force crossed the Channel,
five 214 Sqn Boeing Fortress IIs took off
from Oulton, Norfolk, tasked in concert with
Lancasters of 101 Sqn. The Fortress was an
unusual type for Bomber Command and had
been introduced several months earlier when
surplus B-17Fs were transferred from the US
Army Air Force, its high-altitude performance
making it suitable for the jamming task.
By June 5, No. 214 Sqn had 14 on strength
and they were fitted with a variety of jammers,
including Airborne Cigar (ABC), for which an
8ft 9in (2.67m) tall mast was fitted to the rear
fuselage and an extra crewmember carried.
Airborne Cigar was a communications jammer
designed to interfere with spot frequencies
that were identified as they became active.
These aircraft thus had a key part to play in
disrupting German communications during
the invasion period. The Forts were also
equipped with the Monica tail warning radar.

Above: Lancaster I DV245/

SR-S flew 125 operations with
101Sqn, including the ABC
mission before D-Day. Vic Redfern
This image: This view of the same
aircraft shows the two fuselagemounted ABC aerials, set to the
left of centreline. Vic Redfern

This was carried out over a

brilliant moonlit layer of cloud,
which made us sitting targets
to night fighters; luckily we did
not encounter any.
Plt Off Ron Homes, 101 Sqn Lancaster pilot

Fitted with powerful Mandrel jammers, 16 Stirling IIIs of 199 Sqn, including LJ514/
EX-B, flew patrol lines over the Channel to jam German radars. MJF Bowyer

ROYAL AIR FORCE SALUTE 2014

35

IN SUPPORT
The five Forts involved were flown by the
CO, Wg Cdr Desmond McGlinn, Sqn Ldrs Bill
Day and Bill Jefferies, Flt Lt Murray Peddan and
Fg Off Cam Lye. The patrol area for the ABCequipped aircraft was over the coast in the
area of Dieppe, with 214 Sqn flying at 27,000ft
(8,230m), from just to the north east of Dieppe
and then perpendicular to the coast. However,
the night did not go well for the unit as two
aircraft had to return early with malfunctioning
equipment and McGlinns was damaged by a
night fighter, though the tail gunner, Plt Off
Eric Phillips, claimed it shot down.
The main ABC jamming effort came not
from a 100 Gp unit, however, but 24 Lancasters
of 101 Sqn, from Ludford Magna, Lincolnshire,
and within 1 Gp. Although part of Bomber
Commands Main Force, 101 Sqns aircraft
were fitted with ABC masts and also carried
an eighth crewmember, a German-speaking
special operator who sat at a curtained-off
desk below the mid-upper turret.
Number 101 Squadrons part in the invasion
was to fly a route from the coast, near the
Somme estuary, towards Paris and along
the river Seine back to the coast, all the time
jamming night-fighter communications. On
detecting an active channel, the squadrons
special operators would tune in the jammer, or
possibly broadcast conflicting instructions on
one of the three transmitters carried.
For Plt Off Ron Homess crew it was the first
operation of their tour, as he recalled: This was
a special operations patrol over the Dieppe
area of the French coast, consisting of flying
a slowly advancing box pattern at 23,000ft
for six hours, while jamming all the German
radio frequencies. This was carried out over a
brilliant moonlit layer of cloud, which made us

ABC-equipped Lancaster DV302/SR-H provides a

backdrop for a 101 Sqn groundcrew photograph around
the time of the pre D-Day mission. Authors collection
Lancaster crews on 101 Sqn comprised
eight men rather than the more usual
seven, including a German-speaking
special operator. PHT Green collection

sitting targets to night fighters; luckily we did

not encounter any. Like the three Fortresses
above them, the Lancasters also dropped a
huge amount of Window to add to the general
confusion on the enemy radar screens.
However, flying Lancaster LL833/SR-O,
Plt Off Steels crew suffered an engine failure
and had to ditch mid-Channel, though a
passing destroyer quickly rescued them. The
remaining aircraft successfully completed their
mission, athough it was only after landing that
the crews were informed of the significance
of what they had been doing for the previous
seven hours!

Behind all these jamming aircraft flew a trio

of 192 Sqn Handley Page Halifax IIIs, listening
to and recording enemy communications.
Although the effect of these combined
activities is difficult to assess, the jamming and
general deception of German coastal radars
and communications would have greatly
increased the overall confusion in German
high command during the critical hours after
the first landings.

Map showing the complicated, precise

manoeuvres required by Operation
Glimmer. via author

Number 214 Squadron continued flying ECM missions until the end of the war in Europe. In
November 1944 it took the Fortress Mk III, including SR388, on strength.Pete West

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ROYAL AIR FORCE SALUTE 2014