James Ernest Pelly-Fry, (22 November 1911 – 6 December 1994) was an officer in the Royal Air Force. His war career alternated between flying in operational squadrons and serving as an aide for senior commanders. His many appointments gave him the opportunity to view the events of the European War from a command level as well as an operational level. Following the war he spent a brief amount of time as an airline pilot before returning to the RAF. He represented the RAF at a series of NATO conferences, where he formed valuable relationships with a number of national leaders. He had a lifelong interest in aeromodeling, and was a worldwide figure in that hobby. He is best known for leading the low-level daylight raid against the Philips plant in Eindhoven, known as Operation Oyster.
Early life
James Ernest Pelly-Fry was born on 22 November 1911. His father was a tea merchant. The family lived in Colombo in Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon. When Pelly-Fry was 5 years old the family returned to England so that the children could attend school, while his father stayed in Ceylon. The family moved to the home of his grandmother and aunt in Epping, in the county of Essex. Pelly-Fry was educated at Douai School in Berkshire. His father died nine years later, at the age of 50. Pelly-Fry left school soon thereafter and went to work in the accounts department of the P&O Shipping Company. Two years later he was apprenticed to the tea company Joseph Tetley and Son.
The home in Epping happened to be located close to the RAF airfield at North Weald, which provided young Pelly-Fry with many opportunities to observe aircraft in operation. From a very early age Pelly-Fry had a fascination with flight. He became involved in aeromodeling, and at the age of 17 became a member of the British Wakefield team. There were no model kit manufacturers at the time, and the aircraft were all hand built from scratch materials. He gained a reputation as a designer and flyer, and flew his own designs on Wimbledon Common.Group Captain James Pelly-Fry, The Daily Telegraph, 29 December 1994 He helped formulate the Wakefield Cup rules, and was a member of the British team from 1928 to 1932. During this time he worked through the week at the tea company, and spent his evenings either designing and building aircraft or writing about doing so in model aircraft magazines. The week-ends were often spent at Wakefield Commons. In 1933 Pelly-Fry accepted the invitation of American Gordon Light to fly his entry in the cup. Competing against six British entries, he finished tied for second.
Pelly-Fry was very interested in becoming a pilot himself, but it was an expensive undertaking. Friends he had made in aeromodeling were able to encourage and direct him, and he applied for a position in the Royal Air Force. Though he did not initially succeed in getting into the RAF proper, in 1933 he was accepted for the Reserve of Air Force Officers. He spent a year at the de Havilland School of Flying in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, from June 1933 to October 1934. The curriculum covered flying, and the design, manufacture, and operation of aircraft. The instructors were engineers from the de Havilland aircraft company. The following year he signed on with an air charter firm at Heston Aerodrome to fly Fleet Street newspapers to Paris.
In 1935 the Royal Air Force offered him a short-service commission. He was posted to the 216 transport squadron in Egypt, flying the Vickers Valentia. He spent the next three years flying in Africa, gaining valuable experience and flying hours. In October 1938 Pelly-Fry was selected as personal assistant to AOC Palestine and Trans-Jordan, Arthur Harris. Harris dubbed him "Pelly" and the nickname stuck.
Second World War
At the start of the Second World War Pelly-Fry was Flight Commander of 'A Flight' with the 223 Squadron, flying Vickers Wellesleys out of Nairobi in Kenya. When Italy entered the war in June 1940 his squadron was based at RAF Summit, an airfield along the rail line about 60 miles south west of Port Sudan. Their first combat mission on 11 June 1940 was a raid against Italian aircraft at the Gura airfield. Pelly-Fry led his flight of Wellesley bombers on a number of missions against Italian targets in Sudan and Italian East Africa during the East African Campaign. The flight was nicknamed "Pelly-Fry's Hell Divers". In August 1940, the squadron moved to Perim Island, near Aden to support operations in Italian Somaliland. Pelly-Fry was made commanding officer of 47 Squadron, also in the Wellesley wing and continued leading missions until he was transferred in January 1941.
He was next posted as Joint Senior RAF Intelligence Officer Western Desert and, in the spring of 1941, was involved in the relief of RAF Habbaniya, under siege from the rebel force of the Iraqi potentate Raschid Ali. While there one of the pilots made a chance discovery of a Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighter that had made a wheels-up forced landing in the Iraqi desert some 30 miles south-east of their airbase, and abandoned there. Pelly-Fry was immediately interested in recovering the long range fighter, to gain knowledge of the craft and with thoughts that he might be able to make personal use of the airplane. He flew out in a Tiger Moth to inspect the wreck. Just before opening the cockpit canopy he discovered the plane had been rigged with a booby-trap. He was able to disarm the device and inspect the aircraft, and soon set about recovering it. Pelly-Fry found the senior officers predictably unimaginative when they asked "What on earth do you want to recover a crashed German aeroplane for?" He was able to get a recovery team together, which drove out to the wreck with hoisting gear, elevated the aircraft, dropped down its landing gear and towed it back to the airbase. The ground crew at Habbaniya was able to repair the plane, but the work was not completed until after Pelly-Fry had been transferred off station. The aircraft was flown to Egypt for a time, and then sent to South Africa, where it had to make a second wheels up landing, ending the plane's useful life.
In February 1941 he was transferred to the RAF's Headquarter Middle East in Cairo where he served for a year. Pelly-Fry served as Arthur Tedder's intelligence officer. Pelly had the idea of mounting two large maps on the walls of his office to keep track of the air activity of both RAF and that of the enemy. His staff updated changes frequently, and one could observe events as one would a tennis match. Tedder said he would come sit in Pelly's office, look up at the maps and consider: "Am I doing the right thing?", "What is the enemy up to?" and "What should I do next?" In March Pelly-Fry was mentioned in despatches.
In January 1942 Pelly-Fry was transferred back to Britain. As a pilot of 31 years age and with a good deal of seniority, it was difficult for him to find duty in an operational squadron. He applied for night fighters, scoring 31 of 32 on the night vision entry test, but was not accepted due to his seniority. Finally he was assigned commanding officer of 88 Squadron, a light bomber formation undertaking daylight raids over occupied Europe as part of 2 Group. 2 Group was making daylight raids across the channel, and had the highest loss rate of Bomber Command groups. Pelly-Fry formed a crew and soon worked up to the lead position on operations. He led a series of circus missions over northern France, bombing targets while under heavy fighter escort, including the bombing of the Saint-Malo docks on 31 July 1942. 88 Squadron crews were billeted at Blickling Hall, a stately home north of Aylsham in Norfolk, where CO Pelly-Fry was soon nicknamed "Baron Fry of Blickling." At the time of his arrival, 88 Squadron had just been equipped with the Douglas Boston medium bomber. This aircraft became a great favorite of Pelly-Fry. "One thing I was sure of, the Boston was just about the nicest, toughest, safest, fastest and most pleasing operational aeroplane that ever happened."
The circus operations they were flying were intended to prompt a response from the Luftwaffe in an effort to engage them and destroy them in combat. The bombing forces being covered were small, perhaps 12 aircraft, which were intended to have a high and low cover, three Spitfire squadrons in each. Rendezvous with the covering squadrons in the challenging weather over the English coast was difficult, but it was essential for the survival of the bombers. There was a certain tension that developed between the fighter squadrons and the bomber squadrons, who questioned if they were just asked along as bait. To address the situation Fighter Command requested a squadron commander from 2 Group be sent down to the Fighter Leaders School at RAF Charmy Down near Bath. Pelly-Fry was ordered to fly down to the course and give a talk to the fighter pilots training there on the workings of the bomber squadrons. Speaking with the pilots after his talk it soon became clear to all that what was needed was to simulate air operations, using a bomber force, a fighter escort and a strong force of intercepting mock-up German fighters. The idea was enthusiastically received by the fighter pilots, and the commands of Fighter and Bomber Headquarters gave the green light. A group of aggressor Spitfires were set apart by having their spinners and rudder fins painted red. Pelly's first foray was with a vic of three Bostons. The Fighter Leader School Tactics instructors followed within the formation or shadowed the formation from a distance to observe the exercise. The first go was a success. In subsequent visits Pelly would come down with his whole squadron. These training missions helped the groups function together better in the air, and the bomber pilots picked up a number of tricks from the Spitfire pilots on how to avoid gunfire during fighter attacks.
The other major problem with working with the fighter escorts was linking up when the weather over England was often poor. This was made all the worse because for the daylight raids the bomber groups formed up and crossed the channel under the German radar, which meant they were down under 200 feet. The ability to find other aircraft flying at such a low height was very limited. Pelly solved this by advising Fighter Command that his Bostons would make the planned rendezvous on the correct heading and at the precise time, give or take 15 seconds. This required Pelly's navigator, Jock Cairns, to be on the mark every time, and he never missed a trick. Pelly soon developed a close working relationship with his fighter escorts. At the conclusion of a mission as they approached the English coast, he would often hear the click of the VHF followed by the Wing Commander offering him a farewell "Hi-de-hi!", followed by the rest of the Spitfire pilots, calling back in unison "Pelly-Fry!"
On 16 August Pelly-Fry's squadron was secretly moved down from Attlebridge in Norfolk to RAF Ford in southern England. The move came three days before they were to be used to support a cross channel reconnaissance in force. Ford normally supported a night fighter squadron, which was moved for the mission. Speaking to the accommodations, Pelly remarked: "The airfield commander, Wing Commander Gerald Constable Maxwell, a kinsman of the Duke of Norfolk, was kindness itself and most efficiently made every provision for our stay. Upon arriving at the wartime officers' mess, or rather the sleeping quarters element, I was curious to know just why all the house bells were ringing incessantly. Upon tackling one of my young men about it, he said 'Have a look at the notice, sir.' The house was an erstwhile girls boarding school. And the notice read: 'If you need a Mistress, ring the bell.'"