| Conflict: | Battle of Barking Creek |
| Partof: | the Western Front of the Second World War |
| Date: | 6 September 1939 |
| Place: | Barking Creek, England |
| Result: | 2 Hurricane fighters destroyed, 1 pilot killed |
The Battle of Barking Creek was a friendly fire incident over the East Coast of England in the earliest days of the Second World War. On 6 September 1939, aircraft from several 11 Group, RAF Fighter Command squadrons, were scrambled to intercept German aircraft detected by radar (RDF) flying towards the English coast. The radar plots were reflections of British aircraft flying inland and Spitfire fighters sent to intercept shot down two Hurricanes in error, killing one of the pilots, the first death of a British fighter pilot in the war.
At on 6 September 1939, a radar fault led to a false alarm that unidentified aircraft were approaching from the east at high altitude over West Mersea, on the Essex coast. Misleading back-signals giving a reciprocal bearing was obviated by relay sensors but early in the war this back cut-off failed. Coastal radar stations could misinterpret radar returns from inland flights as aircraft flying towards England. 11 Group Fighter Command ordered six Hawker Hurricanes to be scrambled from 56 Squadron, based at North Weald in Essex. The sector controller, Group Captain David Lucking, sent up all 14 aircraft. Unbeknown to the rest of the pilots, two pilot officers took up a pair of reserve aircraft and followed at a distance.
Hurricanes from 151 Squadron (also from North Weald) and Spitfires from 54 Squadron, 65 Squadron and 74 Squadron based at Hornchurch Airfield scrambled. None of the Royal Air Force pilots had been in action and few had seen a German aircraft. Communication between the pilots and ground control was poor and there was no procedure for pilots to distinguish between RAF and Luftwaffe aircraft. Identification friend or foe (IFF) sets were still being developed and had not been installed in many RAF aircraft.
With everyone in the air expecting to see enemy aircraft and no experience of having done so, 'A' Flight of 74 Squadron saw what they believed were German aircraft and their commander, Adolph "Sailor" Malan, allegedly gave an order to engage. Two of the three, Flying Officer Vincent 'Paddy' Byrne and Pilot Officer John Freeborn, opened fire. Malan later claimed to have given a last-minute call of "friendly aircraft – break away!" but if this was true, it was not heard by Byrne and Freeborn. Richard Hough and Denis Richards wrote that further losses were prevented by Squadron Leader Edward Donaldson, the 151 Squadron commanding officer, who alerted his pilots that the attacking aircraft were British and gave the order not to retaliate.
Frank Rose and Pilot Officer Montague Hulton-Harrop were shot down, Hulton-Harrop being killed. Fired upon by John Freeborn, he had been hit in the back of the head and was dead before his Hurricane crashed at Manor Farm, Hintlesham, Suffolk, about west of Ipswich. Hulton-Harrop was the first British pilot killed in action in the war and his Hurricane was the first aircraft shot down by a Spitfire.
The court martial of John Freeborn and Paddy Byrne was heard in camera at Bentley Priory, the headquarters of Fighter Command. In 2019, The National Archives released some records, including the Operations Record Books of the fighter squadrons and certain court documents.[1] The court martial transcript has not been released According to Bill Nasson in 2009, it is well known that Freeborn felt that Sailor Malan tried to evade responsibility for the attack. Malan gave evidence against his pilots, stating that Freeborn had been irresponsible, impetuous and had not taken proper heed of vital communications. During the trial, Freeborn's counsel, Sir Patrick Hastings, called Malan a bare-faced liar.
The court exonerated both pilots, ruling that the case was an unfortunate accident. In 1990, Hough and Richards wrote,
In 2003, Patrick Bishop wrote that the incident exposed the inadequacies of RAF radar and identification procedures, leading to their being greatly improved by the time of the Battle of Britain, a view echoed in a 2012 publication by Philip Kaplan.
Montague Hulton-Harrop is buried with a war grave headstone at St Andrew's Church in North Weald.[2] Lucking was an engineering officer who was in the General Duties Branch and was returned to engineering duties later that month as OC (Officer Commanding) 32 MU. He was transferred to the new Technical Branch in 1940 and was promoted to air commodore in December 1941.[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] He died in 1970, aged 75.[8] Frank Rose was killed in action over Vitry-en-Artois, France, on 18 May 1940. Malan went on to be one of the most successful Allied fighter pilots of the war, shooting down 27 Luftwaffe aircraft and rising to group captain. Malan received the Distinguished Service Order and bar and the Distinguished Flying Cross. On his return to South Africa he worked against the apartheid regime until his death in 1963.
Paddy Byrne was shot down and captured over France in 1940. He was imprisoned at Stalag Luft III with his former defence lawyer Roger Bushell. In 1944 he was repatriated, having convinced the Germans and the repatriation board that he was mad. On his return to England he was unable to reinstated into the RAF and given a ground position; he could not return to action because of his repatriation on medical grounds and served as a liaison officer for returning POWs and subsequently in the Far East on Lady Mountbatten's staff. John Freeborn flew more operational hours in the Battle of Britain than any other pilot, remained on operations for the rest of the war and proved to be an outstanding airman. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and bar and rose to wing commander. Freeborn finally told some of his version of events in a 2002 biography A Tiger's Tale, before co-authoring a more complete account in Tiger Cub. In 2009, Freeborn told an interviewer of his regret about Hulton-Harrop's death, saying, "I think about him nearly every day. I always have done... I've had a good life, and he should have had a good life too".