FIGHTER

BLENH E IM N IGHT K ILLS

COMMAND

BROTHER IN
ARMS
During September 1940, the height of the Battle of Britain,
Fighter Command shot down four Luftwaffe raiders by night.
Three fell to a 19-year-old New Zealander
WORDS: BEN DUNNELL

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AEROPLANE AUGUST 2016

hen considering the men

who fought in World
War Two, it is sometimes
easy to forget the loved
ones left back home, forced to endure
the agonising wait for news of their
relatives, often in combat theatres
far away. For one family in Hastings
on New Zealands North Island,
the concern must have been almost
unimaginably acute. Edward Jasper
Herrick and Ethne Rose Herrick
had six sons and two daughters. Of
the sons, the eldest remained in his
homeland with the New Zealand
Army, but the other five went to
Britain to fight. Two who joined the
Royal Navy survived the war. All three
who served in the RAF were killed.
On 17 November 1940, Fg Off
Brian Herrick was lost when his No
272 Squadron Blenheim IV crashed
into the North Channel. Just over eight
months later, on 26 June 1941, Plt Off
Dennis Herrick GM was shot down
off France in another Blenheim, this
one from No 53 Squadron. He died

of his wounds four days later. By then,

the youngest brother, Michael, had
been awarded the Distinguished Flying
Cross for his actions during a crucial
phase of the Battle of Britain.
Michael James Herrick was born on
5 May 1921. He came to Britain in
March 1939, his cadetship with the
Royal Air Force College at Cranwell
being abbreviated by the outbreak of
war. Upon graduation on 7 March
1940, he was posted briefly to North
Weald-based Hurricane unit No 151
Squadron, before being transferred to
the co-located No 25 Squadron on
the Blenheim IF. Then a pilot officer,
Herrick was aged just 18.
The early months of the war
had proved frustrating for No 25
Squadron. Just before hostilities,
it had started to pioneer the use of
AI (airborne intercept) radar, being
allocated a flight of Blenheim IVs for
installation of some of the very early
AI MkI sets. While 25 was then based
at Northolt, the flight was established
at Martlesham Heath. One of those

LEFT: Mike Herrick

was one of 135
New Zealanders
ofcially credited
by the RAF as
having own with
Fighter Command
during the Battle of
Britain.

aircraft was airborne over London

on the first night of the war. But,
even with the improved AI MkIII
equipment fitted to Blenheim IFs,
most operations were by day until well
into the Battle of Britain.

BELOW: A new
illustration by
Adam Tooby of the
No 25 Squadron
Blenheim IF coded
ZK-A, own by Plt
Off Mike Herrick,
following combat
with a Luftwaffe
Heinkel He 111 in
September 1940.

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om 55

FIGHTER

BLENH E IM N IGHT K ILLS

COMMAND
When the Luftwaffe stepped up
its night raids, 25 experienced some
tragic ill fortune. On 3 September
1940, three Blenheims were on patrol
over North Weald when Hurricanes of
No 46 Squadron, flying from nearby
Stapleford, mistook them in the
darkness for Ju 88s. The example flown
by Sqn Ldr Loxton made it safely back
to base, while Plt Off Cassidy force-

range and opened fire at about 400

yards. I then fired several short bursts
with the range decreasing, and I
obtained a good deflection shot. The
E/A seemed to halt and waver in the
air and I overshot as I had used all
my remaining ammunition. Then the
searchlights turned upon me and I was
unable to see any more. As I overtook
the E/A I noticed that it was falling

Before spotting the enemy aircraft in the

searchlights, the Blenheim used its AI
radar but found that it was useless

BELOW: Blenheim
IFs of No 25
Squadron at
Debden in October
1940. It is believed
that the aircraft
framed by the
wingtip and tail of
the Beaughter at
right is ZK-A, Mike
Herricks mount
for the 14
September kill.

NO 25 SQUADRON

landed his machine at Hatfield, but Plt

Off Douglas Hoggs Blenheim crashed.
According to 25s operations record
book, Hoggs rear gunner, Sgt Edwin
Powell, was instructed to jump by the
pilot before he died. Powell crawled
to the front, but found the pilot dead
over his controls. He returned aft and
leapt to safety. The squadron was due
some better fortune, and Herrick very
soon provided it.
Herricks combat report describes
what happened on the night of 4
September. At about 00.20hrs, he
wrote, I took off from Martlesham
to patrol a patrol line. I received
one vector and then the wireless
became [unserviceable]. After about
10 minutes I sighted an E/A [enemy
aircraft] ahead in searchlight but was
unable to close and it drew away out
of sight. Then about 5,000ft above
me I sighted an E/A in searchlights
and attacked after about five minutes.
I opened fire at about 300-400 yards
with a five-second burst. Then the E/A
disappeared.
Immediately afterwards another
E/A was illuminated and after chasing
for about 10 minutes I got within

to pieces and that both engines were

smoking badly. My rear gunner Sgt
Pugh fired in both actions. I learnt
this morning that the He 111 crashed
at Rendlesham at 01.10hrs and the
Do 17 near Braintree at 00.45hrs.

It had been a remarkably successful

mission. Not only did Herrick have to
go without his aircrafts radio, but at
this stage AI MkIII was still decidedly
temperamental. That much became
apparent again during the early hours
of 14 September, when Herrick
together with gunner Plt Off Brown
and radar operator ACH Files
next went into action, again from
Martlesham Heath.
[At] about 00.30hrs I was ordered
to a patrol line north of London, the
New Zealander reported. I patrolled
for about one hour when operations
gave me a vector saying that there was
an E/A about at 15,000ft. I was then at
6,000ft so started to climb. Just after I
had received the vector I saw an E/A
another He 111 high above me
illuminated by the searchlights on my

starboard bow. I immediately started to

climb after it. It took about 20 minutes
to climb up to it.
I did an astern attack from slightly
below and fired all my ammunition
(about 16 seconds) starting from 200
yards and closing to 50 yards. Just
after I had finished firing I saw the
bomb doors of the E/A open and he
jettisoned two 500lb bombs which
passed close to me. I then closed in
underneath the E/A so that my rear
gunner could fire at it. All this time the
E/A was smoking from both engines
and slowly losing height. When I
had closed to about 20 yards and
underneath, two big red balls of fire
exploded in front of my windscreen
which must have been grenades. The
rear underneath gunner of the E/A
opened fire at me and shattered my
bulletproof windscreen. I immediately
broke away downwards to the port.
I then watched the E/A go down.
He caught fire quite close to the
ground and exploded on impact
with the ground. When I landed
at Martlesham again I found about
30 bullet holes in my aircraft. The
searchlights were good and only
illuminated me about three times
during my attack and they held the
E/A nearly all the time.
A report by Martlesham Heaths
station intelligence officer added
further detail. One of the two
supposed grenades, it said, exploded
right in front of the windscreen while
the other one burst just underneath
the Blenheim to the right of its nose,
probably damaging the starboard
flap Even though his windscreen
was smashed and his starboard flap
had jammed, PO Herrick made a
satisfactory landing at Martlesham
Heath at 02.30hrs.
Again, Herrick had overcome the
shortcomings of both the Blenheim

and its fledgling new systems. Before

spotting the E/A in the searchlights,
the intelligence officer added, the
Blenheim used AI but found that
it was useless because it cut out RT
and inter-communication. The pilot
therefore shouted down the intercommunication for a long time until
the AI was eventually turned off.
The award to Herrick of the DFC
was gazetted on 24 September. The
Heinkel kill 10 days earlier proved
to be his last on the Blenheim, as
soon the first Beaufighter IF for No
25 Squadron had arrived at Debden,
the units new home. A much more
suitable night fighter, the Beaufighter
gradually took over from its Bristol
predecessor until conversion was
complete in January 1941. With the
advent of the Luftwaffes so-called
Baedeker raids, nocturnal trade
was more in evidence. Among 25s
successes during the busy period of
May-June 1941 were single Ju 88s
damaged and destroyed by the now
Fg Off Herrick.
Returning to his homeland on
attachment to the Royal New Zealand
Air Force towards the end of 1941,
Herrick served as a flying instructor
and was promoted to flight lieutenant.
In June 1942 he went to No 15
Squadron, RNZAF, initially as a flight
commander and then as commanding
officer upon the death of the
incumbent. Flying the P-40 Warhawk,
he destroyed an A6M2-N floatplane

AEROPLANE AUGUST 2016

(a derivative of the A6M Zero-sen)

on operations from Fiji, and claimed
an A6M destroyed, another A6M and
an Aichi D3A shared, and a second
D3A damaged during missions from
the re-captured island of Guadalcanal.
Herrick now received a Bar to his
DFC.
His final decoration was to be a
posthumous one. Posted back to the
UK in January 1944, Herrick joined
No 305 (Polish) Squadron at Lasham,
flying the Mosquito FBVI. The unit
carried out intruder missions over

occupied Europe by night and day,

and it was during just such a day
Ranger sortie that the skilled Kiwi
met his end. On 16 June 1944 his
Mosquito, NS913, was attacked by a
Luftwaffe Fw 190 near Aalborg airfield
in Denmark. Herrick and Polish
navigator Fg Off Turski bailed out over
water, but too low. The pilots body was
washed up on 4 July.
Sqn Ldr Mike Herrick was just
23 years old. The award of his US
Air Medal, for his exploits in the
Pacific, was made to his parents.

ABOVE: A tight
formation of 25s
Blenheim IFs, with
L1437/ZK-P in the
lead. VIA J. D. R. RAWLINGS
BELOW: Personnel
from 25 and a
Blenheim IF coded
ZK-X at Debden
during the summer
of 1940.
VIA ANDREW THOMAS

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