P/O Derek Edwin Tapson RAF
197 Squadron
November 11, 1943 – February 10, 1945
Derek Tapson attended an Aviation Candidates Selection Board (ACSB) and enlisted in the RAF on May 12, 1941. Identified as a suitable candidate for training as aircrew, AC2 D. E. Tapson (No. 1318297) subsequently reported on August 25 to 1 ACRC (Air Crew Receiving Centre) at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. On September 27 1941, he was transferred to 1 ITW (Initial Training Wing) in Babbacombe, Devon.
Whilst at 1 ACRC Derek Tapson would have been issued with the uniforms and personal equipment necessary for service life and introduced to the basics of marching, saluting and so on. Once at 1 ITW, Derek – his status as a trainee pilot indicated by the white flash in his cap – would have undergone initial ground schooling in principles of flight, navigation, airframes, engines, etc. as well as learning about the myriad of other details and “square bashing” needed for air force life.
Having successfully completed his twelve weeks training at 1 ITW, LAC (Leading Aircraftsman) Derek Tapson was re-mustered on November 22, 1941, as a U/T (under training) Pilot Gp 2. He arrived at No. 29 EFTS (Elementary Flying Training School), RAF Clyffe Pypard, Wiltshire on January 3, 1942, where, over the following four weeks, trainee pilot LAC Derek Tapson, had a first taste of flying with “real” planes in the form of Tiger Moths.
On his way to the USA to undertake his flying training under the Arnold Scheme, LAC D. E. Tapson, trainee pilot, arrived at 31 P.D. (Personnel Depot), Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, on March 25, 1942, before being transferred to the US. The Arnold Scheme was established to train RAF pilots in the safe environs of the USA away from the bad weather and crowded, hostile skies of the UK. Training, divided into Primary, Basic and Advanced courses, was carried out by the USAAF at both military and civil bases in S.E. America.
Cadet Pilot Derek Tapson, on Course UK 43J, undertook his Primary training, flying Boeing PT-17 Stearman biplanes, at Turner Field before moving on to Basic training on the Vultee BT-13 monoplane at Cochran Field, both in Georgia. The Advanced training for future fighter pilots was conducted on Harvard AT-6s, at Napier Field, Alabama. The complete process took about 26 weeks and culminated for successful cadets (approx. 60 per cent) with the award of both USAAF and RAF Wings. By December 14, 1942, the newly qualified Sergeant D. E. Tapson boarded the HMT Rangitata and was shipped back to the UK, arriving on January 23, 1943.
On his return to the UK, Sergeant D. E. Tapson attended two weeks of advanced flying training, designed to acclimatise new pilots trained overseas to the far more demanding flying conditions found in the UK, at 7 (P) AFU at RAF Westwood near Peterborough. Once undertaken Derek Tapson moved on to complete his training as a fighter pilot, flying Miles Masters and Hurricanes at 55 OTU (Operational Training Unit), RAF Annan, Dumfriesshire, subsequently concluding his training in the latest tactics and weapons at 1 CTS (Combat Training School (later 1 TEU [Tactical Exercise Unit]), RAF Tealing, Angus in December 1943.
Flight Sergeant D. E. Tapson arrived with 197 Squadron RAF at RAF Tangmere, Hampshire on December 15, 1943. Once familiar with the Typhoon planes and the local area he flew his first operational sortie on February 28, 1944, against a “Noball” (suspected V-1 launch site) target. Thereafter, and now flying from RAF Needs Oar Point near Beaulieu, Derek Tapson flew regularly against a variety of targets including further Noball sites, railway marshalling yards and bridges, troop concentrations and RDF (radar) stations in Normandy and the Pas de Calais, France.
Many of these operations were preparing the way for Operation Overlord, the invasion of France on June 6, 1944. On D-Day itself, Derek, along with the rest of ‘A’ Flight were amongst the first to fly on an early morning attack targeting a German headquarters & communications centre in a chateau near Bayeux. Operations continued apace after D-Day, sometimes rising to two or three per day depending on the situation on the ground.
At the beginning of July 1944, 197 Squadron moved, briefly, to RAF Hurn before deploying to an ALGs (advanced landing grounds) B.15 and then B.3, in France. Derek Tapson and two other pilots remained behind, cross-posted, due to lack of facilities and accommodation at the ALG, to 84 Group Support Unit. The group support unit’s primary role was to provide a reserve of pilots and aircraft to replace losses in the squadrons and soon enough the three pilots returned to 197 Squadron, now under canvas at B.51 Lille-Vendeville, on September 11, 1944.
On one notable occasion, on October 24, 1944, W/O Derek Tapson, along with nine other 197 Squadron pilots, participated in the 146 Wing RAF five-squadron attack on the German 15th Army Headquarters in Dordrecht, Holland. With two Generals, 53 other officers and over 200 hundred other ranks killed, this strike was highly successful and affected the performance of the 15th Army for some time.
As the fighting had moved on into Belgium and Holland, raids on German-held ports, such as Dunkirk and Terneuzen, and attacks against shipping and coastal gun positions along with the customary fare of railways, bridges, transport, and troops were the norm. Following up the retreating Germans, (now Warrant Officer) Derek Tapson moved with the Squadron to B.70 at Deurne in Antwerp. Here, billeted in semi-derelict houses he spent the winter months flying, amongst other operations, interdiction raids into Holland, disrupting the supply of V-1 and V-2 rockets to their launch sites in the Hook of Holland.
Apart from a short two-week Armament Practice Camp at RAF Fairwood Common, Swansea Derek Tapson continued to fly operations throughout the winter months, weather permitting. Early in February 1945, 197 Squadron moved to B.89 Mill on the Dutch-German border from where they could conduct operations into Germany to support the Allied Army’s advance up to the River Rhine. By then Pilot Officer, Derek Tapson, now an experienced, commissioned, veteran, had completed around 100 operational sorties.
On February 10, 1945, P/O D.E. Tapson (No.190180) failed to return from an attack on a German Corps Headquarters just over the River Rhine. Pulling up from a low-level attack, Derek Tapson’s Typhoon (OV-F PD447) was hit in the engine by flak. With the aircraft on fire, he baled out, hitting his head on the windscreen and losing his shoes in the process. Briefly knocked out, Derek Tapson regained consciousness just in time to pull his parachute ripcord before landing amongst the guns of the German AA battery that had shot him down. Here he was well treated and provided with a pair of wooden clogs before being moved onto the Dulag Luft (POW transit camp) near Frankfurt.
According to German records, P/O Derek Tapson (POW No. 9691) was held in Stalag Luft III located in Sagan, Lower Silesia (Zagan, Poland). The POWs in Stalag Luft III had, however, already been evacuated westwards away from the advancing Russian Army on January 29, 1945. Derek Tapson later recollected that he joined the British POWs from Stalag Luft III at Stalag XIII-D in Nuremberg from where they were marched 140 kilometres through bitter winter conditions to Stalag VII-A at Moosburg, Bavaria. Liberated by U.S. Forces on April 29, 1945, Derek was repatriated by the USAF to Northern France and then on to England in an RAF Lancaster.
On his return to the UK, Derek Tapson was diagnosed with jaundice and was no longer permitted to fly. He was therefore employed as a photographic officer until leaving the RAF in late 1946. Between 1959 and 1962 F/O Derek Tapson returned briefly to RAF service as the Officer Commanding, 626 Gliding School, Air Training Corps, RAF St. Mawgan.
Derek Tapson was one of the longest-serving members of 197 Squadron to survive the war. He was also the last surviving veteran of 197 Squadron. When he passed away peacefully, on July 16, 2024, at the ripe old age of 102 he was the last of an exceptional group of men.
Pilot Officer Derek Tapson
Born: December 23, 1921, died: July 16, 2024
Text by L.K.Byrne. All images courtesy of the Tapson family.