Jefferies-Latimer, Jerrard

Squadron Leader Jerrard "Venca Fofr" Jefferies-Latimer


RAF No. 39286


Jerrard Jefferies joined the RAF in October 1936 on short-term service. He trained with the 3rd FTS at Grantham and was posted to 17 Squadron in August 1937. The unit was at that time armed with Gauntlet Mk.II biplane fighters and was based at Kenley. In June 1939 she finally began to rearm with the new Hurricanes Mk.I and moved to Debden on 9 September 1939 after the outbreak of war. She undertook defensive patrols over Britain until the start of the German offensive in the west, but then began to conduct offensive patrols over the continent. And it was during one of these that Jefferies first encountered the enemy.


On 11 May 1940 at 16:30, a dozen Hurricanes of 17 Squadron took off to patrol over the Netherlands, F/O Jefferies leading the green swarm. The British were patrolling between Haggis and Rotterdam and the swarms split up. A dogfight with Messerschmitt Bf 109 from I./JG 51 occurred in the area, after which, although the British claimed a 3-2-0 victory, they lost four Hurricanes, two pilots were killed and one was captured.


Jefferies' Green Swarm, however, did not encounter the Hundred Nines, but did encounter a pair of Henschel Hs 126 observation aircraft. Jefferies chose the closer aircraft as his target and shot it down with several bursts. After landing, he reported:


"I spotted an aircraft below me at 2000 feet and led my swarm after it. The machine turned south, but when I intercepted it, it turned back north. It began to plummet to the ground, zigzagging from side to side. I fired three short bursts, and the enemy aircraft crashed in a field and broke to pieces."


The second Henschel claimed Sgt. Wynn.


After the fight, the Germans reported five Hurricanes shot down and lost two Hundred nines and one pilot.


On 17 May 1940, Jefferies was transferred to the 85 Squadron, which was part of the 60 Wing AC and fought in France. On her Hurricanes, he immediately engaged in intense combat activity. He scored another victory two days after his arrival.


At about 10:00 a formation of 100s from 2(J)/LG 2 and II./JG 26 appeared in the area of Lille/Marcq airfield, where 85 Squadron was based. However, the airfield was immediately alerted, but it was too late for the two Lysanders of 4 Squadron, which were practicing take-off and landing, and both were shot down. Meanwhile, the morning patrol returned over the airfield and was the first to attack the centurions. Swarm commander P/O Lew Lewis shot down two of the attackers, his number F/O Jefferies claiming one probable victory. Then other aircraft of the unit and Hurricanes of sister squadrons 87th and 504 joined the fray. The RAF fighters eventually reported an 8-6-0 victory while losing three fighters.


The match did not go well at all for II./JG 26, which lost three Bf 109, but even worse for it was that the only casualty was Gruppennkommandeur Hpt. Herwig Knüppel. And to make matters worse, also wounded was Staffelkapitän 4./JG 26 Hptm. Karl Ebbinghausen. The second German unit claimed six victories, but lost Oblt. Friedrich von Wnger, who was killed in the wreckage of his 100th. 1)



It was the last victory for Jefferies in France. On 22 May, the squadron returned to Britain at Debden airfield.


After the fall of France, a large number of airmen from the countries of occupied Europe gathered in Britain and eventually formed their own national squadrons in the RAF. On 10 July 1940, the first squadron of Czechoslovak fighters was established. It was assigned the number 310. and was stationed at Duxford. The command posts of the unit were duplicated, British-Czech. The commanders were S/Ldr George Blackwood - S/Ldr Alexander Hess. F/Lt Gordon Sinclair and F/Lt Jaroslav Malý were placed in charge of A Squadron, while B Squadron was led by F/Lt Jefferies and F/Lt František Rypl, who had been transferred and promoted from 85 Squadron.


Alexander Hess described Jefferies as follows:


"A unique fighter pilot, he was proverbial in the way he saw to it that all orders were carried out directly by the gunner. Our boys gave him the nickname "Venca Fofr" for this reason, but in this very fact it was evident that he had won their general sympathy and that they liked him."


The unit's personnel immediately began intensive training, using the Avro Tutor, Miles Master and also the Hurricane Mk.I fighter aircraft that the squadron had been given. As most of the pilots were experienced pre-war pilots, training went relatively quickly and the biggest problem was English. But even this problem was soon overcome and on 17 August 1940 the unit was declared operational.


The squadron's pilots first encountered the Luftwaffe in British skies on 20 August. At 18:45 a three-man swarm, led by F/Lt Jefferies, took off on the alert. P/O Goeth and P/O Kredba did his numbers. At Aldeburg the pilots encountered Do 17, probably from 7/7th /KG 2, which was searching for the British convoy. However, the German bomber disappeared into the clouds and the trio returned with nothing.


The first engagement with the Germans thus did not occur until 26 August, when the squadron's pilots engaged a formation of Do 17s attacking Debden and Hornchurch airfields. After landing, the fighters reported three victories, but two Hurricanes were destroyed and two others damaged.


Jefferies scored his first victory with 310 Squadron on the last day of August 1940. Thirty-three again engaged bombers that were heading for Hornchurch. The Czechoslovakians encountered the enemy at about 13.20, it was a Do 17 Z from II./KG 3 with the protection of the Dangerous 100s, and immediately pounced. After landing they reported a 6-1-0 victory, but the Messerschmitts were shot down and killed by P/O Jaroslav Sterbáček, who thus became the first Czechoslovak killed in the RAF.


In this skirmish Jefferies attacked one of the bomber Dorniers, which then began to plummet to the ground with its engine in flames, a fact confirmed by P/O S. Zimprich, and Jefferies was awarded a certain kill.


His victim may have been a Do 17 Z-2 (W.Nr.3456, 5K+EM) from II./KG 3, which managed to return to its airfield with one wounded, but identifying specific opponents in large battles is very difficult.


Jefferies scored another success three days later when a formation of 54 Do 17 bombers from KG 2 successfully bombed North Weald airfield. However, ten Hurricanes of 310 Squadron, led by Jefferies, also got in the way of the departing enemy. They encountered the enemy at about 10:30 and immediately attacked. However, they encountered a group of Messerschmitt Bf 110 escorts.


Jefferies chose one of the 100s as his target and hit it precisely. The German aircraft then headed perpendicular to the ground, with the young Englishman still on its tail, and crashed into the ground about 15 kilometres north of the North Weald.


The squadron's other pilots did well too, reporting 5-1-0 victories over the Bf 110 and 1-1-0 over the Do 17. The 100s came from II/ZG 2, which probably lost three machines in the engagement with the 30s. However, the Germans managed to shoot down a Hurricane Mk.I P8811/NN-F, whose pilot Sgt. Josef Kopriva was slightly burned in the face.


Another 100th was damaged by Jefferies on 7 September 1940 over the Thames.


Jefferies had his most successful day on 15 September 1940. Already in the morning 25 Do 17 Z from I. and III./KG 76 were approaching Britain. Their target was London. The 11th Group sent all its fighter squadrons against the invaders and asked the neighbouring 12th Group for help. Thus, at 11.25, five squadrons Bader's (Grand) Wing were ordered to take off, 310 Squadron being one of them. Fifty-six Hurricane and Spitfire fighters set course for Graversend. After about half an hour of flight, they encountered the enemy north of London and immediately attacked. Jefferies led his B Squadron into the fight. He picked out the nearest bomber and lit its left engine with a precision burst. He then attacked two more Dorniers and reported that their crews had abandoned the planes on parachutes. After landing, he claimed three victories in cooperation and was awarded all of them. The first jointly with Sgt. Hubacek, the second with Sgt. Kaucky and the last with Sgt. Puda.


The first German aircraft Jefferies attacked was a Do 17 Z (W.Nr.2361, F1+FH) from 1st /KG 76. The aircraft was piloted by Oblt. Robert Zehbe and within minutes became the target of about ten Allied fighters. Sgt. Raymond Holmes of 504 Squadron wanted to deliver a mercy killing blow, but he misjudged the speed of the attack and rammed the crippled bomber. He caused its ultimate destruction, but had to abandon his Hurricane in the parachute at the same time. The Dornier then disintegrated in mid-air and parts of it landed in the vicinity of Victoria Station, with hastily dropped bombs landing in the vicinity of Buckingham Palace. Uffz was killed in the wreckage. Hans Goshendorfer and Uffz. Gustav Hubel. They were rescued by parachute and captured by Ogefr. Ludwig Armbrurster and Uffz. Leo Hammermeister. The last to leave the aircraft was the wounded Zhebe, whose parachute was carried to Kenington. Here, however, he became the victim of a lynching by local workers and was saved from death only by the arriving soldiers. But Zehbe soon succumbed to his injuries. The shooting down of this Dornier is sometimes referred to as the most famous victory of the Battle of Britain.


The other aircraft that Jefferies fired at could not be identified, but KG 76 lost six Do 17s in this battle, and four others were damaged, two beyond repair.


About two hours later the Luftwaffe returned over London, this time with an even greater force. This time, over 130 Do 17 and He 111 bombers with heavy fighter cover targeted the British capital. The Bader's Wing was also sent from Duxford to counter these attackers. The Germans were encountered by 46 fighters east of London at about 2.30 pm. Thirty-three attacked the bombers again and Jefferies flew the entire formation under continuous fire. And he had good aim, for he managed to light the engine of one of the planes in the first swarm. This aircraft was acknowledged as destroyed.


With 1+3 certain victories, the day that is now remembered as "Battle of Britain Day" ended for Jefferies.


He scored another success on 18 September. First, at about a quarter to three in the afternoon, he announced a probable victory over London Do 215. However, he did not record a major success until the evening, when Bader's wing was again sent into the London area. After about an hour of patrolling, the pilots saw a formation of German bombers overhead, which were identified as Do 215 or He 111. However, these were Ju 88s from III./KG 77. This unit was hit really hard, losing 9 machines. Thirty-three scored a 6-1-0 victory, all three squadrons of Hurricanes wings claimed over 20, Jefferies contributed one bomber which crashed at the mouth of the Thames after his attack.


This engagement was Bader Wing's last major engagement with the Germans. Although Jefferies continued to intervene in the fighting of the Battle of Britain thereafter, he scored no further victories.


He did not experience another dramatic event until 5 November. At that time, the Thirty-three took off at 10:30 for a patrol in the Dover-Canterbury area. After about an hour, however, it was caught out of the sun by a group of Bf 109 from I and III/JG 26, led by Hptm. Gerhard Schöpfel. Their strike was swift and crushing. Sgt. Soil had to abandon his V6619 on a parachute, Sgt. Mlejnecky flipped his V7597/NN-D after a collision with a tanker at Duxford, Sgt. Dvorak (P2795/NN-M) crashed at Fowlmere and Jefferies took a hit too, having to land on his belly at Hornchurch with the engine and radiator of his Hurricane R4089/NN-R hit. Sgt. Jiroudek also made an emergency landing and was hit by his own anti-aircraft artillery. In total, the Germans accurately reported 4 victories.


On 14 December 1940 Jefferies, along with S/Ldr Blackwood and F/Lt Sinclair, received the Czechoslovak War Cross 1939 and on the last day of 1940 took command of 310 Squadron. Sometime around this time he also married and changed his name to Latimer.


He received his next honour on 16 January 1941, when he and A. Hess were awarded the DFC by King George VI.


In March 1941, the squadron began to rearm to Hurricanes Mk.IIA and Latimer had his first success on the squadron on the 27th of that month, when the unit's pilots carried out convoy protection in the North Sea. While on patrol about 50 miles east to Great Yarmouth, Latimer, along with P/O Kimlicka, encountered a Ju 88 reconnaissance aircraft just about to attack the convoy. The fighters thwarted this effort and drove it into the clouds, where the Junkers crew casually dumped their bombs into the sea. A short chase ensued, during which the aircraft was hit several times and then disappeared for good towards France. The pilots took half the damage to the Ju 88.


He scored his last victory not only in the ranks of the 310 Squadron, but as it later turned out, his last ever, on the night of 8-9 April 1941. That night the Luftwaffe sent nearly three hundred of its bombers against Coventry and Portsmouth. 251 RAF fighters flew against them, reporting a total of 7-2-3 victories.


S/Ldr Latimer took off to patrol at 00:36 from Fowlmere airfield in Hurricane Mk.IIA Z2693. He was guided to the Coventry area where he encountered a Ju 88 bomber at 01:00, which he attacked. The German pilot managed to shake the Hurricane off after some time with violent manoeuvres, but ground reports confirmed hits and the aircraft was admitted to Latimer as probably destroyed. It was also the 310 Squadron's only nighttime success.


However, the last time Latimer fired on a German aircraft was on 15 May 1941, when he and B Squadron Commander F/Lt Davies were on patrol over a convoy near Harwich and came across the aircraft, which they subsequently identified as Do 17. Davies was the first to attack, setting fire to the aircraft's right engine, followed by Latimer, but the aircraft was already in a death throes and falling into the sea. The victory was thus attributed to Davies alone, whose victim was Bf 110 E-1 (W.Nr.3972, S9+GH) from I./SKG 210. His crew perished.


S/Ldr Latimer remained in command of 310 Squadron until 8 July 1941, when he moved to Tangmere Airfield to take command of the nascent 1455 Squadron. He left the squadron after almost a year and with 5+3-3-1+1 victories became its most successful pilot and the only ace that any Czechoslovak squadron had. 2)


His new unit was definitely interesting. It was armed with Douglas Havoc light bombers, which were modified by installing radar but most importantly a Helmore/GEC Turbinlite searchlight was installed in the nose. These aircraft were to fly alongside single engine fighters, which were to search for targets at night and then illuminate them with the searchlight. However, the tactic was not very successful and the searchlights proved more dangerous to their own fighters than to enemy bombers. Latimer left the unit in January 1942 and did not see it expanded to 534th Squadron in September of that year.


A well-deserved rest finally followed, after which Latimer was sent to the 1660th (Heavy) Re-training Unit. This was formed on 7 October 1942 by the amalgamation of several retraining squadrons and was concerned with the transition of pilots to heavy four-engined bombers. Latimer learned to fly the Lancaster with her, which was to prove fatal to him. Indeed, after completing his training, probably in the spring of 1943, he was sent to 106 Squadron, which flew the type operationally and which was commanded at the time by the legendary W/Cdr Guy Gibson. Here he became squadron commander and slowly began to fly operationally.


On his last combat mission, S/Ldr Latimer took off from Syerston airfield at 22:00 on 15 April 1943 as co-pilot of a Lancaster Mk.III ED752/ZN-H 3) bomber. J. Broderick, P/O J. A. Burns, RCAF, Lt. G. Muttrie, RNVR, Sgt. H. Buxton, Sgt. W. McLean, Sgt. H. Jones and Sgt. G. W. Hancock. Their target was Kiel, which they successfully bombed. However, they then decided to return at low altitude to escape the attention of the night fighters. Over France, however, their Lancaster became the target of light anti-aircraft fire and was shot down. Of the eight men aboard the bomber, only pilot Broderick, navigator Burns and Sgt. Jones survived; the others lost their lives.


S/Ldr Latimer's body was buried in the cemetery in the village of Sauvillers-Mongival, located about 22 kilometres southeast of Amiens.


For completeness, let us just add that Les Broderick was involved in the Great Escape from the Sagan POW camp, fortunately for him he was captured shortly after the escape and returned to the camp and so was not among the 50 airmen executed on Hitler's orders.



Sources.
Rajlich J.: In the Sky of Proud Albion, Part 1, Ares, Prague, 1999
Rajlich J.: Na nebi proudého Albion, Part 2, Svět křídel, Cheb, 2000
Shores C., Williams C.: Aces High, Grub Street, London, 1994
Shores C.: Aces High, volume 2, Grub Street, London, 1999
Cull B. - Lander B. - Weiss H.: Twelve days in May, Grub Street, London, 1999
Caldwell D.: War Diary of JG 26 1939-42, Silverbird, Pilsen, 1999
Foreman J.:RAF Fighter Command victory claims of WW2, Red Kite, Walton-on-Thames, 2003
Forman J.: Fighter Command War Diaries, volume 2, Air Research Pub., Walton-on-Thames, 1998
Voice G.: The Men of Burgges Hill 1939 to 1946, www.roll-of-honour.com
www.valka.cz


1) Describing the fighting according to British sources, Caldwell states that these losses were not suffered by II/JG 26 until the evening of the 20:00 round. At that time, however, only 615 Squadron claimed victory ( 0-2-0 ), but at an unknown location. However, it was a very successful day for 85 Squadron as they claimed a total of 14-2-1 victories and lost 3 aircraft and one pilot.
2) Otmar Kučera also scored 5-1-1 victories for the Czechoslovak squadrons, but some for 312th and some for 313th Squadron.
3) Other sources state that he flew as an observer.

J. Jefferies-Latimer - victory table



Total:5+3-3-1+1 wins

Hello,
I am new to this forum and would like to know if anyone has any informationa about this Squadron Leader Jerrard "Venca Busy" Jefferies-Latimer (www.armedconflicts.com).
In the text of this post, it is quoted that he and Lt Davies shot down a Bf 110 E-1 (W.Nr.3972, S9+GH) from I./SKG 210 on April 15th., 1941.
My father's cousin was the radio operator on this airplane and I need more information about him and this airplane, only for genealogical research reasons.
Any comment will be wellcome.
I thank in advance for any information that could be provided for me.