Pilot Officer John Francis Arthur MacLaren

‘Strike Wing Navigator’

Page submitted by and Copyright Simon Muggleton for Aircrew Remembered May 2025

Anyone who reads the history of the RAF in WW2 will soon chance upon the phrase,

‘The Strike Wings’.

Closer examination will reveal that several squadrons were set up by 16 Group with the task from 1942 onwards in stopping the transportation by ship of iron ore from the Baltic coasts by German merchantmen, shielded by the Luftwaffe and ReichMarine ships.

Iron ore was an essential factor in driving the German war machine in the making of steel, an essential component needed by every arm of their three services. Germany consumed over 10 million tons annually of this high grade, least adulterated, Swedish iron ore. If the supply could be cut off or sufficiently reduced, then the length of the war might just be reduced by a couple of years?

By the autumn of 1944 there were nearly 200 frontline Beaufighters and Mosquito aircraft combined into nine squadrons of the Coastal Command Strike Wing, fighting in some of the most bloodiest attacks of the air war, all at low level and mostly at close quarters. Most of these anti shipping attacks were shrouded in secrecy at the time, both the press and BBC only releasing scant details.

One of the squadrons attached to The Strike Wing and set up in early 1943 was 143, flying Beaufighter and then Mosquito aircraft, the later marks of Beau’s were robust anti flak aircraft fitted with rocket projectiles (RP), cannons and in some operations bombs and torpedoes, having a maximum speed of 350mph and a range of around 1000 miles. The Mk VI C had a crew of two, the pilot and navigator, who had the additional role of wireless operator and rear gunner. The view from the pilot’s seat was superb, giving him a good view of the two 1,772 Hercules engines powering a brute of an aircraft. The navigator was set slightly back from him, having a hinged plotting table to his right, just behind the four boxes containing 240 explosive shells for the cannons. His Marconi wireless set and Gee radar set were further back in the cramped fuselage, along with the backward firing Vickers Browning machine guns. A squadron in a Strike Wing usually consisted of 20 aircraft with 20 pilots and navigators.

John Francis Arthur MacLaren trained as a navigator/wireless operator/air gunner and served with 143 Squadron from 21st September 1943 until March 11th 1945.

Born in Wallington Surrey (now Greater London) on the 31st December 1908,he was the second child of Margaret Charlotte, an accomplished pianist, and William Leslie MacLaren, who became the Managing Director of the Bank of Mauritius (now part of HSBC).

The 1911 census shows the family living in a house named Pensly in Carew Road Wallington, Surrey, and that he had a sister, Margaret Joyce ( then 5 years) along with a nanny, Ellen Madder, (57yrs), and Florence Jennings (20yrs) the cook and domestic cleaner. During the first World War John was sent to board at Temple Grove School in Eastbourne, founded in 1810 by the Rev William Pearson,( amongst it’s earliest pupils were the sons of the Duke of Wellington). John soon settled in at the school and began to develop an aptitude for rifle shooting which would stay with him throughout his life. John is shown in a photograph of the leavers of 1922 in which about ten boys are grouped with the Headmaster, where John is standing next to his contemporary, Douglas Bader. John loved to recall that he at one time got into a fist fight with Douglas which resulted in Douglas being knocked out! In 1935 the school was moved to Heron’s Ghyll just outside Uckfield in East Sussex, ( now used for residential flats).

In September 1922 John enrolled at Repton School in Derbyshire, his boarding house was named The Hall, where he studied classics. He joined the Officer Training Corps, where he continued with his love of rifle shooting, becoming a member of the Shooting VIII for 1926, the same year he left the school in December.

On the 21st February 1927 John commenced working at the Bank of England (no doubt spurred on by his father with his connections) and by February 1930 he was appointed as an Assistant. He captained the Bank of England Rifle Club and on four occasions was selected to compete in the King’s Prize at Bisley, held each July, for which only the 100 best shots in the country are eligible.

In the National Rifle Association (NRA) Prize lists he is shown as ‘Private, Late Repton School OTC’ . In the competition of 1933 he was 88th, in 1935 he was 64th, in 1936 61st, and 82nd in 1939. He was awarded by the NRA, four gilt wire and woven oval badges depicting the King’s Crown with the appropriate date beneath for these competitions. He was in the top 50 of the Grand Aggregate in 1932, coming 17th (also receiving a bronze cross) and in the top 25 (coming 12th) of the St George’s Prize, and also in 1934 when he was 5th.

John was similarly awarded a woven shield shaped badge for these, with the date and incorporating a St George’s Cross. He was nominated for Honorary Life Membership of the NRA on the 14th June 1937, and given a named 4cm round ivory badge to wear. He also shot for the Surrey County VIII in either or both the King George V Cup or the County Short Range Championship.

John’s life in the 20’s and 30’s was a social whirl, having come from a comfortable and cultivated middle class family ( Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the Liberal Prime Minister

1905-8, was his great grandfathers cousin). By all accounts he was also an accomplished dancer, his speciality being the Charleston! He was the proud owner of more than one MG motorcar, along with a fleet of motorbikes, managing to break the crankshaft of his brand new 1933 J2 model by revving too hard, and eventually changing to a Vauxhall by 1939.

When war was declared in September 1939, the Bank of England moved many of the staff from the City (‘Operation Zero’) for safety, into accommodation at a large country mansion called Hurstbourne Priors. This was near to the village of Overton in Hampshire, where the firm Portals Ltd, produced the paper banknotes. John was billeted close by with another employee Ronald Woods, at Rose Cottage London Road, Whitchurch, the home of a retired policeman, William Grace and his wife Emma.

On the 30th May 1940 John volunteered for the Hampshire Home Guard, joining No 5 Company of the 2nd Battalion based at Whitchurch, parading in the evenings and at weekends after work.
By now John was 32 years old, but he still felt he wasn’t doing enough for the war effort and volunteered for the RAF on the 23rd February 1942, hoping to become a pilot. He was swiftly informed that he was too old for that trade at 30, and instead elected to become a Wireless Operator/ Air Gunner.

Following his initial training, and ‘square-bashing’ he was sent to No 1 Signals School at RAF Cranwell in August 1942, to train as a wireless operator flying in Dominie aircraft.
The training included a session in the ‘Harwell Box’ a sort of torture chamber in which a wireless operator did his final ground training dressed in his full flying kit trying to receive and transmit signals, whilst the sound of a continuous engine roar with machine guns were fed into one ear, whilst listening with the other.

Sometimes the box was swung about to add to an airsickness feeling. John completed a total of 16 hours ‘in the box’, passing out as a qualified wireless operator on the 14th September 1942, now able to wear the badge of a clenched fist holding bolts of lightning on the sleeve of his uniform.

At that time, there was a shortage of qualified Navigators, so John volunteered for that trade and was then enrolled on Navigation Course 62B at No 33 Air Navigation School at Mount Hope Hamilton, Ontario Canada on the 26 October 1942. He crossed the Atlantic in the Queen Mary which had been requisitioned as a troopship. Now promoted to Sergeant he passed the final navigation exam with a 70% pass on the 18th February 1943, and was then sent onto course 28A of No 31 General Reconnaissance School RCAF Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, flying in Anson aircraft for two months. He proudly sewed on the qualification badge of the Observer/Navigator wing brevet onto his uniform.

On the 21st June 1943 John was sent to No 3 School of Ground Reconnaissance for a further month’s training, again on Anson’s. From the 28th July to the 7th September 1943 John was attached to No 2 Operational Training Unit to brush up on his Wireless Operator skills, this time flying Beaufighter aircraft. It was here that he first crewed up with his pilot, Sergeant Dave Brown with whom he would fly with until the end of the war.

By the autumn of 1943, John had returned to the UK, and had met and married Amelia Dugdale in Kensington, London. It was a short honeymoon, by September 21st he was posted to 143 Squadron, with Dave Brown, operating in Beaufighter aircraft from RAF

St Eval under the command of Wing Commander Lambert DFC.

On the 24th October both Sergeant Brown and Sergeant John MacLaren carried out their first patrol in the Bay of Biscay flying in Beaufighter NE-A. During November 1943 they carried out four similar patrols as well as searching for landing craft. John’s flying logbook was signed at the end of the month by Squadron Leader JG Lingard DFC a former Battle of Britain pilot, and Wing Commander EH McHardy DSO DFC*

On Christmas day, Beaufighter NE-J flown by newly promoted Flight Sergeant Brown and Flight Sergeant MacLaren were one of 63 aircraft who took off on a shipping strike, but unfortunately were not able to locate the enemy and returned early. Three days later they took part in a fighter escort and witnessed two Royal Navy cruisers sinking 3 German destroyers that had no cover from the Luftwaffe.

On the 3rd January 1944 John flew with Dave Brown on a fighter patrol in the Bay of Biscay where they saw 4 Focke Wulf 190’s but didn’t engage with them, two further patrols in the bay were made on the 8th and 14th.

The 11th February saw the squadron move to RAF North Coates off the Yorkshire coast, most of that month being taken up with strike practice with formation and landing exercises, although on the 25th and 29th two separate reconnaissance sweeps were made along the Dutch coast, with no enemy aircraft sighted.

On the 7th March they flew in NE-F on a strike on a convoy off Borkum Island (near Wilhelmshaven Germany) attacking an armed trawler which they left in smoke and flames. The next op was on the 26th in NE-X where they completed a recce along the German/Dutch coast, and on approaching RAF North Coates they suffered engine failure but Sgt Brown managed to bring the aircraft down safely.

On the 29th March they flew in Beaufighter NE-U completing another op off Borkum attacking and obtaining many strikes on a German merchant vessel (later identified as the 1305 ton Hermann Schulte which was eventually sunk).

They flew next on the 6th May from RAF Manston in NE-V off the Dutch coast on a strike, but had to return early due to engine trouble, four other operations were undertaken during that month each being called off early due to bad weather. Throughout June 1944 John’s flying logbook shows many night time flights just over the hour under the heading ‘Swingate Patrol’.

This was a ‘Chain Home Low’ (CHL) radar station located at RAF Swingate located at Dover, that could pick up any enemy night fighters, or E boats on patrol, as well as guiding RAF bombers onto targets using ‘Gee’ a radio navigation system.

In June both Dave Brown and John MacLaren were promoted to Pilot Officers and on the 8th he and John flew in Beaufighter NE-T on a Swingate Patrol attacking 2 German

E Boats with bombs in the Channel. Three similar patrols were undertaken on the 10th 11th and 13th with no contacts, but on the 14th they were chased by several German night fighters, but no engagements took place.

On the 17th and 23rd armed recce’s were made over Dunkirk and Ostend, when they hit a ‘R Boat’ (German armed minesweeper) with their bombs and rockets.

(R Boat R97 of 125 tons was later confirmed sunk off Boulogne). On the 26th they flew in NE-K on an armed recce off the Hook of Holland where 5 ‘E Boats’ were attacked, NE-K having a ‘near miss’ on one of them. Two further recce’s were completed before the end of the month with no sightings.

On July 4th they flew in NE-A on an armed recce failing to make any contact, but on the 5th they undertook two Swingate patrols off Boulogne bombing E- Boats. Similar attacks were made on E- Boats on the 9th with armed recce’s along the coast, this time off Ostend. On the 11th, 12th,18th,19th armed patrols from GrisNez to Le Havre were undertaken with no sighting of the enemy. On the 22nd flying in Beau NE-P they attacked a German ‘Elbing Flottentorpedoboot (torpedo boat comparable to a small destroyer) no results were seen, finishing the month off on the 24th,25th, and 27th on further Swingate patrols along Gris Nez to Le Havre.

Most of August was taken up on various air tests from RAF North Coates, also attacking

E- Boats off Ostend on the 15th and 30th, recorded in John’s logbook as ‘Very near misses’. September started with P/O Brown and Flight Sergeant flying in NE-F attacking 5 E- Boats off Westkapelle (Zeeland) with cannon fire, seriously damaging two of them. Armed recce’s were undertaken on the 2nd and 5th but no contacts were made.

On the 12th September they were flying in NE-R in a sweep along the Dutch coast when they were chased by German night fighters. John makes an entry in pencil in his logbook, ‘ Our return to base was ordered by the leader after a streak of light was seen rising vertically and rapidly between clouds, which was assumed at first to be a night fighter, but more probably an early V2 launched from the Den Helder area’

The month was rounded off on the 28th and 30th with sweeps in Beaufighter NE-Z along the Heligoland and Terschelling areas, with no contacts.

October 1944 began with a ‘Rover Patrol’ (armed patrol looking for enemy ships) and continued with more exercises of night time formations. On the 24th the whole squadron moved from RAF North Coates to RAF Banff in Scotland, under W/C Maurice DSO DFC, where more exercises were undertaken with rocket projectiles (RP’s)

All of November 1944 was also taken up with more flying and navigation practise, only this time in a new type of aircraft, the wooden fighter bomber Mk VI Mosquito carrying four .303 machine guns in it’s nose and four 20mm cannon in the front bomb bay. Later Mk’s were adapted to take eight rocket rails under the wings, also having an added speed of 20 knots over the Beaufighter, making it more of a fighter aircraft. Now promoted to Flying Officer, Dave Browns first flight with Pilot Officer MacLaren was on the 20th, flying NE-Z.

Their first operation lasting four hours, in the new aircraft, was on the 5th December flying Mosquito NE-O attacking shipping in Nordgullen Fjord. On the 18th they were on a ‘Rover Patrol’,ending the month on the 28th in NE-B attacking merchant vessels north of Stavangar, and reporting RP strikes on various warehouses as well.

New Year 1945, and the squadron had another officer in charge, this time a former Battle of Britain pilot Wing Commander Christopher Foxley-Norris DSO, who signed John’s logbook after the one anti shipping patrol he carried out in NE-F, on the 13th with Dave Brown, a Rover Patrol from Utvaer to Krakenes in Norway. On February 11th flying the same aircraft they made attacks in the Aldasnes area of Norway,but had to return early due to bad weather. On the 18th sweeps were made in Mosquito NE-E along the Gulens area, but again bad weather prevented further inroad into the Norwegian coast. Only one strike patrol over Hestsknoer was made in March on the 11th in NE-D but they had to return early again due to bad weather.

This was to be the last flight with 143 Squadron flying Mosquito’s on Strike Attacks for both Dave Brown and John MacLaren, having completed an incredible 71 ‘low level ops’ with a total flying time of just under 200 hours. They were a lucky crew, joining the squadron along with 7 other pilots and 7 navigators, of these 14, only three, including John and his pilot survived the war.

Post war, John told his son Andrew that a batch of 8 pilots and navigators from the squadron were recommended for the award of a Distinguished Flying Cross for their t wo busy ‘tours’, but that was considered too many by the top brass, and in the end none of them were awarded any decoration, not even a ‘Mention in Despatches’. Pilot Officer John MacLaren’s only medals were the 1939 Star, the Atlantic Star, and 1939-45 War Medal, which were sent in an Air Ministry cardboard box to his home address in Southborough Kent, where they stayed, never to be worn by him.

On the 26th March both John and Dave Brown were rested, and posted to No 1 Ferry Unit under Transport Command based at RAF Pershore in Worcestershire.

They were engaged in ferrying other Beaufighter aircraft to front line squadrons. This only lasted 6 weeks, because on May 15th John was a passenger on Dakota FL517 piloted by P/O McCrae, both bound for Cairo via Sardinia and on to RAF Bamhrauli near Allahabad in India, joining No 9 Ferry Unit and then No 36 SP Ferry Unit. This unit was also engaged in ferrying duties, again mainly with Beaufighters and Mosquitoes, using Dakotas for their return flight, on several of these flights he linked up with Dave Brown again. John MacLaren’s last flight with Transport Command was on 14th November 1945, adding another 275 flying hours in his logbook. John was demobbed in January 1946, returning to his old job at the Bank of England, buying a house at 8 Chestnut Avenue, Southborough, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent in 1947, where he lived with his wife until his death in 2002 aged 93 years.

With grateful thanks to Andrew MacLaren son of John MacLaren

References, ‘The Strike Wings’ by Roy Conyers Nesbit ( published HMISO), Roger Munday Curator National Rifle Association Museum, Hannah Cleal Archivist Museum Bank of England , Paul Stevens Archivist Repton School, Mrs Gina Hynard Archivist Hampshire Record Office Winchester