Cairo was the main detachment centre for the western desert forces, and for the RAF forces in Burma and India. Jim waited two weeks for an assignment. Eventually, he was posted to 94 Squadron flying Hurricanes from an anonymous spot in the desert called Antelat. He and a bunch of replacement pilots were unceremoniously loaded into an ancient Bristol Bombay transport plane and flown to a dusty LG near Tmimi on the coast to find out where 94 Sqdn. was located. Then it was on into the desert at only 50 feet altitude to avoid enemy fighters.

They landed at Antelat in the middle of a raid, with AA guns barking at a pair of Junkers Ju-88 light bombers. They loosed their bombs over the airfield and left with no real effect. No Hurricanes raced off to intercept the bombers, since they were all mired in the mud. The pilots themselves were a sorry, demoralized lot since 94 Sqdn. had lost some men and many aircraft in the past few days. There were only four Hurricanes left, and everything appeared to be in shambles. There was little in the way of equipment, food or resources.

Their losses came at one of the periodic climaxes of the desert war. During Britain's "Crusader Offensive" of Nov. 1941, the 8th Army relieved the siege of Tobruk and forced Lt. General Erwin Rommel's troops across Cyrenaica to El Agheila. Rommel's men fought back stubbornly and gave ground up slowly. Eventually, British supplies were severely hampered by the increased bombing of Malta, attacks on the port of Alexandria and the presence of U-boats in the Mediterranean.

Conversely, this meant that the Axis improved their supply position. With increased supplies the German and Italian forces rebounded in January, 1942. The RAF's Desert Airforce (DAF) fighters were mauled, losing 13 in several days. In attempts to bomb the retreating British forces German and Italian Ju-87 Stukas and Macchi MC-200s were, in turn, badly shot up by DAF Hurricanes and Curtiss P-40 Tomahawks. The 8th Army retreated to a chain of primitive, dug-out fortifications for tanks, artillery and infantry known as the Gazala Line and waited.

The Luftwaffe commander in the Mediterranean, Feldmarshal Albert Kesselring thought that the ground advance should be halted so that Malta could be subdued and so ensure the supply routes across the Mediterranean. Then North Africa could be taken. Malta's position south of Sicily made it an excellent location for Allied forces to launch planes against German and Italian convoys heading to Tripoli. Without Malta the entire English presence in the Mediterranean was seriously threatened. It was a sound strategy, except that it didn't include Erwin Rommel.

Without orders and with few supplies Rommel had his men probed the British positions in front of him and found that they were lightly held and gave way immediately. In a gamble he swung some armour across the desert to Mechili while the bulk of his forces took Benghazi completely by surprise. The British forces fell back in confusion.

February and March saw Rommel's forces advance to Tmimi and take up positions west of Gazala. But his troops were too weak to start an assault on the British so he began building supplies for another advance. All of this activity merely distracted Hitler's attention away from Malta, the key to the Mediterranean. Eventually Rommel's successes and his ability to convince Hitler that his was the right course, diverted enough men and materiel away from "Operation Herkules" that Malta was never taken by the Germans. Rommel was an excellent tactician, but a poor strategician. He didn't, and wouldn't, understand Kesselring's superior plan.

The English rail line from Alexandria to Mersa Matruh had been pushed forward to Tobruk and supplies were being brought forward by road and rail. Tobruk was a key port on the Cyrenaican coast and had to be held against Rommel in order to resupply and rebuild the 8th Army. It would also enable the RAF to retake the airfields in order to intercept German and Italian convoys to Benghazi. This was the situation when Jim "Eddie" Edwards joined the Desert Air Force. The English tradition is to make a nickname from a person's last name, hence Edwards became "Eddie."

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Curtis P40 Kittyhawk

The Battles for the Gazala Line and Tobruk

Eddie and the rest of the Squadron pulled up stakes and moved east to Mechili and then to a bare patch of desert called LG 110. Here they received new American-made Curtiss P40 Kittyhawk I fighter-bombers for their Hurricanes and got a new Squadron Leader, S/L Ernest "Imshi" Mason.

He had 17 victories over the Italians during the Libyan Campaign with 80 and 274 Squadrons. He also had experience over Malta, was shot down and wounded, and spent time in Palestine and Iraq before moving to north Africa. A month later he was posted as S/L to 94 Sqdn. By the middle of February S/L Mason and some experienced pilots flew to another LG to begin ops with the Kittyhawks while Eddie and the rest continued training. The day after, Mason led 18 aircraft of 94 and 112 Sqdns to bomb the German airbase at Martuba.

Their raid was not a total surprise and a single Messerschmitt 109 got off the ground piloted by Oberfeldwebel Otto Schultz. He succeeded in shooting down five Kittyhawks, including Mason's, killing him. 94 Sqdn. was pulled from the front lines and ordered to regroup for training. Their new S/L was Ian MacDougall, a survivor of the Battle for France and the Battle of Britain. He immediately undertook a serious training program on desert fighter tactics.

For the next three weeks he briefed the pilots on what operations were all about. In the air they practiced air firing, flight and battle formations, and finally the basics of dog-fighting with other aircraft. By the end of March they were declared operational and sent back into the front line joining their companion, 260 Sqdn.

Both the Axis and Allied air forces were tasked with interrupting the other army's supply lines and with protecting theirs. Any major disruption could have an important impact on the armored columns that meant victory or defeat in the desert. The DAF operated Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawks for interceptors and ground attack, while Hurricanes and P-40 Tomahawks were used mostly for ground attack (although they were all used for interceptors on occasion).

Facing them were the Luftwaffe flying Messerschmitt Me-109Fs and the Regia Aeronautica in Macchi MC-200s, and MC-202s as interceptors. They also used Me-110s for transport escorts. Unfortunately for Jim and the rest of the DAF, the Kittyhawk was no match for the Me-109F.

The Allies had several squadrons of Douglas A-20 "Boston" and Martin "Baltimore" light bombers that they used as their principal offensive air weapons. Most missions that the Kittyhawks flew were to provide cover for the bombers that were attacking ground forces, aircraft or installations.

The Axis used Me-109Fs, Me-110s, Ju-87 "Stukas", Italian Macchi 200s and obsolete Caproni CR-42 biplanes in the ground attack role. Under good aerial protection the Stukas were excellent dive bombers, but if there was any significant opposition they lost heavily. The Axis had no bombers as good as what the Allies could field. The best they had was the Heinkel He-111 but they had too few and they were easy targets for fighters. They also used Ju-88s, and Italian BR20s but both of these aircraft lost heavily if there were Allied fighters to oppose them.

94 Squadron's first day of full operations was a standing patrol over the Gazala-Tobruk lines. They were bounced by Me-109s and lost a pilot. Two days later they escorted South African Airforce (SAAF) bombers to Martuba, the nearest Axis air base, in the hopes of tying down their aircraft so that an Allied convoy could get past them.

Go to Part 3 .