The RAF in Suffolk

This is taken from Runway 22 the official magazine of MHAS. It was part of the orbituary for Sir Ivor Broom who was a Vice President of MHAS

It was in May 1943 that Sir Ivor began his love affair with the De Havilland Mosquito. At first he remained
an instructor for pilots selected by Air Vice Marshal Don Bennett for his No8 Pathfinder Group. In May
1944 Ivor Broom joined No. 571, a Mosquito XV1 squadron of the Light Night Striking Force, (LNSF). His
navigator was Flt Lt. Tommy Broom. They were thereafter called “the flying brooms” and had the emblem
of crossed broomsticks painted on the nose of the aircraft!
They flew the Mosquito modified to carry the 4000lb bomb known as a “cookie”. The “flying brooms”
made numerous raids over Berlin with their lethal 4000 pounders. Tommy Broom was an exceptional
navigator who had survived a crash landing in Holland, then evaded capture and escaped via the famous
crossPyrenees
route into neutral Spain and finally home. Pinpoint mine laying in the DortmundEms
canal
was just one of many typical sorties.
Searchlights could cone the Brooms for as long as 15 minutes at a time while they weaved and dived and
twisted. Ivor Broom once asked his disoriented navigator for a course to base. Tommy Broom replied, “fly
north, with a dash of west while I sort myself out!” During this period the Flying Brooms lobbed a cookie up
the mouth of a railway tunnel in Germany with two fighters on their tail. Ivor Broom received a second bar
to his DFC for this exploit.
In autumn 1944 Ivor Broom became acting Squadron Leader in command of a flight in No. 128, another
LNSF Mosquito squadron. Just a few months later he was appointed acting Wing Commander to lead No.
163 squadron. Tommy Broom, now DFC and Bar, joined him as squadron navigation officer.
After many further offensives over Germany and occupied Europe by the reunited Flying Brooms the war
finally ended. Ivor Broom had undertaken 58 operational missions in Mosquitoes. They included 22 raids
over Berlin and his navigator, Tommy Broom accompanied him on most of those. Ivor Broom was awarded
the DSO and Tommy a third DFC.

-- Edited by tarkey on Tuesday 8th of June 2010 11:06:49 AM