Caesar Hull

Squadron Leader Caesar Barrand Hull, DFC (26 February 1914 – 7 September 1940) was a Southern Rhodesian-born flying ace in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War (1939–45), noted for his part in the fighting for Narvik during the Norwegian Campaign in 1940, and for his service in the Battle of Britain later that year, during which he was shot down and killed. Having won eight confirmed aerial victories during the war (including five as a biplane pilot over Norway), he was killed during a dogfight over London on 7 September 1940, barely a week after taking command of No. 43 Squadron RAF.

From a farming family, Hull spent much of his childhood in South Africa and Swaziland, and was part of South Africa's boxing team at the 1934 Empire Games. After unsuccessfully trying to join the South African Air Force in 1935, he enlisted in the RAF and, on passing out as a pilot officer in August 1936, mustered into No. 43 Squadron at RAF Tangmere. Dedicating much of his early service to aerobatics, he performed the individual routine at the 1937 Hendon air show honouring the coronation of King George VI.

Hull was greatly excited by the outbreak of World War II in 1939, and scored No. 43 Squadron's first victory of the conflict in late January 1940. Reassigned to Norway in May 1940 to command a flight of Gloster Gladiator biplanes attached to No. 263 Squadron, he shot down four German aircraft in an afternoon over the Bodø area south-west of Narvik, a feat that earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross. Wounded on 27 May 1940, he was appointed commander of No. 43 Squadron on his return to action at the end of August.

Soon after his death, a monument to his memory was erected near his birthplace in Southern Rhodesia. This remained until 2004, when the plaque was transported to England and donated to the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum. Further memorials to Hull were built in Bodø in 1977 and Purley, where his aircraft crashed, in 2013.

Early life
Caesar Barrand Hull was born on 26 February 1914 at Leachdale Farm, a property near Shangani in Southern Rhodesia, the son of a farmer. He was brought up between Rhodesia, South Africa and Swaziland, where his family moved in his early teens, and educated at home until 1926, when he began to board at St John's College in Johannesburg, South Africa. A champion boxer, he was a member of South Africa's boxing team at the 1934 Empire Games in London.

Pre-war service
Hull attempted to join the South African Air Force in 1935, but was turned down because he could not speak Afrikaans. He joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) instead, enlisting in England in September 1935. Completing the pilot's course on 3 August 1936 with the rank of pilot officer, he joined No. 43 Squadron at RAF Tangmere in Sussex five days later.

Much of Hull's early air force career was dedicated to aerobatics. He and Peter "Prosser" Hanks perfected a routine where they would change places in a two-seater Hawker Audax in mid-air. Along with Peter Townsend, who joined the squadron with the same level of seniority as Hull, and Sergeant Frank Carey, they formed an aerobatic flight that performed stunts such as loops, barrel rolls and stall turns. Piloting a Hawker Fury, Hull flew the individual aerobatics at the air show at Hendon in 1937 honouring the coronation of King George VI.

Hull was promoted to flying officer on 16 April 1938. As war loomed, the squadron began to prepare for combat in late 1938, and in December that year was re-equipped with Hawker Hurricane Mk Is. Hull reacted to the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 with great excitement; when he heard the news he leapt to his feet with a joyful shout of "wizard".

Early war
No. 43 Squadron was posted to RAF Acklington, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in November 1939, flying Hawker Hurricane Mk Is. Amid severe weather conditions, Hull scored the squadron's first victory of the war on 30 January 1940 when he shot down a Heinkel He 111 bomber of the Luftwaffe near the island of Coquet. On 26 February the squadron was transferred to RAF Wick in northern Scotland to help protect the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow. Hull, Carey and two others together downed another He 111 on 28 March 1940. On 10 April 1940, Hull took part in the shooting down of a reconnaissance He 111. The reconnaissance aircraft had been sent out in advance of a major raid launched by He 111s from Kampfgeschwader 26 and Kampfgruppe 100, aimed at covering the German invasion of Norway. No. 43 Squadron was posted back to its home base at Tangmere in May 1940, and some of its main pilots were reassigned to other units: among these were Townsend, who was assigned to No. 85 Squadron RAF as its commanding officer, and Hull, who was posted to No. 263 Squadron to command a flight of Gloster Gladiator biplanes during the unit's second committal to the Norwegian Campaign.

Norway
No. 263 Squadron was deployed to the area around Narvik, a strategically valuable port city in northern Norway then under German control, but fiercely contested by the Norwegians and Allies. Crossing the Norwegian Sea aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Furious, the pilots took off on 21 May while at sea, in groups of three each led by a Fairey Swordfish of the Fleet Air Arm, and encountered thick mist around the island of Senja; the Swordfish and two Gladiators from one of the groups crashed into a mountain. Hull led the first four aircraft through and landed safely at Bardufoss airfield at 04:20, about 80 km north-east of Narvik. A further 12 Gladiators followed some four hours later. Fourteen Gladiators were operational and began flying patrols from Bardufoss on 22 May, carrying out 30 sorties on the first day. Hull and two other pilots together downed a He 111 over Salangen on 24 May 1940, killing two of the five German crew; the other three were captured by Norwegian troops after making an emergency landing at Fjordbotneidet. In all, during its two weeks of operations in northern Norway, No. 263 Squadron was to claim 26 confirmed kills and nine possibles during 70 dogfights.

Hull and two other pilots, Pilot Officer Falkson and Naval Lieutenant Tony Lydekker, volunteered to be detached to an improvised airstrip at Bodø, a port about 100 km south-west of Narvik, on 26 May 1940 to cover Allied troops who were retreating north for evacuation under Operation Alphabet. Arriving to find the airfield extremely muddy, the pilots had great difficulty moving their aircraft to drier ground to refuel from four-gallon (18 l) tin cans. A He 111 was spotted overhead while this was in progress, prompting the three pilots to scramble having only partially refuelled. Falkson's plane crashed after mud clung to its wheels, and while Lydekker took off successfully, he had so little fuel that Hull almost immediately ordered him to land to add more.

The Rhodesian pursued the He 111 and, with three attacks from astern, set the bomber ablaze, forcing it to crash. Hull then downed a Junkers Ju 52 and, after unsuccessfully chasing another He 111, destroyed two more Ju 52s. Two of the Ju 52s Hull downed over the Saltdal valley had been carrying Fallschirmjäger paratroops, while the third had been loaded with supplies. The German aircraft had been headed to the aid of the hard-pressed German forces fighting around Narvik. The first of these successfully landed in German-held territory before burning out, allowing the crew and paratroopers aboard to exit safely, but the second spiralled out of control and crashed, killing eight German paratroopers. Hull then attacked another He 111, which soon retreated, giving off smoke. Having used up all his ammunition, Hull now returned to Bodø. In the space of about an hour, in a technologically inferior aircraft and without assistance, he had destroyed four German planes and damaged a fifth.

Hull, Falkson and Lydekker spent the night of 26–27 May 1940 patrolling the area around Rognan, about 20 km inland from Bodø. After driving German bombers away from British and Norwegian forces fighting at Pothus south of Rognan, the Gladiators strafed German ground forces. Around 08:00 on 27 May, Bodø was attacked by 11 Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bombers from I./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 (StG 1—Dive Bomber Wing 1) and three Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighters attached to I./Zerstörergeschwader 76 (ZG 76—Destroyer Wing 76). Lydekker claimed one of the Stukas, but was ultimately forced to limp north to Bardufoss to land, his Gladiator heavily damaged. Having initially been caught on the ground by the German attack, Hull got his fighter airborne during a pause in the raid. After engaging the German aircraft and shooting down Feldwebel Kurt Zube's Stuka, which fell into the sea, Hull was overcome by one of the Bf 110s, piloted by Oberleutnant Helmut Lent, and forced to crash near the Bodø airfield. Wounded in the head and the knee, he was initially treated at Bodø Hospital before being evacuated back to Britain via Harstad, on a Sunderland flying boat for further treatment. Hull's kills during the Norwegian Campaign made him the RAF's first Gloster Gladiator ace, as well as the most successful RAF fighter pilot of the campaign. On 17 June, while convalescing, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions in Norway, which were adjudged to be heroic.

Battle of Britain; death
Hull was declared fit to return to operational duty after about two months' rest and recuperation in Guildford, and on 31 August 1940 he was appointed commanding officer of his former unit, No. 43 Squadron, with the rank of squadron leader. The unit was still based at Tangmere, flying Hurricanes, and was by now fighting in the Battle of Britain. Hull expressed considerable surprise at this sudden rise in station.

The first engagement of Hull's command, on 2 September, was unsuccessful for him; three of the squadron's Hurricanes were shot down in return for two Messerschmitt Bf 109s. On 4 September, Hull led a group of Hurricanes in a decisive aerial victory over a large group of Bf 110s over coastal Sussex.

Around 16:00 on 7 September 1940, nine Hurricanes of No. 43 Squadron scrambled to intercept a large formation of German aircraft coming over Kent towards London. Hull led six of the aircraft towards the German bombers while Flight Lieutenant John "Killy" Kilmartin, from Ireland, headed a section of three tasked with countering any fighters. Hull took his aircraft above the bombers, then dived down towards them, telling his pilots to "smash them up". A very fast engagement followed in which Hull was killed while diving to the aid of Flight Lieutenant Dick Reynell, an Australian pilot who had come under heavy attack. Hull was last seen firing at a Dornier Do 17, and was shot down by a Bf 109. Reynell was also killed. The Rhodesian ace's body was discovered largely burnt inside the shell of his Hurricane, which had crashed in the grounds of Purley Boys' High School in Purley, Surrey. He was 26 years old.

The loss of Hull and Reynell, two of the squadron's most popular pilots, affected morale deeply. Kilmartin, arriving back at Tangmere on the evening of 7 September, simply muttered "My God, My God". Flight Lieutenant Thomas Dalton-Morgan took over command of the squadron. Hull's remains were recovered and returned to Tangmere, where he was buried among fellow fighter pilots at St Andrew's Church. His final confirmed record for the war was four German aircraft destroyed, two damaged and four shared destroyed (counted at half a victory each); also noted were one unconfirmed destroyed, two probably destroyed and one shared probably destroyed.

Memorials
After Hull's death, the people of Shangani organised the construction of a memorial in his honour—a granite plinth to which a brass plaque was affixed commemorating the pilot's service and bravery. This monument was completed before the end of the war and erected alongside the main road between Bulawayo and Gwelo, near the bridge over the Shangani River. A memorial to the actions of Hull, Falkson and Lydekker at Bodø was built at the town's airport three decades later, and inaugurated on 17 June 1977 with the Norwegian Minister of Defence, Rolf Arthur Hansen, in attendance.

After Rhodesia's reconstitution as Zimbabwe in 1980, Robert Mugabe's government disowned many old monuments making reference to the fallen of the World Wars, including the Hull memorial at Shangani. The Hull family resolved in 2003 to take the plaque down and donate it to the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, an idea that the museum welcomed. The plaque was removed, flown to England free of charge by MK Airlines—a freight carrier owned by a former Rhodesian Air Force pilot, Mike Kruger—and ceremonially delivered to the Tangmere museum curator on 17 April 2004 by Hull's sister, Mrs Wendy Bryan.

A new monument to Hull was erected at Coulsdon Sixth Form College, which today occupies the Purley High School site, in 2013. Depicting an aeroplane and a dove intertwined, it was formally dedicated on 11 November that year, Remembrance Day, with Wendy Bryan present.

Notes and references

 * Footnotes


 * References


 * Newspaper and journal articles




 * Bibliography