Gold Assault - Area Raf Flight Commander Medical

By Historical Aviation Correspondent

His Auster, loaded with two litters and a medical kit, touched down at 10:27. Small arms fire pinged off the beach stones. Ground crew rushed to secure the aircraft while Halewell kept the engine running – a standard procedure known as “combat loading.” Four stretcher cases were loaded: a Royal Engineer with a shattered femur, two infantrymen with abdominal wounds, and a young lieutenant with a traumatic amputation of the right arm. gold assault area raf flight commander medical

The medical orderly, Corporal Thomas Rudge, shouted over the din: “Go, sir! We’ll cover you!” By Historical Aviation Correspondent His Auster, loaded with

“The plan was simple on paper,” Halewell later recalled in declassified interviews. “Find the wounded, mark a clear zone, and get them out. On Gold, there was no ‘clear zone’ for the first six hours.” By 09:45, the medical dressing stations on Gold were overwhelmed. The German 352nd Division had zeroed in on beach exits with mortars and MG-42s. Walking wounded lay beside the dying. Major Peter Harding, RAMC, commanding No. 8 Beach Group Medical Unit, sent an urgent signal via Aldis lamp to the control ship HMS Bulolo : “Casualties heavy. Need air evacuation. Priority: head wounds, chest wounds.” The medical orderly, Corporal Thomas Rudge, shouted over

As Halewell applied full throttle, a mortar round landed 30 meters to starboard, peppering the Auster’s fabric wing. He lifted off at 10:31, climbing erratically toward the emergency landing strip at RAF Needs Oar Point in Hampshire. By 11:50, Halewell was back over the beachhead – his aircraft patched with speed tape and a new load of plasma and morphine. Over the next eight hours, he would make four more landings, extracting 17 seriously wounded men. Each trip required dodging Luftwaffe strafing runs (Junkers Ju 87s were still active until noon) and navigating through friendly anti-aircraft fire.