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Harvey Sweetman

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Harvey Sweetman
Birth nameHarvey Nelson Sweetman
Born(1921-10-10)10 October 1921
Auckland,New Zealand
Died15 January 2015(2015-01-15)(aged 93)
Auckland, New Zealand
AllegianceNew Zealand
Service/branchRoyal New Zealand Air Force
Years of service1940–1945
RankSquadron Leader
UnitNo. 234 Squadron
No. 485 Squadron
No. 486 Squadron
CommandsNo. 3 Squadron(1944–45)
Battles/wars
AwardsDistinguished Flying Cross

Harvey Nelson Sweetman,DFC(10 October 1921 – 15 January 2015) was a New Zealand fighter pilot of theSecond World War.He flew extensively withNo. 486 (NZ) Squadronover Europe and was later commander ofNo. 3 Squadron.He was credited with shooting down three aircraft and at least eleven V-1 flying bombs.

Early life

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Harvey Sweetman was born on 10 October 1921 inAuckland,New Zealand, and educated atMatamata District High Schoolinthe Waikato,where he was swimming champion and captain of the 1st XI cricket team.[1][2]He later worked as a clerk.[3]

Second World War

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Sweetman enlisted in theRoyal New Zealand Air Force(RNZAF) in April 1940 and, after flight training, left New Zealand for Europe as a sergeant pilot later in the year.[2]After converting to theSupermarine Spitfirefighter at anOperational Training Unit,he served briefly withNo. 234 Squadronbefore being posted toNo. 485 (NZ) Squadron.[4][5]

Sweetman achieved his first aerial victory on 29 August, when he shot down aMesserschmitt Bf 109fighter north of Mardycke. Three weeks later, while escortingBristol Blenheimbombers attacking a power station atRouen,he engaged a Bf 109 that was encountered on the return flight to England. He was credited with this Bf 109 as probably destroyed.[4][6]On 12 February 1942, No. 485 Squadron flew a mission escorting bombers attempting to disrupt theChannel Dashby the German battleshipsScharnhorstandGneisenau.During this mission, Sweetman, together with another pilot, shot down a Bf 109 that was attempting to engage their flight leader,Bill Crawford-Compton,west ofOstend.[4][7]

Service with No. 486 Squadron

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In March, Sweetman, promoted toflight lieutenant,joined the newly formedNo. 486 (NZ) Squadronas one of itsflight leaders.[5][8]The flying personnel were mainly New Zealanders but with British administrative staff and ground crew. It operatedHawker HurricanesfromKirton-in-Lindseyin anight-fightingcapacity.[9][10]After a period of training, the first operational flight was undertaken by Sweetman and Pilot OfficerArthur Umberson 27 April.[11]On the night of 23 July, Sweetman scored the squadron's first aerial victory of the war, aDornier Do 217medium bomber.This was recorded as shared with another pilot; although Sweetman was adamant that no other aircraft was involved, the surviving crew of the bomber were certain a Spitfire had shot them down.[4]

Despite Sweetman's success, the squadron's night-fighting operations were mostly uneventful and after a number of weeks it was switched today-fighters,converting to theHawker Typhoon.[11]From October, and now operating fromWest Mallingand thenTangmere,it was regularly flying missions intercepting incomingLuftwaffeRhubarbmissions.[9][10]On one such sortie, on 19 December, he damaged aFocke-Wulf Fw 190fighter but it disappeared in cloud some 50 miles (80 km) offBognor.[4][12]He damaged another Fw 190 offShorehamon 8 February 1943, when he and his wingman were directed by radar to a flight of four Fw 190s in the area.[4][13]

Flying nearÉtretaton 9 April, Sweetman damaged a Fw 190 and shared in the probable destruction of another.[4]At the end of the month he had to crash land his Typhoon nearSelsey villageon returning from a mission escorting fighter bombers toLe Havre.The engine of his aircraft had intermittently cut out on the return flight.[14]The following month, he was awarded theDistinguished Flying Cross(DFC).[15]It was the second DFC to be awarded to a pilot of the squadron; the first had been made just a week earlier.[16]In July Sweetman, having flown operationally for nearly two years, left the squadron for an instructor's post atRAF Charmy Downbefore taking up production testing for theHawker Aircraft Company.His role, based atLangleyinBerkshire,involved test flying aircraft from the factory line.[17]

Hawker Tempests of No. 486 Squadron atNewchurch,1944

Sweetman returned to No. 486 Squadron for a second tour to command 'A' Flight in February 1944.[18]By this time the unit had converted to theHawker TempestMk V and from the middle of 1944 Sweetman and No. 486 Squadron became heavily involved inOperation Diver,the campaign to protectLondonandsoutheast Englandfrom theV1 flying bomboffensive.[4]Sweetman was one of the more successful of the squadron's pilots, responsible for destroying several V1s.[19]

Later war service

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Following the death of its leader, Sweetman was promoted tosquadron leaderand given command ofNo. 3 Squadronon 15 September 1944. He led the squadron in operations in support of the Allied advance into Western Europe until the following January at which time he was taken off flight operations for a rest. He returned to Hawker Aircraft Company as atest pilot,before going on to complete a course at theEmpire Test Pilots' SchoolatBoscombe Down.[4][20]

Sweetman ended the war credited with the destruction of one German aircraft, one probably destroyed, and two damaged. He also shared in destroying two more, shared one probably destroyed and a shared damaged aircraft. He was a V1 ace, claiming eleven V1 flying bombs as destroyed with another shared.[4]

Later life

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After the war Sweetman returned to New Zealand. In his later years he lived inretirementinAuckland.He died on 15 January 2015 at the age of 93, survived by his wife Alice and five children.[21][22]He is buried at North Shore Memorial Park.[23]

Notes

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  1. ^Shores & Williams 1994,p. 587.
  2. ^ab"Brilliant airman".New Zealand Herald.27 September 1944. p. 4.Retrieved17 January2015.
  3. ^Thompson 1953,p. 239.
  4. ^abcdefghijShores & Williams 1994,p. 578.
  5. ^abSortehaug 1998,p. 5.
  6. ^Thompson 1953,p. 241.
  7. ^Thompson 1953,pp. 336–337.
  8. ^Thompson 1953,p. 335.
  9. ^abRawlings 1976,pp. 451–452.
  10. ^abMitchell 1945,pp. 161–162.
  11. ^abThompson 1953,pp. 335–336.
  12. ^Sortehaug 1998,p. 51.
  13. ^Sortehaug 1998,p. 59.
  14. ^Sortehaug 1998,p. 71.
  15. ^"No. 36027".The London Gazette(Supplement). 25 May 1943. p. 2322.
  16. ^Sortehaug 1998,p. 74.
  17. ^Sortehaug 1998,p. 79.
  18. ^Sortehaug 1998,p. 135.
  19. ^Sortehaug 1998,p. 174.
  20. ^Sortehaug 1998,p. 178.
  21. ^WWII RAF squadron leader diesstuff.co.nz,17 January 2015
  22. ^Wynn, Kirsty (18 January 2015)."'Lone Wolf' Kiwi flying ace dies ".New Zealand Herald.Retrieved29 May2020.
  23. ^"Cenotaph Record: Harvey Nelson Sweetman".Online Cenotaph.Auckland Museum.Retrieved29 May2020.

References

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