Rhubarb 2017

40 ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b

10 Swordfish of 842 Naval Air Squadron embarked in Fencer . With each aircraft flying two or three sorties a day in the gloomy half-light of the northern latitudes, in frequent blizzards and with the carrier heaving and pitching violently, 842 squadron patrolled continuously around the convoy. On Vibert’s first patrol on 2nd May, in his rocket-armed Swordfish, sideletter “B”, he saw three U-boats trailing the convoy and attacked one, firing all eight rockets with – as he recorded – “no visible results”. Frustrated, he returned to Fencer after three and a quarter hours to refuel and rearm. Later that day Vibert took off on a second sortie in worsening weather. This time his observer, sub-Lieutenant Eric Hutchinson, in the rear cockpit, detected a radar contact and conned Vibert through glimpses of the sea below, until he dived from 2,000 ft, looking for “wave tops that did not break or for white water in the distance which could be a U-boat on the surface”. As Vibert broke through the cloud, he was surprised to see not one but two enemy submarines: “They were sailing in company, signalling to each other – no doubt planning their attack. We emerged in a dive at some 25/30 degrees. Correct drill then required me to aim short and ahead, projectiles levelled out to give the best strike angle, and any hit was usually fatal.” This time his noted in his logbook “Fire accurate, 3 hits?” Fencer’s wartime claim during the six days of the convoy was modest: “one U-boat probably sunk, one certainly damaged and three probably damaged”. Postwar analysis showed that releasing rockets in pairs. On entering the water the

his wife. He bought a small farm in Shropshire. In 1956, when it was compulsory purchased by the town planners, he moved to Hertfordshire and built up a business in London providing a gluing service for printers. He kept a river boat on the Thames and enjoyed travelling and gardening. Geoffrey Pickard married, in 1950, Elizabeth Pugh, who survives him with their three sons. SMYTH – On 6th March 2016, Donald Francis Smyth (F, 1947- 1950), brother of Archibald Smyth (F, 1948-1953). Donald was Manager of a family laundry business, and then opened the Plas Abermad Nursing Home in Aberystwyth. STEWART – On 3rd October 2015, Duncan Stewart (A, 1949-1954). Duncan was in the Intelligence Corps from 1957 to 1959, before studying at Birkbeck London University from 1959 to 1962, where he obtained his BSc. He became Senior Manager of Welcome Environmental Health Research and Development. VIBERT – Bruce Vibert (A, 1936-1940). The following obituary has been taken from The Telegraph: Lieutenant Commander Bruce Vibert, who has died aged 94, sank a U-boat and championed the Swordfish torpedo-bomber. Convoy RA 59 of 45 American, British and Norwegian ships, protected by two escort carriers, Activity and Fencer , sailed from Russia in bad weather on 28th April 1944. Thick snow fell on both carriers’ flightdecks, but only Fencer had steam hoses which could be used to clear the deck quickly, and so the burden of flying anti-submarine patrols fell on the

his men, directing their fire and reporting back to his squadron leader on the wireless. The enemy eventually withdrew, having taken considerable losses. Pickard was awarded an immediate MC. Three of his troop won Military Medals. The son of a clergyman, Geoffrey Herbert Pickard was born on 12 May 1924 at Luccombe rectory in Somerset. He was educated at St Edward’s, Oxford, where he enjoyed rowing and was still at school when the Second World War broke out. After two years at Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the 14th/20th King’s Hussars but subsequently transferred to 56RR. This meant leaving the intense heat of Egypt and moving to the mountains of northern Italy. The winter was harsh, the trenches full of water, and dysentery rife. Snow, two feet deep on the hillside, limited patrolling under the eyes of an enemy searching for any sign of movement against the blanket of white. German bombardments cut telephone communications and signal linesmen, waist deep in the snow and ravines, had to grope for the severed ends while under constant shellfire. Following the action in which he was awarded an MC, Pickard was operated on in hospital but the wound troubled him for the rest of his life. After a period of peace- keeping in Vienna, the Regiment was disbanded. In 1947 he resigned from the Army and decided to train to become a farmer. One day, while he was hedge-cutting on a farm near Hay-on-Wye, a pretty girl rode by on her bicycle. Pickard raised his beret and bade her good-day but she haughtily ignored him. She later became

Vibert had sunk U-674 and that other aircraft from his squadron had sunk U-859 on the same day, and U-277 on the day before, all with all hands. Vibert was awarded the DSC. Bruce Fraser Vibert was born in Brussels where his father was in the consular service. His mother was the adopted daughter of EB Havell, the art historian, and his Danish wife, Lilli, daughter of Admiral Georg Jacobsen, who had modelled for Rodin. Young Vibert spent his early life in Belgium, France, Germany and Chile until he was sent home to Feltonfleet school, Cobham, aged 10, and later St Edward’s, Oxford. In the holidays he travelled Europe and the Mediterranean to see his father, usually unaccompanied, by boat, train and biplane. In September 1939, as war broke out in Europe, he was en route from Sarajevo to Newhaven in order to resit his school certificate. He spent the early part of the war studying maths to improve his chances of joining the Fleet Air Arm, was accepted in 1941 and sent to learn to fly in Canada. His operational career was spent in 842 squadron until in early 1945 he requalified as a deck landing control officer or “batsman”. He was DLCO in the light fleet carrier Glory , part of the British Pacific Fleet, and was in the Bismarck Archipelago [off the north-eastern coast of New Guinea], working up for the invasion of Japan, when he heard the atom bomb had been dropped. Postwar, Vibert emigrated to Canada where he odd- jobbed and studied for an arts degree until recruited into the Royal Canadian Navy, where he served from 1949 to 1958. Then for two years he flew as a commercial helicopter pilot, mostly in the Middle East.

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