Flying Officer Alan Rawlinson, Flight Lieutenant Pelly and Flying Officer Alan Boyd in front of a 3 RAAF Squadron's Gladiator.
Image kindly via Steve Mazzarelli.

Blake Pelly was born on 31 May 1907.

He enlisted on 13 December 1937 at Bowral, NSW.

In July 1940, Flight Lieutenant Blake Pelly served with 3 RAAF Squadron.

On 15 July 1940, 3 RAAF Squadron embarked on RMS Orontes at Sydney for service overseas.
At this time the unit consisted of the following flying personnel:
Squadron Leader Ian McLachlan (CO).
“A” Flight:
Flight Lieutenant Gordon Steege (OC), Flying Officer Alan Gatward, Flying Officer Alan Boyd, Pilot Officer Peter Turnbull and Pilot Officer Wilfred Arthur.
“B” Flight:
Pilot Officer Charles Gaden (OC), Pilot Officer L. E. Knowles, Pilot Officer V. East, Flying Officer Alan Rawlinson and Flying Officer B. L. Bracegirdle.
“C” Flight:
Squadron Leader P. R. Heath (OC), Flight Lieutenant Pelly, Pilot Officer J. M. Davidson, Flying Officer John Perrin and Pilot Officer M D. Ellerton.
Totally the squadron had 21 officers and 271 of other ranks on 24 July.

On 7 August RMS Orontes arrived at Bombay and the unit was transhipped the same day to HT Dilwara.

HT Dilwara sailed on 11 August and arrived at Suez on 23 August where the squadron disembarked.

On 19 September, 3 RAAF Squadron received instructions from H.Q.M.E. that four pilots with nine ground crew were to be attached to 208 Squadron in the Western Desert for operational duties. The pilots detailed for this duty were Flight Lieutenant Pelly and Flying Officers Alan Rawlinson, Peter Turnbull and L. E. Knowles.
The pilots collected Gloster Gauntlets from 102 MU at Abu Sueir the same day and proceed to 208 Squadron the following day while the ground crew followed in a Bombay.
On 18 October, 3 RAAF Squadron had six Lysanders, 12 Gladiators and six Gauntlets.
The Gauntlets were on detached duty with 208 Squadron. The pilots on this duty were Flight Lieutenant Gordon Steege, Flight Lieutenant Pelly, Flying Officer L. E. Knowles, Flying Officer Alan Rawlinson, Flying Officer John Perrin and Flying Officer J. M. Davidson.

On 2 November 1940, squadron headquarters and ground personnel of ‘B’ and ‘C’ Flights of 3 RAAF Squadron moved by road from Helwan to Gerawla. The move started at 08:15 and was completed at 17:15 the next day.
Squadron Leader Ian McLachlan, Flying Officer Alan Gatward, Flying Officer M. D. Ellerton, Flying Officer Alan Boyd, Flight Lieutenant Charles Gaden, Flying Officer B. L. Bracegirdle, Flying Officer Peter Turnbull and Flying Officer Wilfred Arthur moved from Helwan to Gerawla by air on 3 November.
Flight Lieutenant Gordon Steege, Flight Lieutenant Pelly and Flying Officer Alan Rawlinson left their attachments to 208 Squadron and rejoined 3 RAAF Squadron at Gerawla while Flying Officer John Perrin, Flying Officer L. E. Knowles and Flying Officer J. M. Davidson, who also had been attached to 208 Squadron returned to ‘A’ Flight at Helwan.
15 Air gunner/Wireless operators from 3 RAAF Squadron were attached to 208 Squadron.
After the completion of these movements the disposition of the squadron was that at Gerawla there were: Officers: 13 pilots, 1 crew, 6 non-flying and 2 (attached) air intelligence liaison.
Airmen: 185 non-flying, 6 (attached) air intelligence liaison and 1 (attached) Royal Corps Signalist.
Aircraft: 10 Gladiators and 4 Gauntlets (two Gauntlets had been left at 208 Squadron, Qasaba, being unserviceable and awaiting spares).
At Helwan (‘A’ Flight):
Officers: 3 pilots and 1 crew.
Airmen: 5 crews and 32 non-flying.
Aircraft: 6 Lysanders and 2 Gladiators (in reserve for ‘B’ and ‘C’ Flights).
Attached to 208 Squadron:
Officers: 2 crew.
Airmen: 5 crew and 15 non-flying.
Attached to 6 Squadron:
Airmen: 6 crew and 14 non-flying.
At Hospital:
2 airmen.
At Abu Sueir (on anti-gas course):
2 airmen.

After the capture of Sidi Barrani on 16 September, the Italian Army formed a defensive line composed of big outposts separated by wide desert areas. From north to south there were the 1^a Divisione Libica (1st Libyan infantry division) at Maktila, near the sea east of Sidi Barrani and the 4^a Divisione Camice Nere (4th Black shirts Division) at Sidi Barrani. South of these were the 2^a Divisione Libica (2nd Libyan infantry division) in three strong points called Alam El Tummar East, Alam El Tummar West and Point 90 (also called Ras El Dai). South of this was the motorised ”Maletti Group” in the entrenched camp of Nibeiwa (strong points: Alam Nibeiwa and Alam El Iktufa). Then there was a gap of around thirty kilometres (called the Bir Enba gap) and at the extreme south of the Italian front the 63^a Divisione di Fanteria (Italian Infantry division) ”Cirene” in four strong points around the rocky hill of Bir Sofafi; Alam El Rabia, the crossroads at height 236, the crossroads at Qabe el Mahdi and Height 226 at Bir Sofafi.
This deployment was clearly lacking, in particular, the worst error seemed the wide gap between ”Maletti” and ”Cirene” a distance that allowed for encirclement of the forces south of Sidi Barrani and north of Bir Sofafi.
On 19 November, General O’Connor ordered a fully motorised support group to enter the gap and stay there as to mark the British supremacy over the important area (in fact he had already planned to use this zone to pass through his troops and attack Nibeiwa). Reconnaissance units of the ”Maletti” Group signalled the dangerous presence of British armoured cars, and a combined action was planned for the day after.
During the early morning, a formation of 17 fighters of the 151^o Gruppo escorted a formation of Bredas attacking enemy troops in the Bir Enba area and a Ro.37bis reconnoitring in the same general area. The mission was uneventful and the 366^a Squadriglia went down after the Bredas to strafe enemy vehicles.
Then an armoured column of the ”Maletti” Group (420 troopers and 27 officers on 37 trucks with a strong of artillery of six anti-tank and six medium calibre guns and 27 M11/39 medium tanks) left Nibeiwa and a column of the 2^a Divisione Libica (256 troopers and 17 officers on 29 trucks with four anti-tank and eight medium calibre guns) left Tummar. They had to rendezvous and then explore the Bir Enba gap. British forces opposing them are not known but Italian Intelligence estimated an armoured group of 60 to 70 tanks and armoured cars (the Italian Intelligence generally overestimated the actual force of the Commonwealth troops by a factor of between two to ten).
At 12:40, the ”Maletti” group was attacked by the British forces and forced to do battle. Around half an hour later at 13:00 the 2^a Libyan’s contingent arrived and together they forced the British forces to retreat. While they were coming back to base, the British returned and attacked again, starting a dangerous rearguard action.
At 13:00, 18 CR.42s from the 13^o Gruppo were ordered off from Gambut G to patrol the Bir Enba area. After take-off, a first group of 12 aircraft led by the newly promoted Tenente Colonnello Secondo Revetria stayed at 3000 meters while a second group of led by Tenente Guglielmo Chiarini covered them 2000 meters higher. Revetria’s formation included pilots from the 77^a (Capitano Domenico Bevilacqua, Tenente Eduardo Sorvillo, Sottotenente Mario Nicoloso, Sergente Enrico Botti, Sergente Vincenzo Campolo and an unrecorded pilot), 78^a (Sottotenente Natale Cima, Sergente Maggiore Salvatore Mechelli, Sergente Cassio Poggi and Sergente Teresio Martinoli) and 82^a (Sottotenente Virgilio Vanzan) Squadriglie.
When they arrived over Bir Enba, Revetria made a first pass to better spot targets and observed an artillery duel between Italian guns and British tanks. Immediately the British vehicles, which were encircling the right flank of the Italian troops, stopped to fire and dispersed. Revetria and his eleven pilots attacked in single file causing a lot of damage among the enemies. After the strafing attack, the twelve 13^o Gruppo pilots returned undamaged to base where they landed 14:50 after having spent 2200 rounds of 12,7 and 7,7 calibre ammunitions.
In the meantime, Chiarini’s formation was down to 4000 meters when they spotted a formation of a reported eight Gladiators that looked as they were trying to attack Revetria’s formation. Chiarini immediately attacked with height advantage and surprised the Gladiator. The first pass only managed to break the Gladiator formation without causing losses and then a long dogfight started (Chiarini recorded that it lasted for 25 minutes) after which six British Gladiators were claimed shot down in flames, all shared by the six pilots of the Italian formation; Tenente Chiarini, Sottotenente Gilberto Cerofolini, Sottotenente Giuseppe Bottà, Sottotenente Giuseppe Timolina, Sergente Nino Campanini and Sergente Francesco Nanin. A seventh Gladiator was claimed as seriously damaged and was last seen flying low towards Matruh smoking and without taking evasive actions being claimed as a shared probable and the last Gladiator was also claimed as a shared probable. It was reported that all the victories were confirmed by the Libyan land forces (Chiarini also reported that the wreck of one of the Gladiators was noted on the ground by his pilots). The six Italian fighters came back almost without fuel left, they had used 1595 rounds 12,7 calibre and 2330 round 7,7 calibre ammunitions. Only four of them were slightly damaged. The heaviest damage was suffered by Timolina’s aircraft, which landed at an advanced airbase (probably Sollum) and was flown back to base the day after. His aircraft was still not operational at the beginning of Operation ”Compass” much more because of the inadequacy of the Italian repair organisation than because of the damage actually suffered.
It seems that the ”eight Gladiators” were in fact a formation of four Gladiators from 3 RAAF Squadron. Flight Lieutenant Pelly (N5753), had been ordered to undertake a reconnaissance over enemy positions in the Sofafi-Rabia-Bir Enba areas. Squadron Leader Peter Ronald Heath (N5750), and Flying Officers Alan Rawlinson (L9044) and Alan Boyd (N5752) provided his escort. The aircraft took off from Gerawla at 13:40. Flying at about 1,700 meters and with Pelly some 180 meters in front the escort, they headed for their objective. After about half an hour and about eleven kilometres east of Rabia, 18 CR.42s were spotted below strafing British troops. In accordance with orders, the reconnaissance flight turned around and headed for home. They had barely turned around when they were attacked by the CR.42s. Pelly out in the lead found himself at the centre of attention from nine Fiats. His escort were likewise engaged with a similar number.
Boyd found himself being attacked from astern by three aircraft. By twisting and diving he found himself behind one of them and fired off a long burst into the cockpit area. The Fiat rolled over and dived towards the ground. Pulling up into a tight turn he was able to bring his sights to bear on another enemy fighter. Coming in for a quarter attack, the Fiat fell into an uncontrollable spin with thick black smoke pouring from the engine. With barely a pause Boyd pulled round and went after a third fighter, which was attacking one of the Gladiators. After hitting it with a short burst it fell away. As he was watching it fall away, he was attacked from behind by yet another Fiat. Hauling hard back on the stick, he went straight up, with the engine on full power. This caused the enemy fighter to overshoot him. Rolling over, Boyd came down and fired directly into the engine and cockpit area, the Fiat then spun down towards the ground. Looking round, he saw another fighter and set off in pursuit. The Italian saw him and pulled up into a climb, Boyd followed but his engine stalled and he entered a spin, only pulling out when he was within 30 feet of the ground. As he pulled out, he was attacked by yet another Fiat. To complicate matters further Boyd’s guns had jammed, and he struggled with the mechanisms trying desperately to free them, all the while being pursued a few meters off the ground by an enemy fighter. At last, he freed up the two fuselage guns and in a desperate measure he yanked back the stick and went up into a loop. Coming over the top, he saw the Fiat below him and at a range of less than 30 meters he let fly with his remaining guns. The cockpit of the Fiat erupted with bullet strikes and it fell away to the desert floor.
With no more enemy aircraft in the vicinity, Boyd took stock of his situation. He had very little ammo left and only two working guns. In the distance, he saw one aircraft being pursued by two more. Turning in their direction he gained some altitude and closed in. He soon recognised Pelly’s Gladiator coming under attack from two Fiats. He immediately attacked one which was firing on Pelly, who was about to land with a faltering engine, this aircraft rolled over and dived towards the ground which was only 10 meters away. It seems unlikely that it could have pulled out. Pelly’s engine had picked up again and he started to climb away from the area. The remaining Fiat turned on Boyd, whose guns had jammed again and chased him at low level for about a mile before giving up and turning away. Boyd rejoined Pelly and both pilots made their way home. Along the way Pelly had to land at Minqar Qaim at 14:45 when his engine gave out. It was discovered that his oil tank had been hit and all the oil had drained out (the aircraft was flown back to Gerawla the next day). Boyd continued on his own back to base where he landed at 14:50.
During this combat was 26-year-old Squadron Leader Heath (RAAF no. 87) shot down in flames and killed. He was later buried beside his aircraft.
Boyd was credited with three CR.42s shot down and one probable, Pelly claimed one shot down and one damaged, while Rawlinson claimed a damaged.
Flying Officer Boyd reported:

”I was one of a formation of three Gladiators escorting another Gladiator doing a Tac. R. At approximately 1400 I sighted 6 to 9 CR.42’s flying about 200 ft. [60 meters] in a North Westerly direction. We immediately turned east and had gone about a mile when about 6 CR.42’s attacked from above and behind and slightly on my starboard side.
We broke formation and attacked individually. A dog fight ensued, the enemy not remaining in formation after the initial attack. I made several attacks four of which were on separate aircraft and at a very close range varying from 20 to 50 yards [18-46 meters]. The first was a close quarter attack, the tracers could be seen hitting the area of the pilots cockpit and towards the engine. The CR.42 the[n] fell away into a spin apparently out of control and was last seen at about 200 feet [60 meters] still spinning.
The last three close attacks on three separate aircraft were delivered as a stern attack with the enemy climbing steeply so that I could see almost straight into their cockpits.
Each spun away after I had fired bursts which I could see hitting the enemy aircraft. No. 1 of the three really had no room to pull out of the spin, No. 2 I did not see crash but he seemed to be in an uncontrolled spin 200 feet [60 meters] from the ground.
I then saw two CR.42’s on the tail of a Gladiator, so I went to his aid, gained height, directed a point blank attack on one CR.42’s tail. I fired a long burst into him at a range of about 20 yards [18 meters] and he flicked over and disappeared under me only 100 feet [30 meters] from the ground. I did not see him hit because of the second CR.42 which was attacking me, and as my ammunition had run out, I was relieved to see him make off. As I looked around the only aircraft I could see were this one and F.Lt. Pelly’s. The time was then about 1430 hours.
My height at the commencement of the battle was about 5000 feet [1,500 meters] and after the first few minutes the battle continued under 1500 feet [460 meters].
In the early stages of the battle I was firing at long range but after the first five to seven minutes I only fired when at very close range.”

”It was first observed that 9 to 12 C.R.42’s were diving below us from the SOUTH to NORTH. Our formation was flying WEST. We then turned EAST and the above formation was out of sight to the NORTH.
About one to two miles [1.6-3.2 kilometres] after turning, three aircraft were observed coming up from below and firing. Our formation and the reconnaissance Gladiator commenced individual attacking. Three more C.R.42’s were observed to join in.
In the fight about five attacks were made by me on C.R.42’s, they broke off by turning and diving.
One C.R.42 was attacked head on and shots from a good burst appeared to hit the aircraft. He turned overhead and dived, but could not be followed up due to further attacks.
One Gladiator was observed diving away from the fight with a C.R.42 behind. I was above, and dived on the C.R.42. About two bursts were fired at it when it dived and broke away. I followed the Gladiator, who started a right hand turn and hit the ground while diving and burst into flames. The fight was then about three to four miles [4.8-6.4 kilometres] to the NORTH WEST. I turned SOUTH WEST and climbed, and was heading WEST; about four aircraft were observed fighting low down. I then lost sight of them, waited near the area, but could not observe any aircraft, and came home.
Time of Gladiator crash was 1417 hours.”

”While proceeding on reconnaissance to SOFAFI area in company with an escort of 3 other Gladiators, I encountered two formations of C.R.42 aircraft, consisting of EIGHT and NINE respectively.
The formation of EIGHT attacked my escort and the other formation cut me off and drove me southwards. The interception occurred at 1400 when I was 7 miles [11 kilometres] EAST of RABIA, and my escort were two miles [3.2 kilometres] N.E of me. I was at 4,000 feet [1,200 meters] and my escort at 5,000 feet [1,500 meters].
I could not get back to my escort, and the repeated attacks of the NINE C.R.42s forced me Southwards, and I worked Eastwards.
Shortly after the commencement of the battle I found myself meeting one E.A. head on at 50 feet [15 meters]. We both opened fire and he dived under me and crashed into the ground.
About 5 E.A. must have broken off, but at least 3 pursued me and attacked determinedly until 1425 when I worked Northwards and rejoined on of my escort (F/O A.H. Boyd). These three then broke off.
During the battle at approximately 1405 I turned at two E.A. who were attacking me from rear and got in one good burst. This aircraft issued black smoke, which increased in intensity until he finally broke away. I saw him flying away in a cloud of black smoke.”

Flight Lieutenant Pelly returned from the LG at Bir Mella to Gerawla on 19 December in Gladiator N5786, which was unserviceable. Pelly then proceeded by air to Heliopolis for medical examination and treatment. Two days later the squadron received a message that he would remain for treatment for approximately 7 days. He returned to his unit on 27 December.

Pelly was Mentioned in Despatches on 24 September 1941.

On 16 June 1944, Wing Commander Pelly was decorated with the Order of the British Empire for distinguished service and efficiency in the south-west Pacific area.
At this time, he had just left the 71 Wing on posting.

Pelly ended the war with 1 biplane victory.

He left the service on 30 January 1946. At this time, he was servicing at RAAF HQ.

Pelly passed away on 16 October 1990.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1940
1	19/11/40	1	CR.42 (a)	Destroyed	Gladiator II	N5753	E Rabia	3 RAAF Squadron
	19/11/40	1	CR.42 (a)	Damaged	Gladiator II	N5753	E Rabia	3 RAAF Squadron

Biplane victories: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged.
TOTAL: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged.
(a) Claimed in combat with the 82^a Squadriglia, 13^o Gruppo, which claimed six shared Gladiators and one damaged while suffering four lightly damaged fighters. 3 RAAF Squadron claimed four CR.42s, one probable and two damaged while losing one Gladiator and getting one damaged.

Sources:
Desert Prelude: Early clashes June-November 1940 - Håkan Gustavsson and Ludovico Slongo, 2010 MMP books, ISBN 978-83-89450-52-4
Desert Prelude: Operation Compass - Håkan Gustavsson and Ludovico Slongo, 2011 MMP books, ISBN 978-83-61421-18-4
Diario Storico 77^a Squadriglia kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo
Diario Storico 78^a Squadriglia kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo
Diario Storico 82^a Squadriglia kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo
Fiat CR.42 Aces of World War 2 - Håkan Gustavsson and Ludovico Slongo, 2009 Osprey Publishing, Oxford, ISBN 978-1-84603-427-5
Fighters over the Desert - Christopher Shores and Hans Ring, 1969 Neville Spearman Limited, London
Gloster Gladiator Home Page - Alexander Crawford.
National Archives of Australia
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The London Gazette
Additional information kindly provided by Stefano Lazzaro.