Luftwaffe attacks on the Fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow led to the Royal Navy forming 804 Squadron.
On 25 November 1939, four Sea Gladiators of 769 Squadron were detached to Hatston on Orkney and, on 30 November, the detachment became 804 Squadron. Petty Officer (A) Theobald served with this unit.
The Squadron was at this time under Fighter Command’s control and remained so during the Battle of Britain period.
Lieutenant Commander John Cockburn took command of 804 Squadron on 9 December.

Germany invaded Norway and Denmark on 9 April in Operation Weserübung. The preparation of this and the execution resulted in large fleet movements including that the British Home Fleet sailed for the Norwegian coast and some contacts were made especially between the Luftwaffe and the British fleet.
Following the unwelcome but not unexpected appearance of the British Home Fleet, ten He 111s of KGr. 100 were sent out on the morning on 10 April on an armed reconnaissance east and south-east of the Orkneys and Shetlands, followed by and He 111P of 3(F)/ObdL flown by Oberleutnant Karl Heinz. Immediately after this reconnaissance screen came 35 He 111 of KG 26 to respond immediately to any target spotted. As the 3(F)/ObdL aircraft approached the Scottish coast, it was intercepted by seven Hurricanes of 43 Squadron led by Squadron Leader George Lott from Wick, Caithness, which was flying out to sea towards Ronaldsay. Five miles east of Ronaldsay Island, Oberleutnant Heinz’ aircraft was spotted and the fighters attacked in line astern. Squadron Leader Lott and his two flight commanders Peter Townsend and Flight Lieutenant Caesar Hull, all getting in shots, as did the four other pilots (one of them was George Christie in Hurricane L1608). Oberleutnant Heinz’s aircraft was shot down into the sea and broke in half. Three men were seen swimming, but were too far from land for there to be any chance of being picked up before they succumbed to exposure.
The KGr. 100 aircraft subsequently reached the area and reported that two convoys had been seen off the Moray Firth, and heavy naval units south of the Orkneys. These reports referred to two cruiser flotillas and a French force, which were now retiring to Scapa Flow, and at once these became the prime targets. The first attack began when the KGr. 100 aircraft found shipping off Kinnaird Head, but their bombing caused little damage. Numerous interceptions by defending fighters followed, and some heavy fighting ensued. The first such engagement occurred during the afternoon when a Hurricane from 605 Squadron flown by Pilot Officer Ian Muirhead (Hurricane I L2059), also based at Wick, on convoy patrol spotted a German aircraft at 15:45 (according to some sources this claim was made 17:30). This claim was made 20-30 miles north-east of Kinnaird Head and was a Heinkel of 1./KGr. 100. Two attacks were made, but the bomber slipped away in cloud, returning with the flight engineer (Oberfeldwebel Richard Röder) dead, and a second crew-man (Unteroffizier Alfred Taupe) wounded, but with only minor damage to the aircraft.
Almost an hour later, Flying Officer ‘Pat’ Leeson from the same unit was leading Red Section out on a patrol when two He 111s were seen at 14,000 feet. The three Hurricanes climbed to attack and one of the bombers was shot down by Leeson, Pilot Officer Peter Carter (Hurricane I L2018) and Sergeant W. M. F. Moffat. Only two members of the crew were seen to bale out but in fact Oberleutnant Harald Vogel and all his crew of 4./KG 26 survived and were rescued by a Royal Navy Trawler.
The Sea Gladiators of 804 Squadron were also active in repelling these attacks. Lieutenant Donald Gibson remembered:

“In our Gladiators we had several alerts after German reconnaissance aeroplanes; there was an RAF Hurricane Squadron at Wick, which had success and our first blood was partly by courtesy of this squadron. I think we both intercepted more or less together and somehow we became involved and shot it down.”

“A tremendous day for HMS Sparrowhawk [RNAS Hatston], the first and we hope by no means the last. 804 began their fun at 16:05 hours when Yellow Section flew off to Copinsay. There were a great many plots on the board, the weather fine with layers of cloud varying in density up to about 10,000 feet. About 16:40hrs Yellow 3 saw a Do 17 [sic] and the Section gave chase. Sub-Lt Fell got in a burst at about 500 yards as the Do 17 disappeared into the cloud: but followed him in. Yellow 2 went in above the cloud and as he came out so did the Do 17 some 400 yards away. Peacock got in a burst before the e/a dived away back into the clouds. We were later informed that Do 17 was crying SOS with a leaking petrol tank and did not reach his base.”

At 16:45hrs Red Section were sent to patrol between Copinsay and Burray. As soon as they got there, Red 1 saw a He 111 about ten miles east going north-east. Hot pursuit was begun and as the Section followed, Hurricanes could be seen gathering on the cloud-dodging Heinkel’s tail. After a few minutes the e/a began climbing, twisting and diving. By the time Red Section arrived and got within range No.43 Squadron had done their job. The e/a motors were idling and he dived down to 20 feet over the sea. For two or three miles he held at 20 feet with a dark oil streak trailing behind him on the sea and finally flopped port wing first. Six Hurricanes and Red Section flew around the wreck as ‘Nifty’ got the position and saw the fuselage break in half, the port wing come off and the remainder sink as three of the crew swam for it.”

“At 21:10, Red Section dived down to 11,000 feet about four miles east of Burray (an island between Kirkwall and South Ronaldsay). Unfortunately Red 2 was left behind in the dive. As soon as they flattened out a bomber crossed 200 yards ahead from port to starboard, Red 1 and Red 3 turned and pursued and loosed off nearly all ammunition, gradually closing in from 300-200 yards. The enemy fired back narrowly and finally turned and dived away to the south-east with smoke coming from his starboard motor. During this party Blue Section [Lieutenant Richard Smeeton N2275, Petty Officer (A) W. E. J. Stockwell and Petty Officer (A) Theobald] were lurking further west and came galloping up on seeing the shooting. Plenty of e/a were coming in and so “Smee” chose a back one and stuffed himself under its tail. He and his section rattled away with such good effect that the e/a was last seen in a flat right hand spiral going down toward South Ronaldsay. Unfortunately no wreckage was found and so the very probable result could not be confirmed.”

By 21:50hrs the party was over and 11 Gladiators had returned. The 12th was Blue 3 [Petty Officer (A) Theobald] who shortly afterwards could be hearing calling “Where am I?” Nifty told him and led him back to Wick where he spent the night.”

"Blue leader was on patrol with his section of 3 a/c at 10,000 feet to the East of Burray. Weather was clear and good visibility with 5/10 cloud at 7,000 feet in a large bank. Blue leader was one mile off Burray when at 2120 hours, he was attracted by machine gun fire to the south and saw an E/A travelling west towards Scapa Flow at about 200 m.p.h. some 500 feet above him. The E/A appeared to be machine gunning searchlight positions from his from gun.
There was a second aircraft in formation but as soon as Blue Leader climbed under the first E/A's tail to attack, the second E/A broke away and was not seen again.
Blue Leader closed rapidly and opened fire at from 350 to 250 yards closing to about 100 yards. This was repeated four times the attacks being delivered from either dead astern or over the port or starboard quarter. Each attack consisted of one burst of about 6 seconds. Tracer was observed to be entering the fuselage of E/A; tracer bullets were seen from both top and lower rear guns.
After Blue Leaders first attack lower gun was silenced but top gun continued to fire. Throughout the attacks E/A performed a series of violent turns necessitating deflection allowance by Blue leader. Towards the end of the fourth attack, E/A started to lose height.
Blue 2 now dived to attack and fired 1000 rounds from astern by which time E/A was in a flat right hand spiral dive. Having lost formation Blue 2 landed at Wick. Blue 3 did not get an opportunity to fire as Blue 1 and 2 were conducting their attack from astern. But he saw the starboard engine was disabled with clouds of smoke issuing from it and followed till the E/A's dive become too fast for him to follow any more.
Some slipstream was noticed when at close range and at some stage in the combat a bullet of rifle calibre passed through a spar of port main plane. In all Blue leader fired 2,600 rounds and experienced no stoppages. The R/T was not working very well either from the ground or between pilots owing to jamming interference.
No cine camera gun was carried and it was to dark to distinguish any marking or the type of plane, though it was thought to be a Heinkel IIIK.
Blue Leader landed at Hatston at 2204 hours."

“At 12:40, ten aircraft of KGr. 100 are sent out on an armed reconnaissance searching off the Shetlands and Orkneys. Between 16:17 and 16:40 east of the Orkneys in the Moray Firth two convoys are spotted consisting of 14 steamers, 10 destroyers, two cruisers and four individual steamers. The convoy and steamers are heading on a westerly heading, the warships on a northerly heading. At 17:10 off the southern tip of the Orkneys two battleships, three cruisers and six destroyers are spotted on a north-north-westerly heading. This fleet was attacked without recognizable success. Throughout the flight Spitfire [sic] and Hurricane fighters and shipborne flak harass the unit. In an air battle a Hurricane fighter was shot down.
At around 12:50, six aircraft of 1(F)/122 take off for a reconnaissance mission in the northern area of the North Sea. At 17:00, one battle-cruiser [HMS Hood?] with four cruisers as well as several destroyers are spotted on a course steering north-west off the Orkney Islands. Concerns raised that this may be the same fleet reported by KGr. 100. Aircraft have a short encounter with two Lockheed [Hudson] aircraft with no result.
At 11:00 an He 111 of 3/ObdL is sent on a reconnaissance mission to Scapa Flow. The aircraft is shot down with the loss of all crew.
Between 12:38 and 12:39 II./KG 26 take-off for operations over North Sea. On basis of information supplied the Gruppe heads towards the Orkneys. Due to bad weather attacks are limited. At 18:40 from 700 metres, coming out of cloud, a surprise attack was launched on a destroyer with two SC500 bombs. At 18:30 an attack on a cruiser was unsuccessful. The attack had to be called off due to worsening weather [cloud base had dropped from 700 to 500 metres and visibility was less than a kilometre]. Two aircraft were lost, while one other crash landed at Stavanger.
Nineteen aircraft of I./KG 26 – taking off about 18:20 – head out to attack the reported naval forces east of the Orkney Islands. Due to worsening weather and the approach of nightfall many crews did not find their target. Of thos that did some were unable to attack due to being blinded by floodlights carried by the ships. Those aircraft that did bomb could not observe their result because of the blinding effect, though a large warship was probably hit with one SC250 bomb. During the attack three floodlights and some flak was knocked out. The defence of the ships was an unknown quantity of flak and about 200 floodlights. In addition Gladiator fighters also tried to intercept the bombers. One of these was shot down.
Nineteen aircraft of KG 30 take off at 18:37 to attack naval forces in Scapa Flow. Seventeen aircraft were able to attack. Several near misses on the tidal walls and one SD500 hit on a cruiser were observed. Within the area 2 cruisers and several destroyers and steamers were also spotted. Defence of Scapa Flow was provided by floodlights and ground and ship based flak. One aircraft was lost in the attack.”

Theobald then served with 803 Squadron as a Petty Officer aboard HMS Ark Royal in the North Sea and then in the Mediterranean during 1940.

Late in the evening of 9 June 1940, 13 He 111s of II./KG 26 attacked the Royal Navy off Norway. Six of the Heinkels were intercepted by a section of Skuas from 800 Squadron, reinforced by three 803 Squadron aircraft. The latter trio (Lieutenant Donald Gibson, Sub Lieutenant Bartlett and Petty Officer (A) Theobald) shot down a 5 Staffel aircraft flown by Oberleutnant Kurt Böcking, while those from 800 Squadron claimed one damaged.

In support of the Mediterranean Fleet, a new battle squadron known as Force ‘H’, which was based at Gibraltar under Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville, sortied on 8 July 1940 in an effort to create a diversion. Heavy air attacks by Sardinian-based aircraft during 9 July convinced the admiral that the risk did not justify the continuation of such a minor operation, and before the day was out turned back, losing the damaged HMS Escort to submarine torpedo attack. This brief operation brought action for the air group on HMS Ark Royal however. Having just completed their attacks on the French Fleet at Mers el Kebir, the aircrews were on top form. A shadowing Cant Z.506B floatplane of the 287^a Squadriglia R.M. flown by Capitano Domenico Oliva was caught by three Skuas of 800 Squadron at 15:30 after it had been on patrol for three hours. Lieutenant Richard Smeeton, the Commanding Officer, and his observer/gunner Lieutenant E. S. Carver, in Skua A6A led Sub Lieutenant Michael Fell/Naval Airman D. H. Lowndes (A6B) and Petty Officer (A) A. B. ‘Bert’ Sabey/Leading Airman J. Coles (A6C) in a determined attack, the stricken Cant falling into the sea. They continued to strafe it until it was totally destroyed, but during this sustained attack the observer and radio operator were mortally wounded.
Subsequently S.79s of 38^o Gruppo B.T. from Decimomannu attacked the carrier but were chased by Skuas of 803 Squadron, an aircraft of the 49^a Squadriglia being shot down. This S.79 fell to the Skua crewed by Petty Officer (A) Theobald and Naval Airman Freddy de Frias, who recalled:

“Theo and I were flying in L3017, as usual in Red Section led by Lieutenant Gibson. Throughout the day the Italians had pressed home medium level attacks on the Force; the Italians were pretty efficient and determined. They stayed in formation and were frightening good in their bombing. We took off at 19:20, warned to expect a large formation. Fortunately we were able to get to 10-12,000 feet before they came in below us. Gibson led the Section in a diving turn to get at them and for some reason Theo didn’t get a decent burst in. But we ended up flying straight and level with the enemy leader only forty to fifty feet on our starboard beam. I could hardly believe it was happening as I opened up with the Lewis on a simple no deflection shot using the nose of the enemy as an aiming point. After my first aiming burst the S.79 appeared to go nose down so I gave it the rest of the 100-round pan. Before I had finished, a side hatch opened and at least two people, perhaps three, baled out. The aircraft went into a dive and I caught a glimpse of it going into the sea before it went out of my vision behind the tailplane.”

On 31 July, HMS Argus with reinforcement Hurricanes on deck set course for Malta from Gibraltar, escorted by Force ’H’, including HMS Ark Royal, the battleships HMS Hood, HMS Valiant and HMS Resolution, two cruisers and ten destroyers.
On 1 August, the pilots were briefed by the Captain of HMS Argus that they were to fly off to Malta, but were incredulous of the proposed launch point, which they immediately realised was well beyond the Hurricane’s flying range to reach the destination. Deadlock ensued until radio silence was broken to contact London, whereupon the pilot’s assessment was confirmed. By evening the Italians had discovered the fleet, and a bombing attack from Sardinia was launched, but caused no damage.
Three Skuas, Red Section of 803 Squadron from HMS Ark Royal claimed one of the attacking S.79s shot down, Lieutenant Donald Gibson/Sub Lieutenant Gordon-Smith (A7P), Petty Officer (A) Gardner/Naval Airman Pickering (A7Q) and Petty Officer Theobald/Naval Airman de Frias (A7L) making the claim at 18:10.
This was an aircraft of 18^a Squadriglia, 27^o Gruppo, 8^o Stormo B.T., part of a formation of three, which was lost while attacking the convoy. Aboard was Generale di Brigata Aerea Stefano Cagna and with him were Tenente Colonnello Nello Capanni and Maggiore Spolverato, all of whom were killed together with the rest of the crew. Generale Cagna, commander of the Brigata Marto of the Aeronautica Sardegna, was later decorated posthumously with the Medaglia d’oro al valor militare.

On 12 August, the three Skuas of Red Section of 803 Squadron from HMS Ark Royal claimed one S.79 over the western Mediterranean. The pilots included the leader Lieutenant Donald Gibson in L2897/A7P and Petty Officer Theobald/Naval Airman de Frias in A7L.

In November 1940, the unit moved to HMS Formidable, and with that carrier he then saw service with the Mediterranean Fleet.

On 28 March 1941, the Fulmars on HMS Formidable took part in the initial clashes of the Battle of Cape Matapan when in the morning Admiral Cunningham ordered the carrier to range a strike force. Six Albacores of 826 Squadron were readied, each armed with a torpedo, but these were not launched immediately due to the withdrawal of the Italian units. However, later the strike force was ordered off, led by Lieutenant Commander Saunt and escorted by Red Section of 803 Squadron (Lieutenant Donald Gibson in ‘6J’ and Petty Officer (A) Theobald in N1912), joined by a single Swordfish to observe the action. Their target was estimated to be about 80 miles away.
Force ‘B’ came under attack again at 11:00 when the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto opened fire at 12 miles range and caused some damage to the cruiser HMS Orion by some near-misses. As HMS Orion came under attack Italian cruisers of the 3rd Division closed on her starboard quarter, but at this critical moment the Albacores of the strike force arrived, only to be fired on by the British warships – fortunately without any hits being gained. Seeing the Italian warships ahead, the TSRs began to position for attack when two Ju 88s dived on them out of the sun. Fortunately the Fulmars had spotted them, and attacked head-on- Lading Airman Freddy de Frias in the back seat of Petty Officer Theobald’s aircraft recalled:

“The enemy fleet was just about in sight when Theobald spotted a Ju 88 below us. The two Fulmars went into a diving attack (our only chance of getting an 88) and shot it down. At our speed of just over 200 knots you only got one pass. I couldn’t see much – there was practically no forward vision from the rear seat of a Fulmar, and in any case I was busy looking for other 88s. You didn’t last long if you forgot to do that. The 88 must have got off a signal before he went down because we had no trouble finding the enemy fleet, which was firing everything into the air. But we made our dive without a scratch and as we pulled out I had the satisfaction of letting off a pan from the Thompson sub-machine gun I carried. I claim to be the only man to take on a battleship with a Tommy gun!”

On 18 April, the Mediterranean Fleet sailed from Alexandria at 06:50 preparatory to undertaking a bombardment of Tripoli. This action was designed mainly to relieve pressure on the British Forces in the Western Desert. A screen of three battleships, three cruisers and eight destroyers surrounded HMS Formidable, joined during the day by two more destroyers that had been escorting an incoming convoy.
At 18:20, the Fleet was sighted by two S.79s from 281^a Squadriglia on Rhodes, and although pursued by a Fulmar patrol from 803 Squadron, no success was seen. Indeed Lieutenant Donald Gibson, pilot of ‘6J’, the leading Fulmar, was wounded in an arm by return fire and almost completely blinded by hot oil. He recalled:

“I was shot down by three Cant bombers [sic] - I got to close in and a lot of explosive shells came into my cockpit. The aircraft was hit in the oil cleaner (I should think); the oil came into my cockpit. We were 40 miles from the Fleet. The engine finally stopped when I was about 200 feet over Formidable. I knew I could catch a wire, she was into wind. I caught a wire very fast; this tore the bottom out of the aeroplane. I collided with the island and set fire to the petrol refilling station; the tail folded over my head. I skidded on, hit ‘A’ turret and somersaulted into the sea. I was run over by the whole length of the ship; had a great struggle to get out and was picked up in the wake by HMS Hereward. Alas Peter Ashbrooke [20-years-old Sub Lieutenant Peter Charles Bye Ashbrooke] was lost. I was very young and foolish, and should have ditched.”

On 30 April, four Blenheims from 203 Squadron were ordered back from Crete to Egypt. Each carrying three ground crew took off from Heraklion. En route they approached the Battle Squadron, which included HMS Formidable, and were intercepted by two sections of Fulmars. Orders, which had not been conveyed to Squadron Leader Gethin of 203 Squadron, required the aircraft approaching the Fleet to do so in line astern with the leader firing the colours of the day. Leading Airman de Frias was in the rear seat of Petty Officer (A) Theobald’s Fulmar (N1912) and recalled:

With our Ju 88 complex, they were fair game … fortunately we only damaged them on the first run and realised as we turned in for another go that they couldn’t be 88s if we could have two goes at them!”

He was awarded a DSM on 29 July 1941, following actions during the Battle of Cape Matapan.

On 1 May 1944, he was commissioned as a Sub Lieutenant (A).

Theobald ended the war with 1 shared biplane victory and a total of 1 destroyed.

Theobald passed away in 1956.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1940
	10/04/40	21:20	1/3	He 111 (a)	Shared destroyed	Sea Gladiator		1m E Burray	804 Squadron
	09/06/40	evening	1/3	He 111 (b)	Shared destroyed	Skua		North Sea, off Norway	803 Squadron
1	09/07/40	19:20-	1	S.79 (c)	Destroyed	Skua (d)	L3017/A7L	near Sardinia	803 Squadron
	01/08/40		1/3	S.79 (e)	Shared destroyed	Skua (d)	L3017/A7L	near Sardinia	803 Squadron
	12/08/40	18:10	1/3	S.79	Shared destroyed	Skua (d)	L3017/A7L	W Mediterranean	803 Squadron
	1941
	28/03/41		1/2	Ju 88 (f)	Shared destroyed	Fulmar (d)	N1912	over the Fleet, Matapan area	803 Squadron
	18/04/41		1	S.79 (g)	Damaged	Fulmar (d)	N1912	Rhodes area	803 Squadron

Biplane victories: 1 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 1 and 5 shared destroyed, 1 damaged.
(a) Possibly a He 111 of 2./KG 26 (Leutnant de Res Hubert Schachtbeck), which had been very badly damaged by fighters and crash-landed at Marx and was a total loss.
(b) Aircraft of 5./LG 26 flown by Oberleutnant Kurt Böcking.
(c) Aircraft of 49^a Squadriglia, 38^o Gruppo BT.
(d) Observer Leading Aircraftman Frederick de Frias.
(e) Aircraft of 18^a Squadriglia, 27^o Gruppo, 8^o Stormo BT.
(f) Believed to be an aircraft of I./LG 1 flown by Unteroffizier George Albrecht, which crash-landed at Krumovo on return in a damaged condition.
(g) Aircraft of 281^a Squadriglia AS, flown by Tenente Rodolfo Guza; force-landed at Gadurra, Rhodes, with torpedo still beneath the fuselage.

Sources:
Air war for Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete - Christopher Shores, Brian Cull and Nicola Malizia, 1987 Grub Street, London, ISBN 0-948817-07-0
Fledgling Eagles - Christopher Shores with John Foreman, Christian-Jaques Ehrengardt, Heinrich Weiss and Bjørn Olsen, 1991 Grub Street, London, ISBN 0-948817-42-9
Flying Sailors at War: Volume 1 – Brian Cull with Bruce Lander and Mark Horan, 2011 Dalrymple & Verdun Publishing, Stamford, ISBN 978-1-905414-14-7
Gloster Gladiator Home Page - Alexander Crawford
Malta: The Hurricane Years 1940-41 - Christopher Shores and Brian Cull with Nicola Malizia, 1987 Grub Street, London, ISBN 0-89747-207-1
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Those Other Eagles – Christopher Shores, 2004 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-904010-88-1
Additional information kindly provided by Bruce Lander.