Rommel attacked again in May and June 1942, and after fierce fighting the Germans entered Egypt. The British Eighth Army withdrew to EI Alamein, a long planned defence line sixty miles west of Alexandria. By contrast with the Axis losses in the previous British advance, only five RAF aircraft were left behind on airfields during this attack.
At El Alamein the opposing side faced each other for several months. During this period, General Bernard Montgomery arrived from England to take command of the Eighth Army. On 23rd October 1942, the Battle of EI Alamein began. When that battle was won, the Axis troops never stopped their headlong flight out of Africa for more than short-term rear guard action. On 8th November, Operation 'Torch' started, a combined Anglo-American invasion of French North Africa, two thousand miles west of EI Alamein, to complete a pincer movement from west and east. The next captures by 0.3 Squadron, RAAF, were a Bf 109G and Bf109F, following the Battle of EI Alamein. The Bf109G was found at LG 139 in the Western Desert on 9th November 1942 and was first flown by the Squadron CO, S/Ldr R. H. Gibbes, on the following day.
The Bf109F was found at Martuba 0.4 LG and was flown for the first time by S/Ldr Gibbes on 20th November 1942. After a few other flights by Gibbes and F/Lt R.J. Watt, the '109F was ferried ,away to Gazala on 8th December 1942 by P/O R. V. Pfeiffer.
No.7 Squadron, SAAF, also acquired a Bf109F at this period. The example was found at LG 12. It was flown to Shandur on 27th November 1942 by the CO of the Squadron, Major Blaauw. There was no further record of the unit flying the '109. It had previously flown with III/JG 53, with the code '12'.
No.4 Squadron, SAAF, was another inhabitant of Martuba No.4 LG at this period. The unit arrived on 10th December 1942; its Bf109F made a first flight under new management on 6th January 1943, in the hands of the Squadron CO, Major du Toil. This aircraft burst a tyre on landing on this day, but was not seriously damaged. There is no further mention of it in the unit records, beyond a note that it was hoped to have the Messerschmitt flying again soon. Photographs show that the '109 was marked as 'KJ-?'. KJ being the code of No.4 Squadron.
No.213 Squadron, RAF, captured a Junkers Ju 87D at Sidi Haneish (LG 101), in November 1942. This aircraft was coded as 'AK-?' with RAF markings and was test flown on 12th November 1942.
No.260 Squadron, yet another unit to fly from Martuba No.4 L.G., took over a Heinkel He 111 H, previously '5J +CR' of III/KG4. This was made airworthy by the Squadron and was painted in British markings, with the No.260 Squadron code letters as 'HS-?'. This aircraft was named Delta Lily and was handed over to No. 211 Croup for use as a communications aircraft. It made its first flight from Martuba to Alexandria on 7th December 1942, piloted by F/Lt R. Cundy. 'HS-?'. was noted on a scrap dump at Fanara in the Suez Canal Zone in April 1947.
Most of the final tally of captured aircraft was added when British forces reached Tripoli, where the main airfield was at Castel Benito. Once again, No.3 Squadron, RAAF, was amongst the first on the scene, arriving on 22nd January 1943. No.3 Squadron chose a Caproni Ca 309 Ghibli, a twin-engined light transport and reconnaissance type, to use as a unit communications hack. This example made its first flight with the Squadron on 1st February 1943, in the hands of S/Ldr Gibbes. It was yet another coded 'CVV'. On several occasions it made long flights, for example, to Cairo, and Alexandria in Egypt, and it remained in service for several months. On 9th July 1943, No.3 Squadron flew from North Africa to Takali, Malta, to take part in the build-up for the invasion of Sicily. The unit landed at Agnone in Sicily on 1st August. The Ghibli had, in the meantime, been flying with the Squadron's back echelon in North Africa and joined the unit at Agnone on 10th August. It was last noted in the unit's records on 4th September 1943.
The Squadron also acquired a Caproni Ca 164 two- eat light aircraft; this was also possibly found at Castel Benito, although it was first mentioned in the records on 2nd March 1943 when it was flown from EI Assa to Castel Benito by P/O H.J. Bray. It was also flown frequently in North Africa until at least 29th May 1943, when it was flown from Zuara to Gabes by F/Sgt Ulrich.
Other examples of aircraft 'liberated' at Castel Benito included a Savoia Marchetti SM 79 taken over by No.145 Squadron, RAF, on the unit's arrival there on 8th February 1943. This aircraft was repainted in British markings, with the Squadron code letters 'ZX'. It was previously MM 22174 of the Regia Aeronautica. It was used extensively as a Squadron communications aircraft and wore the name Gremlin HQ. F/O Jim Pickering flew this SM 79 for 88 hours 55 minutes on Squadron duties between 24th February and 19th May 1943. Later this aircraft was handed over to an unknown USAAF unit, but was destroyed by fire before it could be flown.
Another Castel Benito trophy was a Fiat G 50 single-engined fighter. This was painted in RAF marking and was flown by a so far untraced unit. It was later handed over to the USAAF 79th Fighter Group.
Operation 'Torch' had landed British and US troops in Algeria and Morocco, but the operation had not been able to cover Tunisia. The German reaction to 'Torch' was swift- on the day following the Allied landings, German forces began to land at EI Aouina airfield at Tunis, soon to be reinforced by shiploads of men and equipment from Italy and Sicily. These German moves merely postponed the inevitable. German resistance in Tunisia came to an end on 13th May 1943.
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