Published 17 April 2003

LEFT: From Folkestone Herald files, a photograph of Claudia Calmon, a little known wartime hero. See story below. BELOW: The old Folkestone Marina and the once popular outdoor swimming pool with the cliff lifts in the background

- another old photograph from the files of the Folkestone Herald.
TWENTY-five years ago aviation historian Roy Humphreys, of Hawkinge, was writing in the Herald about a secret service base at Capel during the Second World War.

He told how Claudia Calmon, a refugee from her homeland of Czechoslovakia, joined the WAAF and was then recruited for more covert operations, operating1 from the striking white, cliff-top property at Capel, known as London House.

A keen horsewoman, Claudia had been all set to become an officer in the WAAF and was initially due to become a translator but, being fluent in four European languages, including German, it is hardly surprising she was invited to train for more undercover work.

She joined the Political Intelligence Department (P.I.D.) at Woburn Abbey.

Subsequently Claudia trained with the crypto-analysis section at the headquarters of operational intelligence at West Kingsdown, near Wrotham.

Classified as a signal linguist, she was taught wireless telegraphy, operational code systems and had a thorough grounding in known German radio frequencies.

On completion of training, in February 1943, she was given the choice of working at Montrose, Swanage, Gorlestone, Eastbourne or Capel-le-Ferne.

Claudia chose Capel, which came within
No. 11 Group of Fighter Command, because of its proximity to London - where her parents lived - but also because it offered intense action.

It was over this area that the German Luftwaffe concentrated its menacing bomber formations.

Fighters and fighter-bombers also took the shortest sea crossing as they went about their attacks on Kent and its airfields and other sensitive areas, such as local radar stations.

In the secret “Y” Service monitoring unit at Capel her job was to tune into enemy radio frequencies to gather intelligence.

During the Battle of Britain and the Blitz that followed, “Y” Section at Capel naturely became directly linked with the nearest RAF fighter station - Hawkinge.

Seaplane shot down

One of the earliest recorded successes in which Capel and Hawkinge were involved, was the shooting down of a German HE 50 seaplane near Dungeness by a young pilot from the local airfield.

These sometimes carried red crosses to denote they were on missions of mercy to pick up airmen brought down in the sea, but also carried out spying and other covert missions, bringing an airmen’s code of honour into disrepute, so it was not surprising our airmen attacked them.

Fighter action was apt to be fast and furi-
ous and the whole operation, from beginning to end, might take only 14 minutes.

“Y” Section, Capel, became an integral part of the defence structure of Fighter Command. It was, wrote Roy Humphreys, a thorn in the side of the Luftwaffe.

And it certainly didn’t go down well in the German air force to discover the whole of “Y” Section was manned by women!

The perhaps naive (or was it arrogant?) German pilots could be careless about security when in action, talking among themselves about their wives and sweethearts, about forthcoming leave, or about other unit personnel.

They even discussed methods of attack upon unsuspecting British pilots, during operations.

All this seemingly useless information could be used by the British intelligence
service, and was recorded in laborious long-hand by the women operators.

And, in one documented case at least, it was to save a Hawkinge pilot’s life.

Roy Humphreys describes how Claudia picked up conversation between two pilots calmly discussing how best to carry out an attack on an unsuspecting ‘Jim Crow’ pilot operating from Hawkinge.

Life-saver
In seconds she had translated their chatter passed on the vital information and the British pilot quickly received the urgent message “Break! .... Break!” in his earphones in time to take evasive action.

Claudia lived in a billet in Folkestone and, after marriage stayed in the district, but wrote Roy, she preferred to keep her identity a secret.
Life saver
)
 

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