Martin was accepted by the
Admiralty Board for pilot training in 1938. He attended Course No.
5 set up in HMS Frobisher in early March 1939.
He was transferred to the
Naval College at Greenwich in early May 1939 for flying training at Gravesend.
From there he went to RAF Netheravon for intermediate
and advanced flying and
was awarded "Wings" in November 1939. In January 1940 Derek transferred
to RN Fighter Training School at HMS Raven,
now known as Southampton
Airport.
In April 1940 he was appointed
to his first operational squadron of Skuas at Donibristle (Firth of Forth);
from there he flew to Prestwick en-route
to HMS Ark Royal waiting
in the Clyde before proceeding for operations off Norway. However,
on the way, at about 800 feet Derek's aircraft
suffered total engine failure
and he crash landed (safely) into a ploughed field at Troon. He subsequently
flew another Skua aircraft to join Ark Royal
and 800 Squadron before
making way to Norway where they were to carry out protective patrols over
naval operations in the region of Narvik
and the Fleet anchorage
at Hartstad.
Early in June, the Norwegian
campaign was abandoned and with evacuation complete the fleet, with HMS
Ark Royal and HMS Glorious, sailed for Scapa
convoying the merchant ships
with recovered troops. On 7th June "Glorious", with two destroyers
was detached and sailed independently for Scapa.
Having no air patrols she
was sighted by two German battleships on June 8th, and all three ships
were sunk with the loss of 1,520 men.
Subsequently, 15 Skuas from
800 & 803 Squadrons from Ark Royal attacked German naval forces in
Trondheim on 13th June at 0100 in daylight.
Observed when still 70 miles
from their targets they encountered on arrival very heavy flak and many
Me109s and 110s. Eight aircraft were destroyed,
seven aircrew killed and
nine captured. Seven aircraft returned to the Ark - two having aborted
their attack. Lt. Cdr. Martin was captured and remained a POW
until May 1945. He
was in at least seven different POW camps, the last one being Stalag Luft
111 (north camp), from which in January 1945
they were marched out ahead
of the Russian forces. He was finally released in Lubeck, arriving
back in England on VE day.
He resigned the Royal Navy
as a ND (dagger) in June 1966.
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