Fg Off. Otto Hjalmar Antoft

(1919 - 1944)

Profile 21 Sep 19, 19:25

Otto Hjalmar Antoft was the oldest of two brothers, who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. From early on he wanted to join a Danish Squadron and fight overseas. He was killed in action during the Operation Market Garden on 21 September 1944.

Otto Hjalmar Antoft was born on 21 February 1919 in Frederiksberg, Denmark. He was the son of Otto Hugo Antoft and Asta Sigrid Antoft (née Rump).^[1] He was the brother of Kell Antoft, who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as well.

Antoft’s father was employed by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1929. He accepted an offer to transfer to the company’s Winnipeg Office, and the following year the family emigrated to Winnipeg, MB, in Canada. In 1933, the family moved to Lakeville, King’s County in Nova Scotia. He graduated with honours from King’s County Academy in June 1937 and from Dalhousie University with a BA in Public Administration in 1941. He had intended to complete a Master’s degree, but the war intervened. Following a brief employment in the caucus of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force.^[2]

Royal Canadian Air Force

Antoft enlisted in the RCAF at the recruitment centre in Halifax on 5 March 1942. The enlistment officer recorded, that Antoft would

[…] like to join the Danish Air Squadron which I understand has been formed or is in the process of being formed here in Canada.^[3]

He reported to 5 Manning Depot, Lachine, Quebec, on 20 April 1942 and remained here until June, when he was posted to 31 Operational Training Unit, Debert, Nova Scotia. I am not certain about his actual duties during this time as he had not passed initial training.

Antoft commenced initial training at 3 Initial Training School, Victoriaville, Quebec (Course 59) on 1 August 1942. The course ends on 26 September 1942 and he was promoted to Leading Aircraftman on the same day. The assessment at the end of the course states that

Intelligent. Well educated. Can speak Danish. Good natured and friendly not particularly forceful but a very capable lad.^[4]

On 27 September 1942 he is posted to 1 Bombing and Gunnery School, Jarvis, Ontario (Course 64) and on 23 November 1942 he is posted to No. Air Observers School, Chatham, New Brunswick. He ends training here at 19 March 1942 and is promoted from Sergeant to Pilot Officer.^[5] He was very keen on serving overseas at this point. The assessment at the end of the course states that he was a

Keen capable airman with plenty of personality. Very anxious for overseas duty as some of his relatives are in concentration camp. Recommended for commissioned rank.^[6]

The next day, 20 March 1942, he was posted to 34 Operational Training Unit, Penfield Ridge, New Brunswick (Course 10). Having concluded operational training he was transferred overseas arriving in Bournemouth in July 1943. He was posted to 13 OTU for course No. 4, and on 21 October 1943 and was transferred to RAF Stoney Cross.

Two weeks later, on 4 November 1943, he was posted to 299 Squadron, which was formed on that day as a squadron intended for special operations. Initially the squadron was equipped with Lockheed Venturas, but conversion to Stirlings commenced in January 1944. Antoft was then posted to 1665 HCU at Woolfax Lodge; at this unit, he joined up with pilot FS R. B. Herger and the rest of his crew, before being posted to 190 Squadron.^[7]

190 Squadron

On 8 February 1944 Otto Hjalmar Antoft is posted to 190 Squadron as Flying Officer. As Danish citizen he has the right to carry the “Denmark” shoulder patch, so even if a Danish squadron was never established, he was able to wear a sign of his native country on in air.^[8] This squadron had been reformed at RAF Station Leicester East as an airborne forces squadron equipped with Stirlings, beginning supply-dropping missions over France in April 1944. The squadron was involved in the dropping of airborne troops behind enemy lines in Normandy on D-Day, and continued operating supply missions over French Occupied Territory in the following months. From 17–23 September 1944, 190 Squadron played an important part in the support mission of Operation Market Garden, suffering heavy losses. Antoft took part in these operations from the beginning of May.

D-Day

Antoft took part in a single operational mission before D-Day. On 6–7 May 1944, the crew had made an unsuccessful attempt to drop containers near Montaner, in the foothills of the Pyrenees in France, for Special Operations Executive. During May, the squadron practiced glider towing, container dropping, and fighter affiliation, in preparation for the coming invasion. Very few operational sorties were carried out during this time.

On 5 June, the crew were briefed for the coming operation—Antoft was to take part in phase two of Operation Tonga. In the first phase of this operation, glider-borne troops from Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry would attack the bridges over the Caen canal and Orne River, east of the Bénouville. Then, as part of the second phase of the operation, twenty-three Stirlings from each of the two squadrons at RAF Station Fairford (190 and 620 Squadrons) would be dropping 887 airborne troops of the 7th Parachute Battalion in an area on the north-east side of Ranville (drop zone ‘N’). These troops were to set up a defensive perimeter around the bridges.

Late in the evening on 5 June, the engines of Stirling IV (LJ824) were run for a short time, and then shut down to allow the airborne troops to climb on board. At 23.25 hours, the aircraft took off, and Antoft navigated the aircraft to the drop zone. Crossing the French coast, the 190 Squadron Stirlings ran into anti-aircraft fire, and some of the aircraft had to take evasive action. The airborne troops and their supplies were scattered over a large area, but managed to make rendezvous with the men defending the bridge. Antoft returned to base at 02.35 hours. Most of the crews that had taken part in Operation Tonga were also detailed to participate in the main glider-lift on the evening of D-Day—Operation Mallard. However, this was not the case for Antoft’s crew, who only flew a single mission during the remaining part of June, on the 14th.

From June to August 1944, 190 Squadron was involved in supply missions for the French Resistance and for the SOE, as well as missions dropping SAS groups behind enemy lines. From 14 June to 11 September 1944, Antoft took part in fourteen such missions. Most operations involved dropping containers, panniers and packages, but on several missions additional SAS paratroops were dropped over France.^[9]

Arnhem - Operation Market Garden

On 17 September 1944, Antoft flew the first of four operational missions in Operation Market Garden, the allied attempt to force an entry into Germany over the Lower Rhine via Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem.^[10] On the first day of the operation, the unit carried the pathfinders of the 21st Independent Parachute Company that marked the landing zones for the first lift. At approximately 10.45 hours, twenty-five Stirlings from both 190 and 620 Squadrons took off from Fairford and set course for Arnhem. Six of the aircraft acted as pathfinders, while the remaining nineteen, including Antoft’s crew, were towing gliders that contained 130 airborne troops, seventeen jeeps, seven light and one heavy motor cycle, seventeen trailers, seven guns, and one bicycle. All except one carried out their sorties. Several aircraft were hit by flak, but the operational record also reports that the enemy flak positions were well beaten up by Allied fighters. In the following days, the unit was deeply engaged in the resupply missions. The Danish fighter pilot Flt Lt K. C. J. Pedersen took part in the operation as well; he was part of a group of eleven Spitfires from 1 Squadron who provided low-level escort to aircraft, gilders, and tugs.

The days were eventful and the sheer number of aircraft in the air led to dangerous situations. At 12.10 hours. on 18 September 1944, Stirling IV (LJ943), which was carrying Antoft’s crew, took off from Fairford. The Stirling was towing a Horsa glider, carrying supplies strongly needed in Arnhem. Whilst over Holland, the aircraft was drawn into the slipstream of a Dakota. The pilot, FS Herger, took evasive action and the tow rope snapped. The Horsa, piloted by S/Sgt Newton and Sgt Douglas of No. 10 Flight, G Squadron, landed the glider safely near the village of Oude-Tonge on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee—many miles from Arnhem.^[11] The next day, 19 September, the crew flew the third sortie for Arnhem. Sixteen Stirlings took off at 13.05 hours. to drop containers and panniers in the Arnhem area. They encountered heavy flak and many aircraft returned damaged. Two aircraft failed to return.

Two days later, Antoft was in the air again. In Holland, the British troops were trapped near Arnhem. The crew was briefed on a position in Oosterbeek, but, given the critical situation on the ground, no definite dropping point was fixed beforehand. Instead, the crew was to drop the load at 1,000 feet after a signal from the ground troops in that area, north-west of Arnhem. Antoft’s crew carried out the drop successfully, despite concentrated heavy and light flak throughout the run-in. At some point the aircraft (LJ943/C) was hit several times, and caught fire. The Air Gunner, WO J. C. Thomas (R.173863, RCAF) attempted to extinguish the fire, but failed—being cut off from the rest of the crew, he baled out at between 300 to 400 feet. The Flight Engineer, Sgt Hillyard, also managed to bale out, while the aircraft crashed north of a farm at Zetten. Sgt Hillyard had seen both FO MacDonell and Antoft putting on their parachutes in order to follow him out of the aircraft, but, for unknown reasons, they never left. WO Thomas and Sgt Hillyard were captured by the Germans within minutes of their landing; the rest of the crew, including Antoft, were killed in action.

Initially, they were buried in the Refuge-Hill Church Cemetery in Zetten with the casualties of another Stirling loss (LJ982). The Dutch locals who were taking care of the casualties initially accounted for fifteen bodies of the eighteen crew missing. Following the liberation of the area, the bodies were reinterred at the Oosterbeek Airborne Cemetery, Arnhem, Holland. Market V turned out to be very costly to the squadron. Intense flak and German aircraft led to the loss of seven of ten Stirlings, in all twenty-four aircrew, and six despatchers.^[12]

The last Mission

10.45 hours, twenty-five Stirlings from both 190 and 620 Squadrons took off from Fairford and set course for Arnhem. Six of the aircraft acted as pathfinders, while the remaining nineteen, including Antoft’s crew, were towing gliders that contained 130 airborne troops, seventeen jeeps, seven light and one heavy motor cycle, seventeen trailers, seven guns, and one bicycle. All except one carried out their sorties. Several aircraft were hit by flak, but the operational record also reports that the enemy flak positions were well beaten up by Allied fighters. In the following days, the unit was deeply engaged in the resupply missions. The Danish fighter pilot Flt Lt K. C. J. Pedersen took part in the operation as well; he was part of a group of eleven Spitfires from 1 Squadron who provided low-level escort to aircraft, gilders, and tugs.

The days were eventful and the sheer number of aircraft in the air led to dangerous situations. At 12.10 hours on 18 September 1944, Stirling IV (LJ943), which was carrying Antoft’s crew, took off from Fairford. The Stirling was towing a Horsa glider, carrying supplies strongly needed in Arnhem. Whilst over Holland, the aircraft was drawn into the slipstream of a Dakota. The pilot, FS Herger, took evasive action and the tow rope snapped. The Horsa, piloted by S/Sgt Newton and Sgt Douglas of No. 10 Flight, G Squadron, landed the glider safely near the village of Oude-Tonge on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee—many miles from Arnhem.^[14] The next day, 19 September, the crew flew the third sortie for Arnhem. Sixteen Stirlings took off at 13.05 hours to drop containers and panniers in the Arnhem area. They encountered heavy flak and many aircraft returned damaged. Two aircraft failed to return.

I had not been able to write this profile without the assistance of Bill Green, Bruno Lecaplain, Errol Martyn, Henk Welting, Kees Stoutjesdijk, Ken McLean, and Philip Reinders via RAF Commands Forum.

Endnotes

[1] DNA: Parish register, Frederiksberg parish.

[2] Antoft Family fonds (part one and two) from Acadia University, Esther Clark Wright Archives.

[3] LAC: R112/30612.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Canada Gazette, 26 June 1943.

[6] LAC: R112/30612.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Williams, Stirlings in action with the airborne forces (2008), p. 105–142.

[10] Middlebrook, Arnhem 1944 (1994).

[11] Bowyer, The Stirling story (2002), p. 284.

[12] Hees, Tugs and Gliders to Arnhem (2000).

[13] Middlebrook, op.cit. (1994).

[14] Bowyer, op.cit., p. 284.

[15] Hees, op.cit..