{{Short description|New Zealand fighter pilot of the Second World War}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox military person | name = Harvey Sweetman | image = Harvey Sweetman (cropped).jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | nickname = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1921|10|10}} | birth_place = [[Auckland]], New Zealand | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2015|1|15|1921|10|10}} | death_place = Auckland, New Zealand | birth_name = Harvey Nelson Sweetman | allegiance = New Zealand | branch = [[Royal New Zealand Air Force]] | service_years = 1940–1945 | rank = [[Squadron Leader]] | unit = [[No. 234 Squadron RAF|No. 234 Squadron]]<br/>[[No. 485 Squadron RNZAF|No. 485 Squadron]]<br/>[[No. 486 Squadron RNZAF|No. 486 Squadron]] | commands = [[No. 3 Squadron RAF|No. 3 Squadron]] (1944–45) | battles = {{tree list}} * [[Second World War]] ** Channel Front ** [[Western Front (World War II)#1944–1945: The Second Front|Western Front (1944–1945)]] ** [[Operation Diver]] {{tree list/end}} | awards = [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Flying Cross]] | spouse = | relations = | other_work = }}
'''Harvey Nelson Sweetman''', {{post-nominals|country=NZL|size=100|DFC}} (10 October 1921 – 15 January 2015) was a New Zealand fighter pilot of the [[Second World War]]. He flew extensively with [[No. 486 Squadron RNZAF|No. 486 (NZ) Squadron]] over Europe and was later commander of [[No. 3 Squadron RAF|No. 3 Squadron]]. He was credited with shooting down three aircraft and at least eleven V-1 flying bombs.
==Early life== Harvey Sweetman was born on 10 October 1921 in [[Auckland]], New Zealand, and educated at [[Matamata College|Matamata District High School]] in [[Waikato Region|the Waikato]], where he was swimming champion and captain of the 1st XI cricket team.{{sfn|Shores|Williams|1994|p=587}}<ref name="NZH 1944">{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NZH19440927.2.32 | title=Brilliant airman | date=27 September 1944 | work=New Zealand Herald | access-date=17 January 2015 | page=4}}</ref> He later worked as a clerk.{{sfn|Thompson|1953|p=239}}
==Second World War== Sweetman enlisted in the [[Royal New Zealand Air Force]] (RNZAF) in April 1940 and, after flight training, left New Zealand for Europe as a sergeant pilot later in the year.<ref name="NZH 1944"/> After converting to the [[Supermarine Spitfire]] fighter at an [[List of Royal Air Force Operational Training Units|Operational Training Unit]], he served briefly with [[No. 234 Squadron RAF|No. 234 Squadron]] before being posted to [[No. 485 Squadron RNZAF|No. 485 (NZ) Squadron]].{{sfn|Shores|Williams|1994|p=578}}{{sfn|Sortehaug|1998|p=5}}
Sweetman achieved his first aerial victory on 29 August, when he shot down a [[Messerschmitt Bf 109]] fighter north of Mardycke. Three weeks later, while escorting [[Bristol Blenheim]] bombers attacking a power station at [[Rouen]], he engaged a Bf 109 that was encountered on the return flight to England. He was credited with this Bf 109 as probably destroyed.{{sfn|Shores|Williams|1994|p=578}}{{sfn|Thompson|1953|p=241}} On 12 February 1942, No. 485 Squadron flew a mission escorting bombers attempting to disrupt the [[Channel Dash]] by the German battleships [[German battleship Scharnhorst|''Scharnhorst'']] and [[German battleship Gneisenau|''Gneisenau'']]. During this mission, Sweetman, together with another pilot, shot down a Bf 109 that was attempting to engage their flight leader, [[Bill Crawford-Compton]], west of [[Ostend]].{{sfn|Shores|Williams|1994|p=578}}{{sfn|Thompson|1953|pp=336–337}}
===Service with No. 486 Squadron=== In March, Sweetman, promoted to [[flight lieutenant]], joined the newly formed [[No. 486 Squadron RNZAF|No. 486 (NZ) Squadron]] as one of its [[flight commander|flight leader]]s.{{sfn|Sortehaug|1998|p=5}}{{sfn|Thompson|1953|p=335}} The flying personnel were mainly New Zealanders but with British administrative staff and ground crew. It operated [[Hawker Hurricane]]s from [[RAF Kirton in Lindsey|Kirton-in-Lindsey]] in a [[night fighter|night-fighting]] capacity.{{sfn|Rawlings|1976|pp=451–452}}{{sfn|Mitchell|1945|pp=161–162}} After a period of training, the first operational flight was undertaken by Sweetman and Pilot Officer [[Arthur Umbers]] on 27 April.{{sfn|Thompson|1953|pp=335–336}} On the night of 23 July, Sweetman scored the squadron's first aerial victory of the war, a [[Dornier Do 217]] [[medium bomber]]. This was recorded as shared with another pilot; although Sweetman was adamant that no other aircraft was involved, the surviving crew of the bomber were certain a Spitfire had shot them down.{{sfn|Shores|Williams|1994|p=578}}
Despite Sweetman's success, the squadron's night-fighting operations were mostly uneventful and after a number of weeks it was switched to [[day fighter|day-fighters]], converting to the [[Hawker Typhoon]].{{sfn|Thompson|1953|pp=335–336}} From October, and now operating from [[RAF West Malling|West Malling]] and then [[RAF Tangmere|Tangmere]], it was regularly flying missions intercepting incoming ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' [[Glossary of RAF code names|Rhubarb]] missions.{{sfn|Rawlings|1976|pp=451–452}}{{sfn|Mitchell|1945|pp=161–162}} On one such sortie, on 19 December, he damaged a [[Focke-Wulf Fw 190]] fighter but it disappeared in cloud some {{convert|50|mi|km}} off [[Bognor Regis|Bognor]].{{sfn|Shores|Williams|1994|p=578}}{{sfn|Sortehaug|1998|p=51}} He damaged another Fw 190 off [[Shoreham-by-Sea|Shoreham]] on 8 February 1943, when he and his wingman were directed by radar to a flight of four Fw 190s in the area.{{sfn|Shores|Williams|1994|p=578}}{{sfn|Sortehaug|1998|p=59}}
Flying near [[Étretat]] on 9 April, Sweetman damaged a Fw 190 and shared in the probable destruction of another.{{sfn|Shores|Williams|1994|p=578}} At the end of the month he had to crash land his Typhoon near [[Selsey|Selsey village]] on returning from a mission escorting fighter bombers to [[Le Havre]]. The engine of his aircraft had intermittently cut out on the return flight.{{sfn|Sortehaug|1998|p=71}} The following month, he was awarded the [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Flying Cross]] (DFC).<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=36027|date=25 May 1943|supp=y|page=2322}}</ref> It was the second DFC to be awarded to a pilot of the squadron; the first had been made just a week earlier.{{sfn|Sortehaug|1998|p=74}} In July Sweetman, having flown operationally for nearly two years, left the squadron for an instructor's post at [[RAF Charmy Down]] before taking up production testing for the [[Hawker Aircraft|Hawker Aircraft Company]]. His role, based at [[Langley, Berkshire|Langley]] in [[Berkshire]], involved test flying aircraft from the factory line.{{sfn|Sortehaug|1998|p=79}} [[File:Tempest Vs 486 Sqn RNZAF at Newchurch 1944.jpg|thumb|right|Hawker Tempests of No. 486 Squadron at [[RAF Newchurch|Newchurch]], 1944]] Sweetman returned to No. 486 Squadron for a second tour to command 'A' Flight in February 1944.{{sfn|Sortehaug|1998|p=135}} By this time the unit had converted to the [[Hawker Tempest]] Mk V and from the middle of 1944 Sweetman and No. 486 Squadron became heavily involved in [[Operation Diver]], the campaign to protect [[London]] and [[southeast England]] from the [[V1 flying bomb]] offensive.{{sfn|Shores|Williams|1994|p=578}} Sweetman was one of the more successful of the squadron's pilots, responsible for destroying several V1s.{{sfn|Sortehaug|1998|p=174}}
===Later war service=== Following the death of its leader, Sweetman was promoted to [[squadron leader]] and given command of [[No. 3 Squadron RAF|No. 3 Squadron]] on 15 September 1944. He led the squadron in operations in support of the Allied advance into Western Europe until the following January at which time he was taken off flight operations for a rest. He returned to Hawker Aircraft Company as a [[test pilot]], before going on to complete a course at the [[Empire Test Pilots' School]] at [[MoD Boscombe Down|Boscombe Down]].{{sfn|Shores|Williams|1994|p=578}}{{sfn|Sortehaug|1998|p=178}}
Sweetman ended the war credited with the destruction of one German aircraft, one probably destroyed, and two damaged. He also shared in destroying two more, shared one probably destroyed and a shared damaged aircraft. He was a V1 ace, claiming eleven V1 flying bombs as destroyed with another shared.{{sfn|Shores|Williams|1994|p=578}}
==Later life== After the war Sweetman returned to New Zealand. In his later years he lived in [[retirement]] in [[Auckland]]. He died on 15 January 2015 at the age of 93, survived by his wife Alice and five children.<ref>[http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/65150139/wwii-raf-squadron-leader-dies WWII RAF squadron leader dies] ''stuff.co.nz,'' 17 January 2015</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Wynn |first1=Kirsty |title='Lone Wolf' Kiwi flying ace dies |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11388052 |access-date=29 May 2020 |work=New Zealand Herald |date=18 January 2015}}</ref> He is buried at North Shore Memorial Park.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cenotaph Record: Harvey Nelson Sweetman |url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/176872 |website=Online Cenotaph |publisher=Auckland Museum |access-date=29 May 2020}}</ref>
==Notes== {{Reflist|30em}}
==References== *{{cite book|last=Mitchell|first=Alan W.|title=New Zealanders in the Air War|year=1945|publisher=George G. Harrap & Co.|location=London, United Kingdom|oclc=1079233416}} *{{cite book|last=Rawlings|first=John|year=1976|title=Fighter Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft|publisher=MacDonald & James|location=London|isbn=0-354-01028-X}} *{{cite book|last1=Shores|first1=Christopher|last2=Williams|first2=Clive|year=1994|title=Aces High: A Tribute to the Most Notable Fighter Pilots of the British and Commonwealth Forces in WWII|publisher=Grub Street|location=London, United Kingdom|isbn=1-898697-00-0}} *{{cite book|last=Sortehaug|first=Paul|year=1998|title=The Wild Winds: The History of Number 486 RNZAF Fighter Squadron with the RAF|publisher=Otago University Print|location=Dunedin, New Zealand|isbn=1-877139-09-2}} *{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=H. L.|year=1953|title=New Zealanders with the Royal Air Force|volume=I|url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-1RAF.html|series=[[Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–45]]|publisher=War History Branch|location=Wellington, New Zealand|oclc=270919916}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120623152622/http://www.hawkertempest.se/sweetman.htm Biography of Harvey Sweetman]
{{New Zealand World War II Flying Aces}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweetman, Harvey}} [[Category:1921 births]] [[Category:2015 deaths]] [[Category:New Zealand World War II flying aces]] [[Category:Military personnel from Auckland]] [[Category:People from Matamata]] [[Category:New Zealand recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)]] [[Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II]] [[Category:People educated at Matamata College]]