Bill Martyn in Books
Bill turns up in the memoirs of the pilots who flew with him, in squadron histories, and in accounts of Norway, Madagascar and the Malta convoys. Here are the books we have found so far, in the order they were published, each with a few of its words about him and a link to where it can be bought.
Aboard Ships with WingsThe Bill Martyn Story
Dr Peter E. Lawson, CD
The full military biography of Bill, described by its author as the story of Canada’s most often honoured and decorated naval pilot of the Second World War. Dr Lawson also wrote Firsts and Foremost, the account on this site’s Story page. Copies are held by libraries including Halifax Public Libraries.
- 1954
Sea FlightThe Wartime Memoirs of a Fleet Air Arm Pilot
Hugh Popham
William Kimber; Seaforth, 2010
“We were greeted by Moose Martyn, 880’s Senior Pilot and a Canadian”
Page 55 (2010 edition)“Moose we knew with his flat, bony face: in the air he was first-rate”
Part Two, H.M.S. IndomitablePopham joined 880 Squadron as a new pilot in 1941, when Bill was its Senior Pilot. Bill appears all through his time on Indomitable, always as “Moose”. Popham also records Bill taking command of the squadron at Stretton.
- 1978
Canadians in the Royal Air Force
Les Allison
“MARTYN, William Haig ‘Bill’ Lt. Commander, D.S.C. & Bar”
Roll of namesA roll of the Canadians who served in the Royal Air Force. Bill is listed for his RAF years, 1936 to 1938, before he moved to the Fleet Air Arm.
- 1979
Heinkel savnet over LesjaHeinkel missing over Lesja
Knut A. Nilsen
In Norwegian
“Behind Bramwell and Collett’s A7-A flies Lieutenant Martyn, with Corporal Reg Davies as telegraphist and rear gunner.”
Page 65 (translated from the Norwegian)A Norwegian book about the Heinkel He 111 that Bill and his Commanding Officer, Peter Bramwell, brought down near Lesja in April 1940, and the search for the men involved. It follows the attack plane by plane.
- 1986
They Gave Me a Seafire
Commander R. ‘Mike’ Crosley, DSC, RN
Airlife; Pen & Sword, 2014
“Needless to say, with a name like that, he was a Western Canadian; a relaxed six-footer, well known as one of the successful Hurricane COs in Indomitable.”
Page 129 (2001 edition)Crosley met Bill at Hatston in Orkney in 1944, when he took over 880 Squadron from him. He also passes on what Bill told him about flying cover for the strike on the Tirpitz.
- 1990
BaderThe Man and His Men
Michael G. Burns
Arms and Armour Press
“the Senior Pilot, a laconic Canadian Lieutenant ‘Moose’ Martyn”
Pages 210 and 243 (1998 edition)The book follows the men who flew with Douglas Bader, among them Dicky Cork, who went on to serve in 880 Squadron with Bill. It also notes Bill becoming Commanding Officer when the squadron reassembled at Stretton.
- 1991
Malta: The Spitfire Year 1942
Christopher Shores, Brian Cull and Nicola Malizia
Grub Street
“800 Squadron’s Senior Pilot, Lt. W.H. Martyn, led the four Sea Hurricanes of White Section into the bombers”
Page 477, Operation PedestalThe standard history of the air battle for Malta in 1942. Its account of Pedestal follows Bill into the attack, and notes that his Sea Hurricane (V7416) was hit in the engine by return fire.
- 2001
The Fleet Air Arm Handbook, 1939–1945
David Wragg
Sutton
“Lt Cdr (A) W.H. Martyn, DSC, RNVR, 07/09/42”
Page 179, 880 Squadron’s commanding officersA reference book with a history of every Fleet Air Arm squadron. Bill is listed as 880 Squadron’s Commanding Officer from 7 September 1942, followed by Mike Crosley.
- 2007
Skua!The Royal Navy’s Dive-Bomber
Peter C. Smith
Pen & Sword
“801 Squadron led by Lieutenant W. H. Martyn, RN, being got away at 1400 hours.”
Norway, 1940The history of the Skua, the aircraft Bill flew in Norway and over Dunkirk. Here he leads 801 Squadron’s patrol, and the usual He 115 shadower over Harstad escapes into cloud.
- 2008
Aces High, Volume 2A Further Tribute to the Most Notable Fighter Pilots of the British and Commonwealth Air Forces in WWII
Christopher Shores
Grub Street
“Born in Calgary, Canada, in December 1915, William Martyn joined the RAF in October 1936, later transferring to the Fleet Air Arm.”
Entry: MARTYN William Haig, Lieutenant CommanderThe reference book of British and Commonwealth fighter aces gives Bill an entry of his own, starting with 801 Squadron and the Skuas in 1940.
- 2009
Air GunnerThe Men Who Manned the Turrets
Alan W. Cooper
“Two Skua pilots, Lt Cdr Bramwell and Lt Martyn, claimed the kill. Three of the Heinkel crew survived”
Page 70The Heinkel He 111 that came down on a Norwegian mountainside in April 1940, shared by Bill and his Commanding Officer, Peter Bramwell. The aircraft is now in the Norwegian Armed Forces Aircraft Collection at Gardermoen.
- 2010
The Battle for NorwayApril–June 1940
Geirr Haarr
Seaforth
“the Heinkel was attacked by Lieutenant Commander Peter Bramwell, CO of 801 Squadron, and Lieutenant Martyn.”
Page 146A detailed history of the Norwegian campaign. It tells how the He 111, already damaged by naval anti-aircraft fire over Åndalsnes and leaking oil, had little chance of escaping Bramwell and Bill.
- 2011
Flying Sailors at WarSeptember 1939 – June 1940
Brian Cull
Dalrymple & Verdun
“Fw Richard Gumbrecht being attacked by Lt(A) Moose Martyn and N/Air Reg Davies in A7C.”
Norway, 1940A day-by-day account of the Fleet Air Arm’s first year of war. Bill appears all through the Norwegian campaign, leading sections of 801 Squadron’s Skuas with his gunner Reg Davies.
- 2011
Wings over the WavesThe Biography and Letters of Roy Baker-Falkner
Graham Drucker
“Martyn, the very tall young Canadian officer also in Monkey Bryant’s fighter squadron, wrote home to his parents”
HMS Glorious, 1939The life of the Barracuda strike leader Roy Baker-Falkner. It quotes Bill’s own letters home from HMS Glorious, uses a photograph of “Moose” in the Glorious wardroom from the Martyn family collection, and meets him again in 1944 as Commanding Officer of the fighters escorting Roy’s Barracuda.
- 2011
World War II Sea War, Volume 2France Falls, Britain Stands Alone
Donald A. Bertke, Don Kindell and Gordon Smith
A day-by-day record of the war at sea. It names Bill among the Skua crews of 801 and 803 Squadrons in a dive-bombing attack in the summer of 1940.
- 2014
Operation PedestalThe Story of Convoy WS21S in August 1942
Brian James Crabb
Shaun Tyas
“Martyn William Haig DSC Lieutenant (A) (800 NAS - Senior Pilot) MID”
Awards for Operation PedestalThe full story of the Malta convoy of August 1942. Bill is listed among those honoured, as Senior Pilot of 800 Squadron, with a Mention in Despatches.
- 2016
A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940–1945: Volume Three
Christopher Shores, Giovanni Massimello and Russell Guest
Grub Street
“880 Squadron … Lt Cdr (A) W.H. Martyn, DSC”
Page 50, order of battle for Operation TorchThe order of battle for the North Africa landings in November 1942 lists Bill commanding 880 Squadron’s Seafires, aboard HMS Argus with the Eastern Task Group off Algiers.
- 2017
HurricaneHawker’s Fighter Legend
John Dibbs, Tony Holmes and Gordon Riley
Osprey
“This shared victory saw Martyn become the first of several Royal Navy pilots to ‘make ace’ that day.”
Operation Pedestal, 12 August 1942During Pedestal, Bill led his section of 800 Squadron’s Sea Hurricanes against a raid of Ju 88s. He hit one in the starboard engine, and with his wingman sent it spiralling into the sea.
- 2020
TarantoAnd Naval Air Warfare in the Mediterranean, 1940–1945
David Hobbs
Seaforth
“‘Moose’ Martyn of 880 NAS was the first, ‘Buster’ Hallett of 884 NAS the second and Lieutenant ‘Dickie’ Cork of 880 NAS the third.”
Operation Pedestal, 12 August 1942A history of the naval air war in the Mediterranean by a former Fleet Air Arm pilot. On 12 August 1942, during Pedestal, it names Bill as the first of the day’s new aces.
- 2022
Hurricanes in Action Worldwide!
Adrian Stewart
Pen & Sword
“Martyn got back to Indomitable only to crash-land, so damaging his Hurricane that it was assessed as being beyond repair”
Page 144, Operation PedestalThe Hurricane’s war around the world. Its Pedestal chapter has Bill bringing his damaged Sea Hurricane back to Indomitable after the attack.
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In magazines
Flight
The RAF postings list, posting W. H. Martyn to No. 41 (Fighter) Squadron at Catterick. The United Services and Empire Review and The Aeroplane carried the same notices of his RAF postings in 1937 and 1938.
Flight
The announcement of the Bar to his Distinguished Service Cross, naming him as W. H. Martyn, D.S.C., R.N.
Navy News
A reader in Kaufbeuren, Germany, asks for help tracing Lieutenant W. H. Martyn, DSC and Bar, who flew Skuas with 801 Squadron.
Aeroplane Monthly
An article by A. R. Chapman and Bjørn Olsen on the shooting down of Heinkel He 111 5J+CN of KG 4 by Lieutenant Commander Bramwell and Lieutenant Martyn.
After the Battle
The story of the same Heinkel. Bramwell in Skua A7-A and Bill in A7-C singled it out, and the magazine tells how the writers set out to trace Bill, having learned that he was a Canadian.
Canadian Aeronautics and Space Journal
Quotes from a report Bill wrote on 23 November 1943, while commanding 880 Squadron.
The excerpts are short passages quoted to show what each book says about Bill; the words belong to their authors and publishers. Page numbers are given where we could confirm them, and they differ between editions. Some older books spell his name Martin. If you know of a book that mentions Bill and is not here, we would like to hear about it.