Patch, Oliver (Oral history)

British officer served with 824 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Eagle in Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, 1939-1940; served with Naval Air Fighting Development Unit at RAF Duxford, GB, 1942-1943

REEL 1 Recollections of period as officer with Royal Marines attached to Fleet Air Arm, 1937-1939: reasons for volunteering for Fleet Air Arm, 1937; flying training and first solo; types of aircraft flown; technique for landing on aircraft carriers; importance of espirit de corps in Royal Marines and Fleet Air Arm; joining HMS Eagle, 1938; opinion of Fairey Swordfish. Recollections of operations as officer with 824 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Eagle in Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, 1939-1940: hearing declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; patrolling in Indian Ocean; move to Mediterranean for convoy escort duties, 5/1940; rotation of squadrons on carrier. REEL 2 Continues: attack on Italian submarine Iride and depot ship Monte Gargano and subsequent sinkings in Gulf of Bomba, Libya, 22/8/1940; landing on aircraft carrier; importance of operating at night. Aspects of period as pilot with Naval Air Fighting Development Unit at RAF Duxford, GB, 1942-1943: types of aircraft with unit; opinion of facilities.