Description
Object description
British officer served as pilot with 700 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth in North Atlantic and Mediterranean, 2/1941-12/1941 including sinking in Alexandria Harbour, Egypt, 19/12/1941; served with 805 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm in North and East Africa, 1942-1943; commanded 1841 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm in United States of America, GB and aboard HMS Formidable off Norway, 3/1944-11/1944; commanded 1841 Naval Air Sqdn, 2nd Carrier Air Group, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Formidable, 1st Aircraft Sqdn, British Pacific Fleet in Pacific, 3/1944-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1918-1939: family; education. Aspects of enlistment, training and service with Fleet Air Arm in GB, 1939-1941: reasons for enlistment in Fleet Air Arm; pattern and opinion of training; reasons why he became a Supermarine Walrus pilot; encounter with German Air Force aircraft over Pembroke Dock, 8/1940; opinion of Supermarine Walrus; catapult training aboard HMS Pegasus; technique for hoisting aircraft aboard ship; role of Supermarine Walrus; anti-submarine patrols from RAF Sullom Voe, winter 1940-1941. Recollections of operations as pilot with 700 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth in North Atlantic and Mediterranean, 2/1941-12/1941 including sinking in Alexandria Harbour, Egypt, 19/12/1941: reaction to joining battleship, 2/1941; atmosphere on board during hunt for German battleship Bismarck in North Atlantic, 5/1941; living conditions on board; narrow escape during sinking of ship in Alexandria Harbour, Egypt, 19/12/1941; damage caused to ship by Italian frogmen of Decima Flottiglia (MAS); escorting convoy from Gibraltar to Alexandria, Egypt.
REEL 2 Continues: Axis attacks on convoy to Alexandria, Egypt, 5/1941; damage to ship during evacuation of Crete, Greece, 5/1941; ashore in Alexandria, Egypt; attitude of Egyptian civilians towards British presence; story of accidental damage to aircraft on flight to Ismalia, Egypt, 9/1941; projected use of Supermarine Walrus during defence of Tobruk, Libya; sinking of HMS Barham and his role in reporting sinking in Alexandria, Egypt, 25/11/1941. Aspects of operations as pilot with 805 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm in North Africa and East Africa, 1942-1943: character and role of unit in North Africa, 4/1942-9/1942; amusing story of burning tent during temporary evacuation of airfield.
REEL 3 Continues: concern over German advance; opinion of Grumman Martlet; reasons for move to East Africa, 9/1942; period in Nairobi, Kenya. Aspects of period commanding 1841 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm in United States of America, 3/1944-5/1944: attitude to appointment to United States of America to test aircraft, 1943; taking command of squadron at Naval Air Station Brunswick in United States of America, 3/1944; squadron personnel; flying Vought Corsair Mk II; deck landing accidents on USS Charger. Recollections of operations commanding 1841 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Formidable off Norway, 7/1944-8/1944: joining aircraft carrier, 29/6/1944; role of squadron attacking German battleship Tirpitz during Operation Mascot, 17/7/1944; squadron losses during attack; targets engaged during attacks on battleship Tirpitz; morale after attack; submarine search after attack.
REEL 4 Continues: loss of aircraft during reconnaissance, 7/1944; occasional problem releasing bomb from Vought Corsair, Mk II; renewed attacks on German battleship Tirpitz during Operation Goodwood, 22/8/1944-29/8/1944. Recollections of operations commanding 1841 Naval Air Sqdn, 2nd Carrier Air Group, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Formidable, 1st Aircraft Carrier Sqdn, British Pacific Fleet in Pacfic, 4/1945-8/1945: breaking down of HMS Formidable on route to Far East, 9/1944; attending Fighter Leaders course whilst carrier being repaired; flying Supermarine Spitfire in sweeps over Arakan, Burma, 1/1945; rejoining ship in Ceylon, 2/1945; arrival off Sakishima Gunto Islands, Japan, 4/1945; role neutralising airfields including advisability of one run policy during attacks; Kamikaze attacks on carrier, 4/5/1945 and 9/5/1945; attitude towards Kamikaze pilots.
REEL 5 Continues: casualties during Kamikaze attacks off Sakishima Gunto Islands, Japan, 5/1945; accident causing hangar fire, 5/1945; re-equipping with Vought Corsair Mk IV; use of drop tanks on Vought Corsair, Mk IV; attacks on mainland Japan, 17/7/1945-10/8/1945; shooting down of Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service Nakajima B5N 'Kate' torpedo bomber near Maizuru, Japan, 7/1945; attack on parked aircraft during poor weather, Honshu, Japan, 17/7/1945; use of picket destroyers; testing napalm dropping tank; Japanese use of tracer; ashore in Sydney, Australia, summer 1945; receiving news of dropping of atomic bombs on Japan and attitude to having to continue air strikes, 9/8/1945-10/8/1945; Lieutenant Robert Gray's Victoria Cross action at Onagawa Bay; Japan, 9/8/1945; duties as commanding officer and attitude to flying missions.
