Braithwaite, Cecil John (Oral history)

British aircraftman and NCO trained as pilot with 1 No Initial Training Wing, RAF, Cambridge, GB, No 16 Elementary Flying Training School, RAF at RAF Burnistan, GB, No 33 Service Flying Training School, RCAF at RCAF Carberry, Canada and No 17 Operational Training Unit, RAF at RAF Upwood, GB, 6/1940-11/1941; NCO served as pilot with 60 Sqdn, Air Forces in India, RAF in India, 5/1942-5/1943; served with 62 Sqdn, Air Forces in India, RAF in India, 1/1944-2/1944; served with 159 Sqdn, No 185 Wing, No 231 Group, Eastern Air Command, RAF in India, 12/1944-4/1945; served with 99 Sqdn, No 175 Wing, No 231 Group, Eastern Air Command, RAF in India, 4/1945-6/1945

REEL 1 Background in Altrincham and Addlestone, GB, 1922-1940: family; education; employment; membership of Walton-on-Thames Local Defence Volunteers, 5/1940-6/1940 including opinion of organisation's capabilities. Recollections of flying training with RAF in GB and Canada, 6/1940-11/1941: selection for pilot training; initial non-flying duties; move to No 1 Initial Training Wing, RAF at Cambridge; forced landing in De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth whilst training with No 16 Elementary Flying Training School, RAF at RAF Burnaston, GB; start of training with Empire Air Training Scheme at No 33 Service Flying Training School, RCAF at RCAF Carberry, Canada, 4/1941; flying Avro Anson; method of navigation on Canadian prairies; advantages of training under Empire Air Training Scheme; character of Carberry, Canada; return to GB, 7/1941; training with Bristol Blenheim Mk I at No 17 Operational Training Unit, RAF at RAF Upwood GB, 8/1941-11/1941; question of allocation to different flying roles; crewing up at RAF Upwood; initial posting to 88 Sqdn, RAF at RAF Swanton Morley. Aspects of transit flights from GB to India via Malta and Egypt, 12/1941-3/1942: flight from GB to Gibraltar avoiding German Air Force; wait in Gibraltar, 12/1941-2/1942; Axis spying at Gibraltar; flight to Malta; flight from Malta to Egypt; orders to deliver Bristol Blenheim to Lahore, India, 3/1941. Recollections of operations as pilot with 60 Sqdn, Air Forces in India, RAF in India, 4/1942-5/1943: joining squadron at Lahore, 4/1942; move to RAF Asansol, 5/1942. REEL 2 Continues: leadership and personnel in squadron, 1942; condition of aircraft; Quit India Movement's attempted sabotage of communications in Asansol area; reaction to killing of aircrew; use of squadron to disperse Quit India Movement crowds; use of RAF Agartala and RAF Dum Dum as forward supply bases; move of squadron to Bengal Presidency; reads details from log book about operations in Arakan and over River Irrawaddy, Burma, 10/1942-1/1943; opinion of skills of Imperial Japanese Army Air Service fighter pilots; opinion of performance of Bristol Blenheim Mk IV in operations over Burma, 1942-1943; weather over operational area; living conditions at RAF Asansol; Imperial Japanese Army Air Service attacks on airfield at Dohazari. REEL 3 Continues: question of pilots making wills; outcome of attack on Japanese barges on Rivar Mayu in which he was forced to turn back, 22/5/1942; post-war meeting with former Imperial Japanese Army Air Service personnel who participated in operation on 22/5/1942; move to Ceylon, 5/1943. Recollections of operations with 62 Sqdn, Air Forces in India, RAF in India, 1/1944-2/1944: supply flights to 81st (West African) Infantry Div in Arakan from RAF Comilla, 2/1944; method of locating correct dropping points in Arakan; reads details of operations from log book. Aspects of period as NCO with Royal Air Force in India, 2/1944-11/1944: resting from operations in Calcutta, 2/1944; learning to fly Consolidated Liberator; 5/1944 including opinion of aircraft and its' vices; contrast between Consolidated Liberator and Bristol Blenheim Mk IV; opinion of Douglas Dakota. Recollections of operations as pilot with 159 Sqdn, No 185 Wing, 231 Group, Eastern Air Command, RAF in India, 12/1944-4/1945: posting to RAF Digri, 12/1944; reads details from log book of bombing and mining attacks over Burma, Malaya and Thailand including method of dropping mines, diving technique and bombing targets; bombing Bangkok Railway Station, Thailand, 4/3/1945. Recollections of operations as pilot with 99 Sqdn, No 175 Wing, No 231 Group, Eastern Air Command, RAF in India, 4/1945-6/1945: posting to RAF Salbani, 4/1945; operations with squadron; problems of taking off with heavy loads; support in retaking of Rangoon, Burma. REEL 4 Continues: navigation problems over Bay of Bengal; use of radio altimeter; carrying of survival kits; question of prospects of survival in Japanese hands; question of upper age limit for operational aircrew; his attitude to being on operations; reaction to hearing of atomic bombs being dropped on Japan, 8/1945; details of allocation to Operation Tiger; demobilisation, 1946.