Simpson, Joe Geoffrey (Oral history)

British officer served as pilot with 194 Sqdn, 229 Group, Eastern Air Command, RAF in India and Burma, 10/1943-12/1944

REEL 1 Background in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia and Ripon, GB, 1923-1941: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/6/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Air Force in GB, South Africa and Palestine, 1941-1943: enlistment in Royal Air Force, 1941; short educational course at Edinburgh, GB, 1941; relations with South African civilians, 1942; attitude of South African civilians to war; pattern of training; question of superiority of Royal Air Force training in contrast to German Air Force; state of repair of training Bristol Blenheims at No 61 Air School, South African Air Force, Germiston, South Africa; hospitalisation for jaundice and malaria in Palestine, 1943. Recollections of operations as pilot with 194 Sqdn, No 229 Group, Eastern Air Command, RAF in India and Burma, 10/1943-12/1944: joining squadron at RAF Basal, India, 21/10/1943; attitude of commanding officer Wing Commander Alexander Pearson to award of decorations; problems of supplying Fourteenth Army in Burma; contrast between Douglas Dakota and Lockheed Hudson Mk VI. REEL 2 Continues: problems of supply duties in Burma; reasons for emergency transfer of squadron from RAF Basal to RAF Agartala; 9/2/1944; loads flown into Burma; contrast between supply operations in Arakan, Burma and Imphal, India; threats from Japanese aircraft and anti-aircraft fire; squadron member who crash landed at Aberdeen Landing Zone during Second Chindit Expedition in Burma; survival material carried; squadron morale; parachute jump; opinion of Douglas Dakota; story of crash landing whilst delivering mail at Blackpool Landing Zone, Burma, 1944; confusion over Royal Air Force briefing at start of Second Chindit Operation. REEL 3 Continues: delivery water to Broadway Landing Zone, Burma, 6/3/1944; problems of carrying mules; amusing story of Major-General Orde Wingate trying to load mule; sight of Major-General Orde Wingate's North American B-25 Mitchell aircraft on day of his death, 24/3/1944; comparison of problems of landing at different landing zones during Second Chindit Expedition; control of aircraft landing at landing zones during Second Chindit Expedition; opinion of West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own) troops in Burma; problems with heat exhaustion; reaction to end of his operational flying, 12/1944; story of how he managed to get onto an operational squadron at Poona, India, 10/1943.