Disney, Hugh Anthony Shipley (Oral history)

British officer served as pilot with 608 and 48 Sqdns RAF in GB, Atlantic and Mediterranean, 1940-1943; served as staff officer with Headquarters, 19 Group, RAF in GB, 1944-1945 and with Air Headquarters India, 1946-1947; commanded 201 Sqdn, RAF in GB, 1950; commanded Air Task Group Antler during Nuclear Tests at Maralinga, Australia, 1957-1958; served as station commander at Kuala Lumpur airfield in Malaya, 1959-1960

REEL 1 Background to training with Oxford University Air Squadron, 1937-1939: pattern of training; anticipations of approaching war. Aspects of visit to Germany, c1937: impression or Nazi regime; reaction to Nazi spectacle. Reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Recollection of operations as pilot with 608 Sqdn in GB, 1940-1942: question of promotion; character of squadron; aircraft squadron equipped with; degree of danger on reconnaissance of Norwegian coast; attack on German radar station in Denmark; bombing raid on Aarhus; anti-U-boat role. REEL 2 Continues: morale of unit; rarity of U-boat sightings; armament U-boats carried; pollution at RAF Thornaby in contrast to RAF Wick; losses of aircraft and aircrews, 1940-1942. Recollections of operations with 48 Sqdn, 1942-1943: lack of difference in serving in an auxiliary and regular squadrons; fitting rockets to wings of aircraft; move to Gibraltar; anti-submarine patrols into Atlantic and Mediterranean; behaviour of airmen in Gibraltar; patrols from Agadir. Period as staff officer with Headquarters 19th Group at Plymouth, 1944-1945: role of 19 Group; job as controller; reaction to sight of ship plots heading towards Normandy, 6/6/1944; relations between RAF and Royal Navy. Period as staff officer with Air Headquarters in India, 1946- 1947: job as establishments adviser to Indian Air Force in New Dehli; question of how the Government of India operates without files. REEL 3 Continues: living conditions; relations with Indians. Period as commanding officer of 201 Sqdn at Pembroke Dock, 1950: role supporting Sunderland Flying Boat squadrons during Korean War. Recollections of period as commanding officer of Task Group Antler during Nuclear Tests at Maralinga, Australia, 1957-1958: role of task force; patrols to record fall-out; flying through mushroom clouds; experiencing atomic tests on ground; protective clothing worn in aircraft; use of towers during tests; attitude of pilots to flying through mushroom clouds; question of health of participants in tests; lack of Australian concern about tests. Recollections of operations as station commander at Kuala Lumpur Airfield in Malaya, 1959-1960: role of station commander in organising supply airdrops, bombing attacks and intelligence reconnaissance. REEL 4 Continues: Canberra attack on jungle target near Fraser's Hill; problems with weather rather than ground fire; psychological warfare broadcasts from Douglas Dakotas to insurgents in jungle; low level of aircraft losses; use of helicopters.