Interview with Stuart William Holmes

British officer served as pilot with 205 Sqdn, Far East Air Force, RAF in Federation of Malaya, 9/1951-10/1951; served with 88 Sqdn, Far East Air Force, RAF in Japan and off North Korea, 10/1951-3/1952 and in Federation of Malaya, 1952-1954; served as assistant air attaché with British Embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam, 1969-1971

REEL 1 Background in Huddersfield, GB, 1939-1949: family; education; membership of Air Training Corps. Aspects of enlistment and training in Royal Air Force in GB and Southern Rhodesia, 1949-1951: enlistment in Royal Air Force, 2/1949; basic training at No 2 School of Recruit Training, RAF at RAF Cardington; flying training at No 4 Flying Training School, RAF at RAF Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia, 1949; twin-engined conversion course onto Vickers Wellington at RAF Swinderby, 1951; flying Vickers Wellington and Short Sunderland Flying Boat, 1951; reaction to being allocated to flying boat work at RAF Calshot, 1951. Aspects operations as pilot with 205 Sqdn, Far East Air Force, RAF in Federation of Malaya, 9/1951-10/1951: posting to RAF Seletar, Singapore, 9/1951; facilities at RAF Seletar, Singapore; nature of 'Firedog' operations over Malayan jungle. Recollections of operations as pilot with 88 Sqdn, Far East Air Force, RAF in Japan and off North Korea, 10/1951-3/1952: move to Iwakuni, Japan for anti-submarine patrols in Tsushima Strait, off North Korea. REEL 2 Continues: conduct of anti-submarine patrols, 10/1951-3/1952; monitoring of ships suspected of taking war materials to North Korea; meteorological patrols around coast of People's Republic of China; occasion when his Short Sunderland Flying Boat was 'shadowed' by aircraft; armament of Short Sunderland Flying Boat. Aspects of operations as pilot with 88 Sqdn, Far East Air Force, RAF in Federation of Malaya, 1952-1954: continuation of anti-submarine and 'Firedog' operations; preference for 'Firedog' operations. Recollections of period as assistant air attaché with British Embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam, 1/1969-7/1971: degree of danger he felt exposed to; plastic explosive and rocket attacks on westerners; role of assistant air attaché; defences of buildings against random grenade attacks; use of security guards; Vietcong use of cardboard waste booby-traps against vehicles; Coca-Cola tin grenade booby-traps used against aircraft; living conditions for family in Saigon; relations with South Vietnamese. REEL 3 Continues: extent to which his duties took him out of Saigon into countryside including flights in De Havilland DH 104 Devon aircraft; vibrations from United States Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombings near Saigon; question of what United States of America could have done to fight Vietnam War differently; degree to which he made friends with Vietnamese and what he found out about their attitudes; danger of wearing khaki instead of jungle green; United States armed services' attitude to how Vietnam War should be conducted; memories of contents of diary captured from North Vietnamese military.