Interview with Malcolm Lennox Hamilton

British officer served as pilot with Anti-Submarine Flight, No 10 Operational Training Unit, No 91 (Operational Training) Group, Coastal Command, RAF at RAF St Eval, GB, 24/4/1943-26/5/1943; served with 619 Sqdn, No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 9/1943-3/1944; served with 617 Sqdn, No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 3/1944-11/1944; commanded 267 Sqdn, RAF in Federation of Malaya, 1955-1957

REEL 1 Background in Singapore, Malaya and GB, 1918-1939: family; education; membership of Surrey Yeomanry (Queen Mary's Regiment). Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Air Force in GB, 1939-1942: reasons for joining Royal Air Force, 1939; pattern of training in GB, 1939-1942. Aspects of flying training with Arnold Scheme in United States of America, 1942: period with No 2 Basic Flying Training School, Lancaster, 13/3/1942-25/9/1942; meeting with actor Errol Flynn; relations with American civilians; acquiring nickname of 'Ploughed Field Hamilton'; question of discipline; incident of British trainee who went Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL); pilot's penalty for low-level flying; trip to see giant redwood trees; attitude to returning to GB and active service. Aspects of operations as pilot with Anti-Submarine Flight, No 10 Operational Training Unit, No 91 (Operational Training) Group, Coastal Command at RAF St Eval, GB, 22/4/1943-26/5/1943: use of Armstrong Whitworth Whitley; nature of operations; damage claim on German submarine; attitude towards maritime operations. REEL 2 Continues: contact with German Air Force fighter aircraft; explanation of term 'White Whitleys'. Aspects of period as pilot with No 1654 Conversion Unit, RAF at RAF Wigsley, GB, 12/6/1943-3/9/1943: flying Avro Manchester. Recollections of operations as pilot with 619 Sqdn, No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 9/1943-3/1944: posting to squadron at RAF Woodhall Spa, 4/9/1943; memories of Flight Lieutenant Bill Reid VC; start of operations during Battle of Ruhr, Germany, 9/1943; first raid against Hanover, Germany, 22/9/1944; raid on Mannheim, Germany, 23/9/1943; experience of 'coning' by searchlights; bombing tactics employed; question of accuracy of bombing and hitting aiming points; use of Wanganui and Parramatta target markers; danger from German Air Force intruders; problems during raids to Berlin, Germany, 11/1943-2/1944; morale in unit and effect of losses of squadron members; memories of Committee of Adjustment and their role collecting possessions of missing air crew. Recollections of operations as pilot with 617 Sqdn, No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 3/1944-11/1944: accuracy of his crew's bombing with 619 Sqdn and their wish to transfer to 617 Sqdn; reputation of squadron and opinion of Wing Commander Leonard Cheshire. REEL 3 Continues: memories of Wing Commander Leonard Cheshire and how he was tested by him; memories of Squadron Leader Harold 'Micky' Martin; using Squadron Leader Guy Gibson's old Avro Lancaster aircraft for bombing training; raid on Angoulème, France, 20/3/1944; dropping window in English Channel during Operation Taxable, D-Day, 6/6/1944; raid on Saumur Tunnel, France, 8/6/1944; use of Tallboy Bomb during attack on E-Boats pens in Boulogne, France, 15/6/1944; damage to his Avro Lancaster during attack on Boulogne, France, 15/6/1944. REEL 4 Continues: sight of first German V1 Flying Bombs, 15/6/1944; emergency landing at RAF West Malling, 15/6/1944; nature of bomb aimer's wounds, 15/6/1944; story of emergency landing, 6/1944; raid on E-Boat pens at Le Havre, France, 14/6/1944; all Jewish crew under Flying Officer Frank Levy; raid on rocket gun site, Gravelines, France, 19/6/1944; method of attacking German V weapon sites, 7/1944-8/1944; story of birth of first child, 2/1944; disruption to civilian life in London, 1944. REEL 5 Continues: story relating to how Wing Commander Leonard Cheshire defended him against attempt to court martial him, autumn 1944; raid on Dortmund-Ems Canal, Germany, 23/9/1944; raid on German battleship Tirpitz, Altenfjord, Norway, 15/9/1944 including prior flight to Archangel, Soviet Union, 11/9/1944, sight of Sweden; Soviet firing on squadron aircraft, problems with fuel supply, hospitality of Soviets, attack on German battleship Tirpitz, Altenfjord, Norway, 15/9/1944 and taking four runs on target; second raid on German battleship Tirpitz, Tromsø Fjord, Norway, 29/10/1944; secondment to Coastal Command at end of tour, 12/1944. Aspects of post-war service with Royal Air Force, 1945-1955: attempt to go into civil aviation, post-1945; reasons for missing Berlin Airlift; period as flying instructor in GB and Southern Rhodesia including flying De Havilland DH.115 Vampire T.11. REEL 6 Continues: Recollections of operations commanding 267 Sqdn, RAF in Federation of Malaya, 1955-1957: role of A Flight equipped with Percival Pembroke; role of B Flight equipped with Scottish Aviation Pioneer; description of jungle forts; leaving Royal Air Force, 1957; role as pilot to Tunkan Abdul Rahman; lack of Malayan National Liberation Army insurgent action against squadron's aircraft.