Interview with Larratt Cassels Darling

British officer served aboard HMS Frobisher, 4th Cruiser Sqdn, Eastern Fleet in Indian Ocean, 1941-1942; served aboard HMS Berwick, 1st Cruiser Sqdn, Home Fleet in Arctic, 1943; trained as pilot with Fleet Air Arm in Canada, 1944-1945; served with Fleet Air Arm, 1945-1971

REEL 1 Aspects of period as officer with Royal Navy in GB and Germany, 1938-1942: reasons for joining Royal Navy, 1938. reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; visit to Germany including discovery of factory producing military aircraft; contact with German Navy sailors; impression of Hitler Youth; memories of German Air Force attacks on Plymouth, GB, 1940-1941. Aspects of period as officer aboard HMS Frobisher, 4th Cruiser Sqdn, Eastern Fleet in Indian Ocean, 1942-1943: appointment to heavy cruiser at Mombasa, Kenya, 1942; health hazards; engineering work; heavy cruiser's characteristics. Aspects of operations as officer aboard HMS Berwick, 1st Cruiser Sqdn, Home Fleet in Arctic, 1943: appointment to heavy cruiser; problems of ice on superstructure; problems of burst pipes; duties in Arctic; operation of coast of Norway; problems liaising with Polish Navy destroyer. Recollections of flying training with Fleet Air Arm in Canada and GB, 1944-1945: social life in French speaking area of Canada; nature of training. REEL 2 Continues: photographs taken of him at time of VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1945; completing training in GB. Recollections of career with Fleet Air Arm, 1945-1971: reception in Bergen, Norway, 1945; service aboard HMS Eagle; service at HMS Seahawk, Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose; memories of meeting with Barnes Wallis; testing systems for prototype General Dynamics F-111; duties at HMS Condor, Royal Naval Air Station Arbroath, 1957-1959; memories of Sir James Martin; story of obtaining job as naval and air attaché in Athens, Greece, 1968