Description
Object description
British aircraftman served as air frame mechanic with 30 Sqdn RAF and with Indian Air Force in India, 1944-1947
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of period in GB, 1924-1942: family background in Stockport; education; employed as apprentice at Smedley Bros. foundry, Belper, Derbyshire; wages; reaction to outbreak of war, 3/Sep/1939; attitude to military service; employed as engineer at Wigley Brothers, Belper; role in war work producing vice stands for Rolls-Royce and dismantling damaged aero engines for scrap; description of RAF 'Queen Mary' low-loader; inspection of dismantled aero engines by Rolls-Royce personnel; average time to strip down engine; increase of damaged aero engines during Battle of Britain; volunteered for RAF age 18, 1942. Aspects of training with RAF in GB, 1942-1944: previous training with Belper ATC; basic training at Blackpool; selected for training as air frame mechanic and posted to RAF Cosford; posted to 263 Sqdn RAF, Dorchester; description of Westland Whirlwind and similarity in shape to Meteor; secrecy surrounding first Meteor test flights; posted to No.1 Technical Training School at RAF Cosford; opinion of airframe fitters course and engineering training; posted to 131 Sqdn RAF on Salisbury Plain; posted to India, late 1944; description of voyage aboard HMS Orontes from Greenock, Scotland to Port Said, Egypt, 1/1945. Aspects of operations with 30 Sqdn RAF in India, 1945-1947: description of train journey from Bombay to Calcutta; joined 30 Sqdn in jungle on Assam-Burma border; description of river crossing in steamboat; story about rivalry between 30 Sqdn and US Sqdn flying Thunderbolts Mk 1.
REEL 2 Continues: role of 30 Sqdn in support of 14th Army during Burma Campaign; story of sailing through monsoon to Madras on 21st birthday, 26/June/1945; opinion of roads and living conditions in Arakan area; problem of malaria and prickly heat; personal hygiene; problem of dehydration and compulsory daily salt supplement; question of being punished for not taking anti-malarial mepacrine tablet; story of being hospitalized with heat exhaustion and treatment; duties inspecting crashed Japanese aircraft; comparison of US and Japanese aircraft; trained with landing craft for invasion of Japan; story about receiving news of dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945. Aspects of period with Indian Air Force, 1945-1947: posted to Calcutta and seconded to Indian Air Force flying Tempests; rank; daily routine and duties; role of 30 Sqdn in India; problem of climate affecting aircraft and use of lanoline to prevent corrosion; personal hygiene; use of purified water; returned to GB aboard SS Highland Princess and disembarked at Greenock, Scotland, 2/1947; reaction to winter weather and snow; demobilized in Preston and returned to home in Belper. Post-war civilian employment as engineer in GB. Reflections on RAF service and training as engineer