Description
Object description
Australian officer served as pilot with 177 Sqdn, No 224 Group, 3rd Tactical Air Force, RAF in India and Burma, 5/1943-11/1944; served with 77 Sqdn, Royal Australian Air Force, British Commonwealth Occupation Forces in Japan, 1945-1947
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Cottesloe, Australia, 1922-1940: family; education; attitude to GB as mother country; degree of knowledge of First World War; attitude towards Germans; German neighbours' admiration for Adolf Hitler; anticipation of coming war; reaction to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's return from Munich Conference, 9/1938; attitude to inevitability of war; attitude towards Japanese; reasons for enlistment in 16th (Cameron Highlanders of Western Australia) Infantry Bn, Citizen Military Forces; discipline at Guildford Grammar; activities with 16th (Cameron Highlanders of Western Australia) Infantry Bn, Citizen Military Forces; reaction to German invasion of France and the Low Countries, 5/1940; reasons for his brother joining Royal Australian Air Force.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of enlistment and training with Royal Australian Air Force in Australia, 1941-1942: reasons for enlistment in Royal Australian Air Force, 23/6/1941; question of reputation of air force personnel; volunteer status and reasons for enlistment; handing in military equipment and enlistment in Royal Australian Air Force, 6/1941; attitude towards war situation until enlistment; question of influence of propaganda; pattern of training at RAAF Pearce, Bullsbrook; flying training with De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth; reaction to soloing; flying training in Avro Anson at RAAF Geraldton; accidents during training; attitude to service; atmosphere at RAAF Geraldton on Japan's entering Second World War, 7/12/1941; opinion of Germans and Japanese; arrival of aircraft escaping from Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942.
REEL 3 Continues: attitude to prospect of overseas posting; arranging code to signify obtaining overseas posting; question of prospect of Japanese invasion; question of General Douglas MacArthur exploiting in-fighting in Royal Australian Air Force; reasons for Australian looking to United States of America for aid; opinion of Australian performance during fall of Singapore; posting to Sydney area; lack of concern about prospect of death. Aspects of voyage from Australia to GB, 1942: stop over in New Zealand; daily routine on ship; grounding of ship off Jamaica; stop over in New York, United States of America; relations with civilians in New York, United States of America; crossing North Atlantic. Aspects of training with Royal Air Force in GB, 1942-1943: arrival in Liverpool; eye sight tests for night fighter service.
REEL 4 Continues: posting to advanced flying school; appeal and preference for night-fighter service; attitude to arrival in GB; flying conditions in GB; accidents amongst pilots during training; reasons for not getting close to anyone during service; pattern of training; inclination of Bristol Beaufighter on take off; effects of lack of oxygen; story of accidentally landing with wheels up in Bristol Beaufighter Mk.I; opinion of training received with Royal Air Force; amusing story of practical joke carried out in dispersal hut; low flying from Isle of Skye. Aspects of flight from GB to India, 1943: flight from GB to Gibraltar; stop over in North Africa.
REEL 5 Continues: story of dropping lit cigarette in Bristol Beaufighter during low flying over Portugal on route to Gibraltar; flight across North Africa; stopover at Marble Arch, Libya; flight in captured German Air Force aircraft; arrival in Egypt; abortive posting to Malta; question of odds against survival; visits to Cairo, Egypt; second hand story of wireless operator losing aerial cable; visits to Pyramids and sight of delta and River Nile from air, Egypt; reprimand for low-level flying at Marble Arch, Libya; background to posting to India.
REEL 6 Continues: problems with aircraft at Bahrain during flight from Egypt to India; swinging compass of aircraft; flight across India, 5/1943. Recollections of operations as pilot with 177 Sqdn, No 224 Group, 3rd Tactical Air Force, RAF in India and Burma, 5/1943-11/1944: joining squadron; celebrating 21st birthday; train journey to Chittagong; attitude to prospect of fighting Japanese; degree of knowledge of war in Far East; weather conditions on India/Burma border; reasons for not making close friends on squadron; damage to engine from anti-aircraft fire, 9/1944; problems of landing Bristol Beaufighter Mk.X (LZ231) when engine quit due to lack of petrol at Chittagong, India, 5/9/1944.
REEL 7 Continues: reaction to Japanese anti-aircraft fire during attack on river transport on River Irrawaddy, Burma; techniques for avoiding anti-aircraft fire; role of squadron in attacking Japanese transport; attitude to low-level flying; armament of Bristol Beaufighter Mk.X; working in two aircraft teams; loss and capture of commanding officer Wing Commander John Hill in Bristol Beaufighter Mk.X (NE754) in poor weather conditions; navigators role; abortive operation to bomb Rangoon, Burma; ground strafing Imperial Japanese Army Air Service airfield; isolated nature of squadron operations in Burma; Lack of Moral Fibre (LMF) cases on squadron; use of flare to attack Imperial Japanese Army vehicles on thirteenth mission; attitude to participation in operations; survival equipment carried; question of odds of survival if shot down; damage to squadron aircraft by ground fire; story of squadron member being accidentally shot at United States Army Air Force fighters and subsequent capture; Japanese forces' attitude to captured Allied aircrew in Burma; attitude to pre-mission visits by chaplain; problems of vertigo during night flying.
REEL 8 Continues: prior recollection of pilot who crashed during night flying in Scotland, GB; degree of knowledge about progress of war; treatment as Australian pilot on squadron; recreational activities; incident of recovering pilot's body from crash; end of tour, 11/1944; use of Indian bearer; role of squadron during Battle of Imphal, India, 6/1944; story of flying mail to forward troops in De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth; question of squadron members keeping themselves to themselves. Aspects of period as pilot with Royal Australian Air Force in Australia and British Borneo, 12/1944-12/1945: return to Australia; period as instructor; attitude to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; loss of brother.
REEL 9 Continues: posting to 34 Sqdn, Royal Australian Air Force in Labuan Island, British Borneo. Recollections of period as pilot with 77 Sqdn, Royal Australian Air Force, British Commonwealth Occupation Forces in Japan, 1945-1947: background to joining squadron, 12/1945; role of squadron with British Commonwealth Occupation Forces in Japan; characteristics of North American P-51 Mustang; first flight in North American P-51 Mustang; refuelling aircraft at United States Army Air Force airfield at Manila, Philippines on route to Japan; arrival in Japan; guard duties at Emperors Palace; Japanese attitude towards emperor and occupying forces; relations with Royal Air Force squadron; relations with Japanese; situation in Japan; visit to Hiroshima; return to Australia and joining commercial airline on demobilisation, 1947.
REEL 10 Continues: story of flying around Mount Fuji; relations with Japanese civilians; conditions on return to Australia, 1947; attitude to having served with Royal Australian Air Force during Second World War.
