Description
Object description
New Zealand officer trained as pilot with Fleet Air Arm at No 19 Elementary Flying Training School, RAF at RAF Sealand, No 31 Service Flying Training School at RCAF Kingston and No 9 Advanced Flying Unit, RAF at RAF Errol in GB and Canada, 5/1943-4/1944; served with No 1 Naval Air Fighter School, HMS Heron, Royal Naval Air Station, Yeovilton, GB, 5/1944-9/1944; served with HMS Rajaliya, Royal Naval Air Station Puttalam, Ceylon, 12/1944-2/1945; served with 1830 Naval Air Sqdn, 13th Carrier Air Group, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Illustrious and HMS Victorious, 1st and 11th Aircraft Carrier Sqdns, British Pacific Fleet in Pacific, 3/1945-8/1945; served with 27th Machine Gun Bn, New Zealand Army with J Force during Occupation of Japan, 1946-1947; police officer served with Northern Rhodesia Police in Northern Rhodesia, 1947-1951
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Thornton Heath, GB and Blenheim, New Zealand, 1922-1941: family; father's military service in First World War; move to New Zealand, 1925; education; employment; membership of Territorial Army. Aspects of enlistment and training with Fleet Air Arm in New Zealand and GB, 1942-1943: call-up to Fleet Air Arm, 1942; lack of problems transferring from army to Fleet Air Arm; basic training in New Zealand; problems rowing; use of hammocks; messing facilities; fitness amongst recruits; voyage aboard SS Empire Monarch from New Zealand to GB aboard including discovery of lifeboat; arrival at HMS Daedalus, Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent, GB, 11/1942; initial emphasis on naval aspects of training; use of seamanship manual; aircraft and ship recognition; learning principles of navigation.
REEL 2 Continues: promotion to leading airmen; issue of flying clothing. Aspects of flying training with Fleet Air Arm at No 19 Elementary Flying Training School, RAF at RAF Sealand, GB, 5/1943-7/1943: instructors; quality of rations; character of De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth; familiarisation with aircraft and local area; taxiing aircraft and sequence of instruction; effect of wind on De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth; soloing; opinion of De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth; navigating cross-country from RAF Sealand to RAF Elmsdon via Stoke-on-Trent; night flying; amusing story of catching sight of 'Gremlins'; incident of landing on top of a De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth during circuit; spinning aircraft; lightness of control with De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth; reasons for failure of some pupils.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of flying training with No 31 Service Flying Training School at RCAF Kingston, Canada, 8/1943-1/1944: looking after Very Important Persons (VIPs) on board HMT Queen Mary during voyage from GB to Canada; start of flying training; character of North American Harvard; forced landing in field full of boulders; description of North American Harvard's cockpit; familiarisation with aircraft; air gunnery practice; initial impressions of Vought Corsair at RCAF Kingston; aircraft markings; formation flying; low-level flying training; radio communications; night flying and landing; Aerodrome Dummy Deck Landings (ADDLs) using batsman; receiving wings on completion of course and subsequent celebrations, 1/1944.
REEL 4 Continues: reasons why No 48 Pilots Course was first to be made up to petty officers; return to GB. Aspects of period of flying training with No 9 Advanced Flying Unit, RAF at RAF Errol, GB, 4/1944: opinion of Miles Master; contrast in flying in Scotland and Canada. Aspects of training at No 1 Naval Air Fighter School, HMS Heron, Royal Naval Air Station, Yeovilton, GB, 5/1944-9/1944: move to school; familiarisation with different aircraft including Airspeed Oxford; introduction to Grumman Wildcat; problems winding undercarriage up on Grumman Wildcat; character of Grumman Wildcat; contrast between American and British naval aircraft; reasons for preference for American aircraft; visibility from Grumman Wildcat cockpit; incident of hitting drogue wire with wing; deflection shooting; naval instructors; approaches to attacking aircraft.
REEL 5 Continues: missing posting to squadron; problems deck landing Grumman Wildcat Mk V on HMS Argus; attitude to flying; different in British and American methods of landing on aircraft carriers; initial problems Americans had with Vought F4U Corsair on aircraft carrier operations; incident when he crashed on landing Vought Corsair; attitude to landing on board HMS Argus. Aspects of voyage aboard HMS King George V from GB to Ceylon via Mediterranean, 10/1944-12/1944: bombardment of German guns on Milos Island, Greece. Aspects of period as pilot with Fleet Air Arm at HMS Rajaliya, Royal Naval Air Station Puttalam, Ceylon, 12/1944-2/1945: degree of knowledge about which aircraft he would fly; familiarisation flights; characteristics of Vought Corsair; carrying napalm; armament of Vought Corsair; aircraft markings and colours; use of Fifi the elephant as aircraft tractor; lack of flying hours; sailing from Ceylon to Australia aboard HMS Unicorn, 2/1945.
REEL 6 Continues: Recollections of operations as pilot with 1830 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm, 13th Carrier Air Group aboard HMS Illustrious and HMS Victorious, 1st and 11th Aircraft Carrier Sqdns, British Pacific Fleet in Pacific Ocean, 3/1945-8/1945: working up in Australia; start of operations, 26/3/1945; relations between Fleet Air Arm and Royal Navy personnel on aircraft carriers; flying Combat Air Patrols (CAPs); first attack on Japanese airfields and shipping in which he had to photograph target area, 26/3/1945; strafing airfields; importance of making only one attack on airfields; opinion of Japanese anti-aircraft gunners; reaction to carrying out fighter sweeps; opinion of need to become part of aircraft during combat; suitability of Vought Corsair for strike operations; types of targets attacked; attitude to carrying napalm.
REEL 7 Continues: food supplied from Royal Navy Fleet Train; conditions on board aircraft carriers; burials from quarterdeck; routine for pilots, 5/1945; catapulting from aircraft carrier; attack on radar position; degree of knowledge of American air-sea rescue facilities; rumours of Japanese treatment of prisoners of war; fellow pilot who had premonition of death; physical effects of conditions in cockpit; flying clothing worn; end of Operation Iceberg, the campaign on Okinawa, Japan, 6/1945; Kamikaze attacks on carriers; sight of Kamikaze attack on HMS Formidable, 9/5/1945; taxiing onto deck when HMS Illustrious had been hit by Kamikaze, 6/4/1945; transfer to HMS Victorious, 4/1945; return to Australia at end of campaign on Okinawa, Japan, 6/1945.
REEL 8 Continues: ashore in Australia, 6/1944; reaction to talk by Admiral Philip Vian; pattern of strikes, 7/1945; attacks on railway; question of lack of training for operational work; psychological stress on pilots; character of commanding officer; prominence of Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel (RNVR); hearing of dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; reaction to end of Second World War, 15/8/1945; applying for home leave; story of Captain Michael Denny lecturing pilots on how to land their Vought Corsairs on their arrival aboard HMS Victorious; effects of rapid demobilisation in New Zealand. Recollections of period as officer with 27th Machine Gun Bn, New Zealand Army with J Force during Occupation of Japan, 1946-1947: background to joining New Zealand Army; seasickness amongst unit; duties in Japan.
REEL 9 Continues: change in attitude towards Japanese populace; Japanese use of human excrement to fertilize crops; Japanese fire brigade; Japanese working ethos; influence of General Douglas MacArthur; guard duties at Imperial Palace, Tokyo; relations with Japanese officials; behaviour of Japanese Police; visits to Hiroshima; field exercises; changes he noticed on return to Japan, 1963; effect of service in Japan. Recollections of period as police office with Northern Rhodesia Police in Northern Rhodesia, 1947-1951: background to joining police force; role as policeman at Monzi; discovery of fort built by Cecil Rhodes; police force under his command.
REEL 10 Continues: types of crimes investigated; problems of theft and compensation; status of police force; colonial administration; reasons for leaving police force, 1951; role of police.
