Reid, William St Clair (Oral history)

British officer trained as pilot with Fleet Air Arm in GB and Canada, 1942-1943; served with 771 Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm at Royal Naval Air Station Twatt, GB, 1943-1944; served with Fighter Training Unit at Yeovilton, GB, 1944-1945; served with 896 Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm in South Africa and aboard HMS Empress in Indian Ocean, 1945

REEL 1 Background in Edinburgh and Glasgow, 1923- 1942: family; father's naval service in First World War; education; recreational activities; abortive attempt to enlist in RAF. Period training at HMS Ganges and St Vincent, 1942: initial impressions of HMS Ganges; accommodation; discipline; pattern of training; volunteering for Fleet Air Arm; memories of Chief Petty Officer Wilmot; amusing story of attending selection board for Fleet Air Arm. Aspects of flying training with Fleet Air Arm in GB and Canada, 1942-1943: posting to RAF Elmdon; flying abilities; pattern of flying training with De Havilland Tiger Moth; technique for getting out of spin; aerobatics; reaction to soloing; taking and landing the aircraft. REEL 2 Continues: instrument flying; rate one turns; need to trust instruments; practising forced landings and low flying; cross country flights; character of voyage from GB to Canada aboard Queen Elizabeth; practising dive bombing on Lake Ontario; initial impressions of North American Harvard; use of packed snow surface at Kingston; commissioning at end of course; question of safety on course. Period at Fighter Training Unit at Yeovilton, 1943: posting to unit; degree of confidence in flying fighters; character of Supermarine Seafire; problems with Supermarine Seafire being used for naval operations; dummy deck landings; flying Hawker Hurricane. REEL 3 Continues: Period as pilot with 771 Sqdn, Fleet Arm Arm at Royal Naval Air Station Twatt, 1943-1944: reaction to posting; towing drogues for anti-aircraft; radar calibration duties; opinion of Blackburn Roc and Blackburn Skua; opinion of Gloster Gladiator and Fairey Swordfish; operating from Orkney Islands. Period at Fighter Training Unit at Yeovilton, 1944-1945: practising deck landings on HMS Ravager; method of landing on carriers; technique of using chocks for take off; problems of torque with Supermarine Seafire. Recollections of operations as pilot with 896 Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm in South Africa and aboard HMS Empress in Indian Ocean, 1945: working up in South Africa; character of Grumman Hellcat; air gunnery and rocket firing; formation flying. REEL 4 Continues: mock air combat; embarking aboard carrier HMS Empress; character of HMS Empress; catapulting aircraft from carrier; operations against Malaysian coast; opinion of Japanese anti- aircraft gunners; attacking targets; briefing prior to operation; uniform worn; colour of aircraft; sight of kamikaze attack on ship; reaction to dropping of atomic bomb; reasons for missing Operation Zipper; disbandment of squadron and breaking up of aircraft at Cochin; demobilisation. Attitude to serving with Fleet Air Arm during Second World War.