Interview with William Fenwick Smith

British naval airman trained as pilot with Fleet Air Arm in GB and Canada, 1942-1943; officer served as pilot with 771 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm at HMS Tern, Royal Naval Air Station Twatt, Orkney Islands, GB, 1943; served with 890 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm at HMS Rajaliya, Royal Naval Air Station Puttalam, Ceylon and aboard HMS Atheling in Indian Ocean, 3/1944-8/1944; served with 1844 Naval Air Sqdn, 11th Carrier Air Group, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Indomitable, 1st Aircraft Carrier Sqdn, British Pacific Fleet in Far East, 12/1944-6/1945

REEL 1 Background in Whitley Bay and Benton, GB, 1922-1940: family; education; recreational activities; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; continuing agricultural training. Aspects of enlistment and training with Fleet Air Arm in GB, 1940-1942: volunteering for Fleet Air Arm, 12/1940; character of selection panel; period with Home Guard whilst waiting for call-up to Fleet Air Arm; reporting to HMS Daedalus, Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent; memories of Chief Petty Officer Wilmott; pattern of training at HMS St Vincent, Gosport. Aspects of flying training with No 14 Elementary Flying School, RAF at RAF Elmdon, GB, 1942: initial problems learning to fly; instructors; reaction to familiarisation flight; opinion of De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth; reaction to soloing; cross-country flight to Cambridge. REEL 2 Continues: spinning aircraft; character of training; aerobatics. Aspects of flying training with No 31 Service Flying Training School, RCAF Kingston, Canada, 1942: training on North American Harvard; flying conditions in Canada; selection for fighter aircraft. Aspects of flying training with Fleet Air Arm in GB, 1942-1943: commissioning; pattern of training at No 1 Naval Air Fighter School, HMS Heron, Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton; flying Hawker Hurricane and Fairey Fulmar; practice Aerodrome Dummy Deck Landings (ADDLs); opinion of Fairey Fulmar; deck landings aboard HMS Argus. Aspects of period as pilot with 771 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm at HMS Tern, Royal Naval Air Station Twatt, Orkney Islands, 1943: posting to Fleet Requirement Unit; story of observer bailing out of Miles Martinet; role of Fleet Requirement Units. REEL 3 Continues: flying Fairey Swordfish, Gloster Gladiator, Blackburn Skua and Blackburn Roc; character of airfield; opinion of Grumman Wildcat. Aspects of operations as pilot with 890 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm at HMS Rajaliya, Royal Naval Air Station Puttalam, Ceylon and aboard HMS Athling in Indian Ocean, 3/1944-8/1944: relations between Royal Navy and Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve personnel; problems embarking Supermarine Seafires aboard HMS Atheling; loss of squadron member on deck during accident; flying in tropics; disbandment of squadron, 8/1944; brief posting to Composite Flight aboard HMS Avenger. Recollections of operations as pilot with 1844 Naval Air Sqdn, 11th Carrier Air Group, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Indomitable, 1st Aircraft Carrier Sqdn, British Pacific Fleet in Far East and Pacific, 12/1944-6/1945: opinion of Grumman Hellcat FB MkII; deck landings using batsman; character of HMS Indomitable; shooting down Japanese fighter whilst escorting bombers to Palembang Oil Refinery, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, 1/1945. REEL 4 Continues: fate of comrade shot down during raid on Palembang Oil Refinery, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, 1/1945; facilities for air-sea rescue; night flying training in Australia; question of being shot at by fleet gunners; encounters with American personnel; opinion of Vought Corsair; size of United States Navy forces for attack on Okinawa Island, Japan, 4/1945; attacking Japanese airfields; attacking group of Japanese Kamikaze aircraft, 12/4/1945; Kamikaze attacks on HMS Indomitable, 1/4/1945 and 4/5/1945; return to Australia for appointment to GB, 6/1945. Aspects of period as pilot with Fleet Air Arm in GB, 1945-1946: return to GB; demobilisation, 1/1946; instructional duties on Supermarine Seafire; attitude to having served with Fleet Air Arm during Second World War