Description
Object description
British naval airman trained at HMS Daedalus, Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent and HMS St Vincent, Gosport, GB, 9/1942-11/1942; naval airman and officer trained as pilot with United States Navy Naval Air Stations, Grosse Ile, Saufley Field, Pensacola, Whiting Field, Milton, Barin Field, Foley, Fort Lauderdale and Squantum, Quincy, United States of America, 1/1943-2/1944; officer served as pilot with 738 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm at United States Navy Naval Air Station Lewiston, United States of America, 3/1944; served with 857 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm in United States of America, GB and Ceylon, 4/1944-11/1944; served with 857 Naval Air Sqdn, 11th Carrier Air Group, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Indomitable, 1st Aircraft Carrier Sqdn, British Pacific Fleet in Indian Ocean, 11/1944-2/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Golders Green, GB, 1923-1941: family; education; sporting activities; construction of model aircraft; his brother-in-law's flying exploits; contrast between early flying experience and in later life. Aspects of period as civilian in GB, 1939-1941: problems studying during German Air Force raids; story of marriage in north London, 7/1944; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 9/1939; membership of the 20th Middlesex (Golders Green) Bn Home Guard; organisation of Home Guard and signalling system; composition of Home Guard unit; daily routine; public morale. Aspects of enlistment as naval airman in Fleet Air Arm, 1941-1942: joining Y Scheme; attending Admiralty Selection Board, 1941.
REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of training as naval airman at HMS Daedalus, Royal Naval Air Station, Lee-on-Solent and HMS St Vincent, Gosport, GB, 9/1942-11/1942: reception on arrival; issue of uniform and stamping of clothing; Chief Petty Officer Wilmott's method of choosing drill instructors; knots; boat work in whaler; origins of recruits; accommodation; method of cleaning floors; instruction in washing and ironing clothes; inspections; lack of shore leave; reasons for recruits failing course; status of naval airmen; move to HMS St Vincent; receiving white hat band as officer under training; navigation training; selection for flying training in United States of America. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Andes from GB to Canada, 18/12/1942-25/12/1942: duties with Oerlikon 20mm Cannon crew; character of voyage. Aspects of period in transit at RCAF Moncton, Canada, 12/1942-1/1943: guard duties; nature of camp; ice hockey; train journey to Grosse Ile, United States of America; method of filling kit bag. Recollections of flying training as naval airman with Fleet Air Arm at Naval Air Station Grosse Ile, United States of America, 1943: character of accommodation and airfield; relations with instructor Ensign Johnny South; ground instruction and course failures.
REEL 3 Continues: meteorological instruction; air navigation; instruction on aero-engines; flying gear; cockpit familiarisation; familiarisation flight in Spartan NP-1; keeping aircraft in straight and level flight; circuits and landings; reasons for lack of problems judging height; taking off and need to turn into wind; spinning; powered approaches; pattern of training; soloing; story of flight in Boeing 707 for 80th Birthday; stalling and spiralling; character of Spartan NP-1; air awareness; organisation of flying training; taxiing the aircraft and visibility.
REEL 4 Continues: converting to Stearman N2S-2; precision landing in circle; steep turns; wing overs; snap rolling; looping; Immelmann Turn; falling leaf; inverted spinning; revision process; night flying; formation flying; forced landing training; reasons for recruits failing course; fate of recruits who failed course. Aspects of flying training as naval airman with Fleet Air Arm at Naval Air Station Saufley Field, Pensacola, United States of America, 1943: train journey to Pensacola; ground instruction; air discipline; introduction to Vultee SNV-1/2 Valiant; function of aircraft flaps; flying monoplanes; pattern of flying training.
REEL 5 Continues: Aspects of flying training as naval airman with Fleet Air Arm at United States Navy Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Milton, United States of America, 1943: character of North American Harvard; pattern of instrument training; beam interception; need to trust instruments. Aspects of flying training as naval airman with Fleet Air Arm at Advanced Flying Training School, United States Navy Naval Air Station Barin Field, Foley, United States of America, 1943: pattern of flying training; formation flying; fighter tactics practised; gunnery training; daily routine; practice glide bombing; navigation over the sea; award of flying badges, 10/12/1943; opinion of training in United States of America. Aspects of flying training as officer with Fleet Air Arm at Naval Air Operational Training, United States Navy Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale, United States of America, 12/1943-2/1944: promotion to sub-lieutenant, 12/1943; allocation as torpedo bombing pilot; initial impressions of the Grumman Avenger; starting engine of Grumman Avenger.
REEL 6 Continues: radio procedure on take off; reaction to first flight in Grumman Avenger; practising 'landings in the sky'; high altitude flying, 31/12/1943; practice torpedo attacks on USS Lazy; three point landings; glide and skip bombing practice; factors involved in dropping torpedoes; pattern of training; Aerodrome Dummy Deck Landings (ADDLs) with Deck Landing Control Officer (DLCO); crew layout in Grumman Avenger. Aspects of period as pilot with 738 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm at Naval Air Station Lewiston, United States of America, 3/1944: crewing up; method of finding wind over sea. Aspects of period as pilot with 857 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm at Naval Air Station Squantum in United States of America, 4/1944-6/1944: appointment to squadron.
REEL 7 Continues: organisation of squadron; squadron training and deck landings on USS Charger; operation of hook during deck landing; flight across New York; taxiing through streets in Norfolk, 6/1944. Aspects of period as pilot with 857 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm in GB, 7/1944-9/1944: marriage on return to GB, 7/1944; hospitalisation for dysentery at HMS Landrail, Royal Naval Air Station Machrihanish. Aspects of operations as pilot with 857 Naval Air Sqdn, 11th Carrier Air Group, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Indomitable, 1st Aircraft Carrier Sqdn in Indian Ocean, 11/1944-1/1945: voyage aboard HMS Rajah from GB to Ceylon, 9/1944-10/1944, including bouts of dysentery; flying from HMS Ukussa, Royal Naval Air Station Katukurunda prior to joining aircraft carrier, 11/1944; flying onto HMS Indomitable, 11/1944; flying in tropical conditions.
REEL 8 Continues: relations between Fleet Air Arm personnel and Royal Navy aircraft carrier's crew; practice bombing runs; catapulting off from aircraft carrier; squadron's participation during Operation Robson, 20/12/1944; character of briefings; arrangements for ditched crews; squadron's participation in Operation Lentil, 4/1/1945; participation in diversionary attack on Mana Airfield, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, 24/1/1945; survival kit; storage of dinghy on aircraft. Aspects of operations as pilot with 857 Naval Air Sqdn, 11th Air Carrier Group, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Indomitable, 1st Aircraft Carrier Sqdn during Operation Meridian 2 against Soengi Gerong, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, 29/1/1945: composition of attacking force; taking off; Japanese defences; damage to aircraft from Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service Nakajima Ki-44 fighter attacks; damage to port wing from anti-aircraft shell; flying damaged aircraft after attack; observer Clem Spearman's method of navigating back to the aircraft carrier.
REEL 9 Continues: preparations for ditching; ditching aircraft; rescue by destroyer HMS Wessex; first Japanese Kamikaze attack on British Pacific Fleet; success of Fleet Air Arm attacks on oil refineries in Sumatra, Dutch East Indies; interview with Vice-Admiral Philip Vian and Captain John Eccles on return to HMS Indomitable in Fremantle, Australia, 2/1945; reasons for return to GB and restrictions on flying; role of squadron during Pacific War; attitude to having served with Fleet Air Arm during Second World War.