Description
Object description
Rhodesian NCO served as pilot with 271 Sqdn, Transport Command, RAF in GB, 1942-1943; served with 511 Sqdn, Transport Command, RAF in GB, 1943-1944; served with 216 Sqdn, Transport Command, RAF in Egypt, 1944-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Eversbatch, 1922-1937: grandfather's connections with diamond mining industry in Kimberley, South Africa; parents' emigration to Bulawayo area, Rhodesia, 1905-1914; father's military service, and work with Ministry of Supply, 1914-1918; childhood on farm; education at preparatory schools, 1929-1935.
REEL 2 Continues: education at Stowe School, 1935-1937; delayed effect psychological effects of father's head wounds. Recollections of period at Bulawayo area, Rhodesia, 1937-1940: voyage out aboard Windhook to Capetown, 9/937; train journey via Johannesburg; learning cattle and dairy farming; relationship with African farm manager; languages spoken; hut accommodation; visits to cinema.
REEL 3 Continues: arrival of parents and state of father; decision not to pursue farming career; interest in art; work as architectural draughtsman for Rhodesia railways, 1939-1940; nature of family farm; reactions to outbreak of war, 3/9/1939. Recollections of attending architectural course at Capetown University, 2/1940-12/1940; social naivety; student accommodation; joining student demonstration to remove Italian coat of arms from Italian Embassy following declaration of war in Bulawayo, 1940; vacation visit to Kimberley diamond mine during train journey to Bulawayo; establishment of RAF Empire Training Scheme in Rhodesia; background to medical and enlistment as air crew into RAF, 2/1941.
REEL 4 Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine at Elementary Flying Training School, RAF, Induna Camp, 2/1941-4/1941: origins of camp name; kitting out; drill; PT; Morse code; aerodynamics lectures; Browning gun demonstration; fixing bayonets; meteorological lectures; introduction to aircraft engines and controls; selection for training as pilot; origins of recruits; relationship with recruits and rank as acting sergeant; relationship with flying instructor; nature of Tiger Moth; flying gear; climate; standard cockpit instruments; familiarisation flights with instructor demonstrating manoeuvres; methods of turning and banking.
REEL 5 Continues: side-slipping and spinning; air sickness; loops and stall turns; method of landing; first solo flight; selection for twin-engine training. Period flying Air Speed Oxford at Intermediate Flying Training School, Kumala, 4/1941-5/1941: nature of Oxford; cross-country flights; use of dead reckoning navigation to assess effects of wind; bombing practice and use of bomb sights; Link flight simulator; night flying and use of flare path; award of wings.
REEL 6 Continues: leave; question of posting to Middle East. Voyage aboard Britannic to GB, 9/1941-10/1941: conditions; sailing at speed independently; aircraft recognition training; question of gas masks; route; role manning Lewis guns; view of aurora borealis; story of sighting balloon barrage ships. Period at Boscambe Transit Camp, 10/1941-2/1942: question of posting to 44 Sqdn, RAF; leave. Recollections of period as NCO pilot flying Handley Page Harrow and Handley Page Hampden with 271 Sqdn, Transport Command at Doncaster, York, 2/1942-11/1943: question of equipment with Bristol Bombay; equipment with converted Handley Page Harrow; nature of airfield; reception; origins of pilots; nature of Handley Page Harrow and leading edge wing slot to enable low landing speeds.
REEL 7 Continues: nature of Hampden including crew composition and light construction; role of unit carrying vegetables on 'Cabbage Train' flights to Sunburgh, Shetland Isles including route, overnight stops to collect produce, question of ditching in sea, danger of 'friendly' anti-aircraft fire on approach to Scapa Flow, initial role as second pilot, improvement to navigational skills, recreations and return flight; role carrying fighter squadron ground personnel; cargo; story of flights carrying pregnant WAAFs and USAAF personnel; necessity of flying below German radar during flights to Biggin Hill; story of ground looping to avoid collision during landing.
REEL 8 Continues: lack of damage following ground loop; promotion to flight sergeant; nature of sergeants' mess; and recites song relating to RAF operations in Iraq. Recollections of period with 511 Sqdn, Transport Command at Lyneham, GB, 11/1943-5/1944: nature of Douglas DC 3 Dakota and use of automatic pilot; role carrying service passenger to Gibraltar and Mediterranean area including route, threat from German aircraft, lack of parachute and difficult landing at Gibraltar; inability to sleep in air and personal morale; effects of promotion to warrant officer, 11/1943; route and stops during flights to Cairo, Egypt; flights as second pilot in Liberator on supply missions to French Resistance in Southern France; modification to Consolidated B24 Liberator exhausts and story of consequent carbon monoxide poisoning.
REEL 9 Continues: modification to Liberator exhausts and story of consequent carbon monoxide poisoning; designation as medically unfit for service in Bomber Command. Recollections of period flying Dakota with 216 Sqdn, Transport Command based at Cairo West, Egypt, 5/1944-10/1945: imminence of D-Day; review of route and overnight stops during flights to Rabut, Casablanca, Morocco; review of route and overnight stops during flights to Karachi, India including conditions of service at Habbaniyah, Iraq, aerial views; conditions during stops at Mubharek and Bahrein and effects of fatigue; review of route and stops during flights to Naples, Italy.
REEL 10 Continues: black market and recreations in Naples; reactions to VE Day, 8/5/1945; question of posting to Far East; review of routes and overnight stops on flights carrying South African personnel to Durban; story of ruse to visit family in Bulaweyo area; reactions to use of atomic bomb, 6/8/1945; procedure on demobilisation as Rhodesian citizen, 10/1945. Post-war career: resumption of architectural course at Capetown University; delayed marriage; review of career as architect.
