Bewley, Frank (Oral history)

British airframe air fitter served with 702 Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm at HMS Seahawk Shore Station, Culdrose, GB, 1949-1950; served as pilot's mate with 796 (Training) Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm at HMS Vulture Shore Station, Padstowe in GB, 1951-1952; served with 821 Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Glory off Korea, 1952-1953; served with 736 Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm in GB, 1953-1954; served as air engineer officer's writer with 831 Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Ark Royal, 1955-1957; served as petty officer aircraft fitter with Helicopter Holding Unit and Naval Air Repair Installation Unit, HMS Daedalus, Lee-on-Solent, GB, 1957-1960; served with 738 Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm at HMS Fulmar, Lossiemouth, GB, 1960-1961

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Hammersmith, London, 1931-1948: family background and social circumstances; education; temporary evacuation to Swindon, 1939; air raid precautions; evacuation to Penzance area, 1940-1943, including billets at Haymoor, attending school, potato picking, relationship wit local children and German air raids; unofficial return to London, 1943; father's military service; Boy Scouts activities; training with Sea Cadets in Penzance and London; return to school; German air raids and communal shelters; troop trains; air raid and V1 damage; victory celebrations, 1945; father's refusal to allow training for service in Merchant Navy; work as builder, 1945-1948. REEL 2 Continues: background to volunteering as air mechanic with Fleet Air Army, Royal Navy, 12/1948. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine with HMS Royal Arthur Shore Station, Corsham, 12/1948-2/1949: reception and kitting out; hut accommodation; hammock; importance of personal cleanliness; food rations; drill and value of Sea Cadets experience; stowing hammocks; PT and route marches; escape and evasion exercise; rifle training; swimming lessons; question of seamanship training; cooking fatigues; guard duties; preparing for kit inspections; relationship with recruits and instructors including status as FAA recruit. REEL 3 Continues: relationship with officers including Prince Philip; disciplinary procedures; passing out parade. Recollections of period with Supplementary Party aboard HMS Vengeance, 2/1949-3/1949: joining ship at Portsmouth; messdeck; importance of personal cleanliness; general messing system and food; training and duties chipping paint off flight deck; recreations. Period with SP at HMS Fulmar, Lossiemouth, ca 3/1949-6/1949: general nature of duties; concert parties; boxing activities; patrols around Lossiemouth and Elgin. Training as airframe mechanic at HMS Gamecock Shore Station, Nuneaton, 6/1949-11/1949: theoretical training; practical training and aircraft available; assessment. REEL 4 Continues: qualification on Vampire F20 airframe. Period as airframe airfitter with 702 Sqdn, FAA at HMS Seahawk Shore Station, Culdrose, 11/1949-1/1950: experimental jet deck landing role of unit; duties and conditions of service; church parades; sailing activities. Period at HMS Vulture Shore Station, St Merryn, 1/1950-7/1950: duties servicing airframes of Firefly and Dragonfly helicopter; system of daily aircraft inspection; story of accident with Sea Otter seaplane and subsequent punishment. Period at 52nd Training Air Group, HMS Seahawk, Culdrose, 7/1950-3/1951: recommendation for training as pilot's mate; opinion of Seafire; training role of unit and flying accidents; funeral part duty. REEL 5 Attending pilot's mate course at HMS Heron, Yeovilton, 6/1951-12/1951: nature of course covering engines, ordnance and electrical systems; piston engine starter; enjoyment of course; assessment and question of back-classing; assisting in controlling fire in Avonmouth oil depot; success on course. Recollections of period as pilot's mate with 796 (Training) Sqdn, FAA at HMS Vulture Shore Station, Padstowe, 12/1951-4/1952: role servicing Firefly; sailing activities; relationship with RAF. Recollections of period with 821 Sqdn, FAA at Machrihanish, 4/1952-5/1952: modification to Firefly in preparations for Korean service; opinion of Squadron Leader Commander Gardner; relationship with pilots; individual fuselage paintings and characteristics of Firefly; ground attacks and formation training; jetty used to board aircraft carrier. Recollections of voyage with 821 Sqdn, FAA aboard HMS Glory to Malta, 5/1952-6/1952: state of ship; messdeck; general messing system and food; Chinese laundry personnel; wireless station run by padre. REEL 6 Continues: seasickness; bolting down and service of Firefly on flight deck after training flights; watching aircraft landing; procedure in event of bad landings and assisting in aircraft repairs in hangar deck; replacing faulty rivets on Firefly; clearing deck on landing of Firefly with 'hung up' rockets; sporting and shooting activities; cinema shows; shore leave at Gibraltar and visits to Spain. Recollections of period with 821 Sqdn, FAA based ashore at Halfar, Gibraltar, 6/1952-10/1952: move ashore during refit of HMS Glory in Grand Harbour, Valetta; naval patrol duty; parades; recreational visits to Valetta and Medina. Voyage with 821 Sqdn, FAA aboard HMS Glory to Japan, 10/1952-11/1952: move back aboard ship; promotion to leading aircraftman pilot' mate; precautions whilst passing through Suez Canal and polluted waters in Bitter Lakes; visit ashore at Port Suez, Egypt; operational missions and visits ashore during period at Aden. REEL 7 Continues: operational missions against insurgents in Malaysia; visit ashore at Singapore; visits ashore and reprovisioning with fresh food at Hong Kong; meeting HMS Ocean, 4/11/1952. Recollections of operations off Korea whilst based at Sasebo and Kure, Japan, 11/1952-5/1953: visits ashore to US service clubs; question of submarine threat on first patrol, 11/1952; and personal morale; effects of cold weather; working on aircraft of Lieutenant Barrett; effects of snow and cold weather during second patrol, 28/11/1952-8/12/1952; relationship with 801 Sqdn, FAA; awareness of ground targets attacked; damage caused by Chinese anti-aircraft; deck landing accidents; reactions to casualties; question of damage caused by faulty 20mm cannon shells; escorts during patrols; move to Kure, 9/12/1952-15/12/1952; visits ashore and relationship with Japanese civilians. REEL 8 Continues: loss of Dragonfly helicopter and Firefly flown by Lieutenant Barrett during third patrol 15/12/1952-28/12/1952; move to role in aircraft control room allocating aircraft and crew on operational missions and maintaining squadron records; death of pilot due to detonation of faulty 20mm cannon shells; move to Sasebo; delayed Christmas celebrations; fourth patrol, 4/1/1953-12/1/1953, including problem with cold weather, air crew casualties and statistics kept; nature of patrols including ground targets, bad landings and casualties; anti-submarine patrols; exchanges of personnel with S aircraft carriers; opinion of Lieutenant John Lansdown; duodenal ulcers and period in sickbay; question of reliability of Firefly and sea Fury; end of patrols, 5/1953; relief by HMS Ocean, 17/5/1953; storage of aircraft and use of flight deck for transport of vehicles during return to GB; state of ship. REEL 9 Continues: reception on arrival at Portsmouth. Recollections of period with 736 Sqdn, FAA at HMS Seahawk, Culdrose and HMS Fulmar, Lossiemouth, 1953-1954: nature of Supermarine Attacker jet aircraft; change of station function to observer training and consequent move to Lossiemouth; prevalence of accidents whilst Attackers were landing; ejector seat checks; jet aviation fuel; flying exercises and night flying; married quarters. Attending aircraft mechanics course at HMS Condor, Arbroath, 5/1954-5/1955: nature of course with increased emphasis on manufacturing replacement parts; problems on course and reactions to being removed and given rank of petty officer. Period as petty officer running Sea Cadet training based at HMS Sanderling, Abbotsinch, 5/1955-10/1955. Recollections of period as air engineer officer's writer with 831 Sqdn, FAA aboard HMS Ark Royal, 10/1955-8/1957: administrative role and duties; nature of Wyvern S4 Fighter-Bomber with turboprop engine and necessity for frequent engine changes; conditions; nature of naval shore patrols; working parties storing ship. REEL 10 Continues: television facilities aboard ship; shore base at HMS Pergrin, Ford; rented married quarters; visit to Norfolk naval base, Virginia, US including meeting Mayflower replica, demonstrations of Wyvern capabilities visit to USS Enterprise and reactions to restrictions on black personnel; visit to New York including demonstration of aircraft catapult and recreations ashore; reactions to ground personnel being left behind on despatch of all Wyverns to join HMS Eagle in Mediterranean during Suez Crisis, 1956; role in aircraft control room organising maintenance programme for aircraft and operational flying; sporting activities; question of accidents landing aircraft; mirrors system used to control landings; night flying; introduction of angled deck and steam catapults; watching AA practice shoots and aircraft firing at towed drogues targets; nature of petty officers' mess. Recollections of period as petty officer aircraft fitter with Helicopter Holding Unit and Naval Air Repair Installation Unit, HMS Daedalus, Lee-on-Solent, 8/1957-3/1960: unit storage and maintenance role; opinion of Dragonfly and Hiller Helicopters; experimentation in fitting new equipment into various aircraft with NARIS; problem with stripping radioactive material from helicopters after nuclear tests. REEL 11 Continues: married quarters and education of children; question o educational certificates needed to qualify for promotion to engineering officer; stomach problems. Recollections of period with 738 Sqdn, FAA at HMS Fulmar, Lossiemouth, 3/1960-7/1961: role on second line servicing of aircraft; opinion of Sea Hawk; increasing stomach problems culminating in hospitalisation with burst ulcer; effects of medical downgrading and decision to accept medical retirement. Post-service career: war disability pension; re-employment as civilian engineer with Handley Page and work on V Bomber based at RAF Honiton, 1963-1963, including fitting new fixed wings and servicing, administrative role planning and supervising refits; work in inspection role building Mirage III with Australian Aircraft Factory, Melbourne, Australia, 1963-1964; period as aircraft engineer servicing airliners for Trans-Australian Airlines based at Brisbane, 1964-1967; work assembling and maintaining civilian and aircraft for Hawker de Haviland (Australia) based at Sydney, 1967-1977; advantages of FAA experience and continued success of civilian career as aircraft engineer on return to GB, 1977