Chapter 13

At No. 7 Operational Training Unit at Parkes, NSW we began the flying program back on Wirraways. The plan at these advanced flying units was to continue using the aircraft that was familiar, but using it for advanced techniques such as scramble practice, flying in fighter pairs, squadron formation, low flying, line astern chases, gunnery and bombing and air to air attacks. For scrambles, one had to run 60 yards, climb into the aircraft, start it up and get off the ground in 1 minute and 20 seconds. When these aspects had been carried out satisfactorily, we would graduate to the operational aircraft and carry out the same tactics that would be more or less familiar.
It may not be generally known that absence from flying had some impact on the pilot's performance. Long absences sometimes required that an instructor check out the pilot before allowing him to fly. It had been three months since I had flown, and possibly longer for some on the course who had returned from the European conflict. In any case I did not have to be checked out, but my handling of the Wirraway at first was rough. It might be pertinent to mention that there was a heat wave on at this time, and the temperature on the day was 1100F (43.30C).
One of the instructors recognised my name. He was F/L Gordon Carrick who had worked alongside Dick at Borthwicks and somehow had met Mum and Dad in Suva. Another was Bill Needham whose brother Don was on course with me at Parafield. The Spitfire flight commander was a David Evans who was on course with Don Andrews, and had been overseas on Spitfires. He flew well and made spectacular operational circuits followed by the unusual three point landings that were very smoothly executed. Tyros were encouraged to do "wheel landings".
Compared with facets of flying we had learned at Deniliquin, what we were now doing with the same aircraft could only be described as more intrepid. We did formation attacks air to air in fighter pairs, dive bombing and formation manoeuvres with a whole Squadron formation. The latter consisted of three hours of planes criss-crossing the sky in groups of 4 as part of a whole group of 12. At first it was mind-boggling. When a turn was executed, say to the left, the group of 4 on the left would slide under the middle group to the outside of the turn, while those who had been on the right or outside of the turn would slide over the middle group to the left and hence the inside of the turn. The placement of each group of 4 depended on the leader of that section who simply acted as if he were alone. The other three in his section formated on his aircraft.
The next night we actually did night formation flying. You can imagine our eyes sticking out on long stalks seeking the other aircraft and trying to judge its position. The next day 8 of us did low level formation to Trangie whereupon we zoomed up to 5000 feet, and "did over" the strip before returning home.
In a trial run at "scrambling", we ran 60 yards, climbed into the cockpit, started the engine, taxied briefly and took off. My first effort was 1 minute 30 seconds and the second improved to 1 minute 20 seconds. Once airborne we climbed in pairs and "jumped" B flight formation.
After our course on Wirraways we were sent on a bivouac on the Lachlan River near Forbes. The plan was to present us with some of the obstacles one might encounter if we had to bail out over enemy territory. We were taken to a campsite on the banks of the river. Wandering around in the vicinity we saw small tortoises and many birds. We were sent on a hike to rendezvous with others at a farmhouse some miles away. The owners appeared to be an Italian family. The daughters were very friendly, plying us with food and drink and massive bunches of grapes. Some of the fellows in our little group that included some RAF types concocted a story about being from a crashed Flying Fortress. The sweet but ingenuous girls believed this for a while. We made our way back to the camp before nightfall much to the chagrin of two of the Poms who showed signs of sexual expectancy. The story I heard later was that two of them set off to go back to the farm by night, but fell into the river while crossing it on a "bridge" that was a fallen tree. The next day we were taken to some mountains 9 miles away and told to find our way back. Three of us did and beat the rest (who may not really have cared). One P/O on the course Cecil Downes knew Ken Glover at Palmwoods and was also on course with Dick at Kingaroy (Initial Training School). The bivouac signalled the end of that part of the course.
At about this time we began to get acquainted with cockpit drill on the Spitfire Mark 5 that we were to fly. The "Great Day" came on Monday 5th February, 1945 when, at 0530 hours I flew a Spitfire for the first time. It was a beautiful flight. The smooth responses of the aircraft to the controls and the feeling of power made it an absolute joy. It was the realisation of my dream. Next day I flew again, this time for 2 periods. From then on we flew frequently and it was just great.
Not everyone was as happy as I was. One fellow who had been at Uranquinty, Clancy, had been through the Wirraway part of the course. On his conversion flight in a Spitty he ran off to the side of the strip on landing. He was scrubbed off course straight away. He found compensations apparently, often arriving in the hut to sleep as we were leaving to fly. His blackened khaki clothes somehow matched the colour of nearby fields that had suffered fires. When years later I met up with Mal Shannon, he seemed to have had quite a bit to do with the same Clancy during his flying career. It was a little surprising considering the differences in their behaviour patterns, as I knew them then.
While considering the antics of fellow pilots, I should mention that when we did move onto the Spitfires, recent graduates were in the minority. We had a Group Captain and several Flight Lieutenants in our group at least one with DFC. Some were ex-instructors being given a chance to go on active service after years of instructing. One amusing one, F/O Jack Hearn, was to fly Boomerangs rather than Spitfires and was very upset at missing out, but treated it with a great deal of humour. Some years later I came across him running a large toyshop under the Flinders Street railway station. Several of those on course came with me to No 452 Squadron.
At Parkes we flew often in fighter pairs and converted this into a line astern chase that was invigorating whichever position, leader or follower, you were in. These activities especially near the ground were a test of quick reflexes and the ability to be able to cope with high G levels. Camera gunnery gave me a great deal of pleasure as my film was assessed as the best for ranges and line of light. Later we had skeet shooting at the station, no doubt to sharpen our feeling for deflection shooting. For a person who had seldom fired a shot, my performance at Parafield, Deniliquin and Parkes to various shooting contests was, unexpectedly, consistently good.
In the month of February the major flying training was in the Spitfire VC. These were dream days as I very much enjoyed flying this aircraft. The activities were "advanced" as befitted an operational training unit and were intended to prepare one to be a useful member of a squadron. These activities were varied, involving pre-dawn take-off, squadron formation, head-on attacks, low level strafing, individual attacks and section combat (on which we were so intense that we took 20 minutes to find our way back to Parkes). One activity that was amongst the most enjoyable was early morning low level formation flying over the fields around Parkes. The country was well suited to the exercise being flat and having plenty of open space. The Mark 5 Spitfire was very manoeuvrable and we carried out many "turnabouts". Four aircraft flying side by side, with perhaps forty yards between, at low level, and I mean low, would, on the order "turnabout left--go", each execute a 1800 steep turn to the left, turning inside the adjacent aircraft. It seemed like a very dangerous move but if each pilot reacted at the same time and turned at the tightest manageable, the reversal of track occurred dramatically and smoothly. Moreover, in such tight turns, the Mark 5 Spitfire made a high-pitched noise audible in the cockpit despite the engine noise and ear phones. The noise was accentuated, I believe, by the open machine-gunports in the wing. The time of day, the proximity to the ground (and even to farmers in the fields), the adrenalin of the turnabouts and the sound created in the turn made for an unforgettable experience.
Our Flight Commander Dave Evans was on Course 8 with Don Andrews. On Tuesday the 20th we did a cross-country from Ungarie to Young. Later in the day we had Squadron formation. I was flying Red 2 and Red Leader "Scotty" had trouble and dropped out of formation, and I became Red Leader. There followed a complex series of manoeuvres involving the three groups of 4 aircraft (minus 1) and on landing I received praise for the way I had carried out the task. Later on I learned that chiefly as a result of this effort I was recommended for a commission. This actually came about when I was nominally a flight sergeant in the Squadron but I did not learn of it until I was back in Australia after the war ended and I was being discharged. My papers showed that I had been commissioned perhaps a year earlier as a Pilot Officer and due to the passage of time was now a Flying Officer.
We spent quite a lot of time practising air to ground gunnery and on 22/5 I obtained the highest number of hits on the target (186 of 440 and 190 of 440). As the others were mostly seasoned squadron pilots my effort did not please them all that much, but I was praised for my efforts. Dave Evans confided in me that he expected me to be sent up north to a Squadron fairly soon after finishing OTU.
As it turned out I was sent on leave to Adelaide. This turned out to be the famous pre-em or pre-embarkation leave. This gave the folks and me the chance to spend some time together before I went on active duty. The same had occurred for Dick but he had cut short his time with the folks to see his girl friend in Brisbane. That turned out to be a bad move because unexpectedly she told him that in the time he had been training elsewhere, that she had become committed to another. He went away without returning to the folks and of course they never saw him again.
The folks and I went through the process of meeting friends and so on, but also we hired a car and saw some of the areas surrounding Adelaide. We saw more in 2 days than we had seen in 2 years thanks to the folk's generosity for my pre-embarkation leave. After leaving I was flown to Brisbane in a C47 (looking back it was rather unusual) stayed with Gwen 13/3/45 and visited Aunt Nell Cribb and Cousin Vera, Dorothy W. and bumped into other friends at the Sandgate camp.
I travelled to Southport for a nostalgic look there. In the train going down the girl in my compartment turned out to be Doris Brown, sister of Seymour who was also a pilot in the RAAF. Unfortunately he did not return. I saw various identities there such as Jack Wills and Fred Andrews in town and the Andrews family in Lenneberg St. I saw Mrs. Cosgrave who drove me to the Cable Station where I picked up Peter's bike and rode to TSS. There I saw the Head, Jack Radcliffe, and Harry Kaiser, Frank Surman and Stan Glover also a master there by now. Also saw Ferris and Betts and Mrs. Macmillan and Mrs. Lacy at the Cable Station. Not a bad day's work ! There was more actually, because this was also the day that I met the maid from school who had been friendly with Rob Young, and who saw me in the street whereupon she said "Oooooh--I thought you were dead". Awkward as this was I realised she must have linked my name and the news of Dick whom she would not have known.
Back to Sandgate where a few activities were interspersed with many boring periods of inactivity. On 26/3 a draft of Aussies (aircrew) returned from Canada and formed a parade at Sandgate. Listening to the roll call and walking around when they had broken off, I was able to meet up with several who had been at ITS or even EFTS when I was there. Also, by a streak of good fortune I heard a name "Kloster" which I knew but had not heard for ten years or so. When we lived at Mosman I used to go to school with a Linton Kloster and often played with him after school as he lived nearby. He remembered me and we indulged in a short period of reminiscence. Several fellows from my time at TSS have been here at Sandgate during my short time here. As far as duties are concerned, I have been given escort duty for some reason or another, and have been to several prisons to bring prisoners back to Sandgate. We started the "hardening up" course at Scarborough, where we have fewer amenities than at Sandgate, and have all sorts of obstacle courses and long route marches to go through. As we are all fairly fit it is not such a problem. Around this time I was issued with tropical kit, and as the pants did not fit, a tailor measured me and will deliver two pairs as soon as possible. I might add that these pants were delivered to me over 6 months later precisely when I was packing up my aircraft preparatory to flying south (to Australia) after the war was over.
Whilst at Sandgate I saw a bit of Gwen and Norm, Dorothy, Toni Glesinger. After some false starts I boarded a troop train for Townsville on 15/3. The trip up was mildly interesting, but monotonous. "I was interested in the towns that we passed through but was not impressed with any of them". Townsville was hot and muggy. As usual I came across a number of people I had met elsewhere, even one who used to work in the Cable Company with Dad. I remember that the camp was close to the Ross River, which was tempting in the heat. From memory we saw American troops swimming in the river. Moreover they had nurses swimming with them. Some have all the luck!
Awaiting a plane to the "war zone" I was on 5 minutes notice to leave. The call came on Monday, and I left for Garbutt Airfield. We had doughnuts and coffee handed out by some attractive American Red Cross girls. Then we learned that the aircraft was u/s and we had to return to camp. Went for a swim and saw Dave Evans and George Scrimgour who were also bound for Morotai.
On 25/4/45 I flew to Merauke, in Dutch New Guinea in 5 hours in a C47. After spending the night there, we flew on to Morotai in the Halmaheras. This flight was a revelation . After the heat and humidity of Merauke , where you could cut the air with a knife, the flight path took us over very high mountains and consequently low temperatures occurred in the plane which in those days was not warmed or pressurised. The type of scenery was new to me and I had not appreciated that such mountain peaks, up to 15000feet, were present in New Guinea.
On 27th April Jeff Dean and I were posted to 452 Squadron where Al Blumer from Parkes was already a member. A couple of days was spent in getting settled and obtaining equipment, and then on Monday I had my first flight in a Spitfire Mark 8. This was a very impressive aircraft with greater speed and rate of climb than the Mark5 which we flew at Parkes. (List of pilots in the Squadron in Appendix). RAAF No. 452 Squadron was one of the famous Australian Fighter Squadrons, formed in Britain and over its short life had many of the great fliers of the era as members. I have not seen a history of the unit, but will try to find out if such exists.
Some of the following diary entries are typical of "between posting lethargy". On Tuesday 8th May the end of the European war was announced. Obviously as the war in the Pacific was still producing casualties we were not too receptive to messages proclaiming that "The War" had ended. For many it had, and those who were demobilised from the European theatre must have breathed huge sighs of relief. There were compensations for them, however, as they had on their return the choice of the jobs that were going. We still sit in tropical heat, swatting mosquitos, eating dehydrated potatoes awaiting the next air-raid (slight exaggeration). Waiting around seems to be a strange occupation for someone on Active Service. It does however seem to be par for the course. The war has moved away from Morotai except that there are still plenty of Japanese on neighbouring islands but we are only flying the odd sortie to those. They will be by-passed during the next moves. During this waiting around we have been swimming a lot and the coral reefs are beautiful to behold as are the reef fish among them. A diary note tells also of four of us (McNaughton, Blue Colyer, John Dehnert and self) going out in a rowing boat and attempting to fish but with no catch resulting. Later efforts brought rewards. Here I should insert the rather interesting coincidence that I had met Blue Colyer years before, in Sydney when we visited the family in Rose Bay, as the father had been in the Cable company with Dad before going on to the export company Colyer Watson. Quite a few days have gone by without any flying so have caught up with equipment including modifying an American oxygen mask and microphone to replace the issue items. Also I have bumped into several fellows met elsewhere. Dave Lowing I seem to bump into at every stop. This time he wanted to take me up in an Auster, and came out with the classic remark "...tricky little aircraft near the ground".(There was an element of face-saving in this as he dearly wanted to fly Spits, as did many others I met and who usually gave this away by similar remarks). The flight in the Auster did not eventuate.
At the end of one of B flight's practice squadron formation flying, Clive Miller undershot on the approach to land and was killed. He was a nice, friendly guy.
At last I had the chance to do some squadron formation. In hindsight this was preparation for our long flight to our next area of operations. Another TSS old boy was here on Kittyhawks, Bill George.
More squadron formation-Blue Colyer dropped out and I followed him down, but lost sight of him. He rejoined the group without notice and I circled for 30 minutes seeing nothing. The film shows every night were worthwhile as they were mostly first release. Met up with Bill Gilfillan who showed me over a Beaufighter and I showed him a Spitfire. He was later killed in Tawi Tawi as I heard running into cables stretched across a valley. Note on diary entry for 31/5/45 says "Commission promulgated" but this must have been entered later as I am sure I was unaware until the time of demobilisation.
More squadron formation again today. A new member of the squadron arrived from Perth today and as it turned out we became room/tent mates and stayed firm friends over the years-his name was Daryl Halliday.(2/6/45). Had an aircraft allocated to me for my use only--QY-X, and later I think I know why I got that one.
The wet season seems to have set in as we have had rain each day all day. We should have left this area some days ago. Met up with J.Z.Smith from TSS here in the army(2/12 AIF).
On 22/6 there was an air raid, one aircraft dropping bombs in the harbour area. No scramble was ordered. Next day Bill and I and then John and Dal did a low level sweep around the coast of the Halmaheras down to the South Lolodas. Saw some shot up barges, many natives and canoes. Hoot MacNaughton, with whom I had shared a tent for some time was posted south. Some of us gathered cassavas, bananas, pawpaws, sugar cane and pineapples all growing in the vicinity. The cassavas can be poisonous unless well cooked, we learned after eating them several times.