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Post by Mustang51 on May 9, 2020 10:25:53 GMT 12
Those last two are great. obtained a copy of the latter for me.John Bargh
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waimo
Flight Sergeant
Posts: 27
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Post by waimo on May 9, 2020 12:56:22 GMT 12
got my fathers log book here he was with 215 squadron in India.H Davies 39705 he was very proud of the 39 being the year he joind up.he flew a Dakota. in july his total hours where 88.10 Paratroop dropping and container dropping in Mingaladon.Toungoo.Myingyan.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 9, 2020 13:40:23 GMT 12
Oh fantastic Waimo. I'll be that is an interesting logbook.
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waimo
Flight Sergeant
Posts: 27
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Post by waimo on May 9, 2020 14:22:57 GMT 12
Yes it is Dave.he flew Wellingtons,Liberators and Daks a lot of time Glider towing with the Dakota.
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Post by pjw4118 on May 9, 2020 16:15:58 GMT 12
Dave I seem to have picked up a few on my travels aside from alan Peart theres Wally Halliwell Mechanic , India Norman Mouat 355 sq nav john Gilbert Libs nav Eric Gallaher Pilot Comms Dave Gallagher 355 sq Gunner Cyril Norris Nav Transport Bill Hamilton trans Pilot with Norris. And of course Sir Keith Park . I have a file on each and some photos.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 9, 2020 16:28:16 GMT 12
Are you talking autobiographies Peter? Or logbooks?
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Post by pjw4118 on May 14, 2020 17:49:55 GMT 12
No just photos and notes and in Gallagers case their NZDF record as he was posted East because of recurring chest probems .
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Post by steveh on May 15, 2020 20:24:37 GMT 12
I'm currently reading Norman Franks, "The Air War of Imphal" & came across the name of Flt Lt B T Shannon, later apparently a Sqn leader but a further google search brought forth very little info save for the online entries from the 3 volume series "New Zealanders with the RAF" Google searches tend to show a lot of entries for Dave Shannon of 617 sqn fame. I'd be interested to find out more about Shannon, operating/commanding as he did 11 sqn RAF, a unit I've a soft spot for. Steve.
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Post by errolmartyn on May 15, 2020 21:31:05 GMT 12
I'm currently reading Norman Franks, "The Air War of Imphal" & came across the name of Flt Lt B T Shannon, later apparently a Sqn leader but a further google search brought forth very little info save for the online entries from the 3 volume series "New Zealanders with the RAF" Google searches tend to show a lot of entries for Dave Shannon of 617 sqn fame. I'd be interested to find out more about Shannon, operating/commanding as he did 11 sqn RAF, a unit I've a soft spot for. Steve. NZ401784 Brian Trevor Shannon. Born 9 Jul 13. Enlisted Levin as AP u/t, 2 Jul 40. Previously granted Pilot’s ‘A’ Licence 796, 1 May 35 (was a member of the Manawatu Aero Club). Graduated as pilot in New Zealand then embarked Awatea for UK/attached RAF, 29 Apr 41. Member of Caterpillar Club, baled out over India, Apr 44. Commissioned, 12 Apr 41. To Reserve, as Sqd Ldr, 7 Apr 46. Died 13 Jan 95. Errol
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Post by steveh on May 17, 2020 22:52:10 GMT 12
Thanks Errol, I appreciate that, he seems to have embraced obscurity post war, as did many others. He had quite an active campaign over Imphal & Burma & I'd have liked to know more but there we have it. I might try to track down an aircraft he flew & model that. Steve.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 19, 2020 23:01:21 GMT 12
BURMA SKY TRAIN
ARMY FED BY PLANES
NEW ZEALANDERS' PART
(R.N.Z.A.F. Official News Service.) AIR COMMAND, South-East Asia, February 3.
Battling their way over precipitous mountains and across the jungled plains of north-west Burma, the Fourteenth Army has been almost entirely dependent on the Royal Air Force for supplies. Nowhere in the world is an army contending with such difficulties of communications. New Zealand airmen are playing their part in the solution of the problem.
Operating across the trackless jungle covered ranges, far from any port or railway, building roads and countless bridges as they go, units of the Fourteenth Army have been incessantly fed from the sky by supply-dropping aircraft of the Eastern Air Command. The aircraft maintain a constant goods tram service. This requires skilful flying, especially in the monsoon weather when clouds shroud the mountains and gorges which the aircraft must negotiate before pin-pointing their valuable cargo on to tiny targets.
Today, New Zealanders flew on a supply-dropping mission to our forward troops now closing in on Mandalay. Briefed for a dawn take-off their aircraft was one in a long line flying up out of the famous Imphal Valley, where last year our forces were besieged by the Japanese for three months. Flying at 6000 feet, the aircraft crossed through heavily forested ranges into Burma. Just at sunrise, it flew over the fabled Chindwin River and came down on to the forested foothills and later the plains and paddy fields of north-west Burma. From then on, the aircraft flew at tree-top level to avoid enemy fighters.
FANTASTIC PAGODAS. Fantastic golden-spired pagodas flashed past. Smoke rose from cosy Burmese villages. Patrolling Spitfires raced ahead. Here a constant menace to low-flying aircraft are the innumerable large birds which hole the planes if hit and often cause disaster. A tall, fair New Zealander, Flying Officer S. W. Hamilton (Frankton Junction), was piloting one of the Dakotas, and he pointed out the scenes of fierce earlier battles. Braced against the wind at the hatch, three New Zealanders pushed the piles of parachuted cargo out. In all, the aircraft made 12 runs over the dropping zone. Later, the aircraft landed on a dusty airstrip near Shwebo and disembarked food for the troops in that area.
Skimming home over the tree-tops, streams of aircraft were passed. They were all maintaining this sky-train supply service. Flying back into the the ranges towards tiny mountain-girt Imphal, is reminiscent of the Hutt Valley. The Dakota flew for miles beside that marvel of military engineering, the 7000 ft climbing Tamu Road: Suddenly the wireless operator, Warrant Officer P. J. Henricks (Redwoods Valley), made a quick gesture. The hitherto carefree members of the crew snatched up their sets of earphones and listened with intent faces. Dance music was coming over from Los Angeles.
Other New Zealanders in the crew were Warrant Officer L. H. McNamara (Maunganui, North Auckland) and Warrant Officer A. T. Davies (Tauranga).
EVENING POST, 5 FEBRUARY 1945
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Post by phasselgren on May 25, 2020 5:53:42 GMT 12
In the book Vengeance!: the Vultee Vengeance dive bomber by Peter Charles Smith I found a New Zealand air gunner serving in the Indian Air Force. Warrant Officer Bob Browning WOP/AG from Christchurch served with the 8 Indian squadron flying Vultee Vengeance with the Canadian pilot Hugh Seton. There is a qoute from Hugh: “we considered that we flew the most heavily armed Vengeance in the Arakan - four Brownings firing forward, and another Browning manning two flexible Brownings in the rear cockpit.” You can borrow this book at the National Emergency Library: archive.org/details/nationalemergencylibraryAmong the books they also have Too Young to Die - The story of a New Zealand fighter pilot in the Pacific War by Bryan Cox
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Post by errolmartyn on May 25, 2020 11:32:02 GMT 12
In the book Vengeance!: the Vultee Vengeance dive bomber by Peter Charles Smith I found a New Zealand air gunner serving in the Indian Air Force. Warrant Officer Bob Browning WOP/AG from Christchurch served with the 8 Indian squadron flying Vultee Vengeance with the Canadian pilot Hugh Seton. There is a qoute from Hugh: “we considered that we flew the most heavily armed Vengeance in the Arakan - four Brownings firing forward, and another Browning manning two flexible Brownings in the rear cockpit.” You can borrow this book at the National Emergency Library: archive.org/details/nationalemergencylibraryAmong the books they also have Too Young to Die - The story of a New Zealand fighter pilot in the Pacific War by Bryan Cox 'Bob Browning' would almost certainly have been NZ403567 Robert Verdun Villiers Browning. He enlisted as an air gunner u/t on 29 Sep 40 and embarked on the Aorangi for Canada on 5 Dec 40 for further training there. Presumably thence to UK/RAF. Errol
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 26, 2020 0:23:47 GMT 12
Haycock was mentioned earlier in the thread from a later exploit. This one is from the Evening Post dated 27 Feb 1945:
SKILFUL PILOT
N.Z. AIRMAN SAVES CREW
(R.N.Z.A.F. Official News Service.)
CALCUTTA, February 25. . By skilful piloting during a bombing raid on enemy objectives in the Rangoon area, a New Zealand pilot not only saved his Liberator and crew, but also accounted for a Japanese fighter. He is Flying Officer John Haycock, of Nelson.
He made a swift but quite unorthodox manoeuvre with the aircraft so that the waist gunner caught the enemy in his sights and 50 rounds of accurate gunnery did the rest, but not before the Liberator was swishing through shrubs only 11 feet off the ground. Mushrooming smoke and steam, the enemy aircraft disappeared into the broad waters of the Irrawaddy. Flying Officer Haycock arrived in India early last year. After a short course at the jungle training school, he was posted to his present squadron and has made many long trips over enemy-occupied territory, including Siam, attacking communications and installations.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 21, 2020 19:16:47 GMT 12
IN RANGOON GAOL
N.Z. AIRMAN'S ORDEAL
SHOCKING HARDSHIPS
AUCKLAND, July 16.
O.C. AUCKLAND, July 16.
One of the first airmen to arrive in New Zealand after being released from the Japanese in Burma has returned home. He is Flight Lieutenant A. C. Krause, of St. Heliers, who tells a grim story of the treatment that he and other servicemen received while captives in the notorious Rangoon gaol.
He was taken prisoner at the end of 1942 and was released last May when the city was captured by British forces. He was mentioned in a cable message recently as the man who painted the sign "Japs gone, British here," on the roof of the gaol while the city was under aerial bombardment shortly before its occupation by the British.
Flight Lieutenant Krause was flying a Hurricane along the Chindwin River when he was shot down by a British Bofors gun captured by the Japanese. He landed in the jungle almost without a scratch, tramped for two days until he arrived at a native village, and there he was seized by Japanese soldiers, "trussed up like a fowl," and later put on board a train for Mandalay, about 100 miles away. There he was thrown into the small cell of a gaol controlled by Japanese military police.
PRISONERS' CONDITIONS. A month later he was sent to Rangoon to begin an almost unbearable routine of labour, sickness, and vicious treatment. At the gaol were several hundred British, American, Indian, and Chinese prisoners, and after being in a single cell the New Zealander was put in a large room with about fifty others. The only bedding most of the prisoners had consisted of sacks that they stole while at work. They were given no clothing, and Flight Lieutenant Krause left the prison in the garments he was wearing when captured —a pair of trousers and a jacket. The food consisted of two small plates of rice a day and occasionally scraps of meat and fish discarded by the Japanese, During most of his captivity the Auckland airman was made to work on the docks. The prisoners started work soon after dawn and carried on until dusk. There was a break of an hour at midday, and for the rest of the time the work was continuous. The men, weakened by malnutrition and disease, had to carry cargo on their shoulders from the ships' holds to stores or trucks. At the slightest sign of slackening they were struck by the guards with fists, boots, or rifle butts. Some of the heaviest loads were sacks of rice weighing about 150lb. They had a free day once a fortnight.
Other tasks were digging trenches and gun positions, and bomb disposal work which entailed the removal of unexploded 1000lb bombs. Often while the men were at work the city was under aerial attack, but only once did any bombs fall within the area where he was working.
NO MEDICAL SERVICE. The inhuman treatment in the prison took its toll. There was no medical attention by the Japanese, and no medical supplies, and the airmen were not taken to hospital. When they were ill they were simply segregated in another room. Two British medical officers were among the prisoners. They did what they could, but with no supplies their task was hopeless. Beriberi, dysentery, and malnutrition were rife. There were no Red Cross parcels to relieve the conditions, as the Japanese would not permit any Red Cross activity at the gaol.
The airmen fared worse than other prisoners, said Flight-Lieutenant Krause. Many of them were treated as criminals, particularly after the bombing of Rangoon and Japanese cities. While he was there a mock trial of a number of captured airmen was held and they were found guilty of indiscriminate bombing of Rangoon. They were then placed in solitary confinement for about ten months. For all airmen it was a reign of terror in Rangoon, but other prisoners received better treatment.
PAINTED SIGN ON ROOF. For some time before the capture of the city last May Rangoon was under heavy aerial bombardment. After the Japanese forces had begun to evacuate the city, Wing-Commander L. V. Hudson, of the R.A.A.F., who was among the prisoners, decided on an enterprising means of advising the British and calling a halt to the bombing, which threatened the prison. The result was that the Aucklander, who was suffering from dysentery, and an English prisoner climbed on to the roof during the bombing and in large letters painted the notice: "Japs gone, British here," across the roof. The bombing stopped soon afterwards, and a few days later, the British forces arrived. The freed men were taken straight on board a hospital ship and celebrated VE Day on the way to Calcutta, where they received medical treatment.
Flight-Lieutenant Krause lost two and a half stone in weight while in the hands of the Japanese, but regained it by the time he arrived in New Zealand. He is still suffering from the effects of his imprisonment and has to undergo further hospital treatment in Auckland.
A son of Mr. O. B. Krause, of 27 Rarangi Road, St. Heliers, Flight-Lieutenant Krause enlisted early in the war. Before being transferred to India in 1942 he was attached to a fighter squadron in England.
EVENING POST, 17 JULY 1945
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 26, 2020 14:05:36 GMT 12
DIFFICULT RESCUE
CRASH IN GANGES DELTA
(R.NZ.A.F. Official News Service.)
CALCUTTA, July 19
Hacking their way through mangrove swamps, the crew of an R.A.F. air-sea rescue Catalina flying-boat worked for hours to rescue the crew of a Liberator bomber, which had crashed among the dreaded swamp islands known as the Sunderbupnds, forming the Ganges Delta.
With mud sucking the shoes from their feet, the Catalina men struggled through monsoon flood waters to reach the bomber. Though the wreck was only 500 yards from the water's edge, the rescuers found their way through the dark, tenacious mangroves only by following whistles which answered their shouts. Among the rescued crew was Flight Sergeant T. W. Wallis, an air gunner, of Wellington.
The captain and tail gunner were injured and unable to move, but the rest of the crew were only cut and bruised. The injured were carried to shore, a journey so difficult, because of waist-deep mud and mangroves, that the party had to rest every few yards. When clear of their jungle difficulties the men were still not safe. The dinghy carrying them to the Catalina was caught in a violent ebb-tide current and swept past the flying-boat out to sea. The Catalina hastily started up, taxied in pursuit, and finally picked the men up. She landed at her base with the party 25½ hours after taking off on the search.
EVENING POST, 24 JULY 1945
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 17, 2021 19:58:28 GMT 12
FLYING THROUGH MONSOON
N.Z. PILOT ON RAIDS OVER BURMA
(Special Correspondent N.Z.PA.) (Rec. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON. July 10.
Describing the Royal Air Force Spitfires’ attacks through monsoon squalls on Japanese rivercraft on the Sittang river, in Burma, Flight Lieutenant G. W. Smith, of Wellington, said the Spitfires got to work flying in weather the enemy must have thought would cloak movement, shooting up every craft they could see.
"The Japanese make little attempt to use boats by day." he said. They hide in creeks away from the main stream, piling branches over their craft as camouflage and making them difficult to spot. At 500 feet we ha been seeking them out with cannon. We can pinpoint by the fires as soon as we hit our target.
“The weather is a bit tricky. We may take off in perfect conditions, dodge two or three storms and get our strafing in. Then we cut back to base before the weather closes m on the airfield.”
PRESS, 12 JULY 1945
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 18, 2021 16:22:43 GMT 12
BOMB “BOUNCES” IN FLIGHT
LIBERATOR CREW IN DANGER
(R.N.Z.A.F. Official News Service) CALCUTTA, July 12.
To be chased by their own bomb was the amazing experience of a Liberator crew. "We had just bombed a railway in Siam,” said the Pilot, Warrant Officer Dave Callaghan, Wairoa, “when I heard the tail-gunner yell, ‘Our bombs are following us.’ Sure enough, there was a bomb chasing along behind us. It shook us all. Later, we realised that the tail had come off one of our bombs as it fell, causing it to bounce and skip up 600 feet in full forward flight. Luckily our camera recorded the, incident or no one at base would have believed us.”
The tail-gunner was Warrant Officer Colin McCarthy, Wellington, and another New Zealander in the crew was Flying Officer Don Finlayson, Darfield.
It was a day of adventure. So shattered were members of the crew by the bomb episode that they unwittingly flew three times over an enemy gun nest and got away with it. Later, a Japanese machine-gun bullet smashed the perspex before the gunner’s face. Shaken but unhurt, a moment later he strafed a train of petrol waggons.
PRESS, 23 JULY 1945
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