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Post by komata on Jan 4, 2014 8:38:25 GMT 12
An interesting photo. Thanks. The Stinson (technically a Stinson A-1 trimotor) is an interesting subject in itself. It would appear to be one of the Tata Airlines' aircraft (they operated three), and camouflaged. AFAIK, these aircraft not 'impressed' into RAF service (although the IndianAF may have done so) so presumably the one in the photo' would be operating scheduled services at the time the photo was taken.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 4, 2014 9:14:04 GMT 12
I was thinking of ringing Don and asking if he recalled what aircraft those harbour photos were taken from, if it was him who took them. Sadly I just saw on the Herald site that Don sadly passed away on the 27th. Really sad, he was a very nice chap and incredibly interesting. MACKENZIE, Donald Malcolm (Flight Lieutenant AFC RNZAF 401776). - Passed away on December 27th, 2013, after a short illness. Loved husband of the late Muriel and loved father and father-in-law to Malcolm, Ian and Libby, Barry and daughter Anne Lines and Colin. Grandfather to 12 grandchildren and great-grandfather to 13. - To celebrate the life of Don, a private family funeral was held on Tuesday, 31st December.
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Post by errolmartyn on Jan 4, 2014 10:22:48 GMT 12
I was thinking of ringing Don and asking if he recalled what aircraft those harbour photos were taken from, if it was him who took them. Sadly I just saw on the Herald site that Don sadly passed away on the 27th. Really sad, he was a very nice chap and incredibly interesting. MACKENZIE, Donald Malcolm (Flight Lieutenant AFC RNZAF 401776). - Passed away on December 27th, 2013, after a short illness. Loved husband of the late Muriel and loved father and father-in-law to Malcolm, Ian and Libby, Barry and daughter Anne Lines and Colin. Grandfather to 12 grandchildren and great-grandfather to 13. - To celebrate the life of Don, a private family funeral was held on Tuesday, 31st December. From Colin Hanson’s By Such Deeds - Honours and Awards in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, 1923-1999 : MacKENZIE, Flight Lieutenant Donald Malcolm, AFC, mid. NZ401776; Born Te Kuiti, 24 Feb 1920; RNZAF 2 Jul 1940 to 10 Feb 1946; Pilot. Citation Mention in Despatches (KB1944): For distinguished service and devotion to duty. Citation Air Force Cross (NY1945): [Metropolitan Communication Sqn RAF] Until recently Flight Lieutenant MacKenzie was employed in No 22 Ferry Control Unit in India where he was a flight commander ferrying aircraft from a storage unit to squadrons in the front line. On this work he flew 634 hours and much of this was done within a few miles of the enemy lines. He has shown determination and courage in ensuring that aircraft have been delivered promptly and he has piloted unarmed aircraft bringing other pilots back to base. He has shown outstanding qualities of leadership and set an example of the highest order. During the summer of 1944, this officer transferred to the United Kingdom. On the 20th October 1944, he was detailed to convey passengers to Eindhoven. Whilst in sight of Eindhoven at a height of 1,200 feet this officer’s aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and the port engine and ailerons were damaged. Flight Lieutenant MacKenzie took successful evasive action and although having only one serviceable engine and no aileron control he managed to fly the aircraft back to the nearest suitable airfield and landed successfully without further damage to the aircraft.
Flt Lt MacKenzie first served with 100 Sqn RAF (Vildebeest) in Singapore before a posting to Ceylon in Jul 1941. He then flew with 273 and 217 Sqns RAF carrying out maritime patrols around the coasts of southern India and Ceylon. Service with 22 Ferry Control Unit as a test pilot and ferrying aircraft to Burma followed before being posted to the Metropolitan Communication Sqn RAF in England. Previous to the Eindhoven incident mentioned above he was slightly injured in a crash, following an engine failure in India on 25 Aug 1943. He flew a total of nearly 2300 hours on 52 different types. Errol
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 4, 2014 10:39:18 GMT 12
That incident where his aircraft was hit by flak - he was flying a Lockheed Electra and was carrying the wife of Sir Louis Mountbatten. She was the head of the Red Cross in the UK. He'd been told the airfield was in US hands but in the time between making his plans and actually making his landing approach the airfield had changed back to German possession and he very narrowly escaped being shot down by their gunners. Lady Mountbatten was very impressed with his handling of the damaged aircraft.
The crash in India was in a Bristol Blenheim that he thumbed a lift in. He was sitting in the nose. From memory at least one of the crew died.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 4, 2014 10:44:52 GMT 12
Don had an earlier very close call too when he was flying a Walrus over Ceylon and the engine died. He was over thick jungle and heavily planted areas, and had to think fast. Then he spotted a long thin water reservoir that was used for irrigating a plantation so he put down on that. The aircraft was slightly damaged but he lived.
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Post by komata on Jan 5, 2014 7:07:51 GMT 12
Dave:To return to the 'mystery' 'photographic aircraft': As we seem to have eliminated many of the possible aircraft-types known to have been flown from China Bay, should the Walrus now be considered as a possible contender for the role?
Just a thought.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 5, 2014 10:01:26 GMT 12
The wing of the Walrus is behind the cabin, so the photos would have to be taken from the rear gunner's position. But the wings look too straight to me.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 5, 2014 10:11:53 GMT 12
I'm so sad that Don passed away last week, I was genuinely planning to ring him this week and ask about the plane in those photos, and also ask if he'd located his first logbook yet, which has all the info we need in it. Dammit.
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rstuart
Leading Aircraftman
Posts: 3
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Post by rstuart on May 12, 2014 14:55:06 GMT 12
What happened to all the photos?
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 14, 2014 19:24:29 GMT 12
it seems my Photobucket account has maxed out it's monthly bandwidth due to too many people looking at all my photos, but it will re-set in a few days and the photos will reappear.
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Post by robstuart on May 16, 2014 22:39:40 GMT 12
I can see them now. Thanks!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 4, 2014 23:52:59 GMT 12
You comment after the last photo that “Don said the attack occurred just after he finished his dawn patrol, around 7.00am. he spent the attack in a trench alongside the runway.” Bloody Shambles vol.2 refers to a flight of four Fulmars being sent from China Bay early on 9 April to search for the Japanese. Three of them returned to China Bay before the Japanese attacked and the fourth was missing. I have to wonder if perhaps Don flew one of these Fulmars and not, on this occasion, a Vildebeest, which would have been a very poor aircraft to send out to look for a Japanese fleet 200 miles offshore. Does Don still have his log book? Hi Rob, well it took seven months but I finally found my copy of Don's memoirs, "Looking Back: Memories of life as a World War II Pilot". Here are scans of the pages where he dealt with the attack on Ceylon.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 9, 2016 20:24:37 GMT 12
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Post by pjw4118 on Jul 10, 2016 11:09:07 GMT 12
This Forum is amazing with its content. I had never seen the post before and certainly knew nothing of the attack, well done Dave for giving it a new life.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 10, 2016 11:57:35 GMT 12
Thanks Peter. I did not know that Ceylon was attacked either till I met Don. It seems to be largely forgotten. After this attack the headquarters of the British Eastern Fleet of the Royal Navy which had been based there was moved to east Africa as they wanted to get as far away from Japan as possible. However the port and air bases were still used by the Royal Navy. Later the Eastern Fleet became the British Pacific Fleet which took the fight to the Japanese with amazing results.
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Post by isc on Jul 10, 2016 20:43:57 GMT 12
A book worth reading about the attack by the Japanese on Ceylon is "The Most Dangerous Moment" by Michael Tomlinson. Published by Granada Publishing in Mayflower Books 1979. ISBN 0 583 12874 2, I read it while visiting an uncle in Scotland in 1984, but have not been able to find another copy since I came back to NZ. While I was in Scotland a letter was forewarded to my uncle from the mother of mum's childhood boyfriend. Mum had been told that he died of peritonitis in a middle eastern hospital, but the letter issued after the war stated that he was radio operator on QL-A/ AJ 155 on the day the Japanese fleet was spotted. After QL-A was shot down, he was killed by Japanese aircraft that straffed the area. In the published crew list the WOP/AG was someone named Colarossi, mums friends name was James Russell. It is thought that he was on some sort of classified mission. isc
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 19, 2017 22:40:02 GMT 12
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Post by camtech on Jan 20, 2017 12:35:57 GMT 12
fascinating insight into attitudes and the colonial way of life being uprooted by war.
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Post by Mustang51 on Jan 20, 2017 12:38:40 GMT 12
Dave et al..... wonderful thread here. As you said at the outset there are very few who know about the attack on Ceylon. Same Carrier Group as Pearl Harbor and Darwin, Fuchida led all three of these raids. If you look at his career its is quite astounding that he ended up an evangelist touring the USA............
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Post by robstuart on Feb 28, 2017 14:49:05 GMT 12
Hello Dave,
I am currently writing an article about the 9 April 1942 attack on Trincomalee which is to be posted on the CombinedFleet.com site, on the page at www.combinedfleet.com/articles.htm, where a previous article by myself is already posted. (An article I wrote on the attack on Colombo is at www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/assets/AIRFORCE_Internet/docs/en/cf-aerospace-warfare-centre/elibrary/journal/2014-vol3-iss4-06-air-raid-colombo-5-april-1942.pdf.) I would like to include one of Don's photo's in my forthcoming article, namely the fourth one from the top, captioned "Trincomalee again". I would propose to include the following caption:
"Over Trincomalee’s inner harbour, looking roughly southwest from a 273 Squadron Vildebeest.
"The aircraft carrier at centre right is HMS Indomitable, with an unidentified probable naval auxiliary alongside, and the light cruiser in the centre of the photo is HMS Enterprise. The photo was most likely taken 14-16 February, the only dates when Indomitable and Enterprise were both present. The two-funnelled ship to left of Enterprise is possibly the Dutch light cruiser Sumatra, which arrived on 15 February, but this is a very tentative identification. A battleship’s stern is just visible on the left edge of the photo. This must be Royal Sovereign, present 8-17 February.
"Visible just above Indomitable’s stern are two or three of the Royal Navy’s oil storage tanks. Looking up from Enterprise, the two large buildings are the main hangars at the RAF’s China Bay base, home on 9 April to 261 Squadron’s Hurricanes. This image highlights the proximity of the anchorage, the air base and the oil tank farm."
There would also be a footnote reading as follows:
"This photo is from the collection of RNZAF pilot Don Mackenzie, who was posted to Ceylon in July 1941, served with 273 Squadron and was at Colombo on 5 April and Trincomalee on 9 April. It and 14 other photos from his collection are from the Wings Over New Zealand site, at rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/20621/infamy-ceylon. Seven of the photos were taken at China Bay immediately after the attack and depict some of the damage sustained there."
Would there be any problem with me using Don's photo in this way, e.g., would permission from his family be needed?
I'd also be grateful for any comments on my analysis of the photo.
Thanks very much,
Rob Stuart Ottawa
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