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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 31, 2011 13:26:34 GMT 12
Yes there are a number of ex-Singapore chaps still out there and I have interviewed a number of them (including George Hitchcock a few years back). Another I know who's alive and well and I've interviewed is Wendell Phillips, who flew with No. 21 Squadron RAAF. He survived a dogfight with a Zero at one point - he was in a Wirraway! The Zero pilot waved to him and let him go, he thinks the Japanese pilot had run out of ammo.
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Post by buffnut453 on Oct 31, 2011 23:38:29 GMT 12
PJw4118 and Dave,
Two very interesting posts. Did Boles or Hitchcock actually fly the Buffalo? I know a number of non-operational pilots flew aircraft between the MU and the operational squadrons. If they did undertake that activity, I'd be very VERY interested in learning about it.
I'd also be interested in learning more about Phillips. The use of the Wirraways as "dive bombers" is another of those forgotten aspects of the Malayan Campaign. Any additional info (eg the aircraft he flew) would be of great interest to me.
Cheers, Mark
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 1, 2011 7:28:34 GMT 12
George Hitchcock was a member of No. 100 Squadron, and was one of several new pilots sent there and placed into their Beaufort flight. He told me they however did very little flying at all as the Beauforts, which he said were licence built in Australia though enquiries about this on the Key Forum I was told they were assembled there but from parts made in the UK. He said were so badly put together that they were continulally being grounded to have mods done. Eventually they gave up on the idea of getting them operational in the war zone, and they were patched up as best they could and all flown back to Aussie, and George went with them. I think from memory they were returned to the manufacturer and they had to do a lot of work on them to get them operational. Once they were they became operational as a unit flying general reconnaissance off the Queensland coast, but I don't think they were still known as No. 100 Squadron RAF (by then the Vildebeest sections of the squadron would have been long destroyed sadly). He said it was frustrating for all of them in the Beaufort section to not get into actionwhen it was all around them but he was so pleased they didn't switch him onto the Vildes. After a few months in Aussie he was brought home to NZ and then went to Fiji where he became a captain on Singapore Flying Boats with No. 5 (GR) Squadron. I doubt he ever flew a Buffalo, he was a multi-engine pilot.
Wendell arrived in Singapore in either late November or early December 1941 straight from OTU, and he was destined to become a Buffalo pilot and so was sent to No. 21 Squadron RAAF to serve a period on Wirraways to get experience in them in the Singapore/Malaya flying conditions. Of course the war intervened and he stayed with that unit, rather than progressing to porper fighters. I don't believe he ever flew a Buffalo. His grandson Matt has his logbooks nowadays but Wendell gave me his email if I wanted to check any details in it, if you'd like I could passit on for you to follow up with Matt.
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Post by buffnut453 on Nov 1, 2011 11:16:34 GMT 12
Hi Dave,
Thanks for the kind offer. I'd love to get in touch with Wendell's grandson. I'd be particularly interested to learn if Wendell flew Wirraway A20-86 or if there's any mention of the "soup plate siren" attached to the Wirraways for dive bombing.
Kind regards, Mark
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 1, 2011 11:44:45 GMT 12
Sending you a PM in a bit Mark.
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