Kiwi Strike the short novel by P/O Phillip Wilson
Jan 17, 2019 11:31:44 GMT 12
Dave Homewood likes this
Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2019 11:31:44 GMT 12
The short novel “Kiwi Strike” by Philip John Wilson (2291) navigator No 8 B. R Squadron (November 1944–March 1945) is a fictional account of the life of Dick Dalllow who is captured by the magic of flight as a child growing up in the 1920’s. With the advent of WWII Dallow trains and serves as a RNZAF navigator in the South West Pacific area of operations. The story focuses on Dallow’s experiences as a combat airman flying in PV1’s out of Emirau in late 44, early 45. Wilson’s fictional work seems to be a diary of either a personal or observational perspective/account of the development and consequences of combat related stress in RNZAF aircrew in the South Pacific air war.
The personal accounts of several RNZAF airman in non-fictional texts written post WWII support this observation. In Against the Rising Sun [1], Thomas Douglas Benge (NZ413246), pilot 8 SQN Emirau November 1944–March 1945, commented on the end of his Emirau tour in March 1945 that “I was pretty shaky. When I arrived (back in New Zealand) I was sent to Rotorua, which was the convalescent area for the air force. I couldn’t hold a cup and saucer in my hand. I used to have to have my meals off the mantelpiece, I was shaking so badly. I couldn’t sleep very well, but I soon got over that. I was there for a couple of months. When you got well enough you had the choice of doing certain sports during the day. You could attend gym, or you could go to golf or archery. I put my name down for golf and that’s where I got my first golfing lesson. I quickly recovered. Took a few months but then I could hold a cup and saucer.” The photo below is of P/O Benge at Nausori Nov 1944 on transit to Funafuti (copyright Archives New Zealand).
PO Thomas Douglas BENGE
Author and RNZAF veteran Alex Horn noted in his book Wings Over the Pacific [2] that after completing his tour at Emirau with 4 SQN in February 1945 pilot Ashley Faulkner was required to undergo a routine post operational medical examination in New Zealand. Horn documented that “His weight loss seemed to cause a little consternation, as did his shaking hands. Later that day, he was told that, in addition to his malaria, that had been suppressed for two years by Atabrin, he also had a case of “flying fatigue”. The treatment for this was to report immediately to the Air Force hospital at Rotorua where he would rest and emerge as good as new, except for his malaria which would take up to 10 years to work itself out of his system because of his allergy to quinidine.”
I’ve included a photograph of Ashley taken during flight training with my father, Russell Harding. The photo (not copyrighted) was taken between July and August 1942 at No 1FTS Wigram and from left to right are LAC’s Heck Ansley, Sam Coffee, Russell Harding and Ashley Faulkner.
In recounting his war time experiences my father (pilot 4, 41 and 8 SQN’s) noted that on several occasions when aircrew members were unfit to fly due to combat related stress, they we labelled LMF (lack of moral fibre). As demonstrated in WWI there seemed to be little compassion shown to those members who had reached the limits of their psychological tolerance for combat duties. What do others think of Wilson’s novel and what was the nature (?psychiatric) of the “hospital” that these stress airmen were sent to in Rotorua?
References
1-Against the rising sun. New Zealanders remember the Pacific war. Page 119. HarperCollins publishers (copyright 2006)
2-Wings over the Pacific, page 181, Alex Horn., Random Century 1992 (copyright)
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The personal accounts of several RNZAF airman in non-fictional texts written post WWII support this observation. In Against the Rising Sun [1], Thomas Douglas Benge (NZ413246), pilot 8 SQN Emirau November 1944–March 1945, commented on the end of his Emirau tour in March 1945 that “I was pretty shaky. When I arrived (back in New Zealand) I was sent to Rotorua, which was the convalescent area for the air force. I couldn’t hold a cup and saucer in my hand. I used to have to have my meals off the mantelpiece, I was shaking so badly. I couldn’t sleep very well, but I soon got over that. I was there for a couple of months. When you got well enough you had the choice of doing certain sports during the day. You could attend gym, or you could go to golf or archery. I put my name down for golf and that’s where I got my first golfing lesson. I quickly recovered. Took a few months but then I could hold a cup and saucer.” The photo below is of P/O Benge at Nausori Nov 1944 on transit to Funafuti (copyright Archives New Zealand).
PO Thomas Douglas BENGEAuthor and RNZAF veteran Alex Horn noted in his book Wings Over the Pacific [2] that after completing his tour at Emirau with 4 SQN in February 1945 pilot Ashley Faulkner was required to undergo a routine post operational medical examination in New Zealand. Horn documented that “His weight loss seemed to cause a little consternation, as did his shaking hands. Later that day, he was told that, in addition to his malaria, that had been suppressed for two years by Atabrin, he also had a case of “flying fatigue”. The treatment for this was to report immediately to the Air Force hospital at Rotorua where he would rest and emerge as good as new, except for his malaria which would take up to 10 years to work itself out of his system because of his allergy to quinidine.”
I’ve included a photograph of Ashley taken during flight training with my father, Russell Harding. The photo (not copyrighted) was taken between July and August 1942 at No 1FTS Wigram and from left to right are LAC’s Heck Ansley, Sam Coffee, Russell Harding and Ashley Faulkner.
In recounting his war time experiences my father (pilot 4, 41 and 8 SQN’s) noted that on several occasions when aircrew members were unfit to fly due to combat related stress, they we labelled LMF (lack of moral fibre). As demonstrated in WWI there seemed to be little compassion shown to those members who had reached the limits of their psychological tolerance for combat duties. What do others think of Wilson’s novel and what was the nature (?psychiatric) of the “hospital” that these stress airmen were sent to in Rotorua?
References
1-Against the rising sun. New Zealanders remember the Pacific war. Page 119. HarperCollins publishers (copyright 2006)
2-Wings over the Pacific, page 181, Alex Horn., Random Century 1992 (copyright)
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