iBi ,111111 •i iiiin ■I11 iilii il 11 illill ’"'■"""Ilf

m

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ a m m m. WMK i BN ■■ M ■ ■ -I-M ■ ■I ■ B m ■Kl m

- ! i \ IHII The Journal of the AVIATION HISTORICAL SOCIETY of AUSTRALIA Inc. A00336533P

Volume 30 -Numbers - December 1999

EDITORIAL EDITORS, DESIGN & PRODUCTION A bonus issue, as promised, and to bring the publishing schedule in ‘synch’ with our fiscal year, A wide range of Bill and Judith Baker articles which I hope will interest you. If they don’t, drop me a Address all correspondence to; line with your suggestions or article. The Editor, AHSA, You’re probably fed up to the back teeth with all the ‘hype’ P.O. Box 2007, over the end of the century and the millennium, but what South Melbourne 3205 Victoria, Australia. fascinates me is that it is not even 100 years since men first 03 9583 4072 Phone & Fax flew and has evolved from being a novelty to a very common Subscription Rates; occurrence. Australia A$40. Which brings me to make an addition to the editors wish Rest of World A$50. Surface Mail list - that is - the first to fly in Australia. Controversy still A$65. Surface Airlifted reigns on who actually did this, with at least three schools of A$85. Air Mail thought on the subject. We have four plus years to come up Overseas payment to be in Australian with a definitive answer - won’t someone pick up this currency by International Money Order or challenge - please. Please let me know if you will give-it-a- Bank Draft. Overseas personal cheques go, and I will give as much help as I can. cannot be accepted. It is now subs renewal time again. Included with this post- out is your renewal form and a stamped addressed envelope Articles for Publication; Are to be on an to make it easy for you to slip your cheque, money order Australian theme. into. Prompt response will help us with our publishing The Editor reserves the right to edit any planning for 2000. ThanksI Although we will be hit with the article accepted for publication. GST during the latter half of 2000, we have managed to Payment is not made for articles. keep our subs at the old rate. Please include sufficient postage for the return of originals if that is required. Editors wish list; A - H and the Computer; Contributions for Priority 1; First to Fly in Australia. the Journal are most welcome in any form, Any facet of Australia’s aviation history. Compass Airlines, but if you have a computer, exported on a GAF Nomad, Korea, Vietnam, anything that interests you 3V2" disc in ASSCII format (plain text), or and can be printed. How about the history of Airbus in WIN 6, would be just great! (Include hard Australia? copy also).

Cover; Disclaimer; 1. Whilst every effort is made to What a beaut shot the R.M.S. Aquitania being escorted up check the authenticity of the material and the N.S.W. coast by a Beaufort A9-238 of No. 32 Squadron advertising printed, the Publishers, Editors, in 1943. and the Aviation Historical Society of Australia and its Office Bearers cannot Next Issue; Volume 31 Number 1 will be in your letter-box in accept responsibility for any non­ the first week of March 2000. performance. 2. The views expressed in ’Aviation Contents; Heritage’ are not necessarily those of the 163 The D.A.P. Beaufort Frank Smith AHSA or its Editors. 172 KT N0.7 Beaufort Squadron RAAF Historical 175 Prospectus Brian Rawsont 177 The Sikorsky S-38 and S-39 David Eyre AVIATION HERITAGE 182 From Rabaul to Merauke Greg Banfield ISSN 0815-4392 202 Fred Fox, The Woomera etc. Keith Meggs Print Post Approved PP 320418/00017

Meetings of the AHSA; © 1999 by the Publishers; Melbourne Chapter: The fourth Wednesday in every THE AVIATION HISTORICAL month, 7:30 at the Airforce Association, 4 Cromwell Street, SOCIETY OF South Yarra. Further information - Keith Meggs 9580 0140. AUSTRALIA INC., aoo33653p NSW Chapter: The first Wednesday in every month 7:45 P.O. BOX 2007, Studio lat the Powerhouse Museum, enter from the SOUTH MELBOURNE, Macarthur Street end. Further information - Gordon Lasslett VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA 9416 7603 AHSA Aviation Heritage

D.A.P. BEAUFORT IN RAAF SERVICE - 1 942-45. by FRANK SMITH The story of the Australian~bui!t Beaufort bomber could almost be sub-titled The Birth of an Industry’, for it signalled the move of construction from single-engined to multi-engined aircraft on a large scale. The development of the Aircraft Construction Branch of the Commonwealth Department of Supply and Development through the Aircraft Production Commission, Department of Aircraft Production (Beaufort Division) to the Government Aircraft Factory is a saga in its own right, and should be dealt with as a separate story, as is CAC’s building of the Pratt 8c Whitney R-1830 engines which powered a large proportion of Australian-built fighters and bombers. -Ed.

First Australian built Beaufort Mk, V, T9540 later A9-1, seen flying over Melbourne. After a visit to Australia in January 1939, by a British T9639) from the British Air Ministry, as they were destined Air Mission, which was sent to investigate the possibility of for the R.A.F. Far East squadrons. During December 1941 manufacturing aircraft for the rapidly expanding RAF and the Department of Aircraft Production was to deliver to the RAAF, a decision was quickly reached, and in March of RAF six Beaufort aircraft for use in Malaya, these being;- that year it was announced that the Bristol Beaufort would T9541, T9542, T9543, T9544, T9545 and T9547. Only five be manufactured by the Aircraft Production Branch of the of the aircraft reached No. 100 Sqn RAF at Singapore as Commonwealth Department of Supply and Development in Melbourne and Mascot, for both Air Forces. Meanwhile, to assist production, the eighth Bristol built Beaufort Mk.1 (L4448, which later became A9-1001) was imported in ‘Knock-Down-Kit’ form for a series of trials. As difficulty was to be expected in the supply of Taurus VI - 1,130 hp engines which powered the British-built version, this aircraft was eventually fitted with American Pratt & Whitney 1,200 hp Twin Wasps. After further trials it was found that the aircraft had to have its fin area increased by I5V2 per cent to improve stability while in flight. The first Australian built Beaufort flew in August 1941 and being destined for the RAF bore the serial number T9540. It was the intention that half of the first contract were to have been built for the RAF, and the first 90 The 'Pattern' Beaufort L4448. aircraft were allocated serials (T9540 -

163 AHSA Aviation Heritage

wmm '^r

mm.....^^

Beaufort front fuselages under construction at the Railway Workshops, Chullora, N.S. W T9543 crashed and was destroyed at Batchelor, Northern The Mk.1E Turrets were manufactured by the Gun Australia, on the delivery flight; the others were Turret Factory Annexe at Fairfield, Victoria, and altogether, subsequently returned to Australia as they were unarmed, aircraft manufacture was sub-contracted to some 600 and were taken over by the RAAF and re-serialed A9-2, companies throughout Australia, the end products being -3, -5, -6, and -8. The remainder of the British contract completed as major assemblies in the railway workshops reverted to the RAAF, and with the other 90 examples of Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. The originally intended for the RAAF, formed the first Beaufort authority for the entire project was in the hands of the squadrons in Australia. Department of Aircraft Production (post-war, eventually, With the various difficulties encountered in the early the Government Aircraft Factories) controlling the Beaufort production of the P&W "Twin Wasp" engines in Australia, Division, for which main assembly workshops were built at and the supply of propellers from the USA, these first 180 Fishermens Bend, Victoria, and Mascot, New South aircraft were broken up into four Marks, as noted below. Wales. The major assemblies were delivered to these two Aircraft from serial number A9-91 onwards were fitted with points, the aircraft finally assembled and test flown, and the 15V2% larger fin, and this modification was later made then delivered to the RAAF. retrospective on all earlier aircraft. At the termination of the first contract, in November 1942, production continued with the Mk.VIII version, of which a total of 520 examples were finally completed in August 1944, at the rate of 30 aircraft per month. This model of the Beaufort was fitted with Loran, radar, additional fuel tankage and modified windows on the starboard side of the fuselage nose. It appeared also that a great number of the earlier Beauforts were modified to Mk.VIII standard, although exact numbers are unknown. In 1943, a Mk.VIII machine (A9- 201) was modified by the D.A.P. Servicing Department to become a communications aircraft. The gun turret and all other armament and bombing equipment were removed: a fuselage fairing was then fitted to provide accommodation for five passengers. One of the last Beaufreighter conversions A9-743 exA9-20l delivered August 1944. The bomb bay was reworked as the

164 AHSA Aviation Heritage equipment was removed to provide a cargo hold. The did not embody the deepened lower fuselage, the radio and instrument installations were re-designed, and instrument or auto-pilot modifications made to the an automatic pilot was installed. prototype-A9-201. Cargo panniers were fitted into the The RAAF was interested in this version of the cargo hold attached to the bomb rack pick-up points. After Beaufort, and so this aircraft served as the prototype conversion, the aircraft were re-numbered A9-701 to A9- Mk.lX "Beaufreighter". There were 46 conversions, 41 of 746. which were Mk.VIII aircraft. The production Beaufreighter

No. 32 Squadrons Beauforts/lying over what is now the 'Gold Coast' in early 1945. Breakdown on serial numbers and versions. Mark V.— -A9-1 to 50. P&W "Twin Wasp" S3C4-G engines with two-speed superchargers, Dowty undercarriages and retractable tail-wheel, Curtiss Electric airscrews, Mk.lE turrets. Mark VA- -A9-151 to 180. As above, with S3C4-G engines and Hamilton constant-speed airscrews, Mk.lE turrets. Mark VI.- -A9-51 to 90. S1C3-G engines and Curtiss Electric airscrews, Mk.lE turrets. Mark VII.- ■A9-91 to 150. S1C3-G engines and Hamilton constant-speed airscrews, Mk.lE turrets. Mark VIII. ■A9-181 to 700. S3C4-G engines and Curtiss Electric airscrews, Mk. V turrets, A.S.V. radar aerials fitted to wings and fuselage. Two flexible machine guns, .303 inch, in the nose. Mark IX.- A9-701 to 746. Conversion of mostly Mk.VIII aircraft to Beaufreighters.

Production Details. First Beaufort to arrive in Australia.------L4448. First Australian Beaufort (T9540) made its maiden flight,...... •May 5,1941. First flown by Sqn/Ldr. C.G. Lumsden, RAF, at Fishermens Bend. First Chief Test Pilot.------—------Young. First Australian Beaufort (T9540)accepted by RAAF on------September 6,1941. 100 Beauforts delivered by------August 1942. 400 Beauforts delivered by------...... -August 1943. 700 Beauforts delivered by------August 1944. Total number of Beauforts produced.------700. (A9-1 to A9-700).

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. (Mk.VIII Beaufort). The Mk.VIII Beaufort was an all- metal mid-'wing monoplane equipped for torpedo-bombing, general- reconnaissance and general-purpose duties; accommodation was provided for a pilot, navigator or bomb aimer, wireless operator, and a rear gunner. The fuselage was of monocoque construction with an alclad stressed skin. The mainplane, fin and tailplane were all cantilevered, the mainplane featured twin spars on stressed skins, and the rudder, elevator and ailerons were of tubular duralumin spars, and alclad ribs with fabric coverings. Alighting gear consisted of two fully-retractable and hydraulically operated Independent undercarriages and tail wheel; the main undercarriages swung backwards and upwards, whilst the tail wheel retracted Beauforts from No. 6 Squadron taxi for take-off at Dobodura, NG in 1943. forward and upwards. Oleo-pneumatic

165 AHSA Aviation Heritage

No. I Special Duties Flight, Laverton, Vic. Above; conducting tests on U.S. designed torpedoes Left; A lathe and fabric radome. Curtiss Electric constant-speed full-feathering airscrews, a separate oil-cooler and electric starters; manually- operated cowl gills, fitted to each engine cowl, controlled the flow of cooling air over the engine. Fuel was carried in four wing tanks. Armament of the aircraft included two fixed Browning machine guns, one in each wing fired pneumatically from the pilots control column. A Bristol type Mk.1E or Blenheim Mk.V power-operated turret with twin Browning guns was fitted amidships and two beam guns were fitted in the rear entrance hatch area just forward of the gun turret. An under-defence gun was provided for in the front escape hatch in the nose of the aircraft. The main bomb load was carried in the fuselage in a bay fitted with hydraulically operated doors, but provision was also made for carrying Alighting gear consisted of two fully-retractable and an external bomb load under each wing. When a torpedo hydraulically operated independent undercarriages and tail or a 2,000 lb bomb was carried, the bomb bay doors were wheel; the main undercarriages swung backwards and folded inwards and the bay left open. upwards, whilst the tail wheel retracted forward and The electrical installation was a 24-volt earth return upwards. Oleo-pneumatic shock absorbers were fitted and system comprising an engine-driven generator arid pneumatically operated brakes provided for mainwheel alternator, with two 12 volt accumulators providing a braking. limited power supply for engine starting. The D.C. system Conventional flying controls included pendulum-type provided a power supply for general lighting, engine­ rudder pedals and a spectacle-type control column. starting and radio-installation operation, whilst the A.C. Trimming tabs were fitted to the rudder and elevators, and system provided power to operate the air to surface vessel a lateral trim tab was fitted to the starboard aileron. (ASV) radar system. The radio installation consisted of a Hydraulically operated split-trailing edge flaps were fitted. transmitter-receiver type AT5/AR8. Two Pratt & Whitney twin-row, radial air-cooled Other equipment provided included a dinghy, signal engines (S3C4-G or S1C4-G) were installed in the wing- pistol and flares, sea-markers, and an F24 Camera. mounted engine nacelles. Each engine was fitted with

LEADING PARTICULARS. Power Plant: Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp S3G4-G.1200HP at 4,900ft.(2 Off). Dimensions: Wing Span ——- 57 ft. 10 ins. Length————— ■44 ft. 2 ins. Height-——— 15 ft. 10 ins. Wing Area—— •503 sq.ft. Weights: Empty——— -13,0601b. Normal loaded-— -21,5001b. Performance: Max. Speed———— -270 mph. Range—------——— -2,000. miles. Armament: One .303 in. or .5 in. M/G in each wing. Two .303 in. M/G in rear turret. Two .303 in M/G beam mounted. One torpedo or 2,000 lb. of bombs.

AUSTRALIAN MODIFICATIONS. Some of the major modifications to Beaufort aircraft introduced in Australia are as follows: Engine Change: Substitution of Pratt & Whitney Twin Row Wasp 1,200 h.p. engines for Bristol Taurus engines, necessitating redesigning of engine nacelle, cowling panels, engine controls.

166 AHSA Aviation Heritage

propeller controls, cowl gill controls, and engine bulkhead, with re-positioning of the major accessories and fittings. Propeller Changes: From Hamilton to Curtiss Electric and later to Hamilton Full-Feathering. Gun Turret: Substitution of Australian designed and manufactured gun turret, giving increased rotation from 180 degrees to 240 degrees. Armament: Design for installation of .5 in wing guns (in place of former .303 in guns) and rear, nose, and upward firing guns. Armour Plate: Installation of armour plate to protect pilot from rearward and frontal attacks. Tail Wheel: A special "shimmy damping" arrangement, designed in Australia, entirely eliminated tail wheel "shimmy”. Increased Fin Area: To correct the tendency of the original Beaufort to yaw, the fin was re-designed and the fin area increased by approximately 15%. This modification completely attained its objective. Ball Bearings: Usage reduced from 303 to 148 by the employment of alternatives. Torpedo Gear: English torpedo gear extensively redesigned to carry the American torpedo. Oil Coolers: Australian modifications eliminated all troubles. Fuel Tanks: Additional sumps added to increase drainage facilities under tropical conditions. Electrical Installations: (1) Complete redesign of electrical installations following engine and propeller changeover. (2) Entire electrical system redesigned to meet RAAF requirements. Radio Installations: Former radio installations replaced by Australian made equipment; various new types of radio equipment installed. BEAUFREIGHTER (BEAUFORT Mk.9). Production Details: A9-201 (originally Beaufort Mk.8) converted to V.I.P. Beaufort; later converted to prototype Beaufreighter (Beaufort Mk.9). Total number converted to Beaufreighters—• -46. Modifications: Some of the major modifications introduced to convert 2-Mk.5, 2-Mk.6, and 42-Mk.8 Beaufort Bombers to Beaufreighters were as follows; Seating: To provide space for 4 airline-type seats, the gun turret was removed, the rear fuselage faired in and flying controls re-routed. Batteries relocated to a point aft of the turret position. Previous battery position occupied by a fifth airline type seat. Radar and Radar Radio aerials and equipment removed. Radio equipment then installed was AT5-AR8 Installations: communications equipment, TR.5043 VHF installation, and a Radio Compass Type MN26. Electrical System: Converted from a 2-wire to an earth-return system. Armament Deletions: Wing guns, armour plate, and bombing equipment removed area. Cargo Crate: A cargo crate of tubular construction fitted in bomb-bay. Other Special In 1946, the RAAF converted some Beaufreighters for insect spraying duties. This Modifications: entailed fitting original bomb bay fuel tanks, fitting them with spray lines and filling them with insect repellent, in an attempt to combat the grasshopper plague.

BEAUFORT OPERATIONAL HISTORY.

The first RAAF Beaufort unit to see action against the kind by the Squadron. The target comprised five enemy Japanese, was No. 100 Squadron which was formed at destroyers reported by reconnaissance to be north of Richmond, NSW in April 1942. Based at Mareeba, Old, 2 Buna and apparently scheduled to bring in supplies and Beauforts carried out a sortie over Deboyne Island on 27 reinforcements to that area. Nine aircraft took off, five May, where it had been reported that the Japanese had a armed with Mk.13 Model 1 torpedoes, and four each with seaplane base. One seaplane and two large land based two 500 lb and four 250 lb bombs. aircraft were sighted and a petrol dump was bombed. Four of the Beauforts returned the following morning. Normal bombing operations were carried out until the reporting negative sightings, although all stated that they night of 24 November, when a combined torpedo-bombing had suffered considerable WyT jamming. Aircraft A9-29 strike was attempted. This was the first operation of its sighted a burning destroyer, and with others standing by,

Beaufreighter A9-712 of 10 Communications Unit on Bougaiville Two Beaufreighters on Bougainville Island 1945. Island. Under-wing Japanese surrender wording. A9-712 flew over the Japanese lines at the conclusion of hostilities. 167 AHSA Aviation Heritage

No. 1 OTU torpedo's run was followed by a vivid explosion on the ship and a direct hit was claimed. A further torpedo attack was made by A9-183 but no results were observed. Subsequent searches by reconnaissance aircraft revealed no trace of the vessel, and it was presumed sunk. On 12 March 1943, No.8 Squadron began to equip with Beaufort aircraft, as a Torpedo and General Reconnaissance Squadron, at Canberra. On 9 June 1943, the squadron moved to Bohle River, Townsville, and from there to Goodenough Island in August. In September the squadron joined the mounting allied air offensive against New Britain, an offensive designed chiefly to neutralise the great enemy bases at Rabaul. Bad weather prevented the completion of the squadron’s first session on 18 September, but three days later a bombing attack was carried out by five Beauforts against Gasmata strip. This was to be the first of a series of daring missions from Goodenough Island. No.8 Squadron was joined by No.6 Squadron, which became a Beaufort Squadron on 21 August 1943, and No.100 Squadron at Goodenough A9-102 takes-off from East Sale, 1943. Island during November 1943, and they formed No.71 (Beaufort) Wing, which was to play an increasingly important part in the heavy air attacks on Rabaul. Prior to this. No.6 Squadron took part in its first composite Beaufort attack on the night of 20-21 st October in company with No.’s 8 and 100 Squadrons. The target was enemy warships in the vicinity of Cape St.George. No positive results of the attack were observed. At this time the Beauforts were the only aircraft capable of bombing Rabual at night, and nightly attacks were carried out in spite of constant anti-aircraft fire, intense searchlight defence, and night-fighter opposition. Other New Britain bases were also frequently attacked but the chief targets were Rabaul aerodrome, and harbour installations and shipping in the heavily defended Simpson's Harbour. No.7 Squadron, after re-equipping with Beauforts at Nowra, NSW, in August 1942, moved to Ross River, Forced landing by A9-579 awaiting recovery. Note un-loadedgear. Townsville, and took on its general role of a bomber - reconnaissance squadron. Most of 1943 was spent by No.7 Squadron flying normal sea-search and convoy escorts. Reports had been received that enemy submarines were operating in the waters close to the north-Australian coast, and the squadron Beauforts started carrying in addition to General Purpose Bombs, Anti Submarine Bombs on all sea-search operations. By the end of February 1944 the squadron had moved to Higgins Field in the far north of Australia. On 6 May 1944, six Beauforts staged through Merauke D.N.G. (Dutch New Guinea), for a daylight strike on Timoeka. This attack was timed to precede a night attack by RAAF Catalinas from Cairns on the same target. One of the attacking aircraft sustained damage to the starboard wing through bomb bursts of another aircraft. As a result of an intelligence report that 10 Kawanishi A 9-58 7 destroyed after crash on take-off, East Sale, July 1945. H6K "Mavis" flying boats were using Lake Paniai and that the enemy were active in villages to the east of Wessel made a torpedo attack, but with no observed results. Two Lakes, seven Beauforts were briefed to reconnoitre the other Beauforts also sighted a burning destroyer, which lakes, destroy any aircraft located there, and bomb four was later observed to explode. Beaufort A9-42 sighted villages in Kemandors Valley. This operation was carried three destroyers, one of which was burning, and made a out on 12 May, 1944, and was co-ordinated with an attack bombing attack, claiming a direct hit on the vessel. B-25's from the North-Western area. The attack was Once again normal patrols and sea searches were the carried out, but there were no signs of the planes and very order of the day until 9 January 1943, when six torpedo- "I'ow indications of Japanese activity, carrying Beauforts were allotted the task of intercepting a l^or much of the remaining months of 1944, No.7 Japanese convoy returning from Lae. The convoy was Squadron carried out many offensive attacks on targets in nearing Gasmata, when the Beauforts located it, shortly Dutch New Guinea, then in August 1944 the squadron after darkness had fallen. Aircraft A9-87 attacked a became temporarily non-operational pending a move from possible cruiser or heavy destroyer with a torpedo. The Higgins Field to Tadji (Aitape) New Guinea. The squadron was again operational on 3 November, when nine

168 AHSA Aviation Heritage 100 Squadron.

/ Ij t’ m m

Perhaps posed for the camera, 100 Squadron ground crew swarm At Tadji, 100 Squadron, QH-K, A9-486proudly displays its the record over its Beaufort at Tadji, NG, in 1945 of 139 bombing sorties. No.14 Squadron being based on the West Coast of Australia at Pearce, with l| No.32 Squadron at Bundaberg in Queensland. No.15 Squadron was formed at Camden, NSW on 27 January 1944, and on 19 February the squadron moved to Menangle, NSW, where training flights were carried out. ^ During May 1944, the squadron P returned to Camden and in the ensuing ^ months carried out seaward patrols P and prepared for a pending move ^ forward to an operational base. In January 1945 news was received to say that the squadron was to move to Madang, New Guinea, as soon as < : possible. Operations from their new base were few and far between for the first Bombing-up at Tadji, 30 March 1945 few months, then in May 1945, a detachment of Beauforts was sent to Tadji from the 4th to the 11th May to operate under No.71 Wing and take part in the final assault on Wewak. In June 1945 the squadron moved from Madang to Middleberg Island and from here the only sorties carried out were armed reconnaissance and anti­ submarine patrols. A number of barge sweeps were also carried out, and on the 4 August 1945 a barge hunt covering the Sorong, Doom Island, and Bado areas resulted in two sinkings, the war finishing with aircraft escorting a convoy to Moratai. QH-B, A9-427,of 100 Squadron bombing in the Wewak area, 1944 On the 30 July, 1943, No.13 Squadron received 10 Beauforts from Beauforts bombed targets of opportunity between Niap No.2 Aircraft Depot at Richmond, and Wewak. NSW. These aircraft plus several Venturas were to form During November, besides anti-submarine patrols, the main equipment of this squadron then to be based at aircraft bombed villages and barges at Lake Karamanga, Canberra. On 21 November 1943, four Beauforts were the bivouac area at Nanu East, Ranambog Village, and sent on detachment to Coffs Harbour and then in Sahik Village on two occasions, they were also engaged in December 1943 after operational commitments had been supply-dropping missions for allied troops. performed at Coffs Harbour, the four Beauforts were Together with the other Beautort Squadrons of No.71 taken over by No.32 Squadron, while the remaining Wing, No.7 continued to harass every-known Japanese Beauforts in service with No.13 Squadron went to No.2 position until the end of hostilities In August 1945. Squadron, No.13 Squadron was then fully equipped with No.’s 14 and 32 Squadrons, for most of their lives as Venturas. operational Beaufort Squadrons remained home-based No.1 Squadron received its first Beaufort in December units assigned to coastal patrol and convoy escort duties. 1943,and by the 20 March 1944, was carrying out operations from Gould in Northern Australia against the

169 AHSA Aviation Heritage

No. 8 Squadron NOTES ON CAMOUFLAGE AND MARKINGS, From the time of the first delivery of Beauforts to the RAAF, aircraft were finished in one of three main colour schemes: 1. An upper surface pattern of RAF Dark Earth and Dark Green with the undersides finished in Sky Type 'S'. 2. A similar scheme to that above but using RAAF Foliage Green and RAAF Earth Brown on the upper surfaces with RAAF Sky Blue applied to the lower surfaces. 3. Overall finish of aircraft in RAAF Foliage Green. Some Beauforts operating in the New Guinea area, particularly to those of No.100 Squadron, were seen with their undersurfaces finished in matt black for night operations. As far as can be ascertained very few Beauforts 8 Squadron at Aitape, NG, 1944 were operated with natural metal finish, especially in an operational area, but at least one example is shown in the photographs herein. Early RAAF Beauforts had RAF style roundels and fin flashes applied, but this was soon changed to the identification RAAF blue and white, which seemed to vary considerably, as can be seen from a close study of the photographs. Squadron codes were usually of the 24 to 36 inch size and were either white or light grey. One will also notice that several styles of code letters were used, some being of the stencil-type figure, others being of the solid- type of figure. Some code letters appeared with rounded edges, while others were square cut. Most Squadrons applied their code letters to UV-E, S, and W en-route on a bombing sortie. the rear of the fuselage rounder on enemy held islands to the north of Australia. Operations both sides of the aircraft with the continued throughout 1944 and early in 1945, No.1 aircraft letter positioned forward. Many Beauforts had their Squadron was to move to Kingaroy, Queensland to re­ identification letter repeated on the nose of the aircraft in a equip with D.H. Mosquitos. 6 inch high figure. On 12 January 1944, 100 Squadron used Beauforts for Beauforts operated by both Communication and Local the first time and their first operations were to cover Air Supply Units carried non standard size codes of only convoys at sea. The only notable mission up to this time 12 to 20 inches in height or carrying no codes at all; others since it converted to Beauforts was a bombing of only had an aircraft letter applied aft of the fuselage Manatuto, Timor, and the dropping of supplies along the roundel, and in the case of OTU aircraft it was the usual Lacio River by three aircraft on 18 February 1944. No.2 practise to apply only the last two or three numbers of the Squadron made their first real strike with Beauforts when serial to the fuselage aft of the roundel in 24 to 27 inch they put four of their aircraft into the air to attack Penfoei, high figures for identification within the unit. Timor, on 30 March. Koepang, Penfoei, Lautem and During 1944, No.1 OTU at East Sale, Victoria, had Dilli,Timor,were bombed by night by forces of five to seven applied to their Beauforts, as a further identification Beauforts on 31 March, 1st, 2nd and 3rd April 1944. About measure, 72 to 80 inch long figures on the undersides of this time, Beauforts were being used as fighter cover to the fuselage forward section. Beauforts operated by No.6 protect allied shipping. In May 1944, No.2 Squadron was OTU Nowra, NSW, carried a 24 inch high code letter aft of withdrawn from operations to allow for conversion to B25 the fuselage roundel in lieu of tile last digits of the aircraft Mitchells. serial number. Apart from the Squadrons already mentioned, Beauforts Serial numbers were usually applied in 8 inch high were also used by No.’s 1 OTU East Sale, Victoria, 5 OTU figures in either black, white or grey colours, and it can be Williamtown, NSW., and 6 OTU (Torpedo Training School) noticed that grey was the most used colour. Nowra, N8W. Other units were No.’s 1,3,4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 11 Communications Units, plus No.’s 9, 10 and 12 Local Personal motifs were not unusual on RAAF Beauforts Air Supply Units. Several Beauforts were operated by No.1 and were usually applied to the port side of the aircraft just Aircraft Performance Unit, at Laverton, Victoria. below the cockpit; an example of this is shown in a

170 AHSA Aviation Heritage

notable was A9- 486 named "Scotty's Homin Pidgin" with 139 missions, being a No.100 Squadron aircraft.

CREDITS. The assistance of the Public Relations Branch, RAAF, is gratefully acknowledged for supplying many of the ^photographs appearing in this study of the G.A.F. Beaufort. Also thanks are due to;- G. Phillips; W.J.M. Scott; Bruce Vinnicombe; D.Nolan; David Eyre; Richard Hourigan; Peter Malone;Peter Wallace; Barry Pattison; Max Arthur; T.R.Bennett; C. Tuttleby; d’E.C.Darby; Jim Prendergast; Eric Nicholle; Eric Lundberg and the Government Aircraft Factories. The last of the many. A9-700 seen over Sydney ini 944. Special thanks to Roger previous page. Missions were usually recorded in the form Flayward and the British of either a white or yellow bomb stencil, and these also Aircraft Corporation. were applied to the port side of the aircraft below the cockpit. Many RAAF Beauforts flew more than 100 missions against the Japanese and, one of the more

RAAF Beaufort Squadrons Number Bases Code Number Bases Code No1 Squadron. 1/12/1943. Menangle, NSW. NA. No.14 Squadron. Gould N.T. 19/12/1942. Pearce, W.A. PN. 3/7/1944. Gould, N.T. 31/7/1944. Detachment,Pinjarra,W.A. Kingaroy, Old. 19/10/1945. Pearce, W.A. No.2 Squadron. No.15 Squadron. 10/7/1943. Hughes Strip,N.T. KO. 27/1/1944. Camden, NSW. DD. May 1944. 19/2/1944. Menangle, NSW. No.6 Squadron. 10/5/1944. Camden, NSW. 21/8/1943. Turnbull, Milne Bay. FX. 19/3/1945. Madang, N.G. 16/11/1943. Goodenough Island. June 1945. Middleburg Island. 18/10/1945. Kingaroy, Qld. 2/10/1945. Kingaroy, Qld. No.7 Squadron No.32 Squadron. 16/9/1942. Nowra, NSW. KT. 4/5/1943. Camden, NSW. JM. 28/10/1942. Townsville, Qld. 1944. Bundaberg, Qld. 26/3/1944. Higgins Field,Qld. 29/8/1945. 29/10/1944. Tadji, N.G. No. 100 Squadron 12/11/1945. 25/2/1942 Richmond, NSW. QH. No.8 Squadron. March 1942 12/3/1943. Canberra. UV. May 1942 Mareeba, Qld. 29/8/1943. Goodenough Island. 5/9/1942 Detachment, Laverton, Vic. 21/6/1944. Tadji, N.G. 3/11/42 Milne Bay, NG. August 1945. January 1943 ■ No.13 Squadron 1943- 44 Goodenough Island 31/7/1943. Canberra. SF. 1944- 45 Tadji, NG. December 43.

ABBREVIATIONS A.D. Aircraft Depot D.A.P. Department of Aircraft Production A.P.U. Aircraft Performance Unit L.A.S.U. Local Air Supply Unit. A.R.D.U. Aircraft Research and Development Unit. O.TU. Operational Training Unit Comm Unit. Communication Unit. Sqn. Squadron.

-171 AHSA Aviation Heritage

A BEAUFORT SQUADRON

KT No 7 SQUADRON - a brief history. No. 7 Squadron RA.AF was formed at Laverton, submarine, after several vain attempts to crash-dive' finally Victoria on 27th June 1940, with Flight Lieutenant E.D. succeeded in getting under the water, and escaped. Scott as its first Commanding Officer. The squadron was Once again No. 7 Squadron temporarily lost its to be armed with Hudsons, and aircraft and personnel identity, when on 17th June, 1942, it was absorbed into were attached from No. 24 Squadron to assist in No. 1 Operational Training Unit. Only a few members of conversion training and instruction in Hudson the squadron remained, under Squadron Leader A.D. maintenance. In October 1940 these 24 Squadron Henderson, who arrived to take command on 22nd Hudsons were flown to Townsville. However, by December June,1942. On 16th August, 1942, the Commanding 1940 No. 7 Squadron still had no aircraft of its own, and in Officer, the adjutant. Flying Officer G.F. Piper, and 13 airmen left for Nowra, N.S.W. , arriving the following day. On 17th August, Wing Commander J.M. Lerew took over command from Squadron Leader Henderson. During September 1942 the squadron began to build up again, and 17 complete crews commenced a Beaufort torpedo course. However, the squadron was not to remain long at Nowra. On 2ist October an advance party left for Ross River strip at Townsville, where the whole squadron was established by 11th November, 1942. No. 7 Squadron now commenced a new phase of its operational career as a Bomber/Reconnaissance Squadron, equipped with Beaufort aircraft. As soon as the Beauforts arrived at Townsville, No. 7Sqn.Mk. V, A9-145 KT-Z on dispersal at Ross River 1943 they began shipping patrols, searches and convoy escort duties between the Australian this month was attached to No. 2 Squadron at Laverton,, mainland and New Guinea. For these operations, some so that its personnel could obtain operational experience Beauforts were detached at Horn Island and others at Port on Hudsons. All officers were posted from the squadron Moresby. and only a small nucleus of ground staff remained. The On 15th December, 1942, a 7 Squadron Beaufort, squadron had virtually no separate identity. based at Horn Island, attacked an enemy submarine in the This state of affairs continued until January 1942, north of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Diving in to attack, the when No. 7 Squadron at last became an independent unit crew (captained by Flying Officer D.K. Whishaw), scored again. It re-formed at Laverton as a Hudson squadron with one possible bomb hit, causing the submarine to crash- a Headquarters and three Flights. Wing Commander J.R. dive. The pilot made a second run and released a stick of Balmer was appointed Commanding Officer. During bombs 100 yards ahead of the submerging submarine. An January 1942 the role of the squadron was temporarily oil slick of 80 x 30 feet rose to the surface. altered to that of an Operational Training Flight of an Wing Commander Lerew was succeeded as O.T.U. The first course, consisting of six complete crews Commanding Officer of No. 7 Squadron by Squadron and ten W.A.G.’s arrived at the squadron on 2^"^ February: Leader K.R. Parsons, on 16th December, 1942. 1942. These courses continued until June 1942 On 27th January, 1943, the crew of a 7 Squadron During February 1942 the Hudsons of No. 7 Squadron Beaufort, captained by Flight Sergeant Gairns, dropped carried out seaward searches. By this time, of course, food, water and messages to 10 survivors of the vessel Japan had joined the Axis powers' and coastal patrols in Patcan, which had been sunk by a Japanese aircraft. The Australian waters took on a new significance. men, who had been sighted the previous day on a beach In April 1942 aircraft of No. 7 Squadron located two south of Cumberland Island by another Beaufort of 7 distressed vessels - H.M.A.Ships Vendetta and Islander Squadron, were subsequently picked up by a rescue ship. and guided another ship to their position. During the months that followed, the squadron On 20th April, 1942 an advance party of No. 7 continued its convoy duties and reconnaissance patrols Squadron left Laverton for Bairnsdale' Victoria. It was along the northern Gulf of Carpentaria and the south-west followed by a second ground party and on 1st May, 1942 coast of Dutch New Guinea. Most of these operations by an air party of six Hudsons. During April 1942, Wing were uneventful, but the crews had frequently to contend Commander S. deB.Griffith, A.F.C. took over command of with very bad weather conditions - heavy rain and violent the squadron. electrical storms. During June 1942 No. 7 Squadron carried out anti­ June 1943 was a memorable month for No. 7 submarine patrols and sea searches from Bairnsdale. On Squadron, for on the 18^^, a Beaufort, captained by Flying 4th June, Flight Lieutenant C. Williams, with Pilot Officer Officer P.P.A. Hopton, scored the squadron’s first enemy H. Cameron as navigator was carrying out a seawards aircraft “kill”. When flying at 1,500 feet, 80 miles north east patrol in a Hudson. Forty four miles south-west of Gabo of Wessel Island, Hopton sighted a “Jake” (Japanese island they sighted a ship, subsequently identified as the reconnaissance float plane) flying at 4,000feet. The Iron Crown, which blew up in front of their eyes. Shortly Beaufort climbed towards it from astern and when within afterwards, an enemy submarine surfaced some distance 200 yards' both the observer and the pilot opened fire. The from the vessel and the pilot immediately dived to the ’’Jake’s” Starboard main-plane caught fire and he dived to attack, dropping two anti-submarine bombs across the port. The Beaufort followed, and fired a further 5 second conning-tower. Apparently damaged by the bombs, the

172 AHSA Aviation Heritage burst, which caused the enemy aircraft to crash into the affected. The aircraft was "ditched", and Clively, though sea. wounded in the forearm, displayed good airmanship and Photographic missions’ fighter escorts and travel determination in bringing the Beaufort back to friendly flights broke the routine of sea patrols and searches as territory before putting it down. 1943 wore on. On20th September, 1943 came the By the end of March 1944, the squadron had moved to squadron's second victory in aerial combat. Flying Officer Higgins Field, an aerodrome on the tip or Cape York J.L. Legge sighted a "Jake" 42 miles west of Cape Valsch, Peninsular. During March, Wing Commander Parsons and attacked it. The enemy aircraft force-landed in the had been posted from the squadron and was succeeded water and the pilot dived overboard. An attempt by Legge by Wing Commander E.W. Cooper. From Higgins, to bomb the "Jake" in the water was unsuccessful, but the intensive patrol work was undertaken in the Gulf area, and Beaufort came down to 100 feet, and the navigator (Flying the squadron made numerous strikes against targets in Officer L. Andrew) straddled the enemy aircraft with a southern Dutch New Guinea. burst from his nose gun, causing the "Jake" to burst into On the morning of 6th May, 1944, seven Beauforts flames. Five days earlier Wing Commander Parsons, delivered a daylight attack on Timoeka and six days later a while flying a Beaufort on patrol, had also attacked a strike was carried out on targets in the vicinity of Lake “Jake” putting the rear gunner out of action. However, Paniai. On 26th JuneO 1944 nine Beauforts, led by Wing both the Beaufort's wing guns jammed, and the “Jake” Commander Cooper, carried out a low-level bombing and escaped into the clouds, after an engagement lasting 22 strafing strike on Timoeka strip and Keaukwa village. minutes. Two attacks were made in the Timoeka area during On 11th November' 1943, another “Jake” was July - the first by six Beauforts on the 22nd July and the encountered by Flight Lieutenant C.E. Cox about 66 miles second by seven Beauforts on 30^^ July. During these South-west of Cape Valsch. On the first attack, smoke attacks the aircraft encountered intense but inaccurate issued from the enemy aircraft, which rolled and dived light anti-aircraft fire. No. 7 Squadron its last attack from steeply into the water. As the aircraft hit the water there Higgins was made on 3rd August 1944, when 6 Beauforts was a second explosion and a flash of flame. No survivors attacked Keaukwa. From then on the squadron was chiefly or wreckage were seen, and the Beaufort suffered no occupied with preparations and training, in readiness for damage or casualties. its proposed move to New Guinea. No. 7 Squadron carried out its first bombing strike on On 2nd September' 1944, the main advance party of 27th November. Operating from Horn Island, 5 Beauforts, the squadron left Higgins by air for Tadji airfield near led by Wing Commander Parsons' flew to Merauke, where Aitape, on the north coast of New Guinea. The squadron they refuelled. They then successfully attacked shipping in was assigned to No. 71 Wing, which at that time controlled the Kokenau area, Keaukwa Village and Timoeka strip. Nos. 8 and 100 (Beaufort) Squadrons. It was decided that Light inaccurate ack-ack and machine gun fire was the three Beaufort squadrons would be controlled by encountered, but all the Beauforts returned safely. Northern Command, and would be given the task of A similar attack was made by 8 Beauforts in the same maintaining pressure in the Wewak area, in support of the area on 22nd February, 1944. This time the primary target 6th Australian Division's campaign against the Japanese was the Timoeka strip. One Beaufort; captained by Flight forces still resisting there. Wing Commander Cooper was Sergeant K.D. Clively, was heavily hit by anti-aircraft fire posted to command No.71 Wing, and was succeeded as during the bombing run. Both main-planes and the Commanding Officer of No. 7 Squadron by Squadron starboard oil cooler were holed, and aileron control was Leader J. F. Barton.

No. 7 Sqn. Beaufort KT-H flying over Merauke 1943.

173 AHSA Aviation Heritage

By the end of OctoberO 1944, most of the squadron squadrons, that the Wewak campaign was regarded as an had arrived at Tadji and its headquarters opened there on outstanding example of Army Air Force co-operation. 25th October. The move to Tadji was notable, in as much Eight of No. 7 Squadron’s Beauforts took part in a as it was probably the first occasion on which a R.A.A.F. particularly successful bombing mission on 22nd April, squadron was moved entirely by aircraft, in R.A.A.F. 1945, when the target was an area in which the aircraft. Dakotas from three R.A.A.F. transport squadrons Headquarter s of a Japanese general was situated. A total were used to carry the main party and equipment, and of 34 Beauforts took part in a bombing and strafing attack nineteen Beauforts, with additional personnel and and a large area of the target was devastated . equipmentO were flown to Tadji in two echelons. The efforts of the A.I.F. and the R.A.A.F. during a long, No. 7 Squadrons first operation from its new base took arduous and unspectacular campaign were rewarded on place on 3rd November 1944,when nine Beauforts 13th May, 1945, when Australian forces completed the bombed targets of opportunity between Niap and Wewak. capture of Wewak the enemy’s last great stronghold in On 10th November, aircraft of 7 Squadron took part in a New Guinea. No. 7 Squadron joined with the other daring rescue by R.A.A.F. aircraft. An American B-25D squadrons of the Beaufort Wing in an all out effort in operating from Nadzab was hit and badly damaged by support of the final stages of the campaign. Two days anti-aircraft fire while attacking the Wewak airstrips. The before the capture of Wewak: an amphibious landing was pilot was forced to land in the sea, only two miles off made by the Australians at Dove Bay, and the Beaufort shore’ under the enemy guns, and six members of the squadrons flew that day, in support of the landing, 84 crew, two of them badly injured, clambered into a dingy. A sorties, dropping 150,320 lbs, of bombs and firing 130,720 Beaufort was sent immediately to patrol over the dingy to rounds of ammunition. prevent the Japanese from sending out a boat to reach the However, the capture of Wewak did not mean the end survivors. Meanwhile, a large force of 71 Wing Beauforts of the New Guinea campaign. The Japanese retreated to rendezvoused at Wewak with a R.A.A.F. Catalina, which positions south of Wewak, from which they were driven landed successfully, took the survivors on board, and took only after much bitter fighting. During these battles in June off again in spite of a heavy swell. While the rescue was and July 19450 the Beaufort squadrons, day after day, being carried out, the Beauforts heavily bombed the bombed and strafed villages, strong points and defended Japanese gun positions, with the result that not one shot ridges, lending support to the fierce struggle that was was fired at the rescuers. Eight aircraft of No. 7 Squadron waged around Mt. Tazaki and Mt. Shiborangu, three miles took part in this daring rescue' which earned high praise south of Wewak Point. During July 1945, continuous from the American Commander at Nadzab and the Air attacks were made by the Beauforts on enemy staging Officer Commanding Northern Command, Air Commodore camps and dug-in defences along the Sepik River, and in F.W.F. Lukis. early August the Wing’s efforts were concentrated on During December 1944 there was increased patrol support of the Army's inland drive, east of Yamil. activity by the 6^^ Division in the Wewak area, and the No. 7 Squadron’s last strike of the war was carried out Beauforts were frequently called on for support missions. on the morning of the 15th August, 1945, just before news These attacks killed many Japanese troops and drove of the Japanese surrender was received. A force of 30 others from their positions, enabling Army units to ambush Beauforts, including twelve from No. 7 SquadronO bombed and capture them. The A.I.F. continued to drive east from targets in the Maprik area. For several days after the war Aitape during early 1945 and the Beaufort squadrons had ended, the Beauforts were engaged in dropping pounded away at enemy positions and occupied villages. propaganda and surrender leaflets to the Japanese As a result of these attacks, the ground forces, in many forces. On 27th August, 1945, Wing Commander Barton, cases, were able to capture villages without any loss to who had commanded No. 7 Squadron for 11 busy and themselves. In addition to bombing attacks the Beauforts successful months, was succeeded by Flight Lieutenant spent long hours in anti-submarine patrols, keeping watch M.S. Humphrey, D.F.C. for the submarines used by the Japanese to smuggle in The New Guinea campaign officially ended on 13th food and supplies to their beleaguered army at Wewak. September,1945, when Lieutenant General Adachi, On 11th February,1945 one of No. 7 Squadron’s Beauforts commanding the Japanese forces in that area was reported missing after an anti-submarine patrol. No surrendered his sword to the G.O.C. 6th Division,(Major trace was found of the aircraft or the crew. General Robertson) at Cape Worn. In recognition of the For some days during February 1945, the effort of the part played by the R.A.A.F. in this campaign, a party Beaufort squadrons was concentrated on support of the chosen from the various units of No. 71 Wing, including ground forces attacking Nambut Hill, a high ridge held by a members of No. 7 Squadron, was present at the ceremony force of enemy troops. Over 100 sorties were flown and took part in a parade of all the services which had against this target by the Beauforts and the position was participated in the New Guinea campaign. finally captured by the A.I.F. on 16th February. Travel, ferry and courier flights occupied the squadron During March 1945 the 6th Division was driving during the next few months, while the men eagerly awaited towards Maprik, meeting stiff opposition from the demobilisation. Gradually they were posted away from the Japanese, whose defensive positions in this area were squadron, the Beauforts were flown to the mainland, and continually hammered by the 71 Wing Beauforts. During No. 7 Squadron officially disbanded on 19th December these operations the aircraft encountered increased anti­ 1945. aircraft and small arms fire. The splendid record of No. 7 Squadron in its By the end of April 1945 a succession of victories by operations both from the Australian mainland and from the Australian troops had resulted in the capture of Maprik, New Guinea was not due alone to the courage and skill of But, Dagua, Karawop, Boiken Plantation and Hawain, and its aircrew. Working at times under, the most difficult the 6th Division was driving down the coast to a point 13 conditions, contending with tropical heat discomfort and miles from the major objective of Wewak. The Beauforts shortage of essential equipment, the ground staff of the carried out “Softening-up” attacks along the coast well in squadron managed to maintain a high rate of aircraft advance of the troops. So successful was the Army serviceability. Their enthusiasm and co-operation with the support and tactical reconnaissance work of the R.A.A.F. hard-working aircrew helped to weld the squadron into an efficient fighting unit. Courtesy RAAF Historical Section.

174 AHSA Aviation Heritage

PROSPECTUS. The following appears to be a ‘get-rich-quick’ scheme which, as far as is known, did not get coverage in any of the contemporary aviation magazines. It had one two page ad./prospectus in a Queensland motor trade journal, ‘The Steering Wheel’ on 1 July 1931. It invited subscriptions in the construction of the “Austin Panther”, a three passenger biplane. The timing was at the depth of the great depression, the prospectus stated that the company had work in hand on components, propellers, wing sections, spars patterns etc. There is no evidence that the “Austin Panther” got any further than this prospectus, let alone being built and flown. Note the registration prefix on the illustration being HV. Thanks to Brian Rawson for finding this ‘gem’.

. '-v'' SUPf*LEMENT TO ‘‘ THE STEERING WHEEL.” i My I, 1931

U I—( '3 PQ I u 1 -S' -CSl CL'”- " o aa C « o - ® % -s-s u -s u '“ §• s < ^ 0) c ■S" tn - JS "c -5 - Lh oEg. ; S a E a ^3^cS VO (M >; C “S. V "Z ■ J § ^ E ? =.2 £ “ i • 3 -S ea "S >.-C 1-0 C I £ a ^ : • c T3 I u ® c O V O Jl o i I I o s I C DU s o >■ --I 1"= ; I sf eI -fi tj I ■ Js'l JC •S-9 •^s .s i E il 'c o .5^ 2 i -S pC -a a « 'K i 2 ri|i!|u ^ I I I u s g>n a E c Q i 6-5 E to w w o

d a g.'S-S “ S S c ° ^-£ IE £” 2° sT E i uE:5S.o|3c '§ s "c tJ C3

Jjo w« tcJ3g2c ■SI l-n-lIM ^ s s -S « S .2- „ .® . iki S -I < g ||| S:S» SSll2l.&'l AHSA Aviation Heritage

7'. 'V ' , ■ ' ' ■ jidy T: mi: . SUPPLEMENT TO “THE STEERING WHEEL:”

Prospectus of Austin’s Limited Aircraft Engineers—Construction and General

’Phone: M 2983 MAYNE JUNCTION, BRISBANE ’Phone: M 2983

i Registered under the Companies Act 1863-1913)

Directors: Solicitors: GEOFFREY F. AUSTIN, Managing Director, Mayne Junction, MESSRS. FEEZ, RUTHNING & GO., Queen Street, Brisbane. Brisbane. WILLIAM JAMES ADNAMS, Director, Mayne. Tn cti

OBJECTS.

The Company has been formed and registered, and is in here in Queensland, and for Australian and New Zealand dis­ production at the Mayne Junction Works. tributing rights. The construction of Aircraft suitable for Australian con­ The manufacture of engine parts for both Aircraft and ditions is one of the main objects of the Company, and detail Automobile engines will be commenced at an early date, and specifications of this machine are completed. this field shows promise of being exceptionally profitable. Work in hand is to u large extent on the building of Com­ ponents, Propellers, Wing Section, Spars, Patterns, etc., and It is the Company’s aim to generally foster and provide for these the Company have a definite market throughout the Aircraft Manufacture, the production of spares and material Commonwealth. Negotiations have been entered into with here in Queensland, and on a scale that will be second to none British manufacturers for the production of Aircraft, on license. in method and craftsmanship.

GENERAL.

AUSTIN’S LTD. was established and registered during 1930 have existing and definite markets for, and for which the by Geoffrey F. Austin. demand is steadily increasing. The works and dwellings at Mayne Junction were pur­ It will be noticed that 7,500 shares only are to be issued chased by Geoffrey F. Austin at about that time, and will be at present, which capital will be used for the further develop­ transferred to the Company on completion of Share list. ment of the Company’s objects as outlined, and concerning which the Company have a vast amount of profitable business The successful formation of AUSTIN’S LTD. is an advance in hand. Again it is stressed that AUSTIN’S LTD. are in full into an industry already holding the firmest of foundations in swing on a profitable basis, having established the business in Great Britain, Europe and America, but is an entirely new field spite of general depressed conditions by the tenacity of purpose here in Australia, though one which is proven at every angle. and capital of the Directors. Aviation is to-day the substance of what is fast becoming No matter how small your holding, support the industry of the key to modem travel, and commercial expedition, its vour State, and assist in building the prestige of Queensland, relation to civilization compares with that of the Automobile by lending your aid in a field which offers you profit and thirty years back, but its growth is much faster, and a hundred provides unlimited scope for present and future activities. times more vital to modem demands. The hazard of creating new business under existing Address your application to— depressed conditions “has been overcome by attention to detail AUSTIN’S LTD., concerning the correct demand for goods to be manufactured, Mayne Junction, Brisbane. and provision for the manufacture of only such as the Company

EXPENDITURE OF SUBSCRIBED CAPITAL NOMINAL CAPITAL £50,000 will be apportioned as follows:— Divided into 50,000 Shares of £1 each, of /^hich Purchase of Freehold Property at Mayne Junction, comprising— 7.500 are being offered to the public, payable 5/- application, Factory and Works, Dwellings, Shop Premises £1,250 5/- allotment, and balance in caUs of 2/6 per month if Plant installed and working 500 required. Wages to December 31st, 1931 .... 1,000 250 2.500 fully paid up Shares are being issued to Geoffrey Austin Flotation and Legal Expenses, etc. for his services in promoting and establishing the Telephone, Insurance, Small Tools, Electrical Installations and Overhead Sundry Expenses to business to- its present stage, and for work held by 250 him and placed for the Company’s execution. December 31st, 1931 40,000 Shares are to be held in.reserve. £3,250

50,000 Estimated Income from work in baud to 31st December, 1931, is approximately £2,500 minimum.

SEE OTHER SIDE FOR SHARE APPLICATION FORM. 176 AHSA Aviation Heritage

THE SIKORSKY S-38 and S-39 IN AUSTRALASIA By David Eyre. Articles on the Sikorsky S-38 amphibious flying boat latter model saw extensive service with Inter Island have appears In the AHSA Journal on a couple of Airways on scheduled routes in the Hawaiian Islands, occasions over the years, (particularly in December 1961) A number of special variants were built, these by Mitch Mayborn, with notes by Trevor Boughton, Jack including: S-38AH with 525-hp Pratt & Whitney Hornet Pryor, and D.E. Johnson, and more recently in notes by engines; S-38BH with 575-hp Pratt & Whitney Hornet B Bert Cookson. It might now be time to bring the picture up engines; S-38BS with 450-hp Pratt & Whitney SCI to date using these articles for reference and updating engines and seating a crew of two and five passengers; S- information as it has come to hand, in this regard I thank 38BT with 525-hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp T1D1 engines; those named above for their research published almost and the S-38B Special seating nine passengers with 420- forty years ago. hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp Cl engines. The S-38 series of flying-boats was designed by Igor The S-38 was described by Sikorsky as “the plane Ivanovich Sikorsky, the renowned former Russian aircraft which actually completed the peaceful conquest of nearly engineer who, after designing a number of types in ail of South America."; and because of it the company Russia, emigrated to the United States in 1923 where he enlarged and re-organised, obtaining further land at formed the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation. Stratford, Connecticut. Sikorsky further said “It was at this In 1928 the first of the S-38 series was flown, being a time that our organisation ceased to be a small one and twin-engined sesqui-plane amphibian with twin fins and because a substantial, excellently-equipped, modern rudders carried on two tail booms, and powered by two aircraft manufacturing organisation.” The success of the Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines providing 410-hp. The S- S-38, at a time when Sikorsky Manufacturing Corporation 38 was a development of the S-36, which was Sikorsky’s was doing poorly, was the major factor in the eventual first amphibian, and seated eleven. The type certificate success of the company. If for nothing else, the S-38 was issued in August 1928 and production took place at should be remembered for this, the company’s facility at College Point, Long Island, New As mentioned, the S-38 was developed from the S-36. York. The S-34 was an experimental type, of which only one

Sikorsky S-39B c/n916 NC54Vseen at Mascot after assembly. Photo: Via Bill Hitchcock The S-38, known affectionately as the “ugly duckling” example was built, but it was destroyed in a landing carried passengers and freight over South America, the accident. The S-36, developed from the S-34, was a twin- West Indies, Hawaii, Australia, New Guinea, Sweden engine, twin-boom aircraft, of which five were constructed. China, the United States - and probably many other Perhaps the most famous S-36 was named “Dawn”, which countries. It was a sturdy and reliable workhorse and crashed in late 1927 attempting to fly from Europe to the performed the tasks allotted to it admirably. United States. Three basic variants of the series were built: The S- Three well known American pilots with widely-varied 38A, an 11 seater (2 crew and 9 passengers) fitted with experience on the S-38 were questioned regarding its 420-hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp Cl engines; the S-38B with flying characteristics, and all three were in virtual 450-hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp Cl or SCI engines; and the agreement Vern Carstens, who became Manager of S-38C with 420-hp Wasp Cl engines, which carried two Flight Operations for Beech Aircraft Corporation said: “It is extra passengers but had a smaller fuel capacity. This true that they were slow, and probably clumsy-looking, but they had a great deal of utility that would make them

177 AHSA Aviation Heritage useful in bush operations today” (circa 1960). Carstens to Cienfuegos, Cuba, and to Miami in Florida, there was a obtained his experience with the type when flying for the long over-water hop. To reduce weight, the flooring was explorer Martin Johnson in Africa. He added “The S-38 removed, the safety-glass in the cabin-windows was was not a complex aircraft, and it was easy to service, replaced with lighter duralumin panels, and even the route Unless it had been in water of a corrosive nature, all that maps were cut into strips since every reduction of 2.72 kg needed to be done was to drain the bilges and floats and (6 lb) meant an additional 3.78 litres (1 US gal) of fuel, open the hatches so that the interior could dry out.” On which in the S-38 was equal to two flying miles. There land, the S-38 was an excellent handling aircraft in all were no radio facilities for this flight, and all navigation was respects. The brakes made it easy to taxi and, because of by dead reckoning, its low landing speed and good stall characteristics - 88 Sikorsky produced a total of eleven examples of the S- km/h ( 55 mph), landings were never a problem, even in 38A, the prototype being c/n 14A and the other ten getting into some strips as short as 427 m (1,400 ft) to received c/ns 14-1 to 14-10. These were followed by the 457 m (1,500 ft) S-38B, the first ten receiving the c/ns 114-11 to 114-20 In Hawaii, Captain Charles I (Sam) Elliott was flying the The eleven S-38As and the first ten S-38Bs differed from

Sikorsky S-38B, VH-UZE, seen beached in New Guinea. S-38 for Inter Island Airways Ltd. Elliott eventually flew later production aircraft in having a vertical windshield and over 5,000 hours in the S-38, Elliott said “With a load, you this was the main distinguishing characteristic of the S- sat so low in the water that the props kicked so much 38A; although it did not hold true in all respects, as other spray over the windshield that, for the first part of the take­ variants of the S-38 were mainly distinguished by the off until you got up on the step, you had no forward vision power-plant and interior changes. Construction numbers at all. After getting up on the step, vision was fine and you for others in the series were214-1 to 214-20; 314-1 to were in the air like a scared jack-rabbit.” He added, “The 314-20; 414-1 to 414-20;and 514-1 to 514-20, thus making S-38 had very good landing and take-off characteristics on a total of 111 aircraft built in batches of 20 aircraft. land. Getting into and out of small fields, I do not think One example of the S-38 series found its way on to the that it could be beat. It had to be that kind of aircraft to Australia civil aircraft register. This machine, an S-38B operate in and out of the so-called ‘landing fields’ we had (c/n 214-13) was completed in August 1929 for Pan at the start of our operations in Hawaii.” American World Airways and delivered in September that One time owner and operator of the West Indian Aerial year for a cost of $US51,200.00 and was the 45th of the Express, Captain Basil L. Rowe flew the S-38 for Pan type built, becoming NC-142M. Based at Miami in Florida, American World Airways in the Caribbean, Central and it was at one stage of its life flown by Charles Lindberg on South America. As ;Chief Pilot for the young and growing the first air-mail flight from Florida to the Canal Zone via airline, Rose flew many exploratory routes in the S-38. Cuba and Nicaragua. US Certificate of Airworthiness Near the end of 1930, on an exploratory flight from E.2358 was issued. Cristobal in the Canal Zone, to Kingston, Jamaica, then on

178 AHSA Aviation Heritage

The aircraft eventually passed to the Shell Aviation engines, radio, instruments and the tail unit) were Company, a subsidiary of Shell Oil and then on 8 recovered for the insurers. What happened to the December 1936 it was sold or transferred to an affiliated recovered items is not known but they were probably company, Papua Oil Development Company of Port returned to the United States for use as spares. Moresby. It was shipped to Australia and assembled in Pilot Davies in a letter to the Manager of Papuan Oil Brisbane in 1937, received its Australia Certificate of Development Company described the accident and the Airworthiness on 12 March of that year. Although there fate of the aircraft: were fairly stringent restrictions on the importation of “As the hull made contact with the water and skimmed foreign aircraft at that time, the Civil Aviation Branch, as it along for about one hundred feet, I felt a violent bump, was then known, relaxed these to the extent that the and at the same time, saw what I thought was the root of a amphibian was permitted to enter this country on the tree flip up in front of the port pontoon, carrying away the understanding that it would be used in New Guinea for no section forward of the strut fittings, and badly damaging longer than a year; and a further application would be the lower wing. The Impact shot the ‘plane into the air necessary if it was desired to extend this period. The about 6 meters (20 feet). registration allotted was VH-UZE and it was fitted with I opened the throttles to prevent the ‘plane from falling Pratt & Whitney Wasp SCI engines. Certificate of off into a spin and flew low over the water so I could Registration 626 and Certificate of Airworthiness 583 inspect the damaged wing. I could see that all the strut were granted on 12 March 1937. fittings that support the upper wing as well as struts, were After assembly the aircraft was flown to Sydney for not damaged. Then I began to climb; the damaged wing installation of radio and other equipment. These additions was pulling the ‘plane down on the port side, but by using resulted in a considerable reduction of the payload, from full aileron I was able to hold the ship level. I climbed 122 kg (270 lb) to 14 kg (52 lb), but it was considered that down to 152 meters (500 feet) and then attempted to turn; the operations contemplated in New Guinea could be I turned and circled the area again. Owing to the danger safely operated with the reduced load, and subsequently that we would turn over on our back when I attempted to the aircraft was flown north to New Guinea along the land, I ordered the three passengers to put their life Queensland coast. jackets on. I watched the crew at the drilling camp put a Initial operations indicated that full fuel loads would be boat into the water, and thought that they could see we desirable and to achieve this the wheels were removed were in trouble. They saw the forward pontoon floating from the undercarriage, this producing a saving of 220 kg down the river, and thought it was a package that we had (484 lb). This made the aircraft a pure flying-boat for its dropped, and went out after it. New Guinea operations, and it operated in this form until I wanted to be sure to land near the boat so they could December 1937. lend assistance if necessary. Cn 27 December 1937 the S-38B,Piloted by Mr. The Steam Launch ‘Angas’ was tied up to the wharf, H.A.Davies, with three passengers on board, left Daru on and as the row boat was too far away from the area I had the coast at 11.40 am and reached a drilling camp at chosen to land on, I landed as near to the Angas’ as Kikori at the mouth of the Kikori River, also on the coast. possible. The ‘plane landed nicely with the damaged wing at 1 pm. The three passengers were Mr. H. high; as soon as it settled into the water, the damaged Schwarzenbach, Mr. E. Wilson and Mr. L.S. Bakker. Pilot pontoon filled, and the ‘plane went over on the port side to Davies made a preliminary survey of the muddy water, but about 30 degrees. I ordered the three passengers to get no obstructions were visible, so he made a normal out on the high wing; this held the ‘plane from going any approach and landing. The flying-boat hydroplaned about farther, but she was taking water in fast (due to a hole in 27 meters (90 ft) when it came into a violent collision with the hull bottom.) a submerged obstruction, sending the aircraft back into After shutting off all switches and valves in the cockpit, the air. The pilot opened the throttle and managed to and throwing the anchor, I climbed out on top and dumped maintain flying speed, but full starboard aileron was the fuel in the port tank to lighten the ‘plane as much as necessary to keep the aircraft in the air. It was at this possible. In the meantime the row boat arrived, also a stage the lower port wing was noted to be badly damaged, native canoe, and I started to discharge all the baggage, and the forward section of the port float was missing loose equipment, wireless, battery and as much as I could completely. out in a hurry. I sent the boat ashore and told the crew to A further attempted landing was made as close as bring back two empty oil drums and some rope - these we possible to the steam launch "Angas”, which was moored placed under the low wing and the plane was then level. near the camp. VH-UZE came to rest with a heavy list to We got the bilge pump also the fuel pump into action, port; fuel was immediately dumped from the port wing; oil and tried to keep the water out but it was coming in faster drums were put under the wing, and the three passengers than we could discharge it, and the only hope of saving attempted to counter the list by climbing out on to the the ship was to get it into a creek and on to a mud bank. lower starboard wing, However, the hull was also damaged and was taking in water faster than it could be pumped out. A motorboat fitted with an outboard motor came to the rescue and took the aircraft in tow, but the combined power of the boat and the aircraft two engines could not overcome the drag of the current and the oil drums. The aircraft was finally beached with the aid of the steam winch on board ‘Angas”, but the position was still ^ vSj- precarious; it rested on a soft mud bank well below high tide level, in a spot where the tides rise and fall about three meters (10 ft) With each tide the aircraft was almost submerged, and all efforts to recover it intact failed. Ultimately, it was partially dismantled and some components (including

179 AHSA Aviation Heritage

This creek is about 183 meters (600 ft) up-stream from undercarriage and some struts and other parts that we the drilling camp; it is about 183 meters (600 ft) at the could not get at a low tide, left in the mud. mouth. The current runs much slower than in the main I could not see the hole in the hull bottom, but could river. The mud is very soft and apparently has no bottom. reach it with my fingers through the inspection hole in the We tried to tow the plane into the creek with an floor boards forward of the cockpit. The wood work was outboard motor boat, but the current was too strong. I badly damaged around the hole as far as I could see. It next started the engines and tried to taxi but the drag on would be necessary to rebuild the entire hull bottom, if it the oil drums was too great and this failed. The Captain of were possible to salvage it. the Angas’ sent a line out to us, and towed us alongside After the hull had been underwater for several tides, all with his winch. the woodwork was swelled, and could not be used again. At this time, the current was not so strong, so we tried The hull was down in the mud to within 5 cm (2 in) from the outboard motor again, and after some time managed the cockpit window sill the day we left Kikori and sinking to get the ‘plane into the creek with her nose on the mud further into the mud at each tide. We thought at first that bank. We tied the two upper wing tips to trees on the we could get the ‘Angas’ into the creek so we could use its shore and put our anchor astern. cranes to lift the hull out of the mud, but after sounding the At this time the water was about 30 cm (1 ft) deep in channel, found this impossible. The next best thing was to the cockpit, so I gave orders for all to go ashore and in use a winch from the drilling outfit to pull it to higher less than ten minutes, the plane was well down into the ground, but owing to the depth of the mud, this was soft mud, and further hope of salvaging the entire plane impossible as the mud had gone inside the cabin and looked impossible. cockpit to a depth of .9 m (3 ft). We watched the tide come in, and the plane was On December 31st I received a wireless message to nearly completely submerged at 9pm. I decided the only load the salvaged parts about the S/L Angas" and thing left for us to do was to dismantle and salvage as proceed to Port Moresby with same. After arrival in port, I many parts as we could get, between tides. The rise and spent the next three days dismantling the engines and fall of the tide at this point of the Kikori is between 3 soaking the parts in Kerosene and oil to protect them from meters (10 ft) and 3.6 meters (12 feet), so at high tide only further damage by corrosion as they were completely part of the upper wing was showing above water. submerged in the water for several tides. The mud is very soft and very deep The water is very Further about the cause of the accident, After muddy, and it is impossible to see anything below the inspecting the damaged pontoon, wing etc., some time surface. later, I found bits of what appeared to be crocodile scale in We had to work from boats tied to the plane which was the broken metal of the pontoon, also the upper of surface very difficult. However, Mr. E. Wilson and myself, with the of the damaged wing showed signs of being hit by his tail, aid of 6 natives who could only be trusted to hold the boat, so we came to the conclusion that it was a large crocodile pass tools to us and stow the salvaged parts into the we hit instead of a submerged tree as we had thought at boats, removed all that we could get between tides, and first. as the attached list of parts will show, there was only the In my opinion, the salvage of the hull and remaining hull, centre section of the upper wing, one side of the parts would be a long an expensive proposition, and as

UZE pulled up on another beach in New Guinea.

180 AHSA Aviation Heritage

Scale drawing S-38 B the hull is already damaged beyond economical repair and In 1997 the son and grandson of Mr. H.F. Johnson would undoubtedly be further badly damaged during attempted to locate the wreckage of PK-AKT off salvage, I do not consider further attempts to salvage Manokwari in north-west Irian Jaya where it was believed justified.” to have crashed, but were not successful. Later the Other S-38s have operated in this region. Two S-38Bs Johnson family had a full-scale replica (also registered were operated in the Dutch held part of New Guinea by NC6V) of the S-38B built by Born Again Restorations in New Petroleum Company (NNGPM) and were registered Owatonna, Minnesota and in 1998 this aircraft retraced PK-AKS and PK-AKT. These two aircraft performed the route flown by the original expedition in 1935. It is photo-survey work in the area during 1936-1937, and later also interesting to note that in the 1930’s Martin and Osa in the East Indies, Borneo, and the Australian part of New Johnson spent two years on film work in Africa using a S- guinea. Both aircraft were believed to have been at 39B (NC29V) and a S-39C (NC52V). Born Again Buitenzorg in Java in February 1942 and were thought to Restorations in 1999 was building a further replica of the have been lost when Japanese forces invaded the island S-38. but this appears not to be so for at least one, as will At least one example of the S-39 series has also been appear below. operated in this region, this being similar in configuration S-38B (c/n 314-12) was constructed in 1930 and sold to the S-38 but having only a single engine. S-39B (c/n to the Cleveland Company and received the registration 916) registered NC54V was used by the Croville Dredging NC6V. In 1932 it was returned to Sikorsky and on-sold to Company alongside Junkers float-plane VH-UNM and Pal-Waukee Airports, Chicago. In 1935 an expedition was Short Scion floatplane G-ACUX in New Guinea in that mounted by Mr. FI.F. Johnson Jnr, chairman of an company’s long and determined search for gold on the American company S.C. Johnson & Company to Brazil to Upper Fly and Upper Sepik Rivers. Pilots were Stuart study the Carnauba Palm tree, this tree providing a wax Campbell and Ken Garden and they flew over vast areas upon which the company’s products relied. The S-38B of unexplored territory. The search for profitable deposits (c/n 314-12) was obtained and, named “Osa’s Ark" and, of gold was unsuccessful, but it yielded valuable still registered NC6V, the expedition left Milwaukee on 24 geographical and anthropological information. NC54V September 1935. Subsequently, after the expedition, the seems to have been assembled in Sydney as it was noted aircraft was sold to Royal Dutch Shell for operations in the visiting Grafton NSW on 27 August 1936 on its way to New Guinea region, becoming PK-AKT. Flowever, it New Guinea. crashed whilst taking off from a bay in Western New The hull framework of the S-38 was built of oak with Guinea. ash wooden frame members reinforced with dural plates A second S-38B arrived in the region to join PK-AKT. and gussets at the joints. Cuter covering was of heavy This machine (c/n 414-14) was operated by the Standard gauge duralumin alclad metal sheet riveted together and Gil Company of New Jersey from early 1930 until 1935 as fastened to the hull framework with screws. The hull was NC-23V, when it followed its sister ship to New Guinea arranged into six water-tight compartments, the and became PK-AKS. These two aircraft, along with three compartment in the nose making provision for the anchor de Havilland DF1-89 Dragon Rapides, were used, as and mooring equipment; and the second compartment mentioned above, by NNGPM for photo-survey work over making provision 90 kg (200 lb) of baggage.. The wing Dutch New Guinea from 1936 to the summer of 1937, and framework was built up of riveted and bolted duralumin all five aircraft operated from bases at Mimika, Seroei, girder type spar beams and riveted duralumin truss-type Babo and Epam. Whilst they were operated by NNGPM, wing ribs. The completed framework was fabric covered. they were actually owned by KNILM, a subsidiary of KLM Bibliography; AHSA Journal December 1961 in the Netherlands East Indies, in charge of the operation AHSA Newsletter. was Captain Koppen, a famous Dutch pilot who returned CAA records. to Holland at the completion of the work. Aeroplane - June 1999 US Civil Aircraft. (Juptner) Vols 1, 2 and 3.

Specifications - S-38B: Wingspan 10.97 m (36 ft); length 12,28 m (40 ft 3 in); height 4.23 m (13 ft 10 in); wing area (upper) 53.3 m2 (574 sq ft); (lower) 13.56 m2 (146 sq ft); total 66.88 m2 (720 sq ft). max speed 201 km/h (125 mph); cruising speed 177 km/h (110 mph); landing speed 88 km/h (55 mph); rate of climb at sea level 268 m/min (880 ft/min); climb to 2210 m (7,250 ft) 10 minutes; service ceiling 5,486 m (18,000 ft); range at 44 US gal per hour 1,206 km (750 miles); empty weight 2,971 kg (6,550 lb); useful load 1,783 kg (2,930 lb); payload with 300 US gal fuel 787 kg (1,735 lb); loaded 4,754 kg (10,480 lb).______

181 AHSA Aviation Heritage

FROM RABAUL TO MERAUKE - THE RON LITTLE STORY by Greg Banfield

[Editor’s Note; It sometimes happens no sooner that you publish an article than a different version turns up. In Volume 30 Number 3 we published an article “Nos Morituri te Salutamus” in the first part of this following article has a certain overlap but it comes from a different personal angle.] The death of Ron Little on 2nd January 1997 at the Sydney suburb of Belrose marked the passing of one of the last Gladiators of Rabaul. The chaotic situation following Japan's bold attacks on Pearl Harbor, South-East Asia and islands of the Pacific in December 1941 and early 1942 gave rise to unrealistic expectations by strategists well removed from the scenes of action and the defenders of Rabaul had reason to feel that, like the gladiators of Rome, theirs was a fight to the death. A cultured man who enjoyed classical music, Ron Little recorded some fragments of his wartime experience in diaries which give an articulate glimpse of Service life and its all too-frequent frustrations. The diaries begin after the fight at Rabaul and I have had to rely on published sources as well as some later correspondence from Ron to cover this initial period. I am indebted to his widow. Vat, for allowing me access to his diaries and for her assistance in preparing this history.

The Defence Of Rabaul Ronald Charles Gordon Little was born at Richmond, joined in 1932, took Victoria on 6th December 1914, the eldest child in a family command of the of six boys and one girl. Ron was brought up in the Squadron on 1st country, just out of Taree, New South Wales. His father June 1941. Lerew was had an administrative position in the butter factory at soon promoted to Wing Taree, and the family lived in a tiny cottage at the mouth of Commander. the Manning River. Ron walked to school each day, in December 1982, barefoot, two miles through the bush and two miles home author Peter Firkins asked again. Then he won a bursary and attended high school Ron Little his opinion of at Taree. the leadership qualities of The family later moved to Sydney and Ron found a John Lerew. Ron noted, clerical job at Garden Island before winning a cadetship as "Bear in mind that a high- an engineer with the Post Master General's Department in ranking career officer and a temporary sergeant Sydney. He was a keen sportsman and became a Ronald Charles Gordon Little champion swimmer and surfer. When war broke out, he inhabit quite separate immediately applied to join the RAAF, even though, in the worlds. I was with Lerew for about three months in PMG, he was in a protected industry. Because of the Townsville before leaving for Rabaul. The only time we chaos and confusion of the start of hostilities, he was spoke to one another was when he charged me and, not accepted as a trainee pilot on 9th December 1940. unjustifiably, fined me £3 for damaging a propeller in a At 26 years of age, Ron was a little older than the clumsy landing. My contribution to the exchange would normal fighter pilot recruit, as they were known then, and have been something like, 'Yes, Sir', 'Yes, Sir', 'Sir'. I saw he had just met Val, who was to become his wife. Events him in the precincts occasionally, and enough in the moved very quickly and after his initial induction into the charge meeting, to form an opinion of him as trim, brisk, military, he was posted on 6th February 1941 to No.4 decisive, a man of authority, the epitome of the highly- Elementary Flying Training School at Mascot. Two trained, dedicated military officer. Quite impressive if you months later he was sent to a training course at No.2 like that kind of thing and, I would confidently say, Service Flying Training School at Wagga, No.9 Course. efficient." He married during his training there and Val moved to Sergeant Don R. Sheppard was Ron's observer for Wagga to be with him. But he had not told the PMG most of their time in Townsville but some weeks before beforehand and the Powers That Be in that organisation they left, Don and Ray Harber (who had been Bill Milne's were not happy with his enlisting without their knowledge observer) exchanged places, and Ray stayed with him to or permission. Unbeknown to Ron at the time, the PMG the end of his posting to the Squadron.^ Pilot training in developed their own plans for him and kept track of his the RAAF at this stage was predicated on more advanced movements. When his training finished, the PMG was techniques being taught in the Squadrons. Often, though, able to prevent him from taking overseas postings. Ron pilots taught themselves some of the manoeuvres. "I was was always puzzled to find he was the odd one out when flying solo over the sea at Townsville and decided to do a postings were announced at the end of a course. barrel roll, on which we had not been instructed," Ron Ron was promoted to Sergeant on 25th July 1941 on wrote. "But I had worked out the appropriate manoeuvres completion of his training at Wagga and on 7th August and put them in train. The calculations proved to be not was posted to No.24 Squadron at Townsville. Val went quite accurate, the result a huge sort of corkscrew, with him and lived at the township while Ron was billeted finishing in a screaming dive." out at the aerodrome. But he was happy because at In December 1941, following Japan's entry into the war Townsville he could fly, and he was crazy about flying. with attacks on South East Asia and the Western Pacific No.24 (City Of Adelaide) Squadron, RAAF, was formed beginning on 7th-8th of that month, the Allied Chiefs of at Amberley on 17th June 1940 as a general purpose Staff concluded that the most likely course of action would squadron, equipped initially with four Wirraway aircraft. be an attempt by Japan to occupy Rabaul in New Britain During the latter half of 1940, the Squadron was re­ (the capital of the Mandated Territory), Port Moresby and equipped with Lockheed Hudsons. Squadron Leader John Margrave Lerew, a Regular Air Force officer who had ‘Raymond S. Harber later won the DFC while hying on Beaufighters with No.31 Squadron.

182 4ffS4 Aviation Heritage

New Caledonia, with concurrent attacks on Darwin and were pressed into front-line service and also moved to other points on the Australian mainland. They estimated Rabaul, flying via Horn Island, Port Moresby, Lae and that the minimum air force strength needed to meet these Gasmata. When it came time to go to Rabaul, the unseen attacks was five squadrons at Rabaul, five at Port influence of the PMG resulted in an order being sent from Moresby, one at New Caledonia, two at Timor and three at Headquarters in Melbourne to Wing Commander Lerew Darwin, in addition to 30 squadrons needed to meet a stating that Ron Little was not to go with the Squadron. naval attack or 60 squadrons to defend against a major Ron was to have been posted to do a conversion course assault. In reality, the RAAF had available only 13 on twin-engined Lockheed Hudsons for experience in squadrons, five of those being equipped with WIrraways. preparation for technical duties concerned with the new Australia's front-line operational aircraft available in the High Frequency Direction-Finding Stations but Lerew first week of December totalled about 180, mainly Ignored the order. It was the first example of a hidden Hudsons, Catalinas and Empire Flying Boats; the second- agenda which caused Ron Little m^uch disquiet and line reserve totalled less than 200, all subject to armament frustration. deficiencies. ^ Val Little recently recalled, "Suddenly, I got a letter In November 1941, No.24 Squadron was equipped from Ron in which he said he was going off somewhere with a mixture of 5 Hudsons, 11 WIrraways (with two more secret. But he told me In the letter to get out of Townsville allotted but not yet delivered), 3 Moth Minors and one and go back to Sydney. We had friends on the base there Falrey Battle. On 1st December, Air Board ordered that a who would help me, and I was sharing my flat with the wife flight of Hudsons from the Squadron should prepare to of another of the pilots, Bob Blackman. He was killed in move to Rabaul at 36 hours' notice. After some delay the subsequent action at Rabaul and I have kept in touch caused by changes in the international situation, three with his wife ever since." Hudsons moved from Townsville to Port Moresby on 5th One flight of WIrraways, led by Wing Commander December and two days later flew to Rabaul. A fourth Lerew, left Townsville on 10th December, being escorted Hudson joined them on 8th December. ^ The Chiefs of on the 300-mile leg from Horn Island to Port Moresby by a Staff did not consider It feasible to reinforce the existing Catalina. Maps of the route were inadequate and the garrison In Rabaul but ruled out any question of its pilots used an Admiralty chart to locate Gasmata, being withdrawal, insisting that a stand be made against the led there safely by Lerew. A small store of petrol had enemy there. The Hudsons of No.24 Squadron began been placed there a year before and the natives formed a operating from Rabaul on reconnaissance flights, area bucket line to laboriously refuel the aircraft with tins filled patrols and shipping searches, in co-operation with from the 44-gallon drums. The take-off from Gasmata was Catalinas of Nos. 11 and 20 Squadrons. difficult, off to seaward over a high cliff. Again Lerew led Because of the decision by the Chiefs of Staff to make the group off, but Pilot Officer John C. Lowe's Wirraway a fighting stand at Rabaul, No.24 Squadron's WIrraways ^ dropped as it crossed the cliff edge and hit the sea, breaking Its tail-wheel. Nevertheless, Lowe recovered and joined the other three aircraft to reach Rabaul safely. The ^In his autobiography, Air Marshal Sir Richard Williams commented Squadron's ground staff were taken to Rabaul by flying that in the period between the two World Wars, Commonwealth boat, but there was a serious shortage of supplies. Governments were always hesitant to accept the advice of their own officers if their views differed from those of England. The Committee of In view of Lowe's experience at Gasmata, the pilots of Imperial Defence in London advised the Lyons Government of 1932 the second flight attempted to take off in the opposite that, as well as contributing to the overall defence of the Empire, direction. The seaward section of the runway was Australia's defenee should be aimed at local defence against raids. With grassed, with the remainder paved with crushed coral, but the completion of the proposed dry dock at Singapore and the basing of the WIrraways became bogged in mud on the grassy Royal Navy vessels, the Committee asserted that Japan could not afford section and had to be manhandled by the natives, who to bypass Singapore and send anything more than a small raiding force held up each wing and ran with the aircraft as long as they as far south as Australia. Japan, it said, would not risk sending an could as the aircraft gained speed. At last all the aircraft carrier and therefore no sizeable air raids were to be expected on WIrraways reached Rabaul, where they were based on the the Australian mainland. The Government accepted the Committee's airfield at Vunakanau. Facilities there were rudimentary opinion and directed its military chiefs to plan for defence against raids and the Squadron was chronically undersupplied and on that local basis, despite a lack of confidence by Williams and the overworked, although Headquarters seems not to have Chief of the General Staff in that view. 'This accounted for the fact that appreciated the situation. Japanese aircraft had already only one single-seater fighter squadron is to be found in the program of development on which the [RAAF] was working at the outbreak of war.' been seen flying over the New Britain area on 8th and 9th ^On 12th December, the War Cabinet ordered the compulsory December, suggesting a photographic reconnaissance evacuation of children and women other than missionaries and nurses prior to a full-scale attack. from the territories of Papua and New Guinea. On 15th December 1941, three of No.24 Squadron's "^The North American NA-16 of 1935, from which the Wirraway was Hudsons attacked a Japanese merchant ship without developed, was offered as a two-seater fighter as well as a trainer. The success, and on receiving the report of this operation. RAAF, however, intended the Wirraway as a general purpose aircraft, Northern Area Headquarters complained that the attack suitable for use as a dive bomber, army co-operation machine and, to a had been a waste of effort because of the poor bombing, lesser degree, as a fighter. It was fitted with twin forward-firing machine which it labelled "lamentable". Headquarters drew an guns mounted on the top of the fuselage in front of the cockpit and a single machine gun on a swivelling mount in the rear cockpit. After the intial order for 40 aircraft, in mid-1938 the Australian Government The first production Wirraways were delivered to operational general- placed an order for a further 60, and referred to them in the press as purpose squadrons in late 1939 and early 1940. When war broke out in "fighters", although a controversial report by Air Marshal Sir Edward the Pacific, the ill-prepared RAAF used the Wirraway in the desperate Ellington of Britain's Royal Air Force a couple of months later stated early stages of the Japanese assault as an interim fighter-bomber in the that the Wirraway should be regarded as a temporary expedient and absence of more suitable types. In the light of its losses to Japanese suitable only as an advanced training aircraft, while the older Hawker fighters, it was subsequently withdrawn to advanced training duties, for Demon biplane, which the RAAF intended the Wirraway to replace, which it was an excellent machine, as well as continuing with valuable should be used instead on operations. Ellington said that Australia and diverse army co-operation work such as tactical reconnaissance, should continue to use British aircraft for defence purposes and strafing Japanese troop movements, supply-dropping to isolated units suggested that a more fitting type would soon be available from Britain. and the mapping of little-known territories.

183 AHSA Aviation Heritage unfavourable comparison with the Japanese air attacks W.D.Brookes, which sank the British battleship HMS Prince Of Wales Gradually the airfields were made serviceable, with natives employed to build camouflaged dispersal bays and quarters for the personnel but it was frustratingly slow work; even linking the two airfields by a single telephone line took considerable time. The Wirraways conducted a morning reconnaissance patrol over the north coast of New Britain as far west as Cape Lambert, returning on a reciprocal track and then along the coast as far as Wide Bay. The two flights operated this patrol on alternate weeks, taking off at daylight and returning at about 7 a.m. The engines of all serviceable aircraft were run up each day before dawn. Lerew ordered that at all times, the aircraft were to be at one of three stages of readiness: "available", (ready for operations within 15 minutes); "in readiness", (warmed up with the observer in the aircraft and the pilot in the operations room); Commonwealth CA-1 Wirraway A20-21 photographed near Melbourne in 1940. "strike", (with pilot and observer strapped The fixed machine guns on the top of the nose, and the observer's flexible gun, are into the aircraft and ready to take off on clearly visible Photo; RAAF. signal from the operations room). and the battle cruiser HMS Repulse off Malaya on 10th The Australians had not expected to encounter December, and ended their message with the haughty fighters over Rabaul, as they did not have the range to fly flourish, "The Empire expects much of a few." from the Japanese base at Truk, and they had been In a separate signal from Area headquarters, Air confident of being able to tackle bombers. However, the Board complained about the weak attack and other Japanese flew fighters off their aircraft carriers and this perceived shortcomings, ending with: "If there is no changed the entire equation. improvement in quality of work will consider withdrawal On 1st January 1942, Wing Commander Lerew led your squadron and replacement". A further signal from Air the four Hudsons he had available (with pilots Flight Board followed, asking five specific questions about the Lieutenants Erwin, Diethelm and J. F. Murphy) in an attack operation, and another signal came from Area Combined on the Japanese seaplane base at Kapingamarangi Headquarters in Townsville. Because of this high-handed Island, where a fuel dump was hit. Another attack was treatment, Lerew delayed sending his full report on the made on this target by three Hudsons two days later operation, blaming a lack of signals and cipher staff. (again led by Lerew, with Flight Lieutenants Diethelm and When he did send the report, one of the reasons he gave Paterson), striking waterside installations and slipways, for the delay and for his squadron's difficulties was: and another attack was made there on 6th January (Lerew "disappointment in the lack of assistance rendered by the and Paterson). Almighty," and he commented: "The Empire expects A reconnaissance flight by a Hudson of No.6 Squadron much, repeat much, of a few." He concluded his long (fitted with two extra 105-gallon fuel tanks in the cabin to signal with the statement: "It is regretted that all these give it the required range), which took off from Rabaul on misunderstandings and annoying delays have occurred, 9th January 1942, over the Caroline Islands, some 1,000 creating a position in which more worry is being caused kilometres to the north, revealed twelve warships, three from the south than from the enemy in the north". merchant vessels, one hospital ship and a large number of In between these exchanges, Lerew carried out an bombers, fighters and flying boats at the main Japanese attack in a Hudson on the Japanese seaplane base at base at Truk. This intelligence confirmed Australian Kapingamarangi Island, without much success but eluding suspicions that the Japanese planned to invade Rabaul, the defending fighters. Other Hudson pilots. Flight which had already been heavily attacked by Japanese Lieutenants K. J. Erwin, O. G. Diethelm and P. P. aircraft. On 4th January, twenty-two Mitsubishi Type 96 Paterson, also carried out several attacks on 'Neir bombers had attacked Lakunai airfield. Two Kapingamarangi Island, as well as patrols In the New Wirraways, one flown by visiting Wing Commander A. R. Britain area. Three replacement Hudsons arrived at Tindal and the other by Flight Lieutenant Brookes, Lakunai airfield on 30th December and the primary role of attempted to intercept them, but without success. At the squadron was changed from reconnaissance to that of about 7 p.m. that day, eleven Kawanishi Type 97 'Mavis' an advanced strike force. flying boats bombed the Vunakanau airfield but missed With the Japanese offensive rolling on unchecked, the their target. Two days later, the same target was again War Cabinet on 18th December approved the attacked by nine 'Mavises', destroying on the ground one recommendation that the existing garrison at Rabaul Wirraway and damaging a Hudson, and wrecking the should remain there unaided, although the prospect for Direction Finding station. Four Wirraways had attempted reinforcing it would be reviewed constantly. Civilians were to intercept this raid, and Flight Lieutenant Bruce H. evacuated by RAAF flying boats of Nos. 11 and 20 Anderson (with observer Pilot Officer C. A. Butterworth in Squadrons. Also on 18th December, Lerew had sent "A" A20-137) succeeded in engaging one of the silver- flight, consisting of five Wirraways, to the lower airfield at Lakunai, under the control of Flight Lieutenant "Wilfred Deaken Brookes, nicknamed The Rajah', went on to fly Vultee Vengeances with No.24 Squadron at Nadzab in 1944, and was later knighted. He died on 1st August 1997, aged 91 years.

184 AHSA Aviation Heritage

A Comparison of the Protagonists at Rabaul

Commonwealth Aircraft Mitsubishi A6M2 Mitsubishi Type Kawanishi H6K Corporation Wirraway Zero-Sen ’Zeke' 96 ’Nell' Type 97 'Mavis'

ROLE General-purpose/ Carrier-borne and Bomber Long-range advanced trainer shore-based fighter recbnnaissance and transport

LAYOUT Low-wing cantilever Low-wing cantilever Mid-wing cantilever Braced parasol monoplane monoplane monoplane monoplane flying boat with braced wing-tip floats

CONSTRUCTION Metal with stressed-skin Metal with stressed-skin, All-metal, fabric- All-metal with fabric- wings, fabric-covered fabric-covered control covered control covered control fuselage and surfaces surfaces surfaces control surfaces

CREW Two One Four to seven Eight to ten

WING SPAN 43 feet 0 inches 39 feet 5 inches 82 feet 0 inches 131 feet 3 inches (13.1 m) (12 m) (25 m) (40 m)

LENGTH 27 feet 10 inches 29 feet 8 inches 53 feet 11^/4 inches 84 feet 1 inch (8.48 m) (9.06 m) (16.45 m) (25.625 m)

POWERPLANTS One 9-cylinder Pratt & One 14-cylinder Nakajima Two 14-cylinder Four 14-cylinder Whitney Wasp air-cooled Sakae air-cooled radial Mitsubishi Kinsei air- Mitsubishi Kinsei air­ radial developing developing 955 hp at cooled radials each cooled radials each 600 hp at 7,000 feet 14,500feet developingl ,055 hp developing 1,060 at 13,800 feet hp at 13,800 feet

EMPTY WEIGHT 3,980 lb (1,805 kg) 3,704 1b (1,680 kg) 10,516 1b (4,770 kg) 25,810 1b (11,707 kg)

LOADED WEIGHT 6,353 lb (2,882 kg) 5,313 1b (2,420 kg) 16,848 1b (7,642 kg) 37,479 1b (17,000 kg)

MAXIMUM 220 mph (354 kph) 328 mph (528 kph) 241 mph (388 kph) 211 mph (340 kph) SPEED at 8,600 feet at 16,000 feet at 15,000 feet at 13,100 feet

CRUISING 182 mph (293 kph) 207 mph (334 kph) 195 mph (314 kph) 138 mph (222 kph) SPEED

SERVICE 23,000 feet 33,800 feet 28,800 feet 31,530 feet CEILING

CLIMB RATE 1,950 ft/min at 4,517 ft/min at sea level, 1,230 ft/min at 1,230 ft/min at sea level 2,560 ft/min at 14,500 feet 13,800 feet 13,800 feet

ARMAMENT Two fixed forward-firing Two fixed forward-firing Six 7.7 mm machine Four 7.7 mm machine .303 inch machine guns 20 mm cannon and guns in nose, tail, guns in forward and and one moveable two 7.7 mm machine guns dorsal and lateral aft dorsal .303 inch machine gun in rear positions turrets and beam cockpit blisters, and one 20 mm cannon in tail

BOMB LOAD Normally none but could Two 132 lb (60 kg) 2,200 lb (998 kg) of 3,528 lb (1,600 kg) of carry one 500 lb (226 kg) bombs bombs or one 1,764 bombs or two 1,764 or two 250 lb (113 kg) lb (800 kg) torpedo lb (800 kg) torpedoes bombs under the wing ______

185 AHSA Aviation Heritage coloured flying boats at an altitude of 12,000 feet but many have evaporated from my consciousness with the without result. passing of 40 years. I was astonished to read [Peter Rabaul was again raided on 7th January by twenty Firkins'] report of many incidents and activities of which I Mitsubishi Type 96 'Nells'. A Hudson and two Wirraways had no knowledge - e.g., the January 5 Hudson attack on were destroyed on the ground, while one Wirraway and a freighter, the extensive reconnaissance and bombing one Hudson (A16-47) were damaged. Three Wirraways carried out by the Hudsons and Cats. I consider it a took off to intercept but they could not catch the Japanese reflection on the judgement of the administration that it aircraft. The Hudson was temporarily patched with sheet could not take into its confidence, on the less sensitive metal and angle iron, then flown to Townsville for proper information, those below the salt who were most vitally repair. The next day a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft involved. was sighted over Rabaul at a height of between 15,000 "I remember only one assembly of all crew members and 18,000 feet. Lerew was also concerned that his radio and officers for discussion of the expected full-scale Installation was being jammed by some outside agency, assault. We were told the Zero was faster than our birds as there was interference with transmission and reception, (though no one said twice as fast), but this would be and that the telephone line by which he communicated compensated by our superior manoeuvrability. Whether with the airfields was being tapped. There were strong or not my belief that this was the only formal briefing is suspicions that some members of the German community correct, it should not be taken as a criticism. I believe no in Rabaul, who had not been interned, were responsible more was necessary; the picture was clear enough to us and were communicating with the Japanese. In a signal to all, and there were no illusions about the implications. I Northern Area and RAAF Headquarters, Lerew urged the am not aware now that either I or my colleagues were Imposition of martial law to control the civil population. disturbed about it, unrealistic though this seems as I write. As a result of the reconnaissance by the Hudson, on 1 can only offer a tentative explanation, by comparing the 12th January, six RAAF Catalinas of Nos.11 and 20 flying situation with one of being on the receiving end of Squadrons flew In very bad weather to Truk and bombed pattern bombing, which I found absolutely petrifying. In the Japanese bases there, with unknown results. Two the latter case one is totally impotent and the noise days later, a Royal Australian Navy coastwatcher, Sub- devastating (the next bomb has to be mine), while in flying Lieutenant C. L. Page, reported enemy aircraft heading for one has the marvellous sense of freedom (perhaps I Rabaul and two Wirraways took off to intercept. The should leave the poor bastard in the back seat out of this), seventeen Japanese Navy 'Nells' made a high-level attack there's always something to do and, whatever the odds, on Vunakanau airstrip, inflicting heavy damage, with the one has to concentrate on action. Wirraways unable to catch them owing to the bombers' "I believe that there was wide acceptance of the fact superior speed. By this time, two Japanese aircraft that we were destined to be cleaned out. We knew that carriers, Zuikaku and Shokaku, with escorts and auxiliary the bombing was only the beginning. We were told that vessels had arrived in Truk and were preparing to move we would have to meet Zeros and we had no illusions south. about the implications of that. While I have no recollection On 17th January, twenty Kawanishi Type 97 'Mavis' of being briefed on tactics, we all understood that there flying boats were reported heading for Rabaul by the was no conceivably valid plan of co-ordinated action. coastwatcher on Duke of York Island. These aircraft Each plane with its crew would operate independently. made a high-level bombing attack on the Lakunal airstrip "Ray Harber has a different view and complains of a but caused little damage. Several Wirraways tried to complete lack of information and of never attending a intercept the raid but, patrolling at 15,000 feet, the pilots briefing. Ray and Pete Shaw have both said that they had were dismayed at being left for dead by the bombers not expected fighters and that they don't remember passing above them at 20,000 feet. Wing Commander attending any briefing. Apparently they were not invited to Lerew, in Wirraway A20-177, attacked a 'Mavis' flying the pilots' briefing, at which we were told that we would be boat, carefully avoiding the cannon in the tail to meeting the Zero, and I take it that we were bound not to concentrate his fire in the cockpit area. The flying boat disenchant them. Quite objectionable, in my view. For the escaped but after the war Lerew met its pilot, who told him single briefing which I remember attending, I had assumed that a number of the crew had been killed and wounded in all air crew were present. If observers were not invited I his attack. would regard this as most unwise. Observers were Supplies and equipment were scarce, and the Army involved to the same degree as pilots. I would certainly contingent at Rabaul had no sights for their anti-aircraft have discussed the situation with Ray unless I was bound guns. Nevertheless, in spite of the inadequacies of the not to do so." lightly-armed Wirraways as combat aircraft, before the The ten Wirraways maintained patrols over Rabaul attacks the Squadron was confident of its superior training from dawn to dusk on 17th, 18th and 19th January, to enable It to take on the Japanese. "The general encountering spasmodic enemy attacks. In their attacks, atmosphere in the squadron was of a pervading good the Japanese pattern-bombed the airstrips, and the spirit. We were at Vanukunau, a beautiful small plateau at Squadron had no proper shelters for the aircraft so the about 1,000 feet and maybe 10 or 15 miles from Rabaul. only way they could protect their machines was to have Living conditions were good, there was an abundance of them In the air. As soon as the enemy was sighted, the luscious fruits - delicious paw paws, the sweetest small aircrew would leap in and take off. The aircraft were kept pineapples eaten whole by scooping out with a spoon, warmed up and ready for take-off at all times, with the bananas 50 or more to the bunch for sixpence. The ground crew working around the clock and maintenance natives were cheerful and friendly. A little paradise which being done at night. perhaps distracted us from the brooding reality. There On one of these attacks, Lerew jumped into a was plenty of work, digging slit trenches and filling craters Wirraway himself to attempt to intercept the raiders. His in the runway, servicing the planes, all done with a will. observer, Peter Shaw, was taking a shower when the alert My very positive recollection is of a pervading high morale. was sounded and Lerew prepared to take off without "When I came to review the events of Rabaul I found waiting for him. But Shaw immediately ran out from the to my discomfort that I had relatively few facts at my showers and scrambled into the aircraft as it began to taxi. command," Ron wrote. "To some I was never privy, and Lerew was unaware that he was aboard and as he was

186 AHSA Aviation Heritage

climbing to meet the Japanese, he was startled to hear As he flicked into a spin, a cannon shell exploded in the gunfire behind him. His first thought was that he was front cockpit, severing some hydraulic lines and wounding being attacked from the rear, but then he glanced around him in the knee and leg. With oil spurting up into his face, and saw Shaw sitting naked in the rear cockpit, having just Hewett allowed the aircraft to continue to spin until he fired the usual short burst to check his gun. reached some broken cloud at an altitude of about 2,000 On 20th January 1942, the Japanese Fourth Fleet, feet. When he levelled out, he discovered that his which included the aircraft carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, observer was missing and the Zero was still after him, had arrived within range of Rabaul and they attacked in about 200 yards behind. Hewett managed to evade the strength, launching a total of 109 bombers and fighters Zero in the clouds and a few minutes later, when from the carriers. The Wirraways were operating in two everything seemed quiet, made a crash landing at flights of five aircraft each, with "A" Flight based at Vunakunau. Jack Tyrell, who had been standing up at his Vunakanau and "B" Flight at Lakunai. Each aircraft was gun, had been thrown out of the aircraft when it flicked into expected to operate independently, the pilots having had the spin and his leg strap had come undone; he little direction on tactics in their briefings; the RAAF at this parachuted down safely and was picked up by an Army stage of the war appears to have had little conception of patrol. co-ordinated action, despite the lessons from Europe. At Ron continued, "Bromley took off at the same time as 12.14 p.m. a coast watcher at Tabar reported twenty we did and as we climbed I beckoned to him to join me, enemy aircraft heading for Rabaul, and by the time they but he moved away and I lost sight of him. Through 40 arrived there about half an hour later, they had been years it has been in my mind that it was Bob Blackman joined by another thirty-three bombers which had been who took off behind us and whom I beckoned to join us, previously undetected. A few minutes later, coast but this is inconsistent with [Peter Firkins'] picture of the watchers on Duke of York Island reported another fifty disposition of crews and with Ray's statement that it was aircraft approaching - heavy bombers and dive bombers, Bromley. It's of no consequence to the story but it with a fighter escort. interests me because I felt a measure of responsibility for The Wirraways had been patrolling since dawn, with him. He was very young and inexperienced (but who the crews going up in relays, and Ron Little and Ray among us were experienced?), with a light-hearted Harber had already been up twice, having flown almost eagerness that would take into anything. Our wives had three hours that morning before the enemy showed up. A become friends in Townsville. I have a vague recollection little after mid-day, fifty-three Japanese aircraft attacked in of seeing the Lowe dogfight referred to by Ray; it was the first two waves, followed quickly by fifty more bombers probably only a momentary glimpse because of other and dive-bombers, with fighter escorts. The defence by things I had to attend to." the Wirraways was courageous but hopeless. Sergeant Bromley was killed at his controls and Pilot Officer Johnny Lowe, with his observer. Sergeant crashed into the sea near Praed Point, where his Clive A. Ashford, in Wirraway A20-179, and Sergeant G. observer, Sergeant Walsh, also was killed. Bromley's R. Herring, with his observer, Pilot Officer A. G. Claire, in body was later recovered and it was ascertained that he A20-177, were on standing patrol when the first Japanese had been killed by a bullet. Sergeant Bob Blackman, with appeared. Together they tried to intercept six to eight Sergeant Woodcroft, were also shot down into the sea Zeros, but Lowe and Ashford were immediately shot down while taking on several Zeros. in flames over Praed Point, having been pursued by three "We always had warnings of bomber raids, by radio fighters in line astern as they looped and weaved in a vain messages from Truk," Ron wrote. "We always took off to effort to escape. Herring and Claire were both wounded do battle - or, more realistically, to save our planes. We and the aircraft fell in a spin, but Herring managed to soon learned that we had no chance of attacking, as they recover just in time to crash-land the badly-damaged came in above our ceiling. Incidentally, we had to fly with Wirraway at Lakunai. A short time later, aircraft from the the spent-shell chute covered, to save the shells. This, of Japanese Fifth Carrier Division bombed and strafed course, limited the number of shots we could make, but Lakunai and A6M 'Zeros' completed the destruction of other dynamic factors I would guess guaranteed that no Herring's damaged aircraft. pilot would reach the stage of running out of firepower." Five more Wirraways took off with the first sighting of Although Ron Little missed seeing it, Ray Harber the enemy, two from Lakunai and three from Vunakanau. witnessed the Zeros attacking Sergeant Bromley, and then The two from Lakunai were flown by Sergeant W. O. K. noticed across the harbour a dog-fight involving six to Hewett, with Flying Officer J. V. Tyrrell as observer (A20- eight aircraft. He tapped Ron on the shoulder and Ron 437), and Flight Sergeant M. G. Milne with Sergeant D. R. climbed away from the township to gain height. Ray Sheppard as his observer (A20-178). The others from Harber kept watching the dog-fight and was emphatic that Vunakanau were piloted by Sergeants R. A. (Bob) Pilot Officer Johnny Lowe and his observer, Sergeant Blackman (A20-319), C. F. Bromley (A20-303) and Ron Ashford, shot down two Japanese aircraft before being Little (A20-156), with their respective observers Sergeants shot down themselves. S. E. Woodcroft, R. Walsh and Ray Harber. The flight "On the last day our notice must have been short, for commander. Flight Lieutenant Bruce Anderson, suffered we had not climbed far before we became aware that engine failure as his Wirraway took off from Lakunai and there were a lot of planes and they were much lower," Ron he stalled and crashed. Anderson and his observer, Pilot continued. "Fortunately there were scattered, fairly low Officer C. A. Butterworth, were seriously injured and the cumulus clouds and we made use of them to gain height. aircraft written off. There was not much to the grand action piece from where Hewett and his observer, Flying Officer Jack Tyrrell, I sat. Traumatic though it was for most of the air crews managed to reach an altitude of about 9,000 feet by (and no doubt those on the ground), in retrospect it climbing in and out of the clouds. As he headed for a doesn't seem so to me. I didn't fire a shot, I was not shot formation of twelve flying boats which were bombing the down (though a one millimetre difference in the trajectory town two miles away, he was attacked by a Zero which of a particular bullet would have altered the whole picture), poured cannon fire into the Wirraway, blasting pieces off and I didn't see enough of the action to provide an the wings and fuselage. He pulled the nose of his aircraft appreciation of what was going on. The operation seemed up and fired head-on at the Zero until his Wirraway stalled. to be over in a very short time. Thinking about this, I

187 AHSA Aviation Heritage realise that this was to be expected. The pattern of the tactics were directed mainly to self-preservation without assault was to attack in succession Vuna, the harbour and altogether abandoning my duty. I simply do not regard my the town, and the time spent over any one target would part as heroic. The observer was the one who had to call have been quite short. I remember only seeing planes on his 'guts'. He was the one who looked up the barrels of twice before we were attacked, and no sign of Wirraways. the guns and saw three extremely efficient killer planes I surmise that those who took off first were disposed of as hurtling towards him, and knew that his gun was the soon as they got a bit of height, and in any case they were equivalent of a pea-shooter. And he had absolutely no scattered, as instanced by the forced landing of at least control over his movements. Compare his situation with one on Rabaul runway." that of the pilot, the glamour-boy of the partnership. He's Ron Little climbed to 10,000 feet or more and flew simply the driver - in a situation such as ours - and the across Rabaul township, then turned into a formation of observer has to adapt his actions to whatever heavy bombers which were making a run across the town. unpredictable manoeuvre the driver makes." As he did, Ray Harber spotted two flights of three When Ron Little and Ray Harber landed at Vunakanau escorting fighters begin to attack the Wirraway from they found that the starboard aileron had been hit by a above. However, the Japanese were so eager for the fight bullet which almost severed it, a bullet had hit the oil line, that they got In each other's way and Ron Little rolled into and their tail wheel had been shot away. The base had a cloud bank to escape. Ray Harber credited their survival been heavily damaged by the bombers but the ground to Ron's 'brilliant flying'. crew, who had been watching the air battle, told the two "We had only one brief encounter, when we emerged airmen that at one stage they had counted thirteen from a cloud and found we had company. I made a move Japanese fighters flying in and out of the cloud trying to outward, but it would have been only a matter of seconds find them. before my stout-hearted and imperturbable partner, Ray "Ray Harber says the operation lasted for an hour or Harber, began firing his 'go gun'. We had been jumped by more, but I would have guessed only 20 to 30 minutes," a fighter. I took evasive action while Ray continued Ron wrote.® "We landed with apparently only superficial shooting till a fluttery sound of something moving very fast damage - a few bullet holes and damaged tailwheel. It passed close over my head. I muttered, 'Hell, that was a transpired that we were very lucky. A few days later, as cannon shell!' Not bloody likely, mate - It was a Zero. I we were preparing to fly the Timor Sea to Horn Island, a judged this was no time for bravado and took refuge in the mechanic found that an elevator cable had been partly nearest cloud. When we again found ourselves In clear severed by a bullet (hence my earlier reference to a one air, there was no sign of activity. I flew around cautiously, millimetre escape from crisis) and another found an oil staying close to clouds of reasonable size until satisfied pipe had been hit and it came away in his hand." that the storm had passed on, probably to the harbour." The aircraft flown by Sergeant Bill Milne, with Sergeant Ron climbed up in the cloud bank, to an altitude of Don Sheppard as his observer, was the only other 10,000 to 15,000 feet. When the Wirraway emerged, it Wirraway to survive the action. Milne also made use of was Immediately attacked by fighters and Ron dodged the clouds to evade the fighters in their repeated attacks, back into the cloud. This scenario was repeated five or six returning yet again to try for a shot at the Japanese but times, with the Wirraway darting back into the cloud as always outnumbered. more Japanese aircraft seemed to appear each time they With no opposition in the air, the Japanese continued came out. Ray Harber threw his empty ammunition drums to devastate the area. Low-level fighter sweeps by the from his gas-operated Vickers machine gun over the side Zeros followed the high-level bombing, and between as he didn't have time to place them on the pegs provided attacks the fighters showed off with aerobatic displays; so that they could be re-used later as the authorities had then came the dive-bombers. The anti-aircraft gunners decreed. Fortunately the Japanese were bad shots and tried hard to retaliate with their inadequate equipment, and were over-anxious to attack, allowing Ray to fire with some managed to shoot down one bomber and scored hits on effect before Ron had to slip into the nearest cloud again. several others. Both Vunakanau and Lakunai airfields, Ron tried several times to attack the Japanese bombers and the town and harbour, were left In ruins after the but it was impossible. Nevertheless, Ray was reasonably attack and two vessels had been sunk in Simpson sure that in these encounters they had damaged a couple Harbour. The Air Force units evacuated Lakunai in favour of Japanese aircraft, which fell away out of sight, although of Vunakanau.^ they were in no position to make any claims. Lerew sent first word of this attack to North-Eastern "The biggest difficulty is to reconcile Ray's and my Area Headquarters: "Waves of enemy fighters shot down versions of the number of direct encounters we had," Ron WIrraways. Waves of bombers attacking aerodromes. wrote. "It's true that Ray, with all-round vision and a Over one hundred aircraft seen so far. Front seat gunnery manoeuvrable gun, vyas in a much better position than I to on Praed Point." He had two Wirraways and one Hudson, assess what was going on, yet it is beyond my which had been under repair, left at Vunakanau, and comprehension that I could be unaware even at this signalled Headquarters: "Sending A16-38 [the Hudson] to distance in time of separate episodes of exchange firing. Moresby with casualties, Two Wirraways useless Ray is quite emphatic and unquestionably genuine in his defence. Will you now please send some fighters?" belief, but I shake my head In bewilderment as I write it. Headquarters replied, "Regret inability to supply "I had commented that I considered it impossible for a fighters. If we had them then you would get them." This Wirraway to shoot down a Zero, except in the apparently was the first message Lerew had received giving any authentic case of just such an event's having happened Indication that Headquarters understood his predicament. when a Wirraway pilot found himself above an unsuspecting Zero pilot. I would assert that it was virtually ^The official history, Australia In The War Of 1939-1945, Royal impossible for a pilot to get a Zero in his sights, but I had Australian Air Force 1939-1942, says the whole action lasted less then overlooked the undoubted capacity of the observer to ten minutes, while Bloody Shambles states that all the Wirraways were achieve the feat, and Ray believes there is a strong put out of action in just seven minutes. possibility that he did just that. ^The following Wirraway aircraft were written off as a result of this "In all honesty I cannot accept Ray's tribute to my action: A20-128, A20-177, A20-179, A20-303, A20-304, A20-319, and 'brilliant flying and intelligent tactics'. I would say that my A20-321.

188 AHSA Aviation Heritage

Lerew was told to maintain communications as long as evacuated by the Hudson piloted by Sharp, which took off possible. at about 3 a.m. the following morning with the aid of only Viewing the attack as the precursor to an invasion, the three lights at the end of the runway to give reference. two remaining Wirraways were sent up the following Once in the air, however, the port engine began to run morning to search for a Japanese Invasion fleet. Ron erratically for most of the four-and-a-half hour flight to Port Little wrote, "The following day we were up before daylight. Moresby. Half-way to Townsville, the engine failed Ray and I went on a reconnaissance tour around the completely and the crew had to jettison all guns, coastline. Another pilot was asked to do the recce but he ammunition and moveable equipment in order to keep the didn't like the idea, so I was nominated. Pete Shaw asked Hudson flying, and it eventually limped into Cooktown for Ray if he could go with me in Ray's place, because he had an emergency landing. missed the previous day's fun. However, Ray wouldn't At 6.45 p.m. Lerew sent his famous signal to Air Board play, but we had two observers competing for this job, in Melbourne, Mohturi vos salutamus^ Headquarters had which [speaks highly of ] the morale. I saw the shapes of some difficulty in translating this but finally a Roman ships silhouetted against the sea but found on closer Catholic priest recognised it as a corrupted-Latin version examination that they were parts of the rugged coastline. of the gladiators' farewell to the Roman emperors, Nos "On our return we were told by 'Rajah' Brookes to morituh te salutamus: "We who are about to die, salute leave the planes, on the ground that we would never make you." Lerew commented later, "As they were throwing us it [back to Australia], and join the rest for immediate to the lions, this seemed appropriate." evacuation. I was dumbfounded at the Idea of abandoning Rabaul endured another attack on the morning of 22nd the planes, but it made so little sense that little argument January, by 45 fighters and dive-bombers. The defences was needed to have the order reversed." The two had been silenced and the garrison had no effective surviving Wirraways were flown back to Australia via New means of meeting an invasion. The line to his radio Guinea. ® transmitter had been cut in the raid so Lerew was unable At 1630 hours. Wing Commander Lerew was ordered to inform Port Moresby of his evacuation plan, although to attack the Japanese invasion fleet, which was reported earlier he had signalled Wing Commander Charles to consist of two aircraft carriers, four cruisers, a number Pearce, the Commanding Officer at Port Moresby, asking of destroyers and several transports, with 'all available him to try to pick up the personnel in flying boats at Put aircraft'. No.24 Squadron's only available aircraft was the Put. The Japanese invasion force of some 5,300 troops slightly damaged Lockheed Hudson which had been under under Major General Horii landed at Rabaul on 23rd repair (A16-38), and which was wheeled out from its January and quickly overwhelmed the small Australian concealment among a group of trees along the quagmire Army garrison, the survivors of which suffered appallingly of the taxiway with the help of a hundred natives. Despite In Japanese captivity. a prolonged search. Flight Lieutenant J. Sharp was unable Army engineers having completed the demolition of to find the fleet and returned from his suicide mission as their facilities. Wing Commander Lerew set off with the night fell. rest of the Squadron personnel in every car and truck they At 7.41 a.m. on the morning of 21st January, a further could find, with the Japanese all around them. The party attack on Rabaul began and coast watchers reported an had to dismantle and abandon its vehicles at the enemy convoy of four cruisers and a number of other Warangoi River, which it crossed by two native canoes, vessels off Watom Island, about 30 kilometres to the then walked through the jungle along the southern coast of north-west. As he had earlier been given discretion In the New Britain. Lerew sent the 33 married men who were action he should take in the event of an invasion of parents to Tol plantation to await rescue while he and the Rabaul, Lerew consulted with the Army's Colonel Scanlan, remaining hundred pushed on to Sum-Sum, about 65 km and they agreed that the men were too untrained in south of Rabaul. On 23rd January, two Short Empire ground lighting to be of any use to the Army, while they Class flying boats ^ of No. 11 Squadron evacuated ninety- were too valuable to the Air Force to be lost In a futile six men from Sum-Sum under the noses of the Japanese gesture. He then sent a signal to say that he proposed to and on 24th January an Empire flying boat evacuated the evacuate the Squadron, about 120 men. Headquarters remainder from Tol at Jacquinot Bay. Another three men replied immediately, telling him to stay put. Another signal reached Cairns after a 21-day voyage In an 18-foot sailing followed, ordering Lerew to hand over command of the boat. Remarkably, only four squadron members became Squadron to his second-in-command. Flight Lieutenant prisoners of war but all perished in captivity. When he Brookes, who was promoted to Squadron Leader, and to arrived at Port Moresby, Lerew was shown an order proceed to Port Moresby. No.24 Squadron was to be Charles Pearce had received from Headquarters placed at the disposal of the Army. Lerew later recalled, instructing him not to attempt to pick up the men of No.24 "Scanlan nearly had a blue fit. The last thing he needed Squadron. Pearce had promptly disobeyed this was my blokes. My reaction was one of sheer outrage. I disgraceful order. Lerew subsequently was appointed couldn't possibly take off and leave my men behind. I to command a composite Hudson squadron, which decided to disobey these orders completely." Clearly, Lerew was to be treated as a scapegoat for the failings of others and be summarily removed from the ^Flight Lieutenant Mike Mather in A18-11 and Flight Lieutenant Len spotlight. However, the only aircraft that could take him Grey in A18-12 had already left Port Moresby the day before on their out was the Hudson which he had earmarked for the rescue bid following receipt of Lerew's message. When it was learned evacuation of the wounded, and he had no Intention of that the Japanese were once again attacking Rabaul, the flying boats taking up space on that. In addition, he was convinced diverted to Samarai, off the eastern tip of New Guinea, then took off that Rabaul would soon fall and he was determined to lead again on the afternoon of 23rd January so as to reach the rendezvous point at dusk. Flying at 50 feet above the sea, they reached Sum-Sum his men In escape. Six of the wounded aircrew were four hours later and landed on the open sea. Mather took 50 men aboard and Grey loaded 46 aboard, before returning to Samarai that evening to ^Sergeant Bill Milne's Wirraway, A20-178, went on to give valuable alight with the aid of a flare path. The next day Mather flew 42 of the service with the RAAF until 8th June 1945, when it crashed at Darwin. group to Townsville while Grey returned to Tol that evening to bring out Ron Little's aircraft, A20-156, remained in service until February 49 more men. 1955, when it was sold by the Air Force. *®John Lerew died in Vancouver, Canada, on 24th February 1996.

189 AHSA Aviation Heritage became No.32 Squadron. Expectations In The Aftermath Of Rabaul Continuing his account, Ron Little wrote, "Within minutes, Milne, with Don Sheppard, and I, with Ray On 17th February 1942 Ron Little left Townsville for Harder, were on our way to Moresby via Gasmata and Cairns leading "B" Flight of four Wirraways, with Flying Lae. Approaching Lae from the east, the town is obscured Officer Dave Rank following with four of "A" Flight. by a series of ridges descending like tongues to the coast. Passing through Hinchinbrook Channel they encountered As we rounded the last of these, at probably no more than heavy rain which from there on became almost 500 feet, we saw wrecked buildings and a number of continuous, and they were able to catch only occasional planes shooting up the place. Plainly this was a party to glimpses of the coast. Ron wrote in his diary, / flew which we hadn't been invited, and Bill and I, as one, largely by sense of direction, mostly at about 600 feet, turned on a penny and headed into the gully between the sometimes almost down to the water. Despite last two ridges, it was covered by cloud, and just wide frequent changes of course to avoid the denser enough for us to circle beneath this and between the showers with possibly hilly islands Jutting out of the ridges. Even if the Japs had seen us, they could have sea, luck was with me and from time to time one of done nothing as there was no room for an air fight there. these islands would loom up to enable me to pin-point "We waited only a short time before venturing out, and myself. I was beginning to fear lest we be obliged to landed in the once lovely but now devastated town. How turn back, but Fitzroy Island was happily identified nearly right 'Rajah' Brookes was, in the light of our and I turned towards Cairns, only a few miles away but experience. Wandering through the wrecked Burns Philp obscured. store, I succumbed to an impulse to loot, and went out Fortunately the rain was only light at Cairns and Ron was relieved to sight the aerodrome. Suddenly, however, he struck severe turbulence. / previously considered Cooktown as rough as could ever be met, he noted, but this was incredibly worse. The aircraft was well nigh unmanageable, and I would suddenly find the nose up and speed dangerously low or sideslipping uncontrollably at high speed, dropping with such suddenness that without harness we should without doubt be thrown up out of the craft. Ray in the back, calmest and least panicky of observers, admits later that he was afraid, and two pilots report engine cut­ outs in sudden drops. I attempted to approach for landing on the main runway but decided it was impossible, so I selected one nearby which could be approached over water. This was much smoother but still so extremely rough Left to Right: Ron Little, Unknown, Don Sheppard that I was too fully occupied to allow use of any flap, with a threepenny chocolate." The town was almost and eventually arrived in a series of bounces worse deserted and they stayed the night at the damaged Hotel than any of my flying career, even of the earliest night Cecil. The next morning they refuelled and flew on to Port landings. I considered it next to impossible for all to Moresby, where the RAAF commander held them, on the land safely but mercifully, despite some hair-raising grounds that Air Force regulations would not permit them landings, no damage was done. to fly the single-engined Wirraways unaccompanied over Flying Officer Rank's aircraft became bogged beside the Coral Sea to Australia. Ron felt that the authorities the runway, sinking right down to the fuselage. The crews were hanging on to them to provide some defence against spent two hours ankle-deep in mud and water trying to a possible Japanese attack on the town. A few days later. raise it but were forced to abandon the attempt until the Wing Commander W. H. ("Bull") Caring happened to pass morrow. Rank commended Ron on his job of leading the through and Ron complained to him of their situation. Flights, and they learned that the turbulence was due to a Garing arranged for them to fly back via Horn Island to nearby cyclonic depression. Following a night's rest at the Townsville in the company of an Empire flying boat. hotel, they succeeded the next day, after long and difficult "Another reason for the paucity of my store of facts is labours, in extricating Rank's aircraft from the mud. that I had no opportunity to mull over the events with The crews were moved to new quarters in an others, since I was separated from the squadron at dawn abandoned school. Grossly overcrowded, no the next day and, except during the flight of Milne, me and stretchers nor even palliasses, very hot and plenty of our crews back to Townsville, I have never seen one of mosquitoes, Ron noted. Messing was arranged with the them," Ron noted. Back in Townsville again, those Army. On 19th February Ron learned that Darwin had returned from Rabaul suffered a prevalence of fever and a been raided that day, but it was another day before he general dispiritedness, but 'inside information' led the ascertained that it had been a very heavy attack by crews to believe that they would shortly be posted to escorted bombers. courses on the Kittyhawks which the Americans were now After days of inactivity, Ron made his first flight at supplying. Cairns on 23rd February, leading a formation of three

“Bill Milne was killed a few months later while flying a Kittyhawk was an urgent requirement and the Squadron returned to Bankstown, with No.75 Squadron in defence of Port Moresby. NSW, to re-equip with Vultee Vengeance dive-bombers. After the “By mid-March 1942, Nos. 75, 76 and 77 Squadrons were equipped terrible losses in Rabaul, the Wirraway was returned to the training role with P-40 Kittyhawks. By then. No.24 Squadron was based at Horn for which it had been intended, although small numbers were used in Island, flying Wirraways and Hudsons. It re-formed at Townsville in New Guinea on Army co-operation work, for which it was highly June 1942 under Squadron Leader J. R. Perrin, equipped with suitable. Wirraways and P-39 Airacobras, but the replacement of the Wirraways

190 AHSA Aviation Heritage

A right merry time we had today, Ron noted on 7th March. After practising squadron dive-bombing we shot up the town, all nine of us. The air was literally alive with Wirraways diving down independently onto military camps and houses, roaring along the main street and the beach and shooting up over roof-tops and telegraph poles. About half an hour we had of it, and we learnt later that it had been so realistic that many people had taken cover. We did another dive- bombing exercise during the afternoon, this time with Dave Rank leading, and a much more realistic affair he made of it than the morning flight under Flight Lieutenant Wright. On 8th March: Flew target aircraft this afternoon for a flight of three led by Ivan Crossing, practising flight Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress showing machine-gun damage to rear attacks, which I judged rather below our standard of fuselage from a Japanese fighter attack, Townsville, June/July 1942. Photo: P.h. Mathiesen former days at Townsville. A dog-fight followed in which Don Kelly and I tried ineffectually to get on each Wirraways in a shipping search off the coast. The patrol other's tails for some time. We seemed evenly yielded no result but Ron found flying over the Barrier matched. Word came through of the posting of almost Reef interesting, and commented on a seemingly all our ground personnel back to Townsville. endless string of sandy-looking shoals with here and The following day. Eight Kittyhawks landed, piloted there tiny patches showing above the surface and an by Americans, en route northward. Ray, Peter, Slim occasional larger one clothed in an intensely green and I had borrowed a boat to do some fishing in the Jungle growth. bay and, watching the Kittys take off in the distance Of the following day, he wrote, A scare today. Army we saw a great cloud of black smoke rise from the reported an aircraft carrier off the coast at Port 'drome. As we had surmised, a Kitty had crashed Douglas, 40 miles north. Three took off under Flight taking off and had completely burned out, but Lieutenant Wright as dive-bombers, I was under Dave fortunately the pilot received no serious injury. The Rank in a formation of three as fighter escort (sic!). others landed and are staying the night. I liked the No sign of anything more formidable than a tiny Americans: they seemed a quiet party on the whole, coastal steamer of perhaps 500 tons. some of them very young. A couple of days later, Ron found himself digging Bill Milne returned from Townsville tonight and I trenches for the dispersal of petrol drums - Shades of learned something of the reason for my posting to Rabaull. Then, first thing in the morning of 28th February, Moresby. It seems that four months ago I should have Ron learned from Slim Cahill, who had just returned from been transferred to Hudsons "for experience" in there, that orders promulgated in Townsville posted him to preparation for technical duties concerned with the Port Moresby with effect from 21st February. This bowls new D/F stations, but apparently Wing Commander me over, Ron wrote. Why ever have I been posted Lerew disregarded the order and it was never effected. there, of all places the one where I'd least like to go? Now, it seems, certain people are under the Only conclusion I can reach is that I'm to go as impression that I've been flying Hudsons, and have second pilot on a Hudson. This is most disturbing posted me to 32 Squadron accordingly. Well, I hope news. First, I'd nourished a very faint hope of being they alter it when they discover the mistake. posted south for a while, away from this detested At tea time on 10th March, Ron received instructions tropic climate, and where I might be able to see Val that he was to leave by train the next day for Townsville, occasionally. Secondly, I don't want to go onto whence he would proceed on posting. He accepted the Hudsons now that there seems a possibility of getting news disconsolately, as he wanted a posting to the onto a modern fighter. I asked Flight Lieutenant fighters which the other crew members were promised, Wright if he knew anything of the posting and he said whereas the posting to bombers did not appeal to him and no, and emphatically that he is not going to let me go. he disliked being sent to Port Moresby even more. Another piece of news from Townsville. We were On the train to Townsville, Ron recorded, 'E proibito all to be given courses on the Kittyhawk which has fumare.' That was the warning which met my been at Townsville, and the first two were already astonished gaze outside a petrol depot at Ingham. I having theirs when one of them. Flying Officer learned that the population of this town is 80% Italian, Wackett, damaged the craft when he omitted to switch quite a large proportion of whom cannot speak off a main generator. Result, the whole scheme has English. What a problem for us Just now! Even as we been abandoned on the ground that we don't deserve passed the police were busy trucking a large number a conversion course. of Italians apparently for transfer to an internment The crews changed quarters on 1st March, glad to camp. leave the old school for a two-storey boarding house on On his arrival at Townsville, Ron's posting to Port The Esplanade, right on the water-front. Here they had Moresby was first confirmed, then the next day the order the comforts of iron bedsteads with palliasses, electric was countermanded by Wing Commander Oaring, who light and showers at hand instead of having to walk a few had earlier arranged Ron's return from Moresby after hundred metres to the Militia's showers in the leaving Rabaul. Ron also saw Bruce Anderson and put Showground. The next day Ron took a Wirraway up in the his case to him, but received little hope of getting onto the afternoon for a test. Did a few aerobatics and felt a little desired Kittyhawk posting. Although the movement to out of touch, so little flying have I done recently, he Moresby was stopped locally, Ron was still officially wrote. posted to No.32 Squadron.

191 AHSA Aviation Heritage

On 17th March: Confirmation today of the proposed trip to Port Moresby with Wirraways. Our projected duty there entails climbing to 15,000 feet, to dive- bomb a target barely within our extreme range. Even with the fighter escort we are promised I think it’s a lot to expect of us, and I am not at all pleased at the prospect of being used as a guinea-pig for the second time in Wirraways. Surely those of us who came through the first trial deserve a chance to fight with something better. A day later: Under fire! Three flights went up for squadron dive-bombing practice, and as we came near the target and were commencing our approach dive I noticed a small dark cloud which looked not These USAAF Curtiss P-40 Kitty hawks at Townsville in June/July quite natural. Realisation came shortly, assisted by 1942 exemplify the build up of US forces in Australia after Japan's initial devastating attacks in the Pacific. Photo: via P.H.Mathiesen. the appearance of numbers of similar clouds, that the Garbutt presents a formidable appearance, with its A/A guns had opened up on us. We lost no time in warlike activity never dreamed of in the older days, diving away, and then came in along the approach Ron wrote. It’s heartening to see the great bombers lane for landing. going to and returning from their missions over New Thank goodness the Moresby project seems to Guinea, and to hear of their successes over Salamaua have been abandoned, at least for the present. I and Lae. It’s easy to credit their reputation of near­ believe there would be small chance of even one of us impregnability. The road to Townsville is crowded returning from the operation intended for us. I expect with traffic scurrying recklessly and dangerously to our programme will be one of intensive dive-bombing and fro. The town itself is busier than ever, there’s an practice while awaiting delivery of the new air of excitement, a reckless gaiety suggestive of the Vengeances. mining town. There are large numbers of Americans about the station, rendering messing arrangements so The Kittyhawks left Townsville for Port Moresby on difficult that the food standard has fallen very low. I 20th March and the next day: the Station’s first air raid feel ashamed that it should have to be offered to the alarm, and what a scatter! A Jap flying boat on visitors. I like these Americans, they’re a good- reconnaissance was over the ’drome for some time. I natured lot and very friendly. Two stopped the tender wonder if they knew our Kitties left yesterday. in which I was travelling the other night and asked in Back to patrols as at Rabaul, Ron wrote on 22nd the most casual way where they should go for these March, a most monotonous and wearing duty, flying goddamn whores! for two hours between 12,000 and 15,000 feet. As Flight Lieutenant Wright arrived from Cairns on 14th Wirras are officially not to be used for attacking March and Ron Little learned that all No.24 Squadron was enemy aircraft, this went down as altitude flying, the to return to Townsville. It seemed fairly certain that the idea being that if a reasonable target appeared and we Squadron was to get Vultee Vengeances before long, could by some means bring it down, there would be reputed to be very fast dive-bombers. Ron supposed that nothing but pats on the back. he would return to the Squadron. The next day he noted, Good news today of the work The following day he recorded, The climax is of 75 Squadron, sorely dampened however by the loss approaching: the Japs reached out yesterday and of Bruce Anderson. He and Bill Wackett are reported bombed Horn Island, their first target in Queensland. missing after a highly successful machine gun raid on Lae, We learn however that the Americans we saw at where a dozen aircraft were destroyed on the ground. Cairns last week shot down three ’Zeros’ and one A busy day. ’C’ Flight had to move farther afield bomber for the loss of one Kittyhawk. Bruce with our Wirraways, which meant clearing and Anderson has been posted to 75 Squadron, of preparing new positions for dispersal amongst the Kittyhawks, at last. He deserved it; I couldn’t trees. The heat is very trying and the dust even understand his being left flying Wirraways. worse. We now have to taxi a couple of miles to the No.24 Squadron's flights returned from Cairns and ’drome along a road covered much of the way by an 16th March was a busy day spent arranging the dispersal inch of fine white dust. of the Wirraways. I,believe there are thirty or so pilots Aub Walker came in tonight after a fortnight at with four or five hundred hours on Wirraways required Moresby. He gave me quite a lot of encouraging news for a new squadron, and some of us may be lucky of activity in New Guinea. The Fortresses have indeed enough to get in it. The difficulty is that our new C.O. been doing wonderful work there. declares he won’t let any of us go as it would break Then on the evening of 24th March: Disturbing news into his dive-bomber squadron. Yet I hold reasonable awaited me, that we were to move in a day or two, hope, having had 400 hours, experience at Rabaul, some to Groote Eyiandt and some to Normanton, the and Peter Turnbull on my side. I understand we’ll reported object being to smash invasion barges in an probably go to Moresby in about a week’s time, to use anticipated landing attempt on the southern Gulf our Wirras as dive-bombers - not an attractive coast. The idea is not at all attractive, but I suppose prospect. Wirraways could be used to advantage in such In the re-allocation of personnel to flights today I circumstances. fell to ’C’ Flight, under Pilot Officer ’Dizzy’ Davis. Am By the next morning, however, the plans had altered so quite pleased, for I like ’Diz’, and there are two other very good friends, Arthur Hodges and Norm ‘^"A wonderful leader and a very sad loss," Ron Little later recorded of Houghton. Bruce Anderson.

192 AHSA Aviation Heritage

The posting to Laverton was to start on 11th May, but in the meantime, Ron continued his routine. Visited Bill Poulton in hospital, he wrote of 25th April. He was badly smashed when his Short Empire Boat crashed. Was appalled to see the horseshoe contrivance used for stretching his leg. He said his good-byes and left Townsville on 30th April in an American B-17 for an interesting flight to Archerfield. / derived much amusement from crawling right back into the tail to occupy the rear gunner’s seat It's a lonely little world out there, behind even the tailplane, which looks like a Wirraway mainplane, and dominated by the vast rudder. An excellent view was to be had, and the twin .50s appended at the very end like the venomous antennae on the tail of a centipede lent a sense of comfort. The American pilot allowed me to fly the machine for an hour or so, a privilege which no Australian pilot has ever offered me in the flights I've Ray Harber (left) and Ron Little (right) at Townsville, in 1941. made in Hudsons. It's quite a stirring experience to Photo: V. Little look out beyond the motors to the great mainplane, that only 'B' Flight, with Davis and Dempster from 'C and to feel the vast, vibrant, live machine under one's and 'A' Flights, and the C.O. left for Normanton. Their hands for the first time, to find it responsive to one's duty is photographic reconnaissance of the Gulf own will. The pilot made a perfect landing, the touch­ coast. Why was this not done years ago, when down being imperceptible. squadrons such as 24 would have welcomed An hour after landing at Archerfield, Ron was suddenly something to do, instead of now, within a few days of seized by an attack of dengue fever. He continued to an invasion attempt which is expected? Sydney by train the next day but on reporting at We changed our quarters today to some houses at Woolloomooloo, was sent by the doctors by ambulance to Aitkenvale, an outlying suburb. We are to have for the hospital, where he spent five days. He reached Laverton time being breakfast and tea at the barracks and lunch on 15th May, to learn that his course. No.28, had been in the bush near our dispersed aircraft. It's certainly delayed, and he was given indefinite leave in Melbourne. good policy to get us dispersed thus, different He sent for Val and she arrived to join him a few days sections going to different parts of the town. later. On 29th March, Ron noted. Apparently we're still Exactly a month after he arrived in Melbourne, Ron guinea pigs, for in spite of an A.B.O. that Wirraways received a telegram instructing him to "Report Cressy are to avoid contact with enemy aircraft, two of us this earliest," apparently having been overlooked by 'the morning were ordered to intercept three twin-engined system' in the meantime. He finally reached the General machines reported approaching. However by the time Reconnaissance School at Cressy on 17th June, to learn we were ready to take off the 'enemy' had proved to be that his course had started two days earlier. The course our three Wirras which had gone looking for a consisted of 35 trainees but, although the studies presented no difficulties to him, Ron was determined to submarine yesterday and stayed at Cairns overnight. pay close attention and work hard as he was keen to top He was, however, granted 8 days' recreation leave and 4 the course. Val arrived in nearby Colac a week later and days' special leave for the Rabaul action, and he hurried went to live at the Victoria Hotel in Colac where all the Air off to Sydney to see his wife. Force wives and their husbands stayed, the men taking Ron returned to Townsville on 14th April, having been the bus which the Air Force provided out to Cressy each given a lift from Archerfield in a Hudson. Two days later, day. Ron was able to travel from the camp each night to the remainder of No.24 Squadron returned from join Val at the hotel. Normanton. The day after, Jim Summerton joined the The course ended two weeks early, on 21st August, Squadron. Summerton was a Sergeant who had seen when Air Board sent a list posting 28 Course service at Singapore in Buffaloes. On 23rd April: Flew to personnel all over Australia, mostly as staff pilots and Cairns today - carried instructions to Willmott to Ops. Room stooges. They alone know the reason, and investigate possibility of Japs having established it was quite a disappointment to me in several ways. stores and seaplane base in Princess Charlotte Bay, Firstly we were unable to finish the astro nav., and the as reported by Army. last week became a mad rush of examinations and I learned by accident this afternoon, Ron wrote on study. The last test, on Ship Recognition, was held on 24th April, that I'd been posted during my absence on our last day and we were unable to learn the results. leave, to Laverton General Reconnaissance School, Keith Stevenson told me in the evening that I had been presumably for an N/R course and then probably to go placed second, and that he thought I would be passed to Hudsons or Catalinas. It seems there's a with Special Distinction. I'm anxious to see my determined effort being made to get me to Hudsons by training card, PT2, to confirm this news. one means or another. I hardly know whether to be The two months at Cressy had passed very happily for pleased or disappointed, but on the whole I think I am Ron, with the exciting news that Val was pregnant. Ron glad. It's certainly a step forward, and should surely hoped for a posting to Cressy as an instructor on the open the way to a commission for me at last, also it completion of the course so he could be with his wife, as will provide a welcome break in the south. The there had been a call for volunteers for the GRS prospect of flying Hudsons however is not attractive, and I'll be sorry to break my partnership with Ray [Harber], and to leave other friends. '‘‘The course was topped by Sergeant Bill ("Chilly") Day, who had been a teacher before the war.

193 AHSA Aviation Heritage instructional staff and he had signified his willingness to be also here, for courses on Hudsons. posted there. However, he was posted to Bundaberg as a Dick and I got away from Bundaberg all right on navigation instructor. Friday, although a signal from Cressy tended even Ron arrived in Bundaberg on 27th August, and of his further to confuse the issue. It confirmed my posting new posting noted. I'll probably be surplus here shortly to E.D., but to 1 E.D. not 2 E.D. This was incorrect for, when two N.l. men arrive, and I gather that I'll probably although initially the movement order was made out to not be here more than two or three months. Tried my 1 E.D., it was later changed by the Equipment Officer hand at lecturing last Friday and although my first to 2 E.D. The C.O. eventually dropped the whole appearance on the platform was rather terrifying, I'm matter. I was jolly glad to get away from the place. gaining more confidence with experience." On 9th September he wrote, The shape of things to Earlier than expected, a posting order arrived on 2nd come grows more tangible, and one thing seems September for Ron to report on Monday, the 8th, to No.1 certain, that my ideas must undergo a considerable Operational Training Unit to begin a conversion course on change. I have to assume once more the outlook of Beauforts. He hoped to get away early and spend a the soldier, almost completely discarded for the last couple of days at home with Val, but as he prepared to get few months. This means fewer and less envious clearances, there arose a point which resulted for me in thoughts of home, a sorry necessity at this time. But one of the most unpleasant afternoons in many a day. already I notice an involuntary difference of attitude, The question arose, why I had not arrived until the induced by the promise of a strenuous time ahead and 27th when my movement order told me to report on of interesting work in mastering the new planes, the 24th. I used every argument I could muster with assembling a crew and achieving efficiency in the Adjutant, but to no avail, and finally I asked for a operations. It keeps my thoughts away from myself parade before the C.O. I explained that I had been and mine, and thus wards off loneliness to a great given two movement orders, one from Cressy to extent. Bundaberg, and a second from Cressy to Bradfield, Today we were issued flying clothing, had the latter having been made out at the last minute individual and group photographs taken, were when it was discovered that I would have to report to addressed by the C.O., and were introduced to the E.D. for tropical kit, and no mention of it made on the Beaufort. The C.O. gave a very frank talk on 'moral earlier order. The Adjutant said he could not let me go fibre'and stated significantly the consequences to any until the matter was cleared up, and the C.O. backed one found wanting that quality. He spoke well, and him up. Seldom have I known such a sense of appealed by his directness and the evidence of his frustration. A signal was sent to Bradfield and all the energetic control of this station, which has only been afternoon I clung to the hope that it would be operating three months. answered today, but in vain. Selection of a crew is not going to be easy. It is a Either I was badly out of sorts or this is the most matter for arrangement among ourselves, and already officious station I've ever struck. Everywhere I went I the majority seem to have teamed up. I was met trouble. Apart from the Adjutant and the C.O., I approached by three pairs of W.A.G.s and two had difficulty at the stores, then I ran foul of an L.A.C. Observers, but after talking with each I told them all at the hospital, and I even had a light brush with the that I would rather leave my decision to a later date M.O. All clearances signed, however. when we could know one another better. By the following day Ron finally abandoned hope of The next day, 10th September, he wrote. My first getting away from the station early. For sheer obstinacy acquaintance with the Beaufort in flight was made I think this case takes a prize. This morning while in today, and wholly satisfactory I found it. My instructor Accounting Section I noticed an issue voucher was absent so I went up with Jim Simpson and his recording the equipment issued to me at E.D., with a instructor, and we shared the time. Made one take-off note on the bottom that I had called there in and one landing, and had a little experience in accordance with a movement order from Cressy. handling and stalling. It's a fine feeling to have so Here, surely, was all I needed, so I showed it to the much power under one's control. The take-off and Accounting Officer, who took it to the Adjutant. The landing were pretty rough, but I should straighten that reply came soon enough, 'he cannot go until the out after a while. One feature I found a bit awkward is signal is received'. the position of the throttles on the right-hand side and No.1 OTU was located at Bairnsdale and Val moved the necessity of manipulating the stick with the left back from Sydney to Melbourne for the duration. Ron hand. Have had a long day, rising at 6.15 and noted that it seems to be the most business-like station finishing at 7 p.m. with an hour on the Link. I've seen for many a day. The station is greatly The following day: Today was disappointing in that I overcrowded and accommodation is not too good, waited most of the afternoon at the flight for nothing. with no receptacle of any kind for clothes. It promises My instructor hasn't turned up yet, 2 days A.W.L. I to work us pretty hard, with no leave whatever in the haven't selected my crew yet, although nearly course of eight weeks apart from one night a week. everyone seems to have made arrangements. The last Also, I'm told, a total of 150 hours to be flown. Am two gunners who approached me seem keen and back to the dormitory stage, quartered in a hut with 27 trying to keep themselves before my notice. They're others, mostly observers with perhaps half a dozen both young, 21 and fresh efface. pilots. I seem to be the only sergeant present from 28 After two days of rain, with poor visibility, on 14th N/R Course, although there are several officers. Dick September he noted: Was really able to try out the Ottaway and Rothery, our instructor at G.R.S., are Beaufort today, spent two hours doing circuits and bumps. Am quite pleased with the result and my instructor. Flight Lieutenant Handbury, seemed ‘-^Dick Ottaway joined Australian National Airways after the war and satisfied. became a check captain on Douglas DC-3s. He joined Qantas in 1957, A day later: A further two hours of circuits and became a captain on Boeing 707s, and retired in 1978.

194 AHSA Aviation Heritage

bumps, but very disappointing. My showing far beiow but I think it was probably at this point that I was able that of yesterday, although Handbury - promoted to look about for the cause, evidenced in the pressure today to Squadron Leader - did not seem displeased. I had to keep on the right rudder, and soon corrected A pleasant, rather small chap, he seems too young to for normal trim. It was hard to believe for a time, and I be a Squadron Leader. still account it next to a miracle that I got out of that Ron went solo on the Beaufort on 18th September. My dive. Had I gone only to 3,000 feet as I should first solo in a twin-engined plane I carried out without probably have done but for an unduly cautious much excitement, my strongest feeling being of relief afterthought, there would have been absolutely no and freedom, not to have someone watching for any chance. small omission. The first landing was excellent, the After this I ciimbed again to 4,000 to get more second fair, and the third and last very rough. Time single-engine practice, knowing that I'd know better before solo 10% hours, quite satisfying as it's a bit than to get into such a position again, and to remove better than the average. any bogey which might iurk if I left single-engine But then on 20th September he had a narrow escape. practice for a time. This was satisfactory and I It's an interesting, if strange, experience to see one's returned to the 'drome. One resuit of the experience is self dead. Death came so close to me this morning that I'm a better pilot for having been through it. that I can do just that. I can see the wreckage of a Ron quickly put his experience behind him, and on Beaufort placidly floating on the smooth water rising 25th September recorded, Night flying has begun and and falling to the gentle swell, and my own body with it, it seems, a strenuous period. Last night I was amongst it. It is another person who writes this, a flying till 3 a.m. and again tonight I'll be up from 9.30 detached being who watches with interest, but to 11. I was due to fly at 6.30 again this morning but dispassionately, the former me. For so nearly did I by great good fortune was relieved of the necessity come to grief that I can hardly appreciate the fact that I because my instructor wouid not be there. Had little escaped. I feel almost that this is but a dream, that I'll difficulty with my night landings, and went soio last wake up to continue the dive from its most critical night. point, that a Jesting Fate is only kidding me that I was Have finally agreed on my crew, and am well able to pull out. pleased. Alan Musgrave and Ian Garside the W.A.G.s, I have, of course, known moments in flying when although young and inexperienced, lack nothing of time has seemed suspended, when my heart has keenness. They kept themselves continually before ceased to beat while waiting ages for the hoped for my notice and made it difficuit for me to refuse had I response. But never have I thought positively, 'my wished to take some other two. Garside I like, fair, time has come, in a few moments Tm going to strike freckled, reserved and with an ingenuous, friendly the water at a high speed. What a pity to go like this, manner. Musgrave by comparison would seem my plane out of control and I don't know why.' I garrulous, but frank and open with it. A good worker, I imagine if I’m ever forced down by icing I'll know think, he should make a good member of the crew. somewhat the same feelings. I don't seem to have felt Very dark and rather small, he has bright eyes and a terrified, although no doubt my grip on the controls very ready smile. was anything but gentle. I gained quite a distinct Arthur Adolph, my observer, I account a real impression of the smoothness and blueness of the acquisition. A pharmacist in private life, I think he's water, and I think this even pleased me. And I'm sure I really reliable and capable. I'm certain I'ii get on well felt a little regretful. with Arthur. I was on my third solo flight, and after a few Whatever next! he wrote on 30th September. I'm circuits the landings were so disappointing that I went getting so that I'll not try to guess my future off to do some general flying. Ciimbing to 4,000 feet movements at all. Today the whole situation has been over the sea I cut one motor to practise single-engine transformed for me, and with the effects of a few flying, and followed it quickly with the correct drinks with the boys I feel incapable even of trimming procedure. A few moments and i found the wondering how the wheels work. A Flight Sergeant, a craft difficult to handle, and reached down to reduce a Pilot Officer and a 'shiny' ali in the one afternoon! little the left rudder bias I had applied. Without Simultaneous notification had come through of Ron's realising my error I turned the trimming control the promotion to Flight Sergeant, effective from 1st August, wrong way and so gave it more left bias, and I could and then to Pilot Officer, with effect from 25th September' not understand the resulting reaction. The plane as well as a posting to a staff pilot position with the started into a spiral dive which I couldn't quite master, Directorate Of Signals at Air Force Headquarters in so I made the almost fatal mistake of cutting the Melbourne. second motor. This succeeded only in accentuating It's all a bit bewildering, I hardly know what to the difficulty since now the plane was heavily biased think. Promotion of course to commissioned rank is and the pull on one side which it was intended to gratifying, but not exciting. The glamour has worn off counteract was not there. Thus there was a seriously somewhat with fifteen months as a Sergeant. As for unbalanced condition and in a short time I was in a the change of company, the prospect doesn't impress screaming spiral dive. Heavy pressure on the right me, for although I think that, apart from a few glaringly rudder and fuii right aileron seemed unable to control unjustified instances, the selection of officers from it and all I could see was water. I had given up hope training courses is reasonabiy well done, it is true that when I saw that the worst was passing, that there was my most highly respected friends of the last year or so noticeable effect on the controls and I began to have all been Sergeants. And this is not for the want wonder if there were a chance of pulling out in time. I of contact with officers, for as a pilot I've been was spurred to greater efforts and miraculously the associated quite a lot with them and fairly closely. best happened and I gradually gained control, with This is the first opportunity I've had of observing at perhaps 100 feet to spare. I can't remember very weli. close hand the observers as a whole, and I've found

195 AHSA Aviation Heritage them a most interesting group. A more uniformly was called "Christine", in honour of Ron's baby daughter. friendly and well educated body it would be hard to On 25th March 1943, he was promoted to Flying Officer. meet in the RAAF. Ever the professional engineer, Ron's work was always I feel a very real regret at leaving my crew, and meticulous and carried out thoroughly, and he was happy Arthur Adolph in particular. I believe we’d have made in this job because he was flying. a very good team. Ron Little was a very non-conformist, Tests of the cathode ray equipment continued over the individualistic person and his promotion to Pilot Officer did following months. On 10th June, Ron carried out an air not affect his outlook. When he gained officer rank, he calibration on General Blarney's Lockheed Hudson, A16- wouldn't go to the officers' mess: he thought there were 99. Then on 29th June he was attached to Point Cook for some good things about being an officer but there was a Beam Approach Course, which he completed on 8th much he didn't like; he preferred being with the proletariat. July. Following that, it was back to testing equipment, He was very worried about people calling him "Sir", but he punctuated on 11th August by attending a conference on got used to it. "ZZ" procedures, where agreement was reached on a His new posting to the Directorate Of Signals at standard pattern. Ron travelled to Sydney for a Navigation Victoria Barracks in Melbourne was due to his background Conference, Eastern Area, on 23rd August, and met with with the PMG, which had a close association with the Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) for discussions on RAAF during the war. His Commanding Officer was the manufacture of special equipment. On his return to Squadron Leader A. L. Hall, a former officer in the PMG. Melbourne three days later, he was informed he was being Others in the unit were Flight Lieutenant Madden, Pilot sent to Merauke to install a Cathode Ray Direction-Finding Officer Matthews, Flight Lieutenant Doug Anderson and station there. Corporal Smith. In 1943, Ron's daughter Christine was born. Merauke D/F Station Ron's new duties involved measuring the strength of transmissions from the RAAF's radio navigation aids, In mid-1942, American engineers had begun to evaluating the "ZZ" controlled approach and let-down construct an airfield at Merauke, a desolate marshy little procedures, researching the effects of different aerials, port in Dutch New Guinea, which was still occupied by conducting calibration tests of the high frequency Japanese forces. Before the work was completed, the direction-finding stations and equipment, and general engineers were needed for more urgent work elsewhere development of radio aids and procedures. Usually flying and were withdrawn. In 1942, the RAAF's No.40 Radar Beauforts, he travelled all over Australia to install or Station was sent to Merauke, which is 180 nautical miles inspect these radio facilities. From January 1943 his work from Horn Island, and during that year and early 1943 also involved some secret research with the Americans at frequently detected enemy aircraft, both singly and in Victoria Barracks on cathode ray tube development, an formations, approaching the area. The newly-formed advance which was incorporated into the direction-finding No.72 Wing Headquarters, RAAF, moved to Merauke on stations to enable the signals to be detected at a greater 28th April 1943 to occupy it as an air operations base. range The piece of equipment they were working on The airfield was at last completed at the end of June and within a few days 23 Kittyhawks of No.86 Squadron had arrived there to provide fighter defence for the base. ‘^Direction-finding stations provided navigation assistance to aircraft By this stage, there were 700 men of the RAAF and 3,500 which were unsure of their position. The aircraft's radio operator would clamp down the Morse key and send a signal for the ground station to Australian Army personnel at Merauke. By the end of locate on; the station would then transmit back a bearing from it by September 1943, enemy activity in the Merauke-Torres which the aircraft could resume its navigation. The RAAF first used Strait area was slight but the Merauke airfield then Radio Direction Finding equipment to provide radio navigation aid for became useful for staging aircraft to carry out bombing the competitors in the 1934 MacRobertson London-Melbourne Air race. attacks on Dutch New Guinea. Although in these later In 1935 a Bellini-Tosi DF station was established by the RAAF at stages they had only a relatively slight contact with the Launceston for the Civil Aviation Branch. A direction finding station enemy, the Australians at Merauke helped secure the was established at Darwin early in 1936, and in 1937 the RAAF flank of General MacArthur's forces. established a general-purpose DF installation at Laverton, using Bellini- A year, to within a fortnight, since his last diary entry, Tosi equipment. The closed loop Bellini-Tosi system was subject to Ron Little resumed his recording. On 20th September "night effect", which was produced by a change of polarisation caused 1943, he wrote. Here I start on a new venture. Arrived by changing conditions of the Heaviside layer during night time, in Brisbane today en route for Merauke for installation particularly at dawn and dusk, which rendered the signals unreliable. In of a C.R. D/F. The cathode ray direction-finding 1938, Marconi Adcock direction finding stations were installed at RAAF Richmond, Pearce and Laverton by Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) equipment was manufactured in Australia by Ltd. The Adcock system featured four vertical mast aerials seventy feet Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd, and on mainland in height, spaced on a square, which overcame the problem of night sites was installed by the PMG, while in the northern effect by picking up only the vertically polarised waves, thus giving islands installation was by the RAAF's radio installation steady DF bearings under all conditions of polarisation. and maintenance units. Why Ron was selected instead of one of the specialist RAAF radio units to install the ‘^The RAAF learned in 1935 of British development work on cathode Merauke station is not known. ray high frequency direction finding equipment and, although it was still it’s been a comfortable year, fighting the war from on the secret list, it was recommended for installation at Darwin, Groote the far south and rejoicing in my good fortune to be Eylandt, Karumba, Townsville, Brisbane and Sydney for the Empire Air able to live with Val and Christine, he continued. Mail services operated by Qantas. These stations formed the basis of a Another factor which has had an important influence network used by the RAAF in World War 2 and cathode ray high frequency equipment was first introduced at Laverton in early 1941. in my life has been my promotion to commissioned Over the next three years, a total of 72 cathode ray high frequency rank and posting to Directorate of Signals. Being now direction finding stations was installed by the RAAF throughout a Flying Officer, conditions in the Air Force have Australia and the islands to the north, making the largest chain of its changed a great deal for me. I enjoy the added kind in the world. The equipment was manufactured in Australia by Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd, and on mainland sites was installed by the PMG, while in the northern islands installation was by the RAAF's radio installation and maintenance units.

196 AHSA Aviation Heritage prestige attaching to the rank, while yet disapproving messman. strongly of the system which makes that possible. On 30th September, Ron noted. Advice from 72 Wing Yes, there is a great difference between the lives of a no motor transport available, and request to bring own sergeant and an officer. In the latter class I don't have tentage and camp on site, Discussed with Wing to resent the subservience of the N.C.O. to the officer, as though the latter were a superior class of being. I am convinced that rigid discipline and unquestioning obedience to the orders of a superior are essential to the effective prosecution of the war, and my complaint is directed rather against the stupidity which makes war possible, and against the arrogance of numerous men of quality by no means outstanding who assume unto themselves airs of superiority over others who, partly because the system of selection depends on the personal characteristics of those entrusted with the selection, have not been considered the 'officer type'. For myself, I'm ready to admit, even The construction team for the RAAF Direction-Finding Station at MeraukeJ943, led by Ron perhaps to claim, that I'm not the Little. Photo: R.C.G.Little 'officer type', being rather deeply Commander Read, and decided to take Townsville imbued with the spirit of democratic liberty and personnel, and on arrival signal requirements. Air freedom from restraint of any person by another. I Transport advised about 1400 hours planes available disliked addressing officers, for many of whom I had tomorrow. no respect, as 'Sir', and I dislike being myself They took off from Garbutt at 0600 hours on 1st addressed in the same way by men in the ranks less October and landed at Merauke about noon, having fortunate than I. And I still resent the necessity of stopped at Cooktown and Horn Island to refuel. Ron met using 'Sir'with officers of senior rank. the C.O. at Merauke, Group Captain Walters, and The twelve or more months I spent as a Sergeant contacted the Royal Australian Engineers to organise no doubt were a chastening influence and did me transport. For that he was told to contact Major Thomas of much good, keeping my humility which might the United States Army, who referred him to Lieutenant otherwise quite easily have lost ground. Now I have a Swomley of the U.S. 126th S.R.I. Detachment. Taken to job with some responsibility, and have come to inspect their D/F set, similar to RAAF D.T., but giving appreciate the carefree life I led as a Sergeant Pilot. trouble with poor minima, Ron wrote, Am not Ron left Melbourne on 16th September with Sergeant surprised since no ready facilities available for Kelly on the Spirit Of Progress and the dramas began balancing, and no attempt made to achieve this. almost immediately. On arrival in Sydney they discovered Dipoles can be adjusted, but only with the aid of stand that their tool cases had not been loaded on the train and ladder or such. Saw also D.T. set, position not by any had apparently not left Melbourne. Enquiries over the next means ideal. He also learnt that LAC MacGlashan had two days disclosed that the Railways had no record of the been off-loaded at Horn Island, but his remaining 8 men cases, yet when they arrived in Brisbane they found that from 1 R.P.P, had arrived, with the transportable hut and their tools had arrived. In Brisbane Ron arranged for the 53 bags of cement. PMG to make additional surveying pegs, and organised Over the next few days, he toured the coastal area, the local purchase of various supplies. The receiver had trudging through swamp and submerged paddy fields, and not yet arrived at No.3 Stores Depot, and the formwork for examined every possible location for the D/F station but the construction would not be ready until the end of the with most unpromising results. He examined the area month. The aerial system had been due to leave No.2 from the air in a D.H.84 Dragon and found nearly all of it Stores Depot in Sydney on 17th September, but despatch covered in water. My present Job is installation of a details were incomplete and it could not be found. C.R. D/F at Merauke - and what a Job! he wrote on 9th Ron made preliminary arrangements for air transport of October. The whole area is unsuitable for such an the equipment and supplies (including cement and petrol) installation, consisting as it does of swamp and padi to Merauke, and received assurance that the generator fields broken only by narrow, parallel ridges of dry units were already there. The dimensions and weight of a ground. Practically all these have roads built on them, transportable power hut were obtained by borrowing one and accommodate the numerous units of the not from the Main Roads Board. On 26th September he inconsiderable force located here, They are too travelled by Lockheed Lodestar to Townsville, where he narrow, in any case, for my purpose, and extensive found that the power hut had not yet arrived from Cairns. filling in of swamp would be involved in any attempt to It arrived at Garbutt two days later, and Ron was making utilise them. good progress with his materials. However, arrangements For myself I am satisfied that the only site which for air transport had still not been finalised, and 72 Wing can reasonably well fulfil my requirements is in an Headquarters informed him that it would be necessary to open field adjacent to the road between the township take a cook and a messman with his party and to make bis and Independent Knoll, portion of King Field, in fact. I own messing arrangements. A cook was found but no

197 AHSA Aviation Heritage have examined the area carefully after heavy rains and natives working on access road. Latter very slow. found considerable areas which were free of water. I Saw Lieutenant Miles, arranged borrow adzes, saw, could have an area about 35 feet In radius built up to a etc., from 16 Field Company. Agreed get logs cut height of two or three feet and graded off to ground tomorrow if possible and have Ensign Hoover [US level over the next 20 feet of radius, with a 2- or 3-foot Navy] place in position with crane on Sunday [17th mound at 250 yards south for the power supply, and October]. Bulldozer may be able to work on road on narrow tracks on the cardinal radii. Instead of the Monday. usual small cement 5® markers I could use wooden With half his party working on building the bridge and stakes rising about 2 feet above ground level. the remainder preparing the camp, Ron wrote. When This, I am sure. Is the most readily practicable Navy was about to load some decking planks onto our project, but the American Major Thomas, who Is in truck (borrowed from 12 Squadron), it was taken away charge of all engineering works in the area, and who for shipping out of Merauke. Much difficulty in represents the only body with facilities for doing the obtaining another truck through Squadron Leader work of building up. Is unwilling to undertake any Moffat, eventually at 1430 truck from 86 Squadron such work while there is a possibility of my having turned up, on loan for one week. Asked Squadron overlooked any area which will more readily answer Leader Moffat to approach Brigadier for allocation of my requirements. transport. These interruptions through dependence Thus, at his instigation I went this morning out on others cause very serious delays. onto the Mangattrick Road, and tramped for nearly three hours across swamps and creeks and grass­ land under a broiling sun. When I reached inhabited land again 1 made straight for the camp of the RAAF Field Survey Party, the only RAAF unit in the area rationed by the Americans. I had on a previous visit been given a drink of grapefruit juice there, and my tongue was hanging out for another. Yes, I had it again all right, drank a large mug of it without noticing, then a further mug and a half before being satisfied. Ron talked to Major Thomas late that evening and assured him that King Field was the best available site for the installation. Thomas then agreed to do the necessary clearing and filling work, providing six dump trucks and building a culvert over a drain and a road to the site. He hoped to borrow the U.S. Navy's power shovel to take out the required earth. With the concurrence of Group Captain Walters, Ron approached the Army's Brigadier Stephenson to request the use of men on the filling and road-making work. Stephenson agreed to carry out the work, and Ron set about marking out the site and the access road. However, when Ron saw Major Thomas late that night to find out when the Americans might be able to start work, he indicated he did not know and was not interested. On 12th October Ron prepared a report for Air Force Headquarters, after consulting with Group Captain Walters. He now had to wait for Brigadier Stephenson to arrange commencement of the filling work, but the The RAAF High-Frequency Direction-Finding Station at Merauke following day six Douglas aircraft arrived from Archerfield in 1944. Photo: R. Little with the signals equipment and eight personnel. Cable In spite of these problems, the logs and decking were and netting placed in open at 44 O.B., tools and hauled to the bridge site and the following day the bridge portion of receiver in O.B. tent, pre-fab hut and aerial was completed with the aid of the US Navy's crane. A system, paint, etc., stacked in Wing yard. Natives bulldozer crossed the bridge and began pushing up earth being put to initial work preparing road tomorrow, our for the road foundation, working all night and making rapid men to clear brush following day. progress. But then Major Thomas visited late that night Accommodation for the men from Brisbane was a and said that he was unable to provide trucks to carry the problem, there being great difficulty in finding suitable filling. When informed of this. Brigadier Stephenson sites for the tents. Transport was another bugbear, but asked Group Captain Walters to provide four trucks, to be Ron was assured of transport for the whole time, to be filled by the American drag-lines and unloaded by natives, achieved by borrowing from units in turn, a week at a in practice, though, only three trucks engaged in the time. hauling work. Also on the 15th, Ron recorded: Party moved to 44 On 22nd October, Ron recorded good progress with O.B. after lunch. Facilities far from adequate. Own the road, and the survey of the site had commenced. showers, latrines, etc., must be built. No timber Camouflage officers inspected site, decided available for flooring. Will have to put up with many camouflage almost impossible. Deeply angered when inconveniences for some time, and gradually improve Equipment Officer threatened to remove equipment conditions. from stores tent if I failed to do so by tonight. Entire Examined logs for bridge with Bill Richards, also lack of co-operation most disheartening. To avoid too

198 AHSA Aviation Heritage

much unpleasantness I had it removed to one of our completely filled and over much of the circle nearly out to tents but unless we get a store hut built shortly this 30 feet. will be required for remainder of party. Slowly the work continued. The insulators were Weather keeping fine, no rain in last fortnight, site ground to fit the masts, a difficult process. The north and in excellent condition. Soil exceedingly difficult to south masts were erected and approximately plumbed. work, heavy grey clay into which a shovel can barely On 1st December the east mast was erected, while be driven. Water at about 2 feet 6 inches depth. carpenters worked on putting together the power hut, the The prefabricated hut was taken to the site on 25th concrete floor of which was poured on the 2nd. A day October and erected as a storehouse. The three dump- later the last mast, the west, was erected during the trucks, two from the Army and the other RAAF, continued morning. But then the power cable was found to be 20 work on the road. All the trenches were prepared for metres short of the length ordered, causing another casting the mast piers, and the assembly of the formwork problem. On 7th December Ron recorded; Laying and began. Then heavy rain filled the trenches, which had to jointing earth mat, erection of building. Commenced be pumped out, but the concrete foundation for the first jointing gauze for hut screening - a long process, mast pier was poured on 30th October, an important step. about 200 feet spot soldered at about V^z-inch intervals. After a theodolite check of the reference pegs, the base The work continued through December. The roof of plate was set. The next day another mast pier was cast the building was completed, switchboards were installed, the filling work rolled on in three shifts but the trucks turned up in a haphazard manner, and building of the central aerial began. On the 15th of the month, Ron went for a flight in a D.H.84 Dragon to photograph the D/F hut and site, and survey a route for a telephone line. D/F very conspicuous from air, he noted. On the 18th, screening of the building began, but the hauling of earth fill was still very eratic. Construction of the power hut got under way on 20th December and copper sheeting was laid and soldered on the floor of the D/F hut. Measured distances from central aerial to masts, found 5/8- inch difference east and west, 3/16-inch difference north and south. Aerial will have to be moved. Two days later: Borrowed 10-wheeler truck from O.B. Transport for towing improvised plough. Excellent results, nearly 100 radial wires ploughed in. The swampy conditions faced by the RAAF personnel constructing the But then on 28th December; Discovered before Merauke Direction-Finding station in 1944 are clearly evident in this leaving in the morning that the receiver had been photograph. Photo: R. Little removed from shelter in the old mess. Enquired and the base plate aligned accurately. Foundations for on whose authority and informed that it was the hut were also poured, and trenching for the power and C.O.’s. Approached C.O. and informed him that I felt telephone cables continued. Very heavy rain over the next compelled to complain in higher quarters, He couple of days slowed progress, but more personnel protested that equipment had been placed under arrived on 3rd November, along with the receiver, cables overhanging roof edge and had corrugated iron and other equipment. The south mast pier was cast on placed on top, but as found it was completely in the the 4th and the power cable trench completed, and a day open and had no iron upon it: later the north mast pier was cast. However, a theodolite Later report by W.O.D. claimed that receiver had check of the earlier-placed base plates showed they were been left as described by C.O. and that subsequently out of alignment, the piers apparently having moved, and visiting Radar airmen had moved it to provide more they had to be filed to correct the alignment. sleeping room and had removed the iron for stopping By 9th November, the mast base plates were finally set a roof leak. and theodolite readings taken. Thirty 272° earth stakes The receiver and power rack were taken to the site on had been placed and work began on the slow process of 30th December, and placed in the hut by crane in the late digging ten 272° radials to 250 feet. On 13th November afternoon. Receiver apparently unaffected by rain, Ron the men commenced laying the earth mat, with an outer wrote, but power unit seems to have suffered circular wire and a north-south line begun, working somewhat. Water had leaked through malthoid eastward to the edge. Heavy rain continued, damaging packing, most of the components were covered with the road, and their pump broke down as the trenches filled beads of moisture, the painted surfaces showed with water. Storms every day hampered work but by 21st blistering, mildew, corrosion. Considerable work and November they had begun soldering the joints of the earth care was involved in stripping and cleaning all panels of mat and filling in the power cable trench. The following the power rack after the rain damage but no irreparable day, Army trucks commenced bringing in filling material harm had been done. The diesel power plants were still but repeatedly became bogged, causing much delay. not available but Ron borrowed a motor generator set. On Ron wrote on 29th November, Many difficulties with 1st January 1944, the power supply was tested with a aerial equipment, insulators will not fit over masts, temporary connection from the too-short cable to the large cast iron washers do not fit recesses in base switchboard. plates; holding down bolts too short, new ones will Over the next few days, further adjustments were have to be cut. In addition, the road was being badly made of the receiver and power unit. Numerous faults damaged by heavy traffic and constant rains, and needed were found which delayed progress. The telephone line continual repair. However, the centre of the site was now was commenced, with the men working in places to waist

199 AHSA Aviation Heritage depth in swamps, in grass head high, and beset by were found. Checks continued, and on 9th February the innumerable and vicious ants. Two telephones obtained first of the installation's operators, LAC Perry, reported for from Wing, faulty. A final section of power cable was run duty. Some of the trouble was eventually traced to to allow a proper connection of the switchboard. moisture within the chambers of the masts, while dust in The frustrations continued. On 9th January: Kelly and the coils was the cause of further problems. self worked after lunch dismantling C.R. unit for fauity Calibration of Range 1 was completed on 12th condenser. Faulty potentiometer found in i.F. February and then checks on Range 2 commenced. osciiiator circuit. The following day; Faulty condenser In C.R. circuit replaced, with considerabie difficuity owing need for dismantling C.R. unit and intricate assembiy of same. Fauit still evident, however, and careful analysis ieads to conviction that new condenser aiso is fauity. No facilities for testing small condensers, and can only try another. No spares provided, so have to reiy on Radar for these replacements. Further work on receiver, Ron wrote on 13th January. Have succeeded in getting a trace on the screen, but stili severai adjustments to be made. Much difficulty with trimming condensers, short circuits apparently due to dust. Unable disassemble coil assemblies. bakelite bases seem to have swolien and stuck. Adjusting and calibrating continued, but Aerial view of the site Photo.R. Little progress was still slow, held up by intermittent Range 2 was pronouncedly more stable than Range 1. faults. Very serious difficuities encountered in inabiiit^^ Errors no greater than 1.5°, sensing very good. Two to balance aerial systems over large part of Range f days later, Ron sent a signal to North Eastern Area and Short-circuiting mast base condensers, however, Air Force Headquarters stating that ground calibration was permits balance over range with occasional use of not completed but that the station was ready for air additional 100 pf. condenser. Finally, with all external calibration and service as soon as operators were work completed, the work party men from Townsville available. departed by air on 21st January. But problems persisted. On 19th February: Complete After much experimentation, on 28th January: A day disappointment, arrangements briefly tested of great disappointment, Tried almost every yesterday proved unsatisfactory. Experimented with conceivabie combination of capacity and resistance every arrangement I could conceive, including use of for Range 1 sensing network but none gave correct a single aerial with various phasing networks, and sense indication over the whole range. inclusion of condensers in aerial leads before I started work with a conviction that the only connection for sensing. Nothing gave satisfaction. possible solution to the sensing probiem was use of Further tests brought the equipment to a good different networks for different frequencies, and of a standard in all but a small frequency band near 11 Mc/s, rotary switch to perform this change, This was and Ron decided to abandon the attempt to rectify this last attempted, but it was found that at about 6 Mc/s no problem and leave it deficient in that small section. In the combination of impedances would give satisfactory course of his investigations he had discovered many sensing. In fact, at this frequency, voitages were so interesting and significant facts about the operation of the high, apparently because of a resonance of the aerial equipment but he had no means of overcoming them. pair, that even with the input primary disconnected Two more operators, Rees and Montgomery, arrived on altogether from the sense pair, a considerable signal 25th February as calibration and rectification of faults appeared in the sense ampiifier by reason of continued. capacitive coupiing between the various ieads. The station went into operation on 1st March 1944 at 8 An attempt was then made to employ the 250 pf a.m., with services initially limited to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. condensers in the aeriai leads at the receiver, and this A day later the last two frequencies were calibrated and showed promise of achieving results. At this stage it the operators received their final instructions. Ron flew was decided to attempt the use of the central aerial for out of Merauke on 4th March, stayed overnight at sensing. With no phasing resistor this appeared, on Townsville and then flew on to Brisbane by Douglas. He preliminary check, to give fairly good results over was granted a welcome 14 days' leave and left for Sydney Ranges 1 and 2 with, however, a tendency to too littie by train. sensing signal. When Ron Little returned from Merauke, he was very More setbacks followed but Ron believed he was on sick from tropical ulcers and dengue fever He was the right road. But while results were good over large hospitalised when he came back and his wife commented, parts of the frequencies, disturbing errors of up to +5° "I never saw him in good health after that, yet he had been a very strong young sportsman and a champion swimmer ‘^Because of variations in high frequency reception at different times of and surfer." the day, and their effects on bearings, it was necessary that the frequency In April Ron returned to Laverton, continuing used should be changed accordingly through the day in order to give development work on D/F aerial systems. Then he left for accurate homing bearings at a distance of 100 miles from the station. Port Moresby to attend a course at the Loran school there, Although mainly used for homing over short distances, the network was the course lasting from 26th June to 8th July, His also used as an aid to long distance navigation over thousands of miles, promotion to Flight Lieutenant became effective from 1st particularly with Catalina operations.

200 AHSA Aviation Heritage

July 1944. On 26th July he flew to Lake Boga with having already been told how much money (never Squadron Leader Kalwig for the installation of a LORAN enough!) had been allotted to them. By 1948 Ron Little prototype in a Catalina, but then his Air Force service was the Divisional Engineer of Chatswood External Plant, suddenly ended. with an office staff of twelve and over a hundred field staff. Ron was summoned back to Sydney at the end of July Short-term expediency in the PMG doubled the telephone 1944, a year before the war finished, at the request of the output but Ron did his own main cable relief planning and PMG. Although he was not officially discharged from the his professionalism saw him working to longer-term plans, RAAF until 13th June 1945, the PMG had such a close providing proper resources for the future. His foresight in operating relationship with the RAAF Signals section that building future capacity proved to be of great value to the they had no trouble securing Ron's services. Sydney had PMG in later years. practically doubled its population in the five years since Ron introduced the concept of joint use construction, in the war began and the PMG had to start making plans to an endeavour to speed up phone installations for new cope with this increase. The telephone system was in subscribers. His plan involved sometimes delicate chaos, having been neglected during the war, and was negotiations with Councils, water or gas authorities so that plagued with outdated equipment and old-fashioned all the organisations could co-ordinate their work if a road methods. Telephones for the business community were had to be opened up somewhere, or jointly utilise an urgent requirement and politicians were exerting great telegraph poles to string wires, for example, Ron pressure on the PMG to repair, upgrade and expand the established a special team to handle this work, and it telecommunications system. Ron and his family arrived proved to be a very cost-effective and efficient manner of from Melbourne and immediately faced the problem of providing a telephone service to subscribers. He also finding somewhere to live. Housing was scarce, there established Joint Use Standards with the Sydney County were no materials for building new houses, nor money for Council. borrowing to buy one, and there were queues for Safety was always a paramount concern. The vast everything. Eventually, with the help of Val's mother, majority of the PMG's staff were ex-Servicemen, who had accommodation was found. been drilled with safety and who carried out all work with a Without having had time to properly recover his health, definite system and precision. Ron was plunged into working on the PMG's underground There was a huge demand for cable jointers and Ron cabling requirements, a field completely divorced from the started an on-the-job training scheme where bright young highly-specialised technical experience in electronics and men trained as jointer's assistants under the tutorship of radar he had gained during the war. The PMG divided the experienced jointers. So he persevered at the PMG, Sydney area into four and Ron was responsible for which was moving into the new materials, such as plastic, telephone installations in the north-western quarter. which had been developed during the war and Ron loved flying and wanted to continue after the war, revolutionised the system. Epoxy resin encapsulated but opportunities in aviation were limited and there was a joints protected and simplified the connections of lines, surfeit of former Service pilots chasing limited openings and Ron ran his own school for the training of jointers in with the airlines. Some airmen continued to fly privately, the methods and safety precautions necessary. One of but Ron had very little money and, in any event, he was his engineers, Heinz Berglas, with the help of a private overloaded with his work on the telephone system. With firm, developed a system using very high-pitched tones for the end of the war, thousands of newly-discharged identifying the correct plastic cables among the dozens Servicemen were going into business. Tradesmen, shops, bundled together into larger cables. houses, flats, new buildings, all required new telephone Meanwhile, Ron was also trying to finish his connections and everyone expected a telephone as a engineering exams at Sydney University, and the right, the same as they expected water, gas and electricity relentless pressure of work took its toll. In 1954 he began connections. Unfortunately the PMG was simply not building his dream house, but at that time he developed geared for the onslaught of this telephone boom: the ulcers and his health, which had suffered ever since he telephone exchanges lacked the necessary capacity, returned from Merauke, began a gradual decline. At work junction cables were few, and the main cables were Ron had gradually been promoted and, in spite of the inadequate. Areas controlled by Divisional Engineers limitations of a promotional system based on seniority, were far too large for them to administer properly and the had built a good team in his section and he had always situation was completely out of hand. been rewarded by their loyalty. He was an innovative, The first step to solve the problems was the formation long-term planner who pushed the bureaucratic system to of a Primary Works organisation. This was to provide its boundaries. His family, and working on his house, main conduits, main cables and junction cables, and building stonework walls and native gardens, sustained establish distribution areas for the relief of future him but eventually, in the early 1960s, his health declined subscribers. The other thrust was to reduce the areas further and he was invalided out of the PMG in early controlled by the Divisional Engineers to more retirement. manageable proportions, such that what had been the REFERENCES responsibility of one Divisional Engineer now became the A Saga of Achievement - The RAAF Radio Story responsibility of two, and sometimes three. by Group Captain E.R. Hill ,Bonall Publishing, 1978 The PMG's Planning Division was responsible for Australia In The War Of 1939-1945, Royal Australian Air Force 1939-1942 planning relief cables and conduits for the metropolitan by Douglas Gillison, Australian War Memorial, 1962. areas, and compiling Works Programs for men, money and materials for the present, three years, and eight years Australian Air Force Since 1911 by N.M Parnell & C.A. Lynch ,A. H. & A. W. Reed Pty Ltd. 1976. into the future. The Divisional Engineers were requested to draw up their own Works Programs, in most cases Bloody Shambles by Christopher Shores and Brian Cull, with Yasuho Izawa, Grubb Street, 199 '"^LOng Range Air Navigation system, another radio aid to navigation. Pulse transmissions were made from ground stations and the time These Are Facts intervals between transmission and reception were measured and by Air Marshal Sir Richard Williams, Australian War Memorial, 1977. converted to distances to give the aircraft's position.

201 AHSA Aviation Heritage

Talkback Fred Fox, The Woomera and Test Pilots. Comments by Keith R. Meggs In Volume 30 Number 4 of Aviation Heritage’, Greg The slats and a dihedral tailplane on the CA-11 Banfield’s article on Cedric (Fred) Fox was an excellent improved its handling characteristics massively, in about and informative piece. The Fox period at A.P.U. (Aircraft 19 hours of test flying at CAC before it was handed over to Performance Unit) included a flight in the CA-11 (A23-1) R.A..A.F. for type tests. Woomera bomber on 18 June 1945. He made the

comment “It was a shaky old machine which ran out of Test-pilot qualifications elevator control and brought on a landing in a nose-down Possibly the most important factor militating against attitude”. He concluded “No wonder it was never any our early aircraft development was that there were no good!” I feel this condemnation was unwarranted. qualified test pilots in the industry, nor, with the exception The aircraft concerned was an almost new pre- of one or two with a modicum of experience, in the RAAF. production prototype with very few hours on it. The control The only civil pilots with experience to meet the limited characteristics were recorded as being satisfactory, with requirements for employment in a testing post were from the exception that elevator effectiveness was brief RAAF and Moth instructional backgrounds, or from progressively lost In the landing configuration as speed airlines equipped with aircraft from Dragons to DC-2's. was reduced below 90 knots, from an approach speed of They had no knowledge of, nor training for, test flying and 100 knots with power off. Power-off stall in landing evaluation procedures, and no experience of quantitative configuration was 74 knots, and with power-on was 69 or qualitative analysis of aircraft, particularly of prototypes, knots - it could be safely landed on the main wheels in a and accordingly could give no suitable opinions other than tail-down attitude at about 74 knots. As for M aircraft in that the aeroplane flew in some manner or other, and that the prototype and early production development stage, the engine ran smoothly or not. Testing was an arbitrary there are some characteristics to be given further arrangement, and there were no sophisticated measuring attention. devices to measure forces, angles, inputs, and strains etc. Pilots were learning the trade, as were the aircraft However, Fred’s memory was a bit faulty when he designers and constructors, and there was a wide goes on to say that a month later he put some time on difference between checking a proven aircraft after A23-1001, the CA-4 prototype. That aircraft crashed at assembly, and bringing a prototype to the ultimate in Kilmore, Vic., on 15 January 1943, which would have been performance and handling, prior to its production, about 21 months before he came back to Australia. The same problem was evident, but to a lesser degree. His boss at No.1 A.P.U., Wg. Cdr. James Harper, in England, and, in That Nothing Failed Them, by Air Cdre A.F.C., who had parachuted from the CA-4 (A23-1001) Allen Wheeler, the following is stated regarding a stated, when interviewed in 1980, “The CA-4 was stalling prototype, for naval use, conforming religiously to its at a few miles per hour earlier than it should have done specification and technically sound. It arrived at and , as you came into land, it just went along near the Boscombe Down for testing, and was found to be ground and if you pulled it up it would stall and just sort of completely undeveloped in regard to handling sink down onto its wheels. So they built a fixed slat across characteristics, with controls which were very heavy, some the front of the centre section----- . The second one was overbalanced at speed, and others almost inoperative. It flown - with three others in final assembly. We flew the dearly needed about six months work on it before it could second one (A23-1), then the project was washed out, but reasonably be passed as operational.. An MAP (Ministry it was a remarkable aeroplane.” for Aircraft Production) investigation into the reasons for it

202 AHSA Aviation Heritage reaching such a stage, with production being approached In wartime, the achievement of perfection took second in the factory, was that an ex-operational pilot had been place to getting the guns, bombs, and torpedoes to the taken on to fill the company pilot position, had accepted enemy in time, but it was good to know that the aircraft the aeroplane as he found it and, without criticising it, had was manageable and safe to operate for relatively learned fly it as it was in six months of testing it inexperienced squadron pilots, with a, performance as reasonably near the estimated optimum, even if some That was one of a few such incidents which led to the concessions had to be made. The fact that, on return, a formation in 1943 of what later became the Empire Test wheel landing was necessary instead of a three-pointer Pilots School, to which the RAAF eventually sent selected was of no consequence, as the CA-4 was criticised for; who has seen anybody do a three-pointer in a DC-3 or a Mustang in the last 30 years, something of which they are both capable, and was not only done routinely, but in fact used to be an airline requirement for the DC-3 here in Australia. As a matter of fact, Harold Shelton (see A-H Vol 30 No. 3), states that it was a reason for a ‘rocket’ from the Chief Pilot if he caught you doing anything but a three-pointer. Even the Spitfire had its problems in wartime in regard to its handling qualities, as pointed out by Jeffrey Quill :- 'More often than not the obvious aerodynamic answer had to be abandoned because it meant too radical a change to be practical from the production-time viewpoint, and some sort of aerodynamic "fiddle” adopted instead—some of the "give" inevitably had to be on the handling side’. Nobody has ever denigrated the Spitfire's handling qualities, as it is the pilots. Production test flying of course was not so critical, "done thing” to agree with the accepted line'. as the aircraft had only to be tested for conformity to an already proven and acceptable standard. While it has been widely published that Typhoons were very susceptible to rear-fuselage fatigue failures which Australian designs were no different to any others and brought about the loss of complete rear ends, such is were certainly no worse, even though the early ones were incorrect, as related by Frank Mason, a former Hawker done without the benefit of wind-tunnel testing, for the design engineer, and author of much material on Hawker simple reason that none was available. To design and to products, including the Putnam coverage, develop the Wackett Trainer, the CA-4, and the Boomerang to production and even to operational status, The failures resulted from the fracture of the bracket 'out of the head' as it might be described, was no mean holding the mass balance in the elevator system, leading, feat (a Trainer model was made and spin tested in at high speeds, to immediate elevator flutter and the England, and a very small CA-4 model was tested in the resulting loss of the rear fuselage within about two completely inadequate tunnel at Melbourne University). If seconds. In the normal course of events, the Typhoon was changes were necessary during development, they were quite capable of absorbing a 6.5G pullout at M 0.76 and a no different to aircraft overseas which had the benefit of all TAS of 530mph, and, once failure of the bracket was sorts of research and pre-flight testing—the only difference Identified as the cause, and remedial steps taken, no was that not enough time and effort was available for further such failures occurred. development changes here. Just read the history of The handling characteristics of jet-powered airliners Beaufort, Beaufighter, Buckingham, and Brigand was not necessarily all that it should have been either, development (Putnam), within a group where four regardless of the design and aerodynamic expertise built prototypes per type, and 20 trials aircraft in the case of the up during and after WW II, aided by such as new high- Beaufighter, was the norm—they also had similar speed wind tunnels and computer technology, problems in achieving acceptable handling and control As examples, the Boeing 707 was described as having characteristics. In fact, many such problems as those for awful directional stability and control qualities during which the CA-4 was criticised, were never overcome, and evaluation testing by the ARB airworthiness test pilots, Pilots Notes had paragraphs dealing with things to be and was subsequently modified to achieve an acceptable watched, and with instructions on how not to be caught out standard. The same authority described the elevator by them. Beaufighter swing on take-off was one such system of the Comet 1 as being agricultural in feel, and major example, and there was a very prolonged effort to probably the cause of the type's fatal accident in India. identify and eradicate tail buffeting on the Mosquito during The deep-stall incidents and accidents were also its development—in fact a late Mosquito version, the something of a shock to the aerodynamicists so, all in all, NF38, was not accepted by the RAF, because of Australia (CAC) was no further behind than the rest of the longitudinal instability, even though 101 were completed. world.

203