Wing Commander Bill Kilsby's Story

 

                    AIR FORCE & ME

          Wing Commander C.G. (Bill) Kilsby MBE AFC

 

 

EARLY YEARS.

 

            In 1924 when I was born, my parents (and the bank) owned and lived on Avondale, a farm of some 2000 acres close to the Victoria / South Australia border, 23 miles from Casterton and 24 miles from Mt Gambier.    They continued to live there until my Dad retired about 1948.    Schooling was not easy.   The local school, 3 ½ miles away was a country elementary going to Grade 8.   There were about 8 other pupils ranged across all the grades and taught by the one teacher.    After year 8, I attempted Correspondence School fo 2 years but made little progress as I had to do such subjects as French and Art which I could not cope with by correspondence.

 

            I then went on to the Higher Elementary School in Casterton.   It provided high school type classes for Classes 7 - 10 inclusive.   In some ways starting at Class 9, I was behind as I had gained little from the two years of correspondence.  But I coped and gained the highest certificate available, the Intermediate Certificate, passing with 7 A’s.

 

            That had not been easy as my parents were stretched to afford accommodation in Casterton but compromised by getting board for me Monday night through Thusday leaving me to ride my bike the 20 miles (32 k.) into school on Monday morning and then home on Friday night.   I can tell you that it was bitter on those cold, wet, windy, winter nights.   After completing all I could do at Casterton, I went home to help on the farm as three of my brothers had already enlisted.

 

WW2

 

             But there was no way I was going to stay on the farm and with some guilt applied to join the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).   First I had to do an intensive correspondence course in science and  mathematics. 

 

            After completing that I was called up and was sworn into the RAAF in Melbourne on New Years Day 1943.   That is where I met my lifelong friend Geoff Lynar.   That evening we were transported to No 1 Initial Training School at Somers to do rookie training mainly square bashing and  further studies.    Geoff and I then went to No 7 Elementary Training School at Western Junction, just out of Launceston in Tasmania to learn to fly on Tiger Moths and my god, it was cold in those open cockpits.    We then trained on Airspeed Oxfords at  No 1 SFTS at Point Cook where we gained our wings, and the rank of Sergeant..   The die was  cast that we would be bomber pilots.     To fill in the time before a troopship was scheduled we did a Jungle Training Course at Wonga Park (would you believe) and then a Beam Instrument Landing course back at Point Cook.

 

            We finally embarked for England on New Years Day 1944 on the Nieu Amsterdam via South Africa.     It soon became apparent to me that the pool of aircrew in holding camps in England was so big that I would have to wait a long time before even entering the progression to being on operations.  At that time there was a call for volunteers to go to the Middle East to do conversion to a new Bristol aircraft and then Operational Training Unit as a preliminary to forming a new squadron to take part in the Burma campaign.   I volunteered.

 

            Thus, I was only in England for a short time during which I did a quick flying refresher at Elmden near Birmingham.  In early June 1944, I departed, with about 20 other volunteers,  by troopship to the Middle East.    But, it had all been changed because the new aircraft was a fizzer.   The first we knew was that we were not disembarked in Egypt and then informed that we were going to India.  On arrival in India,we were all split up and I never saw them again.   After a short Jungle Escape Course just out of Poona where I joined up with a number of RAF NCO aircrew, gunners and wireless operators.  About the end of the course we encountered three officers who were looking for crew members.   We crewed up and I became the  second pilot  to a  RAF crew (five English, five Scots, and one Australian; me).   The crew was:

 

. Flt Lt Les Evans, English, soon promoted to Sqn Ldr, Aircraft Commander, a very experienced pilot with a lot of instructor flying.

. Myself, Flt Sgt - Australian - second pilot.

. Flt Sgt Don Cartwright, English - flight engineer and waist gunner..

. Flg Off John Bruce, Scot, navigator.

. Flg Off ‘Gunga’ Herford, English - bomb aimer.   The tag ‘Gunga’ was conferred as he had been a permanent RAF airman and had served on the North West Frontier.

            . Sgt Fraser, Scott - nose gunner.

. Sgt Ian Moffit, Scott - mid upper  gunner.

. Flt Sgt ‘Tash’ Sayer, English - first wireless operator.

. Flt Sgt Willie Williamson, English - second wireless operator and waist gunner.

. Sgt Pete Smith, Scott - ball gunner.

. Sgt Ginger Matier, Scott - tail gunner

 

            The average age was about 21 years.   John Bruce and Gunga were old blokes about 26, the Captain about 24 and the rest of us less than 20 years old.

 

Further Training

 

            We then went to Heavy Conversion Unit at Kolar Gold Fields, not far from Bangalore.  There we converted to B24 Liberators and completed an abridged Operational Training Course.   By that time we had settled in as an eager but sprog heavy bomber crew and were posted to 356 Squadron (RAF) at Salbani which is about 300 kilometers north west of Calcutta.

 

The Liberator

 

            The Lockheed Liberator was a complete departure for us.   It was American built and thus had more concern for crew comfort than the British ones (zilch).  In fact, it was the most comfortable Air Force aircraft that I ever flew.   It had some cabin insulation which provided a relatively quiet environment, and a small contribution to heating and cooling.   It was powered by 4 Pratt & Whitney twin row 14 cylinder turbo charged engines.   The engines were basically the same as those fitted to the Dakota, but some updating and the addition of the turbos increased the horsepower from about 900 bhp for the Dakota to about 1300 bhp for ours.   It was a nose wheel aircraft which had considerable advantages over the British system of tail wheel.

            It was a high aspect ratio wing  with a fairly small cord and with complex fowler flaps.   The high aspect ratio  gave it high lift over a very limited  speed range.    It’s take off and landing speeds were higher than most British aircraft but reasonable because of the super efficient  flaps.   The wing design allowed for very long range cruising which is what we needed in our theatre albiet at a fairly slow cruising speed especial as the weight came down.

            There were four turrets each equipped with two .5 inch automatic guns and a swivel mounted .5 at each of the waist openings.   The turrets were nose, mid upper, underside ball, and tail.   All in all, it could bring considerable fire power to bear on any aggressive fighter and that was increased mightily when a formation used coordinated firepower.   It was also formidable in low level strafing.

 

            Bomb carrying was not its most significant accomplishment.   It had racks to hang 12 bombs arranged in four banks of three bombs attached one above the other.   We mainly used either 750 pound or 500 pound weapons.  Thus the maximum carriage was 9000 lbs against the Lancaster’s 18,000 lb.    We seldom carried the maximum, as with the requirement for extra range, bomb bay space was traded for bomb bay fuel tanks each tank taking out a quarter of the bomb bay.   All up weight was 63,000 pounds, the same as the Lancaster.

 

            Control of many functions was electric.   The propellers constant speed units were operated by four toggle switches.   In the early aircraft, the tubos were adjusted by four levers, but in later aircraft, that was replaced by a single rotary control which controlled all four electronically.   The auto pilot was excellent and I did not experience anything as good until the B66 some 20 years later.   There was a Collins HF radio fitted and it worked which was different to the Marconi one in the Lincoln - mainly useless.   Unlike the Liberators in Australia, ours did not have radar fitted.

 

Role

 

            The roles of 356 Squadron were:

. Destroy the Japanese theatre logistic system ie

                        . The stores dumps

. and the transportation system consisting of the railways, ports, and coastal vessels.

. Support the army in its major offensives ie. Akyab, Mandalay, Rangoon.

 

Early Operations

 

            Our first raid came up very quickly.   The Allies had just started a push to recapture Burma from the Japanese.   The first objective was Akyab, a town on the south west coast of the Arakan Peninsula (now part of Bangladesh).  First, they needed  to suppress all opposition from the adjacent Ramree Island.   A saturation bombing raid on Ramree was our first operation.   The method used for those attacks was for mass aircraft in formation all dropping their bombs when the leader did, thus creating a deadly pattern.

 

            By that time bombing and naval operations were beginning to deprive the local Japanese Air force of parts to the extent that its activities were limited outside the major targets.   Therefore, fighter opposition was restricted, but there was a fair bit of anti aircraft fire (flak) but it did not give us much of a problem..  Almost immediately after bomb release, there was a hell of a bang and we sustained considerable damage to the bomb bay area.   Evidently, a couple of bombs had jostled on the way down and one exploded.   It was large hunks of shrapnel from that which had caused our damage.   Apart from that, it was rather tame and after a lot of work trying to effect repairs in the bomb bay during the transit home , we had little trouble landing our damaged aircraft back at base.  

 

            The second operation was not quite as easy.   It was once again a mass aircraft raid but this time on the extensive stores depots at Mingladon , in an area adjacent to the Rangoon airport.   There was substantial fighter opposition and also heavy predicted flak.   Again, we bombed in formation, but on this occasion, each bomb aimer had his own aiming point within the limits of maintaining lose formation - quite effective.   There was a bit of mayhem as the fighters got at us and the flak dotted the sky.   When the flak got quite close there was a very audible krump.  For the first time, we really got the impression that those people down there were trying to kill us which was a bit of a jolt.   I guess that was fair enough though as we were not being all that friendly.   The fighters had a hard time as the Libs had very impressive fire power.   On later raids, the fire power was made even more effective through coordinating the  whole formation.

 

            We suffered damage again.   Suddenly there was a mist of shredded insulation in the starboard cockpit and I thought that we must have hit a bird.   But when I looked down there was a vertical tear in the side of the fuselage just forward of my right leg.   Obviously, an anti aircraft shell had grazed us, luckily not exploding in the process.  The damage was not significant although I had a bit of a bleed from a scratch on that leg.

 

Sustained Operations

 

            We settled down to conducting operations to destroy the enemy’s logistic system by raids on their stores depots and attacks against the transportation system  mainly  the rail system between Rangoon and Mandalay and, between Moulemain and Ye to the south where the main north south rail line along the West side of the Malay peninsula  linked up with the famous Burma Railway.  We destroyed bridges and did numerous train busting trips.   These were low level  attacks with a gaggle of three or more aircraft using bombs and the considerable firepower of the Liberator for strafing.   On theses raids the anti aircraft fire was very concentrated and accurate but they got back a lot from us.   It was quite exciting. 

 

             Unfortunately, with the great amount of manpower (mainly POW’s and impressed Asians), bridges and facilities were soon repaired.  Also, the Japanese positioned the prisoner repair gangs in the most vulnerable places, consequently there was some wounding and loss of life for them from friendly fire.    But the trains and stores destroyed were not easily replaced.   Other attacks were on rail yards where we not only damaged the railway hardware but also supplies awaiting transhipment.

 

            Other areas also presented suitable targets.   One such attack was at Korat, 150 NM north east of Bangkok on 28 February 1945.  It was a long operational flight of 14 hours.   Another was at Chumphorn, half way down the Malay Peninsula where some of the enemy stores were unloaded from rail and barges for transport along trails across the peninsula and then again transhipped to barges and small coastal ships for carriage up the east coast of Burma.

 

            At the end of January 1945 we were diverted to a series of operations in support of the army push to take Mandalay  thus doing a number of strikes in that  area.   We were hassled a bit by a few fighters and the flak was quite heavy.   One strike stands out.   We were briefed to attack the  Japanese Headquarters in Mandalay.   It was a formation attack with a number of aircraft.   Unfortunately, the Japanese had taken over the Royal Palace and to the continuing regret of the Burmese, the palace was destroyed.   However, militarily it was a great success and the British Army were then able to take Mandalay.   We then returned to general disruption of logistics.

   

            We had become quite accustomed to being fired at but not to the extent of not getting scared.   However one operation stands out as being very scary for a different reason.   First, I must describe a peculiarity of the Liberator.   As part of the structure, longitudinally down the bottom center of the bomb bay, a  catwalk about 300 mm wide  was suspended  by four  large vertical stanchions.   The stanchions  were positioned in the middle of each of the four sections so provided.  A rope was strung along each side of the catwalk about thigh height to provide a semblance of safety but, the catwalk was a place to be avoided with the bomb doors open.   Up to three bombs were hung one above the other on some or all of those stanchions depending on the required bomb load.   To prevent a jam up in the bomb bay, on release a sequencer released them in order around the bomb bay starting at the bottom.  It was supposed to stop the sequence if a bomb hung up.   

 

             Sometimes the skipper allowed the Engineer to sit in the second pilot’s seat for part of the trip and that was the situation on a raid South West of Moulemain.  On that raid, after bomb release, the Bomb Aimer noted a bomb hang up.    The Bomb Aimer and I went down to see what the hell was going on and it was not a glad situation. On this occasion,  a middle bomb failed to release and the sequence was not interrupted.   The bomb above released and started to roll around on top of the hung up bomb and between the vertical stanchion and the outer bomb bay wall.    In doing so the arming pin on the upper bomb was released and the bomb was armed.   

 

            We stood on the catwalk (bomb doors open) one each side of the stanchion and tried to operate the emergency hand release but it was jammed.   It was quite a scarey situation. As well as the insecurity of our stance on the narrow catwalk with the next solid foothold several thousand feet below, we had to be nimble to avoid  having an arm or hand crushed by the errant bomb as it rolled.   But, more important was to hope it did not strike anything against its nose and set itself off.    We were able to force one of the levers to the release position but the other remained jammed.    In desperation I got the crash axe and a  few well directed whacks with it  forced the other release lever open and both bombs tumbled away.   We watched them fall.   We were not far from Moulemain, so our bar room story was that they clobbered the Old Moulemain Pagoda - fortunately not true.

 

            Just before Xmas 1944, we did a night raid on the docks just south of Saigon which was another transhipment point for war supplies.   It was a very long trip and we carried two bomb bay tanks.  But on the way home the transfer pump for the second tank failed.   A very careful redo of the fuel log confirmed that we were not going to make it to friendly territory without that fuel.   The Engineer and I spent a long time up in the auxiliary loft and finally managed to re plumb the fuel system so that the other transfer pump could do the job.   The wonder of it all was that we did not manage to cause all engines to stop or to flood the aircraft with fuel as we were working in low light and with scant diagrams.  

 

            Weather was always  a major problem in the whole operational area but especially over the Bay of Bengal during the Monsoon.    We had many dicy transits with boiling clouds, sheets of rain, extreme turbulence from the surface to much higher than we could climb.   One mitigating thing was the excellent instrumentation and cockpit lighting of the aircraft - never equaled in Brit aircraft.

 

            Another operation that stands out was when we took part in a low level sortie against a Japanese cruiser and its destroyer escorts in Port Blair harbor in the Andaman Islands. We set out on 14 May 1945 but were recalled when three hours into the mission - it was never explained why.  We went again 17 May 1945 with a large gaggle of aircraft and performed a successful low level attack on the cruiser, its escorts and to some extent the harbor installations.  I recall very heavy anti aircraft fire from all the warships and from the port defenses.   It sure was some fireworks display on the run in but we were very low and engagement time was short.   The cruiser was so heavily damaged that although it was able to leave the area, it never became operational again.   We escaped, still at low level over the hills and remained at fairly low level for the return home which was quite eventful.   The monsoon was at its worst and we battled against dreadful weather conditions for about five hours across the Bay of Bengal.   One Liberator from another squadron was hit by a water spout and crashed into the sea with the loss of the entire crew.  A RAAF friend of mine, Plt Off Roth Carter, was the second pilot of that Liberator.

 

            Throughout April 1945 we concentrated mainly on the Rangoon area prior to the Army assault and the eventual re taking of Rangoon.    The re-taking of Burma is always credited to the 14^th Army under the command of General Slim (later to become General Sir William Slim, Governor General of Australia).    They deserve all acclaim  because of the dreadful circumstances that they endured in the Burmese jungles against the myriad Japanese soldiers often in hand to hand fighting.   But success was only possible because we had almost completely cut off the Japanese supplies to the extent that they were very short of ammunition, spares, fuel and rations.  

 

             After the success at Rangoon, it was decided to send 356 Sqn and 99 Sqn to Cocos Island to prepare for the final assault on Singapore.   But one last operations from Salbani on 24 June 1945  stands out.   We were the lead aircraft in a low level attack on the rail bridge at Kanchanaburi - ‘bridge over the River Kwai’.   I distinctly remember the low level approach beside the trestle supported rail line against the escarpment on the way down to the bridge.   We destroyed the middle two sections of the bridge and they were not repaired until after the war.   The repairs were then paid for from Japanese reparations.   There is a photograph in the war museum at Kanchanaburi of three of the Liberators on the final approach to the attack.

 

            In Cocos Island, there was a lot of settling in.   Unfortunately, our Commanding Officer, Wg Cdr Sparks died of polio very shortly after arrival there.   Les Evans became acting Commanding Officer.   Officially the crew should have been tour expired and Les’s new duties restricted our activities.  However we did  some operations as a crew.   One was a supply dropping operation to the Malayan Anti Japanese Army near Mandalay.   I was amazed at how close to the city it actually was.   Also, I was lent to another crew (captained by Flt Lt Yeates) whose second pilot was not available for some reason and I did two operations with them.

 

              A Mosquito reconnaissance aircraft had taken a photograph of an airfield in West Sumatra which showed a concentration of Japanese bombers which it was thought were assembled to attack us.   Three aircraft were briefed for a low level attack on the airfield and my temporary crew was one of the crews.   Over the Japanese airfield, our three 356 Sqn Liberators got badly shot up.   We lost an engine due to the ignition harness being shot away (that was the only engine failure I had in Liberators).   We then had the task of climbing back over the rugged central mountain spine with one engine out.   We made it by zig zagging which considerably increased the twitter time in enemy territory.   But the enemy bombers were all dummies and it was a set up to draw us into a very heavily defended trap.   My log book does not show that operation and some others from Cocos.   There was no crew room there and there was little room in operations therefore most of the aircrew did not report down there daily.   One crew member (Flt Sgt Cartwright) was designated to keep the log books up to date by transcribing from the Flight Authorization Book    Unfortunately he only included the operations by the whole crew and my activities with Flt Lt Yeates and some others were disregarded.

 

            When the war ended, we were involved in supply dropping to POW s at Changi and other POW camps.   On one occasion, with the old crew, we landed at Kallang, Singapore.   We stayed overnight and I remember that we, the NCO crew, had  to refuel the aircraft with a hand pump from 44 gallon drums.   It was a hell of a job pumping more than 1,000 gallons in the heat. For the return trip, we uploaded the Sultan of Selangor and his entourage and took them back to Cocos.  Apparently, he had been a Japanese collaborator and it was thought best to get him out of there.   A couple of days later we flew the same party on to Ceylon landing at Ratmalana just south of Colombo.

 

            Early in September, I got my posting to return to Australia.   It could be quite simple really as the Qantas crews on the Perth - Ceylon run frequently dropped in to Cocos for fuel and it would have been easy for me to hitch a ride to Perth.   But that is not the way it works.   On 25 October 1945, my old crew flew me to Kankensentura, a RAF base on the northern tip of Ceylon and then on to Madras.   From there I took the long train journey to Calcutta and eventually to Jessore, a RAF holding camp some 150 miles north east of Calcutta where I joined a pool of Australian airmen awaiting repatriation.  After some time, a gaggle of bods joined a troop train which took us all the way west to Bombay where we entered another holding unit.   Finally we boarded a troopship which took us home via Perth, eventually arriving late in January 1946.

 

Post War

 

            At that time I had risen to the rank of Warrant Officer.  I wanted to continue flying but did not have enough experience to be of much interest to the airlines.  I therefore tried for the Interim Air Force and was accepted.   On 23 March 1946 Molly Birt, a school teacher at Firbank Girls Grammar School, and I were married.   We had little time to live together right then as I was posted first to Ballarat for bush fire patrol and then soon after to Uranquinty near Wagga Wagga.  We endured that for about 6 weeks and then Molly resigned and joined me.  We have been together ever since except when I was sent to war (twice) and the incredibly numerous short term assignments (! - 6 months) when accompaniment was impractical.  

 

 

Air Nav School.

            About August 1946, I was posted to Air Navigation School, East Sale.  As it was a new unit, the first year was spent getting organized.   It had to assemble instructional staff, work out curriculums and finally get some aircraft and aircrew staff.  We soon had a few NCO  and a number of officer pilots plus some NCO wireless operators.   Staff navigators would be from the instructing staff who were all very experienced navigators.  For some time there was nothing really meaningful for the NCO’s to do except some minor admin jobs that we were assigned.   Luckily, the base had a large link trainer room staffed by one person only, Sgt Tom Hopkins who was originally an instrument fitter who transferred to Link Trainer instruction.   The Link was the very primitive fore runner of the modern simulator.   The pupil pilot sat in a box like cockpit with the lid down and “flew” the aircraft on instruments through all sorts of  procedures.

 

            Tom and I became very firm friends.  He was very keen to get some of his “birds” working and Air Nav School was quite happy for me to spend a lot of time on Tom’s project.  We managed to get about three working quite well and Tom opened for business which was far from brisk as most pilots disliked the Link with a passion.  So I was the main volunteer and, as my instrument skill improved, I got quite enthusiastic.  It certainly made me quite proficient on instruments which is a skill I never lost.

 

            There were a number of aircraft at Sale left over from the war; mainly Ansons, Liberators,  Wirraways and a couple of Dakotas.   During the first summer, we used the Liberators on bush fire patrol and I got a bit of flying there either as second pilot or flight engineer.    Then the order came that the Liberators and Wirraways were to be ferried to Tocumwal for scrapping.   I participated in the ferry of a number of the Liberators and a sad duty it was as they were beautiful aircraft.   Then, I got a quick check out on Wirraways and ultimately ferried a number of them to Tocumwal.   I had been flying second pilot on Liberators on the bush fire patrols with Flt Lt Rex Whitburn who was assigned  to Central Flying School which was also at Sale.  He was a great person and a very good pilot who seemed to be cleared to fly anything we had there.  We became firm friends.  After the Liberators had gone, he checked me out as First Pilot on Dakotas and Ansons, the latter aircraft now assigned to Air Navigation School.   Our fleet was later to be supplemented with a few of the new Australian built Lincolns and some Dakotas which were eventually to replace the Ansons.  We had a number of NCO pilots and a few Officers.   In the new order, NCO pilots were not allowed to Captain four engine aircraft.   Therefore, we were confined to First Pilot of the Ansons and Second Pilot on Lincolns.  For some unknown reason, very early on I was sent to Government Aircraft Factory to do a Flight Engineer’s course on the Lincoln.  During that course I flew a number of times with the resident Test Pilot and thus became the first of our pilots to actually fly the Lincoln - but subsequently, I was not allowed to become First Pilot.

 

            Eventually, Air Navigation School started to conduct courses and there was quite a bit of flying on training exercises for the trainee navigators.  I flew both First Pilot on the Ansons and Second Pilot on Lincolns.   A very stable and smooth platform was required for astro shots and the Lincoln auto pilot was prone to abrupt wallowing.   Thus, the instructor navigators would ask for hand flying which quite frequently fell to me.   The instructors soon realized that I provided a much smoother platform than a number of the Aircraft Commanders.  They soon brought their views to Commanding Officer and he seemed to be able to get a dispensation for me to become Aircraft Commander - the first NCO to Captain a four engine aircraft in the post war air force.   The same views must have been shared at Amberley that a valuable resource was being wasted, and soon after, using my precedent, they converted Bruce Martin (an NCO) to Captain.

 

            One morning, on the pre flight inspection of one of the Ansons, an airman removed the engine cowl for checks after which it refused to be refitted.  More detailed investigation revealed that the  main spar had broken mainly due to deterioration of the wood.  A thorough check of the other aircraft revealed that they were all in a very bad state.   Hence the Anson fleet was permanently grounded.   Bring on the Dakotas as replacement.   I enjoyed flying them much more than the old Anson which was a 1930’s  model and primitive to say the least.

 

No 1 (B) Squadron.

 

            I totted up quite enough First Pilot flying time at Air Navigation School to be regarded as an experienced pilot.  At the end of 1950, I was posted to Amberley to join 82 Wing to fly as captain on Lincolns.  Of course, Kaye and Molly moved with me.  It was a blow as we had managed to get service housing on the Base after three years.   But we were unable to get anything but awful accommodation in Ipswich the nearest town to Amberley.  However, they put up with it as we were quite convinced that it was our duty.   Soon after that I was posted unaccompanied to Tengah to fly a tour of operations as Captain of a seven man Lincoln crew with No 1 (B) Squadron during the Malayan Insurgency.    At the same time I was commissioned with the rank of Flg Off.

 

            Here would be a good time to explain the Lincoln.   It was a development of the Lancaster, bigger, more load carrying, and longer range.   It was designed towards the end of WW2 and was only coming into production when the war ended.   Despite its better performance, nothing was done to improve crew comfort.   It was incredibly noisy, cold / hot, with abominable cockpit lighting, inefficient radios, and with more vices than the Lancaster.   It had a non steerable tail wheel configuration which had the only advantage of making it easier to load large bombs.   But it ensured that the Center of Gravity was aft of the main wheels thus inducing a tendency to bounce on landing and to lose directional stability (swing).   The swing condition was worsened by the brakes which were pneumatic thus had a dangerous delay both in application and release.   Wing span was 120 feet, maximum all up weight was 83,000 lbs, including up to 22,000 lbs of bombs.   Controls were very heavy.   It was fitted with four Rolls Royce Merlin V 12 cylinder engines with very large radiators to make it suitable for tropical operations.  Originally, the engines were Merlin 66's of 1600 bhp, then 88's of 1650 bhp, and finally 102's with 1720 bhp.   That engine had fuel injection and maximum boost was +24 lbs or almost three atmospheres.   Despite all its deficiencies, I loved the damn things and its challenges, finally ending up with about 2,000 hours on it.

 

            The nucleus of No 1 (B) Squadron had been deployed to Tengah (on Singapore island) with the role of supporting the ground forces in the war against the Communist Terrorists (CT’s).   The CT activities had reached crisis point and there was a real danger that they could gain control of a major part of peninsular Malaya.    It was quite ironic that the CT’s were using a lot of the weapons that we had dropped to the Malayan Anti Japanese Peoples Army (MAJPA) during WW2.   It was generally conceded that the MAJPA were Communist and their  main priority was preparing for this action post war.

 

            My posting was not as a crew - I could only take my first and second wireless operators with me ( Wt Offs Alan Townsend and Tom Fehily)   There we were joined by Flt Lt George Fitzgerald, a very experienced and capable navigator, and Flg Off Spiro Tsicalas a very experienced tail gunner.  A very new navigator was posted in as bomb aimer.    At first Flt Lt Morrie Onions was crewed as second pilot but he was later replaced by a newly graduated Plt Off Sandicock.  Allan and Tom shared the duties of Wireless Operator and operator of the mid upper turret which was equipped with two 20 mm cannons.   The crew quickly settled into their role and we quickly became one of the top crews.

 

            Our role was to support the mainly British army and the police units by bombing and strafing where they considered it be of greatest advantage.  Enemy activity against us was mainly rifle and machine gun fire while we operated at low level.  Operations were fairly frequent sometimes being quite intense if the ground forces ran into stiff opposition.   I and my crew eventually racked up 99 missions.  The greatest hazards were operating with full bomb loads and the weather.   An engine failure on take off or soon after was not real funny.  Similarly, monsoon weather and the tropical thunderstorms that built up over Sumatra and drifted across to us intensifying all the way were unbelievably vicious.

 

            Soon after we arrived, a problem developed with our Rolls Royce Merlin engines.   I was one of the early ones to experience it.  During flight, the oil pressure on an engine slowly dropped  and the oil temperature slowly increased.   As these readings started to become critical, I shut down the engine and feathered the propellor.   I think that the ground staff found no real damage to the engine and thus just changed the filters and it operated OK.   At about the same time, one of the other crews experienced the same problem.   A few nights later, my crew was on a night operation.   Not long before the target, one of the engines exhibited the same symptoms.  I feathered it and went on to the target and dropped the bombs successfully with three engines only operating.  On the way home, another engine displayed the same symptoms.  I delayed feathering it as long as possible, but finally had to do so.  As the remaining two engines were running at much higher power than prudent for continuous operation and the first engine feathered had not really reached the absolutely critical stage before being feathered, I decided to un feather it and see if it would give us some help for a while.   Surprise, surprise.  The engine performed perfectly and we were able to return to base and land with three engines operating.    Once again the oil filter on the engine that had not been restarted was completely clogged.  But the filter on the one that had been restarted was partially collapsed and quite a bit clearer.

 

            The resolution was reasonably simple.   The Rolls Royce Merlin did not use a detergent oil and was thus known as a dirty engine.  When we went to Singapore, our Engineer Officer (Flt Lt Bob Garlick) had to organize an oil supply.  The specification of the oil that he contracted was according to the Merlin requirements.  But clearly, this oil did contain detergent despite the oil company assurance that it did not.   The result was that a lot of the gunk that had built up in our dirty engines was flushed out and that clogged the filters and caused a serious reduction of oil flow to the vital parts of the engine.  When I feathered and unfeathered the propellor, the very high pressure oil delivered by the feathering pump collapsed the filter and carted the gunk off probably back to the oil tank.

 

            We changed oil supplier, oil tanks were drained and refilled, engines and filters flushed and the problem was gone.   It was certainly worrying though while it lasted as who knows how long before the other engines would have succumbed.

 

            Peninsula Malaya consists of a lot of jungle in dispersed with rubber plantations.  It is almost impossible in that country to identify a target.  And it was a real no no to bomb rubber.  We quickly learned to recognize rubber against the threat of dire penalties if we bombed it.   Of course it was an even greater no no to drop stuff on our own forces or non participating civilians.  Thus, we had to develop a technique to correctly attack the targets given to us by the army as many were in response of an on going action with the army or police in pursuit of a CT force.  The ground troops preferred to have our bombs and formidable strafing power aimed at the enemy and not themselves.

 

            Bombing operations were usually conducted from between 5,000 and 10,000 feet with later strafing from low level.  When it would be impossible to visually identify the target itself, we developed a two datum system.   We would extend the line along which we wanted our bombs to fall back until we could get two clearly identifiable points.   Often, we would have to bend that quite a bit to get suitable points.   We would then use them as alignment points. Nearing the target, we would find an accurate wind and then work out the precise timing for the transit between the points and then precise course and timing for the carry to bomb release point.   If timing did not happen precisely, we would abort and redo all.   That was a major safety factor to ensure that we had got it all right.   After successful bomb release we would go down to low level and strafe the area.   The system worked well provided visibility was OK.

 

            For some targets, two datums were just not available.  Then we used one but only the very experienced crews were scheduled for these missions.   There was no fallback if the datum was not correctly identified.  My crew was soon accepted as competent for the more difficult operations.   The bomb aimer’s position was in the nose but it was essential that he, the navigator, and  I all satisfactorily identified the datum.  I would fly well out from the datum and at right angles to the carry track.  The navigator would come up and stand beside me and we would confirm to each other and the bomb aimer by exchanging observed descriptions that we clearly had the datum.   I would then do a procedure turn to finish up lined up on the datum and very close to the carry heading.  The nose of the Lincoln obscures the terrain for about 30 degrees each side of straight ahead thus after initial turn on the future alignment is entirely up to the bomb aimer..   But, the system worked very well.

 

            But there is always an exception.  

 

             We had done a number of operations using these techniques.   Most of them had been with quite difficult datum points but results had been good.   Then came a mission with a very easily identified single datum - a right angle bend in a substantial river.   Because paperwork always predominates, the squadron had to submit a number of puka nav logs for assessment.  As this was an easy operation, George was informed that he would need to duly submit his nav log.  Everything went as normal and we identified the datum using our usual method.   Immediately after identification George diverted to the paperwork and took little interest in the action.   I turned on and was surprised that the bomb aimer kept calling for right corrections as I prided myself on being able to do the turn on very accurately.  However, as I thought that the datum was unmistakable, I followed his directions.   George was diverted to doing the puka nav log.   We finished the bombing run to the bomb aimer’s satisfaction and went down and strafed the area as usual.

 

            That evening, the intelligence officer called me to say that the army had reported that our attack was about five miles from the target.  I went down to the operations section and pored over the maps and reports with the intell officer and was convinced that we had made a big mistake.   The problem was that there were two almost identical bends in the river some five miles apart - we were to use the southern one.  That was the one that we had clearly identified.   However, somehow the bomb aimer had been diverted to the northern bend and there was the mistake.  In normal circumstances, I am sure that George and I would have vetoed the run.

 

            I sought out the Commanding Officer (Wg Cdr Hugh Conaghan) and told him of our mistake.  He heard me out and confirmed that it was correct then placed me under house arrest pending charges being laid.   If I did not know before, that certainly emphasized the responsibilities of the aircraft commander.

 

            At the end of the next day, the army reported that they had reached our attack area and, by sheer chance it turned out to be a most successful attack as we had destroyed a major CT base camp of which they were previously unaware.   The army were very pleased with the outcome and were unwilling to proceed with any action against me.   Thus, the CO called me in and released me from all pending charges but delivered a strict homily.  I learned a big lesson.   When delivering deadly weapons, there is no room for error.   If there is any doubt, stop.   Otherwise one risks a friendly fire disaster.  And don’t let the paperwork interfere with the very serious business of handling deadly weapons.   During WW2 it was not nearly as important as a mistake would result in a drop in enemy territory.  But since then the situations have been different.

 

            On New Year’s Day 1952, our crew returned to Amberley tour expired and soon thereafter my experience with Canberras started.   I have written a separate tome on that.   “CANBERRA,BOMBER.wpd”

 

            In May 1955 I was posted to Air Trials Unit, Woomera.  But on the way I was to join with a crew and go to England to convert to the four jet engined Vickers Valiant, the first of the “V” bombers.  Although I was posted to Woomera in May 1955, because of the further detachment to England, Molly stayed in our house in Ipswich.    During the time that I was away, our second daughter, Debra, was born.

 

            The crew were Flt Lt Ross Frayne (to be co-captain), Flt Lt John Cook (Air Electronic Officer), Flt Lt Scotland (Navigator) and Flt Lt Wilson (Navigator).   The deal was that we were to go to the Vickers Factory where we would attend an excellent ground school on the aircraft and then to the production test airfield at Wisley where we would crew new aircraft through the production test phase.  Ross and I mainly flew as second pilots to the firm’s test pilots but we were slowly qualified as captains.   I believe that in that way we paid for our conversions by our crewing duties and thus it was at no expense to the Weapons Establishment.  During the time, I flew with a number of senior test pilots and learned a lot from them.  One was Mr Brian Trubshaw (Trubby), a brilliant pilot who was later to become Chief Test Pilot for Vickers and thence to be the British Test Pilot for the Concorde.  By the time of the Concorde, the British aircraft industry had been rationalized and British Aerospace emerged.

 

           

            The Valiant was fitted with four second generation Rolls Royce Avon single spool engines each producing 10.500 lbs of thrust.   The early engines gave a lot of trouble due to failure of the air seals on the main shaft.   The seals did not cope with thermal expansion and commenced a metal to metal rub which in turn caused a catastrophic failure of the engine (compressor and turbine blades were likely be expelled at high speed and could penetrate the airframe and there was a danger of engine fire) unless the earliest symptoms were recognized and the engine immediately shut down.   After a couple of those incidents, we were fully briefed on the problem.   During that time, I was production testing WZ266 which was the aircraft that later dropped the atom bomb at Maralinga.  I picked it up from the factory and on the short delivery flight I was not happy with the No 2 engine and subsequently, the engineering staff changed it for a new one.  On the next flight, just at lift off I noticed the tell tale symptoms on the new No 2 and shut it down.   The problem had commenced but the engine was not ruined.  Vickers and Rolls Royce were very concerned as the RAF was also experiencing the failures.   Many meetings of engineering staff of both companies took place to try and get a fix which they did achieve in record time.

 

            The aircraft that was to go to Woomera, WP209, had been moved to the RAF test facility at Farnborough to prepare it for the tests it was to do at Woomera.   I believe that during that period, it had a number of engine failures.   Prior to its ferry to Australia by a RAF crew who were to conduct the initial trials, all engines were changed for the modified version.  Subsequently, the engines performed faultlessly.

 

            On our return to Australia, I was granted leave to go home to Amberley and meet my new daughter.  While on leave, I got the dreadful news that Ross Frayne had been killed while doing a low level maneuver in a Meteor 11 night fighter at Mallala airfield near Adelaide.  That left me as the only RAAF pilot who could fly the Valiant.

 

              Weapons Research Establishment had organized a ground staff from Vickers and Rolls Royce to maintain the aircraft and to “on the job” train our own RAAF ground crew.   The RAAF ground crew were led by W Off Goodall, an excellent engineer who had accompanied us to England and was trained at Weighbridge.  Eventually, the RAAF ground crew took over all responsibility for maintenance of the aircraft.     In the meantime it was serviced by the Brits who were an excellent bunch.  The  RAF aircrew (captained by Sqn Ldr Orman) which had delivered the aircraft were still conducting their trial program.  As their trials had the same TOP SECRET classification as our trials, I was able to join with them and get a bit of flying on the aircraft, mainly as second pilot but it did add to my experience on the aircraft before taking it over when their program was complete.   I was amazed at their lack of knowledge of the aircraft and mentioned a few of the inherent engineering deficiencies in the aircraft.   Not long after their return to Farnborough, Sqn Ldr Orman and his crew were killed when the Valiant they were flying crashed from low level flight near Farnborough.  It appears that an unauthorized test fitment had shorted and a great segment of the electrical system, including the power controls, became inoperable.   Manual reversion was unsuccessful as the manual trim had not been kept up, a condition I had warned the pilot about.

 

 

            For me, Woomera was a very rewarding experience.   Apart from the Valiant which only I and later my second pilot, Flt Lt Phil Hamilton-Foster, could fly, there were another 7 aircraft types that I flew regularly - bliss.   Molly was not as happy.  People either loved or they  hated the treeless and desolate area.   Despite having many friends there, Molly did not, repeat not, like Woomera.   We left there in mid 1957 on posting to RAAF Headquarters in Melbourne.  I was assigned as an accident investigator with Directorate of Flying Safety, a job that I enjoyed.  What is more I could relieve my staff duties momentarily by going to Laverton to fly a Vampire.   In January 1959, I was promoted to Squadron Leader and assigned to do the year long live in RAAF Staff College Course at  Pt Cook.   After graduation, I was extremely lucky to be posted back to Amberley to once again fly Canberras.  During the next three years, I spent half the time as Flight Commander and the other half as Temporary Commanding Officer of No 6(B) Squadron.

 

            On New Year’s Day 1963, our family embarked on the Orsova to USA to take up a two year exchange posting with the USAF.  After graduating from Tactical Reconnaissance School and converting to aircraft type, I joined 9 th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, a unit of 9 th Air Force, Tactical Air Command and was initially  flying  WB66 aircraft. We were based at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina.   Our role was flying weather reconnaissance mainly to support the frequent deployment of fighters across the Atlantic to confront critical situations that frequently arose in those turbulent cold war times.

 

            A major skill required was air to air refueling as we had to deploy in all sorts of weather and the B66 required refueling at least once for crossing the Atlantic to our frequent

deployment base at the Azores.  The B66 was equipped for drogue and probe refueling - that is the B66 had a long refueling probe that we had to manoeuver into a drogue attached to a hose connecting it to the tanker aircraft. 

 

            At first, the tankers assigned to us were KB50 aircraft - a development of the B29 of nuclear bomb fame.  It had four piston engines and cruised up to about 25,000 feet.  It was equipped with three refueling points; one from beneath what used to be the bomb bay ( the most commonly used point) and the other two from pods mounted under each wing.  Each point had a retractable hose and drogue, the hose extending out to 60 feet before refueling contact.

 

            The drogue, or the basket as it was known, was an aluminum lattice type cone with the rear diameter about two feet.   The inner point was the high pressure refueling nozzle.   On our aircraft, the probe extended from the starboard side of the nose for a further five or so feet resulting in the receiving point being offset and about 13 feet in front of the pilot sitting on the port side.   The pilot was required to fly the aircraft to insert the probe into the inner part of the drogue at a closing speed of 10 knots.   Any deviation to the outer part of the drogue would cause the drogue to tumble and it would then swing wildly and we had to evade quickly to avoid being clobbered by it.

 

            The drogue was affected by general air turbulence and also the down wash and turbulence from the tanker aircraft.   Consequently, it could oscillate mainly in the vertical plane and that could amount to 20 feet in poorer conditions.   One had to sit back and assess its movement and judge the right moment to apply full power to charge in while anticipating where it would be at time for contact.   The mating  could be quite hairy in bad weather and especially at night.  This was compounded by refueling speed being at 225 knots IAS a slow speed at which the B66 was quite sluggish.   To improve control, we used to lower 15% flap even though it was just outside maximum flap speed of 220 knots.

 

            Proper closing speed between the aircraft was 10 knots to force the probe into the tankers refueling nozzle.  When effectively connected the excess speed would be washed off through the receiver taking over the drag of the drogue and we would then reel in the hose to  a  trail of 20 feet as we tucked up under the tanker.   Unfortunately, the transfer rate was slow and the B66 was gulping fuel like all crazy through being out of its economical drag and height envelope (refueling height was about 20,000 feet).   Consequently, we had to stay hooked for 20 minutes or so to achieve the necessary net gain of fuel after adding the fuel required for the then necessary climb back to cruise altitude.   Because it was so important, I put a lot of effort into refueling training and became very good at it, so much so that I then did a lot of the Squadron instructing on it.

 

            Later, the KB50s were withdrawn from service after which we were assigned KC135s.   These were the tanker converted military cargo version of the four jet engined Boeing 707 civilian air liner.   This was absolute joy: refueling altitude was lifted to 30,000 feet and refueling speed to Mach .72.   With most other aircraft types, the tanker did straight boom refueling in that the receiver flew formation under and slightly aft of the tanker and then the boom operator maneuvered the extendible boom into the receiver’s refueling receptacle.   Unfortunately, we did not have that type of receptacle so the tankers had to be specially configured for us.  Therefore, a drogue was attached to the end of the boom by a 7 foot long hose.   The boom operator then locked the boom at a fixed angle and extension and we did all the maneuvering to connect.   We connected at 2 knots closing speed (incredibly slow when you consider that our TAS was about 400 knots) and then flew the aircraft so that the drogue was about 2 1/2  feet abeam of the end of the boom.  We  held it in that tight envelope during the transfer which was much faster due to both the tanker’s improved pump rate and our far lesser consumption through being within our performance envelope.   It was so much easier but still very exacting and could still be hairy in bad weather and at night.   I enjoyed it and became very good resulting in having to do a lot of instructing to newly assigned squadron pilots.

 

            A mention here about instructing.   The B66 was a single pilot aircraft.   At that time it was the largest single pilot only aircraft in Tactical Air Command.   There was no duel control.   Instructing was advisory and the instructor knelt in the thin alley way between the fuel panel and the pilot’s seat.  It could lead to some anxious moments.   I remember one night when the trainee pilot panicked after missing the drogue and made a violent downward evasion.   I finished up banged against the canopy.   On another occasion, he was getting the jitters just before contact and would slide off.  After about three attempts, I felt that I had to show him.   I could easily reach the throttles with my right hand but could only reach the starboard side of the prong with my left hand - sort of left hand in reverse.   However, I made a copybook connect and he was able to see it properly with all the offsets from the pilot’s position.   After that he made a good connect and followed it with a couple more that I asked him to do - no more trouble. 

 

            In the last 6 months of my exchange posting, 9 Squadron and 16 Photo Reconnaissance Squadron began converting to RF4 (Phantom) aircraft.   Of course, the RF4's could not take over the squadron roles until the pilots were converted and enough new aircraft were assigned.   The weather role had been mainly taken over by Strategic Air Command and it was decided to discontinue the role in TAC and we ferried the WB66 weather aircraft to the aircraft graveyard at Davis Moncton.   Strangely enough many of these aircraft were re activated and converted to be Electronic Jammer aircraft in the Vietnam war.   The RB66's of 16 Squadron were assigned to 9 Squadron which then had 23 aircraft, the largest operational squadron in TAC.  

            I was offered conversion to the Phantom provided that I applied for, and was granted an extension to my exchange period.   I thought about it a lot and decided against as it would deny someone else the opportunity as exchange postings were very rare.   Thereafter, I was asked if I would accept the responsibility of becoming the Operations Officer of the enlarged squadron and was assured that in return I would get a limited conversion to the Phantom later.   It was a most challenging post as the major role was ELINT (electronic intelligence and jamming) carried out by the 10 RB66C’s assigned.   These aircraft had a separate rear compartment carrying four Air Electronic Officers.   They were also the heaviest of the B66's and carried some amazing gear.   As Operations Officer I no longer had a crew of my own but was responsible for all flying and aircrew.   Therefore, I periodically flew with all the crews in place of their normal Captain for checking purposes and also stood in for any Captain that was sick or otherwise unavailable.   Ironically, I was responsible for everything pertaining to operations including the maintenance and update of the vast number of plans which I was not allowed to see as I was a foreigner.  Strangely enough, it worked OK through delegation to trusted Squadron officers.

 

            However, it became a bit quirky when TAC Inspector General pulled an inspection on us.   Failure to pass an IG inspection would probably result in the firing of the Operations Officer, the Squadron Commander and the Wing Commander.   On this occasion, the IG team flew in unannounced at about 4 am.   They immediately took over Wing Operations and pulled a Squadron alert to respond to a specified operational plan which involved a squadron deployment to Spain.   As I was not allowed to see or hear the plan, I was excluded from the initial proceedings .   All crews reported for duty in the briefing room within the specified time and my designated officer conducted the briefing for an actual deployment as per the plan.  At the planned time the rostered crews manned the aircraft and just at start engines time that particular phase was cancelled.  

 

            At that stage, I was recalled to duty and tasked to organize a similar type deployment to take place that night, but instead of the Atlantic crossing, we were to proceed to Myrtle Beach AFB (only about 300 miles away) but by an equivalent route to the Atlantic crossing across continental USA and that included two air refuelings.  The force to be deployed was only token - two RB66C (ELINT) aircraft and two RB66B (photo) aircraft each launching in separate flights.   As was standard practice, a reserve aircraft would join each flight and continue until after the first refueling so that it could replace any of the main aircraft that was in any way deficient, otherwise, if all was well it would refuel and return to base.   Accordingly, three crews of each type were briefed and then sent to the crew rest quarters on base in preparation for a 10 pm launch.

 

            I continued on at squadron headquarters mainly being available to answer questions of the inspection team - a real grilling.   About 4 pm, I was advised that the Aircraft Commander of the reserve ELINT crew had become sick and the medicos had grounded him for the night.   According to the complex and stupid rules, I, as the Operations Officer was the only person that could replace an Aircraft Commander in a crew.   I changed the operation orders, detailing myself as the Aircraft Commander and sneaked away to crew rest picking up my deployment gear on the way and advising Molly of the change.  As the reserve crew, I expected to be back in the morning.   I got almost no sleep as get up for  food and pre launch procedures was scheduled for 7 pm.   Luckily, the inspection team did not realize that as it was an infringement.

 

            Launch went fine and  I, and my crew of 7, settled in as No. 3 in the formation.   Approaching the first refueling point over mid Texas, the weather turned foul - it was as dark as the inside of a cow and turbulent with thunderstorms all around - not nice for refueling.   To add to our woes, some analyst at TAC had decided that we could refuel some many thousands of  feet higher than had been accepted for the RB66c and higher than we had been using in practice.   But as it was an IG, we had to do it by the flawed book.  It was theoretically OK but they had forgotten to include the weight of the latest jamming equipment that we had installed in the ELINT models - we had been arguing this for some time.  Therefore, we were at our extremity - possible in good conditions, but not in foul!!!

 

            No 2 aircraft left the formation and went to join its own tanker in a separate orbit at the southern extremity of the refueling area.  Luckily for him the weather was much better down there.   We joined up with our tanker.    If all went well, lead was to take a full load and afterwards I would take enough to get me back to Shaw AFB.   But lead was having trouble hooking up.   It is quite a problem if you screw the first couple of attempts.   To make a successful hook up, the aircraft must be flown accurately and smoothly - no slip or skid or any other irregularity.  But after a couple of misses, the pilot gets tense and tends to over correct - disaster.   After, a number of his unsuccessful attempts, things were getting critical.   I called up lead and suggested that, with his permission, I would take over lead.   He readily agreed.  I then instructed him to divert to the abort base in Texas.   Then, it was up to me.   I made contact, positioned the drogue to the side of the boom and started taking fuel. As my aircraft weight increased, even on full power, I could not maintain station in the turbulence.  For a couple of occasions I was able to slowly bring the drogue around to full aft of the boom and let the hose take up some of the drag of the drogue.   My aircraft would then slowly accelerate and I could regain position.   But on the third occurrence, it would no longer accelerate.  I therefore instructed the tanker rather imperiously “Toboggan, toboggan!” and they, thankfully responded by starting a 200 feet per minute descent.   With that I was able to  complete the refueling.   During all this, the Wing Commander and the Wing Operations Officer were listening in from the command aircraft.

 

            After disconnect, No 2 aircraft, who had very little trouble taking on his fuel in the calmer conditions, joined up with me and we proceeded on route.  A bit later, we flew south to close to the Gulf of Mexico and turned back to head for Myrtle Beach AFB.

 

            Soon after the sun rose and the weather was beautiful.  We were scheduled for another minor refueling to provide enough  to reach the destination.   Only one tanker was provided.  I went on first.   With the relief of the past night, I must have become quite lax and thus forgot to put my seat to its highest position.   I did not realize it until I was only a few yards out from contact when I lost sight of the drogue.   However, I made a good contact and managed to maintain station for the short time for the mini refuel.  After I disconnected, the refueling valve in the drogue started to leak fuel.  The tanker then declared itself unserviceable and No 2 was not able to go on.   He did not have enough fuel to get to Myrtle Beach with the required minimums, so we decided that he would go into a divert base in Louisiana, refuel and then come on to Myrtle Beach AFB.  As the aborted refueling was not due to a failure of ours, we were not docked Brownie points in the unbelievably stupid Management Information System devised by that incredible idiot, Secretary of Defence, Robert McNamara. 

            I continued on to Myrtle Beach AFB and landed about 8 o’clock in the morning.   In the meantime, Wing Operations had  set up an Operation Center there and we were to conduct simulated operations until further notice under the critical eye of the Inspector General’s Team.   After landing, my crew went into post flight de briefing for about 2 hours.   We then got a meal and went into crew rest for 8 hours after which we were alerted for a mission.   The other crew had just come in as they had to take crew rest at the diversion base.   Briefing and pre flight planning took about two and a half hours and then we were airborne again.    Both crews then cycled through a16 hour routine of meal, pre flight briefing etc, fly, post flight procedures, meal, crew rest and then do it all again.   After about a week,  my stint involved take off about dusk.   The weather across the southern states was foul with thunderstorms everywhere.  I filed Shaw AFB as my weather alternate.   Towards the end of the operation, I was informed that Myrtle Beach AFB had closed due to widespread thunderstorm activity.   Therefore, I diverted into Shaw.   Soon after landing, the Wing Commander, Col Al Turner, called from Myrtle Beach and said that the Inspector General’s exercise was over.   ‘You and your crew, go home Bill”, an order we were very pleased to execute.

 

            We had passed the inspection in very good order.   Sure there were a couple of niggly things that they picked up which required me to report on, together with remedial action which had to be passed through channels.   Generally, everyone was pleased.   The Wing Commander and Wing Operations Officer were most impressed with the Squadron under my operational control during the difficult transition period when it was the most diverse Squadron with the most aircraft (23) in Tactical Air Command, and also my performance during the Inspector General’s Inspection.   Accordingly, they made strong representations to the RAAF with the result that I was awarded the Air Force Cross about a year later.   I am very proud of that honor, the citation of which reads “For leadership”.

 

            My exchange period was finished early in 1965.   Unfortunately, very apologetically the Wing Operations Officer had to go back on the F4 conversion as all efforts had to be diverted to converting crews for the Vietnam operation which was escalating rapidly.

 

            We returned to Australia and I was horrified to be assigned to CO of Melbourne University Squadron.   A completely stupid assignment that should have been given to a part time officer or discontinued.    It did have one advantage in that after a short time we were assigned a married quarter at Mt Waverley.   Unfortunately, daughter Kaye’s credentials would not be accepted for any University in Victoria even though she had graduated in the United States in the top 3% and could have chosen almost any university there.  Accordingly, she had to do the Matriculation year which was incredibly difficult owing to a completely different curriculum.   But she managed it and was accepted into Monash University the next year.   Deb just breezed along.

 

            Relief from the stupid job came in an odd way.   In early April, I was sent to RAAF Headquarters in Canberra where I was informed that I was to be the Commanding Officer of the support unit that was being set up for the deployment of No. 35 Sqn (Caribou) and No 9 Sqn (Iriquos) to Vung Tau in Vietnam.   Thankfully, I was assigned some excellent officers.  Flt Lt Bill Kohler (Accounting Officer), Flt Lt Tony Wish-Wilson (Equipment Officer), Flt Lt Alf Thye (Communications), Flt Lt Ian Flavilla (Medical Officer), and Sqn Ldr Sony Rheese (Operations Officer).   My good friend Gp Capt Peter Raw was assigned as Air Commander to the Joint Headquarters (Nui Dat) and as an extra duty, my superior at Vung Tau.

 

            Department of Air told me that I had been selected for the job as it appeared that I could establish good relations with American Military which would be necessary as we were stationed on a US Army Base and would be beholden to them for all facilities.   I was able to develop a good rapport with Col Church, the US Army Base Commander. 

 

            We were tasked to supply all support functions for the operational squadrons - accommodation,  catering, medical, security, pay, equipment supplies, operations room, the air transport function for the periodic Hercules, Aero Med Evacuation for wounded etc., and arrange such things as adequate tarmac and hanger facilities.  Unfortunately, provision of the facilities to do that was either abysmal or non existent.   And I had no experience or training for the task    However, my team worked exceptionally well thanks to the officers and men.   Of particular note was the catering staff who provided a very good meal for every air and ground crew before and after their duties, no matter when, even though we were scaled for only three regular meals per day during normal working hours and the kitchen facilities provided were dreadful.

 

            One of the problems that we encountered was that the US Army had a different approach to maintenance and flying safety.   For them, in a war zone, equipment destroyed or badly damaged was just written off.   9 Sqn tarmac area was along a narrow unsealed strip which produced a veritable sandstorm every time that an Iriquos took off with dreadful results to maintenance procedures.   Further along the strip was a squadron of US Army Chinooks, the large twin rotor helicopters.   I went to see Col Church to try and get the area sealed.  I explained that it was a hazard to flying safety.   He said “We are fighting a war, you must expect such problems”.  We discussed that for some time with me pointing out that we accepted those risks when the aircraft were carrying out operations in the battle areas but we needed to take much firmer steps at home base.   He just did not agree.   Then the phone rang.   He was told that two Chinooks were taking off in formation and while blinded in the dust cloud had drifted into each other.   It was a horrendous crash as the rotors entwined.   Debris was strew for hundreds of yards.   Sadly, many army personnel were wounded, some seriously and I think a couple were killed.   When he told me I said to him that we could not afford such an accident.   He said “Dammit Bill, you win, the tarmac will be sealed!”.   I think that if I had not had as good relationship, as a mere Sqn Ldr,  I would have been very frowned on.

 

            During my time at Vung Tau, I was able to get some flying as a relief pilot for mainly 35 Squadron (Caribou) or sometimes 9 Squadron (Iriquos).   Whenever I flew it constituted my day off, and how loverly it was to get in the air.   Occasionally, when the RAAF Squadrons did not need me, I flew with a US Army Squadron in a Mohawk on armed reconnaissance.  A very new and rewarding experience.

 

            I did a full year in that position and do believe that we managed to overcome terrific difficulties to set up a reasonable organization before handing over to our replacements.   About a year later, I was awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) and I was delighted that my Flt Sgt Catering and the Flt Sgt Works were both awarded the BEM.

 

Post Vietnam

 

            After Vietnam I was promoted to Wing Commander and could no longer fend off staff assignments and thus spent the rest of my service at Defence Headquarters in Canberra, first in Intelligence, then as a planner in the newly formed Joint Staff.    I hated it as the atmosphere was awful!   Joint meaning the three services and we all got along fine.   But the other half was the civilian staff of the Department of Defence.    It was a time when the civilian staff believed that there role was to dominate the military.   They were headed by Sir Arthur Tange who hated the military and encouraged all his minions to denigrate us which they did with gusto.   That was strongly supported by Malcolm Fraser, the Minister for Defence.    However, as a military planner I did get to attend the twice annual planning meetings of SEATO in Thailand, Philippines, or Hawaii and get to know the top brass in all the Asian participating military.         

 

            As my time in the job approached three years, I decided to see the Director Personnel Officers (Air Commodore Ray Scott who I had known for years) about what they envisaged for my future.   He asked to what I would like to be posted and I nominated Commanding Officer Air Trials Unit at Edinburgh which I knew was becoming available and for which I was highly suited.    He said “No go” and explained that command positions were reserved for young officers who had the potential to provide competition in the future for the highest of ranks.   I got the message that I was going nowhere in the Air Force and better do something about the after life.   Thus, for the first time, I asked for a posting - RAAF EDP which was in its development phase.    I was then assigned to head a new section - Special Projects.

 

            As a preliminary, I did a month course in System Analysis, then a computer programming language course.    I loved the assignment and became proficient in computer systems development and in programming languages, FACT, COBOL, and a smattering of FORTRAN.

 

            But I was aware that forced retirement was getting close.   On examining my qualifications for civilian employment it was obvious to me that no one would want a 50 year old military officer with no civil experience and little accredited education achievements (although I had done numerous courses in the Air Force including the year long live in Staff & Command College, there was no civil accreditation).   Thus night school.   I attended Canberra TAFE at night and achieved a Certificate of Management.   Then Canberra University accepted me to do a part time degree Bachelor of Administration.   RAAF did not give me time off so it was all lunch time and night.

 

            Although I had contributed to the Defence Force Retirement Benefit Scheme all my life, the annuity that I would receive was not enough for comfortable living.   So time to start looking for a job.   I did not have a clue;   no idea of a CV or even how to make an application or to do an interview.   So many applications and they did not go anywhere.   I did the Public Service Entrance Exam and must have done well as, almost immediately, I was offered a base position which I put on hold as I was hoping for better.    Eventually that happened and I was offered a civilian position as a programmer in Defence EDP.

 

            On my 50 th birthday, 11 August 1974, I reached mandatory retiring age and Wg Cdr C.G. (Bill) Kilsby MBE, AFC was retired from the RAAF.   On the next day, I reported for duty at Defence EDP.   Because of the next day situation, my previous 32 years service was accredited.

 

            Although I only had a lowly classification, I was mainly left alone to get on with assigned projects which gave me a lot of satisfaction and a lot of experience.   But the division was going through tightened budget conditions, hence one of my main projects was cancelled.    Then another which was coming along nicely.   And so it went.  It was very disappointing.   And then National Capital Development Commission offered me a position at a higher grade so I took it.    I then spent 10 further years as a Transportation Planner in the NCDC running the Data Section.      There was a very good personnel officer who really understood the super systems and he remodeled my Commonwealth Super participation to my great benefit so that I had two good super systems on eventual retirement.

 

            I enjoyed the NCDC.   It had a great sense of purpose and it was a gung ho outfit.    But, as I approached my 61 th birthday the lure of being able to travel for long periods tempted me to retire and set up business as a consultant.   Hence, “C.G. & M.G. KILSBY CONSULTANTS” came into being.   I was able to take long periods off and had very little trouble getting work providing and massaging date for transport planning projects.   I also did one contract as a project coordinator, another assessing financial management systems and instigating a new method.

 

            In 1995, after a prolonged absence overseas, I realized that  work had dried up and I fully retired at the age of 71.   During the last few years in the Air Force, I took very little leave and was able to build up a large piggy bank of accrued leave.   Also, I was owed 31 years of long service leave.   All that was paid out in a lump sum.   My bank manager introduced me to a stock broker, Ross Prowse of J.B. Were who arranged my first portfolio which proved to be excellent.   I still deal with J.B. Were.

 

 Molly and Family.

 

            I must say that it was not easy for the family.  Throughout all that time, Molly managed it all without any complaint.   She was an excellent Officer’s wife taking a very active part in the Air Force Women’s Association and, in the US, the equivalent.  She was the anchor in the family and coped with the myriad problems associated with frequent moves and poor housing all the while bringing up two girls brilliantly. 

 

            From the start, accommodation was a major problem.   Post war, housing  was in very short supply.   There had been no building during the war and when all the servicemen came home from the war they wanted to settle down.  But builders, building materials, and finance were in very short supply.   Thus, itinerants like us were the least wanted in the rental market as locals wanted to house locals first and the Air Force had a low priority for service housing and it was almost non existent except for very senior officers.  That situation persisted throughout our service and we were generally very badly housed except when we bought our own.   That was not easy because of our transient life.

 

            When we first went to Amberley, Molly’s accommodation in Ipswich was so bad that it was untenable while I was away for the Malayan Emergency, so she took Kaye (then 3 years old) back to Geelong to live with her parents until I came back.

I had been posted to Woomera in early May 1955 but because of the further attachment to England, Molly could not move then.    During my numerous attachments, Molly had bought us a house in Ipswich (the town nearest Amberley).    While I was in England, our second daughter, Debra, was born another thing Molly had to cope with on her own

 

            I went home to Ipswich for Xmas 1955.   Molly had already arranged the sale of the house and we moved to Woomera early in 1956.   We were not able to buy another house  until 1968 after return from Vietnam when I was posted to Canberra and my assignments became more stable.

 

            Our frequent moves and difficulties with housing which caused even more moves even within a posting was a major problem and it caused major difficulties in the daughters’ schooling.   Kaye attended 13 different schools before entering tertiary education.   Even with that, she did brilliantly.  Deb did not get as many moves but it was a problem for her but she coped very well.  On my retirement from the RAAF, as Debbie was just entering University, Molly  was able to do her own thing again and went back into the education system.   Thank you, honey!!

 

The Bottom Line

 

            As I look back at the three conflicts that I participated in, I must make some assessment.   There is little to add to all the other reviews of WW2, and all remain proud of the results.

 

            Similarly, the Malayan emergency.   That was one of the most successful operations against a large, determined and well organized guerilla force.   Why was it successful?   Firstly a well organized, efficient, allied force operating with a stable and non corrupt colonial administration.    The British Army was supported by a very able police force, a Malayan army, the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy, the Australian and New Zealand Army, the RAAF, the RNZAF, and some elements of the ANZAC navies.   Importantly, command was centralized and effective.   It paved the way for a prosperous and stable independent Malaysian government in 1957.  

 

            Vietnam is different.   There is no doubt that we lost the war and at great cost.   The reasons were complex but the cardinal fault was that there was no clear aim.   We just staggered on from disaster to disaster.   If we had had the political will to employ our might properly, we could have won and quickly without the breakdown of morale in both the military and civilian areas.   Importantly, the South Vietnamese government was incredibly corrupt and inefficient.   But in the aftermath, did we achieve anything?   Yes!   When the build up occurred in 1965, the domino theory was prevalent, that is that the Communists would advance by insurgency to take over all of South East Asia.   And that was real.   Indonesia was being peacefully taken over by the PKI (Communist) through the mismanagement of Sukarno.   Communist insurgents were gaining a foot hold in northern Thailand and Chin Pen, the old commander of the Malayan CT s, was stirring up trouble in the south.   Communist influence was taking hold in Laos and Cambodia even though both were kingdoms.   Communist rebels (HUKS) were waging gorilla warfare in southern Phillipines.   The early loss of Vietnam would have exacerbated all those situations.   The war gave us time!   The ‘coup’ in Indonesia failed and Soeharto came to power in the aftermath resulting in a bloody purging of the PKI (Communist) .   In the long run, Australia owes a lot to Soeharto, as he saved us from inevitable war with Indonesia if Sukarno had remained.   In the meantime, Thailand had defeated the Communist insurgents, the Phillipines had suppressed the HUKS.  The Communist Pol Pot regime in Cambodia through its excesses led to its overthrow and a sort of democratic administration eventuated.  At the end of the day, we came out OK and, although I strongly deplore the way the war was conducted ( Lyndon Johnson and that fool Secretary of Defence, Mc Namara, are high on  my hate list), the long term outcome makes me glad that I was part of it.  

 

            In recent times, all of the skirmishes that Australia has been involved in have been of the intervention or insurgency/guerilla type.   Because of my experience and strong opinions in such wars, I have written a separate tome on the subject.

 

Aircraft Types Flown.

 

. DH82 Tiger Moth (one piston)

. Airspeed Oxford (twin piston)

. B24 Liberator (four piston)

. Avro Anson (twin piston)

. CAC Wirriway (one piston)

. Avro Lincoln B2 (four piston)

. Long Nose Lincoln (maritime - four piston)

. Python Lincoln (two piston, two turbo prop)

. Auster (one piston)

. English Electric and GAF Canberra (twin jet)

. CAC Winjeel (one piston)

. Gloster Meteor 4 & 7 (twin jet)

. De Haviland Caribou (twin piston)

. HU1 Iriquos (twin gas turbine helicopter)

. RB66 D, WB66 D, RB66 C (Douglas Destroyer - twin jet)

. Lockheed T33 Shooting Star (one jet)

. C45 Douglas Dakota (twin piston)

. De Haviland Vampire (single jet, twin boom)

. Vickers Valiant (four engine jet)

. Mohawk (two  turbo prop) US Army Armed Reconnaissance.

 

. Note.   You may wonder why I have segregated the three Lincoln types.   The variants were so different that there was a requirement for separate check out especially for the Python which was a very tricky B.  Three were brought out to Woomera for a special project.  Two had been pranged and written off before I got my hands on it (prang free).