February 1946 to January 1947
On 10 February I borrowed a Spitfire XIV from No. 132 Squadron to carry out bad-weather approaches to provide practice for the air traffic controllers in Kai Tak tower. In mid-February I set off for Burma to collect three Beaufighters allotted to Kai Tak. I went in a Dakota that was routed via Tan Sun Nhut (Saigon) and Don Muang (Bangkok), to Mingaladon (Rangoon). Having collected the aircraft from the latter airfield the following day, I flew a Beaufighter X on the reverse route, with two other Beaufighters in formation. Unfortunately one crashed on landing at Tan Sun Nhut, but after 4 hours 20 minutes of flying I landed Beaufighter X RD.157, accompanied by the one other, at Kai Tak, the first ever to do so. I thoroughly enjoyed flying the Beaufighter again, not having done so since the night-fighter operations in 1942/3. It had always been one of my favourite aeroplanes, and it had lost none of its magic. Back at Kai Tak on the 19th I air-tested a Tiger Moth that had come out in a crate from the UK for the formation of a Hong Kong auxiliary squadron and had been erected in the Technical Wing’s hangar. At the end of the month I air-tested a Beaufighter that had been fitted with modified anti-balance tabs on the elevators, which were designed to improve the aircraft’s stability. It was true that the Beaufighter tended to oscillate in the vertical plane at high speeds, and I found that the tabs certainly seem to dampen these down.
On 9 March I took a Spitfire to investigate a burning ship in the typhoon anchorage, and I went on to provide an escort for the Dakota carrying Charles Little on his leaving the Colony. Two days later I air-tested a Corsair and afterwards carried out a reconnaissance of the proposed Air Gunnery Ranges in Mirs Bay and reported on their suitability. On the 19th I was scrambled in early-morning fog for a sea search for a Corsair pilot. I found no sign at this time, but the following day I did another search in a Corsair, and the pilot was found and picked up from his dinghy by a Sea Otter of the Fleet Air Arm.
On the 25th I carried out a relative speed trial with a Mosquito and a Beaufighter at sea-level, and to my surprise found the Beaufighter was marginally faster than the Mosquito. On the following day the air traffic controller called me in his office to say that a Dakota was missing on the approach to the airfield, and an immediate search was organized. I took off in a Sentinel and retraced the approach route probably taken by the Dakota. After an hour searching the sea, as a last effort I went further afield and circled Lantau Island, where I discovered the crashed aircraft near the summit at 1,800 feet. While I hurried back to land at Kai Tak to report the position of the crashed aircraft, a high-speed launch was organized with a rescue party. I rushed down to the quay and joined the launch crew, and we discussed a plan of action on the way out to Lantau. A landing was made on the beach and we climbed our way up to the wreck. When we arrived it was clear that the aircraft had run into the peak without warning when it was in cloud, and all five crew had been killed instantly.
On the 29th I flew a handling flight of a Navy Firefly FR 1 with a seaman as passenger, and the next day a radio test was carried out on a Sentinel in case it should be needed for a rescue search again.
At the beginning of April a Navy Vengeance crashed into the harbour after overshooting the runway, and the next day another Vengeance crashed on the airfield, but happily without serious injury. On the 9th I took the air controllers one after another for a demonstration of airfield approaches in the Sentinel. After several flights in the Beaufighter on radio tests, single-engine flying and let-downs, I took the AOC for a demonstration flight prior to his going solo, which he did a few days later, carrying out several take-offs and landings and clearly enjoying flying the Beaufighter.
Over Easter a party was assembled at Star Ferry Pier, and we set off for Macau in a high-speed launch. We lay off Lantau for a swim and picnic lunch on a sandy beach before sailing on to the Portugese colony for the night. We visited the incredible gambling joints that proliferated in every street of the colony, but did not dare join the obsessed gamblers who scrambled and fought to make their bets in the Fan Tan halls. The next day we embarked on our return voyage, breaking our journey to swim from another Lantau beach. I arrived back at Kai Tak to hear that a Sea Otter had crashed in the sea the day before, but without serious casualty. On the 26th I did a low-level search over Mirs Bay in a Firefly, and two days later I led three Corsairs in a formation to escort the new Governor, Sir Mark Young, on his arrival in the Colony. Later in the day I flew over the reception ceremony at Queen’s Pier in an Oxford for official photographers to cover the Governor’s arrival.
On 1 May Vice-Admiral Sir Cecil Harcourt, the past Military Governor, departed from Hong Kong aboard HMS Argonaut. He had been the principal author presiding over the remarkable recovery that had been achieved in the Colony under his wise stewardship. He was admired and respected by all the service people under his command, and we all felt that he should have a fitting departure. Consequently his air escort, which I led in a Corsair, consisted of three Corsairs, a Beaufighter, a Vengeance, two Dakotas, a Sunderland, an Oxford, a Sentinel and a Tiger Moth. The whole formation flew low over Argonaut and peeled off one at a time in salute, as she sailed out through the narrows. The next day it was the turn of Vengeance, bound for Colombo, the ship in which I had found so much camaraderie and enjoyment and made many friends. For her escort I did several low flyovers in a Beaufighter, and also teased the Navy by making an approach to the flight deck with wheels down as though I was going to land aboard. I got a frantic wave-off from the flag man! For the rest of the month I flew several sorties of Sentinel, Oxford, and Dakota, and also a Corsair sortie to escort HMS Apollo out of harbour. On the 27th, No. 201 Staging Post at Kai Tak threw a party to celebrate the handling of its 1,000th aircraft since the airfield had reopened. Congratulatory telegrams came pouring in, particularly from the Dakota squadrons whose aircraft had come flying in and out during the whole period. On 10 June I and several other senior officers were invited to the Governor’s Box to view the Victory Parade on the racecourse at Happy Valley, and on the 13th a similar parade was held to celebrate the King’s Birthday. At the end of the month the AOC left the Colony by Sunderland flying-boat.
On 17 June a typhoon warning was received, and as many aircraft as possible were flown out to safe diversions away from the path of the storm. The wind picked up to severe gale a few days later, and all remaining aircraft were picketed down as securely as possible and marine craft were moved to the typhoon anchorage. There was a shortage of qualified skippers to move them all, and I volunteered to take a 62-foot air-sea rescue launch, with only an airman engineer as crew, round to the other side of the Kowloon Peninsula where the shelter was situated. It was an exciting trip, particularly as the wind had already whipped up a choppy sea, but the launch was wonderfully manoeuvrable with its three individually controlled Napier engines. The next day the full force of the storm hit the Colony, and Kai Tak suffered very heavy damage despite the precautions that we were able to take. The majority of our Dakotas were flown out to places of safety, as were several Sunderlands, but seven Dakotas and two Sunderlands were wrenched from their picketing ropes and concrete blocks and were badly damaged. At one point I saw a Sunderland that had been pulled up on the slipway almost completely clear of the ground, with all four propellers turning by the strength of the wind. Needless to say, all the temporary tents and wooden huts were swept away, and fuel drums and wreckage that was hurtling across the airfield made it dangerous to venture out. In twelve hours the typhoon had passed on up the coast, and there was an uncanny calm hanging over the Colony.
The huge task of clearing up, rehousing the troops and getting the aircraft back from where they had been dispersed was put in hand at once. The two Sunderlands that had flown south had run into headwinds and been force-landed on the southern shore of Hainan, at Sama. At Hong Kong the Royal Navy Sloop Black Swan was prepared for sea, to sail down and rescue them. She sailed out of the harbour in the gathering dusk with an RAF technical team and me aboard, and went south. We arrived off Sama at dawn to find that one Sunderland had beached successfully, but the other had run up hard, broken its back and was clearly a write-off. Preparation were put in hand to tow the serviceable aircraft out into deep water, a task more easily said than done, as it was firmly embedded in the sand. There was some damage to the hull, so concrete was laid along the damage to strengthen it and hopefully to stop any leaks. The first attempt to drag the aircraft off was unsuccessful, as the cable laid from the ship was too weak, and a heavy swell had developed that necessitated putting further attempts off until the next day. In the morning conditions had improved, and with a heavier cable and the ship’s winch churning at full power, the Sunderland very slowly gave up its grip in the sand and slid gracefully down the beach out to deeper water. After refuelling from Black Swan and a thorough inspection and engine test, she was flown back to Kai Tak, where a safe landing was made. Black Swan, after this very successful salvage job, returned to Hong Kong, but not before also salvaging the four engines and other useful gear from the other Sunderland. The whole operation was undertaken with a certain amount of trepidation, as the beach and sand dunes were overlooked by armed Chinese Communist troops who clearly lacked a leader and didn’t seem to know what to do in the circumstances. Luckily they only glowered at the working party, and did not try to interfere.
At the beginning of August I was detailed to escort Dr Ba Mawr, the Burmese ‘Quisling’, down to Singapore after a war crimes trial in Japan. We flew down in a Sunderland to Seletar, and the doctor was duly handed over to the authorities after signing my logbook.
After an interview with Freddie Guest at Headquarters ACFE, I returned to Kai Tak in a Dakota. The interview confirmed my worst fears when I was told that I had to relinquish my acting rank on posting to a staff job on the Air Staff at HQ at Changi. I knew that this was always a possibility, but it came as a deep disappointment, as I had held my wing commander rank for over four years, including five command posts. On the other hand I had been very lucky in rising from sergeant to wing commander in only three years. There followed periods of depression and lack of enthusiasm, but luckily I had a very understanding immediate boss, who was also a very keen flyer, and we managed to get away from our staff duties from time to time to get airborne. I also took up sailing, and from this small beginning it became second only to flying among my favourite interests. Before going to Changi and losing my acting rank I was sent up to Shanghai to take over command of No. 200 Staging Post at Lungwha. To assess my responsibilities for the air route north I flew up to Iwakuni in a Dakota and did a reconnaisance as far as Hiroshima. On returning to Kai Tak at the end of the month my posting to Changi came through, but I did not go before I had another flight in my favourite Corsair, and my lads at Kai Tak were entertained to a quarter of an hour’s aerobatic show as my farewell. I flew down as a comfortable passenger in ‘Hotspur’ the BOAC Hythe flying-boat. We landed on the river at Bangkok the next day and flew on to Singapore, alighting at Kallang and reaching Changi by road late in the day, where, as usual, I was not expected and nobody bothered to meet me – a depressing beginning that reflected the gloom of the following months. I found the large Temple Hill officers’ mess dull and entirely uninspiring, but I soon started to spend a good deal of time down at the sailing club when I was off duty, and took to sailing as readily as I had to flying.
Two days after my birthday I went over to visit No. 84 Squadron at Seletar and air-tested one of its Mosquito VIs after a tailplane change. A few days later I flew an Auster from the Station Flight at Changi to reconnoitre the beautiful sailing waters around Changi. On the 16th I accompanied the C-in-C, Sir George Pirie, on an inspection tour of some of the stations in the command. We flew in a Dakota, and our first stop was at Medan, where we were dined by the Sultan of Deli, Sumatra. The next day we flew on to Butterworth (Penang), where we had lunch at Government House and stayed the night at Fort Aukrie Rest Camp. We returned to Seletar to inspect the squadrons there, and then flew on to Kuala Lumpur and Tengah, and thence back to Changi, to complete the C-in-C’s tour of inspection. The next day Richard (my boss) and I flew an Auster over to Seletar to collect a Mosquito. On the return flight Richard flew the Mosquito and we had a dogfight, which I was deemed to have won as the Mosquito was quite unable to get its sights on the small, highly manoeuvrable Auster that I was flying.
In the middle of November I had a few days’ leave and flew up to Hong Kong, via Saigon, in a Dakota. On the 18th I managed to borrow a Seafire from the Navy MONAB, and enjoyed an hour’s aerobatics and a look around the coast of the Colony again. I returned before the end of the month and sailed nearly every evening, practising for the races due shortly at Changi. In December I had two flights in the Auster, and on Christmas Eve I borrowed a Spitfire XIV from Port Swettenham for a local reconnaissance and airfield inspection. January was a quiet month and I only managed three sorties in the Auster to keep in flying practice. Off duty I sailed a lot and began to do well in the pram dinghy races. February and March were also quiet, and in April I flew in a Sunderland as an observer on a search-and-rescue exercise off Penang. Later in the month I had another flight in a Spitfire XIV, doing an air test for No. 390 Maintenance Unit at Seletar.
The beginning of May was fruitful as far as flying was concerned, and I managed to get away from my staff duties to fly a Spitfire XVIII of No. 60 Squadron at Tengah, a Mosquito VI on an air test and a Spitfire XIV. In the middle of the month I had the good news that I had been selected to attend the Day Fighter Convention at the Central Fighter Establishment at West Raynham in the UK. In due course I set off in a York of Transport Command, arriving at Negombo (Ceylon) on 16 May. During the next three days we flew to Mauripur (Karachi), Habbaniyah (Iraq) and Luqa (Malta), finally touching down at Lyneham on a glorious spring evening. I reported to the CFE a few days before the convention was due to begin and was delighted to meet some of my old fighter friends again. I did my best to persuade them to use their influence to try and get me posted to the Air Fighting Development Squadron to join them on my next posting. And persuade them I did, for I heard that I was to be posted to the Air Fighting Development Squadron at CFE in the following January. During the convention I had the opportunity to fly several new types, including the new turbine-powered aircraft. I flew the Meteor III with two jet engines first, and the next day the de Havilland Hornet, the single-seater fighter version of the Mosquito. I flew the Meteor III again the day after testing the performance of the Seafire 46 with the Griffon engine. I then visited Odiham and flew a Vampire I, and did staff visits to the Gloster Aircraft Company at Moreton Valence and the Bristol Aircraft Company at Filton, where I was allowed to fly the larger and heavier version of the Beaufighter, the Brigand TFI, a powerful aircraft full of menace, though it never went into general service. On the way to Lyneham I called in at Hullavington and flew a Vickers Viking with a test pilot doing stalls and dive tests. On the 19th I flew back to Changi in a York, following the reverse route as the flight out.
Shortly after arriving at Changi, Richard and I did a very-early-morning trip in a Harvard to Tengah, where a Meteor IV was waiting for us to try out. Richard flew it first and came down bursting with praise and enthusiasm. After refuelling with the unfamiliar Avtur (virtually paraffin), I took it on a thorough handling test. It was so much more powerful than the Mk III, and performance was dazzling in comparison. At sea level I clocked up 585 mph, and climb and descent performance were equally outstanding, and yet the approach and landing were docile and easy. Not surprisingly the Harvard on the flight back felt lifeless and dull, although it could be landed in a small field at 60 mph. After two more Harvard flights, one checking longitudinal stability, Ron Cooper and I took an Anson up to Kuala Lumpur with passengers, and after a visit to the races the next day returned with our passengers to Changi. On an Auster flight to Tengah after an overhaul, I found the elevator controls very slack, but after picking up a passenger for the return flight they seemed to be quite normal. An investigation at Changi revealed that the flimsy passenger seat had partially collapsed, and with the weight of a passenger it was pressing down on the elevator control cables that passed underneath, acting as an effective tensioner.
I started off November with an hour and a half’s instrument-training flight in the Anson, and later flew a Spitfire XIX for an hour on performance-handling and aerobatics. Later I had a very rough flight in climbing up through a cumulo-nimbus storm cloud in a Harvard to gain experience of instrument flying in a storm cloud, which I did not enjoy very much. The time was approaching when I soon would be tour expired and returning to the UK, so I volunteered to fly a Dakota back there. After a dual flight with an instructor I took a category test and did a few hours’ solo flying in the Dakota, including single-engine handling, approaches and landings. Two further flights both ended in engine trouble, and I became aware that Dakotas were going through a particularly bad patch of these failures at the time. So when the time came for my return to the UK I took up an offer of a flight back in a Sunderland flying-boat, as I was not keen on ending up somewhere en route with a single-engined Dakota! Before finally leaving Changi I took part in the sailing regatta, and not only won several races but carried off the Battle of Britain Challenge Cup for racing dinghies, much to my satisfaction. I packed up my kit after the weekend and got a lift to Seletar and put it aboard Sunderland RN. 297. We flew in the large flying-boat from Seletar to Koggala (Ceylon) and then via Korangi Creek (Karachi) to Bahrein, where we had a champagne party with friends who were also going home. The next day we flew to Fanara (Fayid, in the Canal Zone), and on to Kalafrana (Malta). After a day’s stop-over in Valetta, the take-off the following day was very scary, as the swell was fierce and the first attempt was aborted because the flying-boat was being badly battered by the large waves before flying speed could be attained. Finally the take-off had to be abandoned here, and we taxied round to the inner harbour, where the sea was calmer, but there was only just room to get airborne, and the climb-out over the buildings of Kalafrana was very exciting but too close for comfort! There was a lot of low cloud and snow over France, and we landed at Calshot in a typical English drizzle, but I was glad to be back home again after two and a half years away.