And where were the Vengeances we were going to convert them on? Why hadn't they given me one from 8 Sqdn ? (they'd never do anything more with them until they were scrapped): I could have flown it down myself. Here I've some hazy ideas. In the first place, these were the aircraft that had served through the '43/'44 campaign (In the case of the RAF Squadrons, '42/'43 as well).
They'd had hard use, flying from very rough strips (and had some rough handling !). They'd always been operating in clouds of dust, which couldn't have been doing the engines much good. (Why did our Merlins have to be "tropicalised", while the big American (and British) radials just took it in their stride?) If they've plenty of new VVs on the shelf in Mauripur ( Mk. IIIs) - as it seemed they had - then let's have 'em now.
The four RAF Squadrons, which had operated with the Vengeance in Burma for the past eighteen months, had been scheduled to re-equip with the Mosquito FB VI (with fresh, fully trained crews from the UK), for what would prove to be the last year of the war (although we didn't know it then, of course). From early '44 the aircraft and crews started coming out. The changeover began. (S/Ldr Traill, he who put his aircraft up a banana tree, was on his way to AHQ Delhi to make the final arrangements for the handover of 45 Sqdn when his fatal, unexplained accident happened). At first all was going smoothly. Then disaster struck.
The Mosquito was a brilliant aircraft, and its great selling point was that it was made of wood (almost uniquely among the operational aircraft of the day). This was much cheaper, and in more plentiful supply than aluminium alloy, and employed wood craftsmen for whom there wasn't much other call in the middle of a war. So now is the time to relate the sad story of the Mossies. What was the trouble?
Simply, they started to fall to pieces in mid-air. An aircraft could be flying along, there'd be a rending crash, the two occupants would find themselves a few thousand feet up "without visible means of support", with a cloud of splinters a quarter mile astern and two Merlins hurtling to earth. Most, but not all, managed to get rid of their seats, pulled the ripcord and floated down unhurt.
Examination of the wreckage showed that in most cases the main spar had catastrophically failed; the glues holding the many laminations (which gave it its strength) had let go. The first answer was obvious, the damp, heat, moulds and bacteria in the Far East were responsible; unless a solution were found soon the things were useless out there.
Not every aircraft was affected, but you didn't know which ones until something happened, so all had to be grounded. (One explanation offered somewhere in Bharat-Rakshak, was "White Ants" - and although the little beasties would have devoured the Mossies with pleasure if they could, I can't see them shinning up the main undercarriage or tailwheel assembly to get to the Promised Land).
Then someone drew attention to the fact that 684 (
PR) Sqdn in Calcutta had been flying Mossies (Mks. II,VI,IX, & XVI) since September '43, and theirs hadn't been falling apart - yet. Clearly there must be something different about the later production aircraft - but what?
The best brains in the industry laboured night and day on the problem. There may have been considerable political pressure applied, for a fortunate coincidence may have worked in our favour. 684 Sqdn had a pilot, F/O Robin Sinclair, on strength and he had a friend at Court. Daddy was Sir Archibald Sinclair, the Secretary of State for Air in the War Cabinet. (How the wires must have hummed!)
Finally, careful analysis of the glue recovered from the wrecks revealed that some of the stuff was sub-standard, (A scurrilous story going the rounds was that some sub-sub-sub contractor had been found using wallpaper paste, but I place no credence on that). Quality Control was improved and the next batches of aircraft stuck together and did sterling work, climate or no climate, until the end of the war.
My Record of Service shows that I went down to Yelahanka on October 25th, and when I got there, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to go, I was told (not for the first time): "That was Yesterday - It's All Been Changed !" They'd just "Found Out the Cause of the Bother"; the quick-conversion idea was out of the window (to the enormous relief of the Mossie crews, who'd regarded it with the utmost horror); I was out of a job, on strength of SHQ Yelahanka, for 8 Sqn. had no interest in taking me back.
Bit of an anti-climax !
Goodnight, all,
Danny42C
It's just one damn' thing after another.