This thread reminds me of a story I read in perhaps either the Australian "Pix" or "People" magazine in the late 1960's or early 1970's.
It was the story of an escape from Burma in early 1942, in front of the advancing Japanese, of a load of women and children, in a patched-up Dakota flown by a young Chinese pilot (not sure of his name now - Ho Fun rings a bell?)
The Dakota had been bombed and badly damaged. The locals, including some Allied troops set to and patched the holes in the Dakota wings with sheets.
They then loaded the aircraft with something like 42 or 43 women and children, tied the Dakota to a tree to assist with a STO (due to bomb damage to the runway) - and after Capt Ho firewalled the throttles, the troops chopped the rope with an axe and the Dak departed for Singapore.
They arrived in one piece, and the aviation authorities were staggered that the aircraft even flew. Capt Ho was insistent that he needed to return to Burma to rescue more women and children that had been left behind.
The authorities in Singapore refused to refuel the Dak, and Capt Ho harrassed them mercilessly until they relented and refuelled him.
Capt Ho attempted a takeoff, but a main gear tyre blew as he reached near V2min, the aircraft slewed out of control, and crashed and blew up. Capt Ho was incinerated.
The whole sad story was one of desperate and incredible heroics - and I thought of the futility of the entire exercise (which was unknown to all the participants at the time of course), as Singapore was rapidly overrun not long after, and all the women and children became captives anyway.
Does anyone have any reference or knowledge of this story, or is it just one small story of WW2 heroics lost in the passage of time?
Last edited by onetrack; 7th May 2013 at 01:32.