Congratulations, Coff. Here, as promised, is the continuing saga (for new readers, continued from Post 3126)
Part 2
The 30 minute drive was through a jungle landscape and the hotel, when we got to it, was just as you’d imagine a South Seas hostelry would be. There were four ‘Long House’ type buildings stretched along the beach with the bar, restaurant and reception areas in the middle. Golden sands stretched as far as the eye could see and the surface of the water was only disturbed by the gentlest lapping of waves on the beach.
As we unloaded our cases, we were greeted by a call of ‘Ay Oop’ and turned to meet the manager. He was a rather large gentleman and definitely from Yorkshire. There were affable handshakes all round and, after we had presented him with the cases of McEwans, he made it clear that our money was no good in his bar. I told this story to some civvy friends a few years back and they asked ‘what about food’. They couldn’t quite understand when I told them that Her Britannic Majesty’s Imprest took care of all that!
We found our rooms and quickly changed into the standard Ascoteer down-route kit (shorts and flip-flops for the NCOs, cravats and Pith Helmets for the officers) and met in the bar (instantly christened the Yorkie Bar). The manager was waiting for us and a very pleasant evening ensued.
He was a really interesting guy, one of those ex-pats you meet all over the world – guys who just seem to drift around picking up nice little jobs and, in his case, a very nice local lady. He was an amateur historian and gave us a very interesting insight into Honiara.
The island we were on was better known as Guadalcanal. As I’m sure you all know, during WW2, it was the scene of one of the pivotal battles in the Pacific. The Japanese were incredibly well dug in on the island and it took a huge force of American troops to dislodge them. The Japanese were given the infamous ‘no surrender’ order from their superiors and many of them (including families) preferred to commit suicide rather than give themselves up. You’ve all heard the stories of Japanese soldiers being found in the jungle years later. The last Soldier of Nippon surrendered in Guadalcanal in 1947, but there was one stubborn guy in the Philippines who held out till around 1980. Of course, there was a lot of equipment abandoned in the jungle and ‘Ay Oop’ told us that the Australian Armed Forces had been involved in clearing up well into the 70’s.
The loss of men and machines was horrific and the waters off the north of the island were full of sunken ships of all kinds – from landing craft to destroyers – both US and Japanese. There is so much metal on the sea bed that the stretch of water has been named Iron Bottom Sound. A lot of the ships were sunk in shallow water and at the end of the war, instead of taking equipment home with them, the Americans dropped a lot of it into the shallows. This has become an artificial reef and is now teeming with marine life.
Apparently, you could get a very good view from a low-flying a/c and we decided to ask our friend in Honiara Radio if we could do a low-level departure.
At some point in the evening I was ‘tired’ enough to go to bed and it seemed no time at all before there was a knock on my door. Half asleep, I remembered that I had ordered breakfast in my room and staggered to the door. The waiter, in local dress, pushed a trolley out to the balcony. I watched amazed as he produced a parang from about his person and, in a blur of hand and blade, reduced a fresh pineapple into nice edible chunks. I have to admit that, even in my fragile state, watching the sun come up was a treat.
We gathered in Reception, waiting for transport and saying our farewells to the manager. We told him that we would say hello to Yorkshire next time we were there. He looked around at his domain and, without a trace of sincerity in his voice, said ‘Aye…….I really miss it!’
On the transport, the Capt said that they had managed to file the Flight Plan and we were good to go. The driver switched on the radio, it was a local station but in a couple of minutes we heard the familiar strains of ‘Lilliburlero’ followed by six pips and ‘This is the BBC World Service – The News’. A 5-minute bulletin followed and the only bit I can remember was something about the Duke of Edinburgh on an overseas visit. The News was followed by 10 minutes of music then read again…….but this time in Pidgin English. We had a great time trying to work out what was being said. One bit I liked was when they mentioned the Duke of Edinburgh – in Pidgin, ‘Man Blong Queenie’.
The airfield was deserted but, of course, Albert was sitting there eagerly awaiting his next task. The transport dropped us off at an open gate and we wandered out to the a/c. There was an, apparently, abandoned catering wagon under the stbd wing but a couple of bangs on the side caused the driver to wake up and do his thing.
The pre-flt preparations were efficiently carried out. The Loadie said the catering looked really great and we were in for a treat. Those of you may be wondering about the, somewhat relaxed, catering arrangements need not worry. Everything was done by the book – and the Loadie had a receipt to prove it!
We called up Honiara Radio for Start Clearance. He excelled himself – giving us the HIR weather, runway-in-use, Flight Clearance, Start Clearance, Taxy Clearance and finished by saying ‘Call ready for line-up’. Now, THAT is efficiency. Cotswold Radar, eat your heart out! (God, that dates me) We asked if we could do a low-level departure to look at the reef – of course, that was no problem.
So, ready for line-up we called Honiara and were given clearance to Take Off. As soon as we were airborne we headed towards the reef. It was amazing. This was 30 years ago and the shapes of the ships and equipment were still clearly visible – a real treat. I believe it is now one of the most sought after dive sites in the world.
We climbed to our cruising altitude and completed the flight to Hickam arriving 20 mins behind our original schedule. On-time arrival was very important to us because, two weeks previously, we had arranged a tee time at the Pearl Harbor Golf Course on our day off! (Note the American spelling)
So that was our visit to Honiara. The entry in my logbook says, simply:
Port Moresby – Honiara 3 hrs 45 min
Honiara – Hickam 10 hrs 30 min
But, like all logbook entries, there is always more to it.
As the late, lamented Chas Finn-Kelsey might have said ‘Just another episode in the lives of a crew, from a secret airbase somewhere in Wiltshire’.
