Gaining An R.A.F Pilots Brevet In WW II

[Danny42C]

Anti-malaria spraying from Vengeances.

Geriaviator,

Thanks ! - This is very interesting to me on two counts:

First, your:

"......also a few Vultee Vengeance which we modified for aerial insecticide...."

Now I was told somewhere that, right at the end, post-war, 110 (H) Sqdn (my old outfit) got hold of a few M.IVs and flew (?) them across to Takoradi (now Ghana) - (or were they there already when they got there ?) to do anti-malaria spraying trials. It was hinted they had a lot of trouble with these aircraft - I have said (p.134/#2680) that they would have been better off with Mk.IIIs, which worked perfectly for me.

It would have been a Hell of a transit - I don't know how they were supposed to have done it, for you would have to get across the Arabian (or Red Sea) at some point (sooner 'em than me !) and work your way across Africa. Never heard of the result of these Trials.

This came after we had pioneered the idea (using the underwing spray tanks from which we had been spraying mustard gas for the last two years). Our "Trial" was so small-scale as to be statistically insignificant; we just learned the best heights and speeds to spread the DDT.

Now, secondly, as to the waste of ex- Lend-Lease material which was heartbreaking, but it was a commercial necessity for the US (otherwise they'd never need to make a panel instrument or a tyre or an aero engine etc for the next ten years !) I've already told the tale of the Corsairs which went over the side offshore from my patch, and I'd to take my three trusty Mk.IIIs to be scrapped (the Wg Cdr had just written-off his Harvard himself, so that was one less to worry about).

Which makes it all the more surprising that the Aussies had all these aircraft in the scrapyard to be picked over, but that seems to be how it was. But why would they pick an EZ (the only Mk.I or IIs which were Lend-Lease), when they had three times as many AFs, ANs and some APs to go at (all bought and paid for already ?)

A week today (15th) will be the 70th anniversary of the Japanese surrender (the USAAC had shot its bolt, there were no more atomic bombs ready on the shelf - but the Japanese didn't know that). We out there (expecting several more years of war, almost certainly culminating in an amphibious assault on Japan, with a hideous casualty list to face) were greatly relieved ("stunned" would be a better word). But how to describe the incredulous joy of our prisoners in Burma (some of whom had survived 3½ years of barbaric treatment [with no end in sight] in Japanese hands, since being taken in Dec '41 after the loss of Singapore ?)

I shall raise a flagon of Guinness on that day. Please join me !

Danny.