Danny
I now have Arthur's log book in front of me. Unfortunately there's no indication of why it was he signed your log book in late April '43. The Squadron had recently moved down to Ceylon, in anticipation of a Jap naval attack. He was doing little flying in April, just an airshow near Madras. I guess he had his hands full.
Yes, of course I'll be careful not to 'overwork' you! I appreciate you're busy in the 'Pilot's Brevet' Thread, and being asked questions that you've already covered in that Thread means that you have the somewhat unwelcome task of needing to trawl through and finding a page reference for me to view. Apologies... I'll be more careful!
Arthur's log book gives some insight into his operational flying over Burma. I've selected a representative sample of entries during the five months he was leading 84 Sqdn there, mid-February to mid-July 1944. The duration of ops were typically 1.5 to 2 hours, while the long range ones in support of the Chindits were 2.5 to 3.5 hours. A small selection, of 15 entries, out of the 108 operations he flew during this 150 day period, are as follows. (His record of the type of bombs dropped hasn’t been included):
29 February Bomb attack on Jap village of Metkalet. 12 Vengeances. Highly successful. Strafed target with front and rear guns.
4 March Another attack on the camp west of Kontha. Direct hits on target area. One aircraft lost. [An additional note adds:] WO Keech (USA) (pilot) and WO Watkins lost when their aircraft exploded during the dive over the target, possibly due to AA fire.
18 March Attack by 21 Vengeances on Jap road block in the Tiddim area. Target indicated by 25-pounder smoke shells. Light AA fire. 70 degree dive through hole in clouds, 12000’ to 7000’, height of target 6000’. One aircraft’s port tank holed.
4 April Raid on Jap occupied airfield of Tamu. Led 36 Vengeances (84, 110 and 7 Sqdns). Very successful. Top cover of 136 Sqdn Spitfires. [A note refers to an operation he didn’t fly on:] 6 April ‘B’ Flight flew into a very bad storm. P/O Gabrielson thrown out of aircraft ‘U’ and landed safely by parachute. He arrived back after 6 days of walking. Aircraft ‘Q’ crashed into mountains. Sgt Dyer received head injuries, and F/Sgt Russell had both arms broken.
8 April Long Range Penetration Group (LRPG) [Chindit] target. 450 mile flight to Mawlu, Irrawaddy. Bombed Jap bunker position overlooking a ‘Wingate’ landing strip [
used for landing troops and stores behind enemy lines, by Dakota aircraft]. R/T communication with LRP column and smoke indication used. 12 Vengeances. Extremely successful. Heavy AA fire from Mawlu. [A note adds:] 3rd Indian Division states that bunker positions destroyed. 265 dead Japs counted.
12 April Set course for Agam to bomb Yenan. Recalled by radio because of Jap Army ‘01’ [‘Oscar’] fighters in the vicinity.
15 April AASC target. Led 24 Vengeances on attack on ridge, NE of Imphal. Large number of Japs dug-in. All bombs in target area. [Note adds:] Report from 4 Corps stated that Gurkha troops ‘went-in’ immediately after bombing and occupied the whole area with little opposition. Over 450 dead Japs counted.
22 April 24 Vengeances attack on Jap occupied village of Nigthoughhong, SW of Imphal. All bombs on target. Army trucks seen rushing South as last aircraft pulled out of dive. [Note adds:] British and Gurkha troops attacked immediately after our raid, but had only partial success due to Jap machine gun and anti-tank gun positions dug-in North of the village. Troops suffered over 50% casualties.
26 April Set course to bomb LRPG target at Indaw. Fighter Ops at Imphal diverted us and our fighter escort to the Northwest, and then back to base, because of 50-plus enemy fighters in the Imphal plain. I dived to height of mountain tops (6000’), amongst cumulus clouds, leading two boxes of six in tight formation. Our Hurricane escort was ‘jumped’ by Oscars. (Two Hurricanes damaged.)
8 May 36 Vengeances set course for Kalewa led by 110 Sqdn and escorted by 12 Long-range Hurricanes. I led ‘B’ Flight through bad weather to dumps near Kalewa. 110 and 7 Sqdns turned back, and ‘A ‘ Flight got lost! Heavy AA fire from Kalewa, but excellent bombing carried out. My own bombs hit a petrol or ammo dump and caused a huge explosion. (Fighter escort lost us.)
17 May Attempted to bomb Jap advanced 33 Division HQ located in 600’ mountains South of Bishenpur. Cloud base over whole target area 660’, making bombing impossible. [Note of 22 May says that the monsoon had arrived.]
23 May LRPG target, a boat-building yard, East of Indawgyi lake. 12 Vengeances. Very successful. Total distance 550 miles. Practically whole flight done above 10/10ths cloud.
1, 3, 4 June [Operations aborted due to cloud-cover over the target.]
5 June (LRPG) Attack on about 1000 Japs in the Pagoda at Onsansaing. My 1500 lbs bombs scored a direct hit on the centre of the Pagoda. Light AA fire encountered, probably 20mm, but it stopped when I strafed. I fired 900 rounds during my dive, into the Pagoda and the surrounding area.
26 June [Note made about an attack he didn’t fly on:] Vengeance FD 105 had a hydraulic pipe burst when approaching the target at Tamu. PO Finnie, the pilot, ordered F/O Ellis, gunner, to standby to bale-out. But as both cockpits were filled with ‘smoke’, Ellis evidently misunderstood and baled-out. He was seen to land South-east of Tamu. Finnie flew back to base! [A later note:] Subsequently learned that Jack Ellis had been capture by the Japs, imprisoned, tortured and then killed.
29 June New tactic tried out. Low-level, shallow dive attack on Ya-Nan bridge by 3 Vengeances. Direct hits scored. Bridge breached in two places and centre collapsed. [
low-level attack was necessary due to low cloud preventing a normal vertical dive.]
5 July Low-level shallow dive attack on stores and troops at Le-u. 12 Vengeances attacked in flights of three. No.3 (Sgt Natrass) badly damaged by a great explosion – probably land-mine or ammo dump, but he flew back to base. 20mm and 37mm AA fire encountered.
10 July [Flying the squadron’s Spitfire] Weather recce Kalewa area. 10/10ths cloud South of Imphal Valley. Turned Northeast into Kabaw Valley and dived from 11000’ to 4000’. Sighted two ‘Oscar’ IIs, 1500’ above me. Turned into cloud and later sighted one ‘Oscar’. Attacked from behind and saw canon shells strike it. A large part broke-off and the enemy aircraft rolled onto its back and dived vertically into clouds covering the hills. (Claimed as ‘probably destroyed’). [Note adds:] Claim granted by 3rd TAF and Eastern Air Command 12 July ‘44. Oscar later confirmed as definitely destroyed.
Tough days! And even tougher on the Japanese. Arthur said he hated war, but I think these days of aerial warfare counted for the most remarkable of his life.
