大象传媒

Chapter7

These flights to and from the Phillipines usually took about a week and there were several days rest between flights. When we had time we went into Sydney and enjoyed swimming on the beaches there. There was an excellent Officers club at King's Cross and it was there that I met Ann, known to her family as Dickie. She worked part time as a helper at the club.
Dickie was a doctor's daughter and lived close to Bronte beach. She and her family were kind to me and I spent quite a lot of time with her despite her mother's warning that I was not to distract Dickie from her studies of anthropology at Sydney University. I was taken to the Blue Mountains and also to National Park, a little way to the South of Sydney. On one occasion we held a dance at Camden and Dickie came out giving me the chance to show her around the cockpit of one of our "Daks".
The trams in Sydney were known as "toast-racks" with their sides open and at rush hours passengers would just stand on the step which ran the length of the tram holding on tight. Sydney was not renowned for the politeness of its citizens at that time and the newspapers even offered rewards for people reporting acts of kindness. The drinking hours in the pubs were limited and there was a habit known as the "five o'clock swill" after which the occupants were turned out onto the street in a somewhat rough condition.
My Skipper Dan Capel, an Australian, was from Northern New South Wales. His father had a sheep station and I was invited on more than one occasion to spend a few days leave at Tiabundie. The family were very hospitable and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience which was so different from anything I had previously known. The sense of space and remoteness but at the same time the way that friends and relatives came great distances to take part in parties and dances. I recall one occasion when I got up early one morning and walked only a short distance from the house to find that I had lost myself in the rolling terrain without landmarks that I could recognise. Eventually making my way back to the house I saw a large frilled lizard sunning itself on a gate post. I felt sure it was an evil beast and promptly killed it with a stick. Marching proudly back dangling the reptile by its tail I was most disappointed to be told that the frilled lizard was harmless and good at reducing the fly population! We rode the farm horses and went duck shooting and life was perfect.
Dan's Father was very fond of his cigarettes and Dan felt it his duty to see that Dad didn't go short of his smokes. Consequently it was necessary on several occasions, regardless of who our passengers might be, to make a small diversion in our flight plan in order to carry out an airdrop of half a dozen cartons over Tiabundie. It was my job to throw the cartons out of my window at the correct time from about 100 feet. Apart from causing panic amongst the horses, all went well. However on one occasion I was foolish enough to put my head out into the slipstream to see if my throw had been accurate, when to my annoyance my airforce issue sun glasses blew off. A month or two later on a subsequent leave, we were all sitting at a meal when the gardener walked in holding my undamaged glasses saying he had just found them in the grass outside. The climate was wonderful and I enjoyed the outdoor life. So much so that I went for an interview with the Dean of the Dental Faculty at Sydney University to enquire into the possibility of taking a dental course there when I was demobilised. I was told that there would be no problem and that I would receive an ex-serviceman's grant. At that time I felt sure that I would not be required in the Air Force much longer and had no idea that I would be sent up to Hong Kong and then on to Japan with the Commonwealth Occupation Force for another year.
When the war in the Pacific finally ended with the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima, I happened to be on the island of Peleliu. Later we celebrated VJ day in Sydney and there were many parades and displays.
However it was necessary for us to continue with our supply flights up to the Phillipines and beyond. Now we extended our trips as far as Hong Kong and it was a memorable occasion when we made our first landing at Kai Tak airfield using an aircraft carrier offshore as our airfield control. It was a long flight from Tacloban on the island of Leyte requiring the fitting of extra fuel tanks inside the fuselage. Being our first trip on that route we were anxious to check any landmarks along the way. Fortunately we passed directly over a small reef almost circular in shape, acting as an anchorage for a number of fishing boats. This was Pratas reef and it lay halfway between the Phillipine archipelago and the China mainland. After a while we saw a dark haze on the horizon . There was land ahead !
We were one of the first aircraft to land there after the surrender of the Japanese forces and were not permitted to enter the city as there was quite a lot of disorder with no proper
administration. However a few weeks later things were under control and we were fascinated by the life in this liberated colony. Some of our crews were not slow to realise the possibilities of trading goods in a small way. Expanding metal watch straps made in Hongkong at very cheap prices could be sold to a ready market in Sydney. Earlier on it had been very profitable to take a case of whiskey, bought at duty free Navy prices in Sydney and exchange this in the American bases in the islands for a case of American cigarettes which were much in demand in Australia. These little exercises did not last very long and as soon as the war was over the customs tightened up their controls. Although strictly illegal, it was considered a bit of a game whilst it was possible.

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