大象传媒

My father was one of the thousands of men whose active service was in a theatre of operation, but who was working behind the scenes to keep 'the show on the road'.

An engineer in civvie street, he finally managed to wangle his way into the Navy as an Aero engine Artificer working on most of the then current Navy aircraft.

After a long journey aboard the carrier Rajah which took him via Malta, he found himself in early 1945 on the pretty, exotic island of Ceylon, a paradise which had been turned into a solid aircraft carrier for offensive operations against the Japanese prior to the proposed attack on their home islands.

On the aerodrome at Ukussa, he describes a quite bizzare scene, as the most modern aircraft then available were hauled around the airfield by asian Elephants, each with an Indian minder sitting atop the animal guiding it. For the most part this worked well for both the Navy and the Elephants. On one notable occasion however, an animal took a dislike to a parked Fairey Swordfish. In spite of the best efforts of the Mahut who was banging the Elephant on top of his head with his stick, the Elephant set off at a steady trundle, and in a cloud of dust across the aerodrome. Reaching the large, canvas covered Bi-plane it then rammed and pushed it around as if it were a toy.

By the time the Mahut had regained control and the Elephant had recovered it's composure there was little recognisable to be salvaged from the Swordfish and it was struck off charge. Happily the Elephant returned to it's work without a repeat performance.

An excellent depiction of the Elephants at work in Ceylon exists as a painting by the aviation artist Robert Taylor. It shows an Elephant towing a Chance Vought Corsair onto the metal temporary runway. The Elephant has an identification number whitewashed on its flank, a process which I assume didn't cause the animal any distress!

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