大象传媒

I was called up, having been serving an Engineering apprenticeship in Becton Gasworks.

I was sent to Coltishall in Norfolk, where I met the 133 Eagle Squadron Pilots for the first time.

We expected to see gangsters, film stars, cowboys, Indians, having never met any Americans before. What we found though was that they were very generous, it was the first time that I smoked American cigarettes. They were superior to the ones that we had and they were free!

I was with them for 2 years, where we went into combat together with the RAF, and we lost a few pilots.

After that I was sent to Burma with 132 RSU (Repair, Salvage and Servicing Unit) where we used to repair damaged aircraft, or had been lost in the jungle, and we were sent with an army escort to find the crashed aircraft.

We were at an airfield in Imphal and were cut off by the Japanese for 3 months. We repaired the aircraft on the airfield and were shelled and bombed for most of that time.

We then went to Mandalay with that unit where with four other fitters and riggers we were posted to 82 Squadron Mosquito and spent the rest of the war with them, because the Mosquito planes were suffering with the heat and rain that was affecting the glue used to put them together and there were problems especially with the wings falling off. Our job was to repair them, after they had been grounded for some time.

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