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In 1939 I was 18 and helping the local Fire Brigade to patrol the local streets during air raid alarms and reporting fires resulting from the raids.
I joined the RAF in October 1941 and after attending training centres in Blackpool and Cranwell in Lincolnshire qualified as a wireless operator-mechanic.
In early 1943 I was transferred to an American Camp near Boston Massachusetts. During a visit to Boston along with other RAF colleagues we were suddenly surrounded by members of a girls club and moved into their club needless to say our stay was very enjoyable and we all regretted leaving.
Shortly after this incident we were transferred via train and ship to Nassau in the Bahamas.
In the Bahamas I joined an all Australian crew and trained in American Mitchell and Liberator bombers. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor occasionally made a call at our local Airmans club.
On completion of our training we were transferred by ship and train to Dorval Airport in Montreal Canada. During our time in Montreal we were able to visit and stay in New York and also to visit relatives and local clubs. On the 5th november 1943 we left Dorval and started our flight to India via Prestwick in Scotland and Lynham near Salisbury. During our flight to India we also called at Briska in Algeria, Eladem Cairo Westand Habbaniya not far from Baghdad. At Cairo West I dressed in Australian uniform to avoid conflict with Australian soldiers. Our journey to India finished at Karachi on November 17th 1943. During our stay in India we visited Bombay, Madras, Hyderabad and Danish Koti where we boarded a ferry to the Northern tip of Ceylon (now called Srilanka).
After landing in Ceylon we proceed to Columbo it's capital and then to the RAF 160 Squadron at Sigirya by rail and road. Shortly after arriving at sigirya we were joined by our flight engineer Taffy Williams. During my time with 160 Squadron I flew on 19 operation tours.
On one tour in october 1944 we returned on two engines, on three tours we dropped a total of 90,000 leaflets over Sumatra and on our final photo reconnaissance over Pucket we dropped to 50 feet and were waved to by Japenese soldiers who quickly realised their mistake and fired at us. Fortunately only a few bullets hit our tail plane. Our local commanding air officer complimented the crew on this our final reconnaissance and our skipper Laurie Jones was awarded the DFC and our flight engineer the DFM. I returned to the UK and was sent to RAF Uxbridge and finally to RAF Hendon from where I was discharged on the 27th June 1946.
I am still in touch with Laurie Jones and Eric Williams our flight engineer.
In 1966 Laurie Jones published a book which he called "A Pilot's Story of Flying in War and Peace" which covered the time he spent on 160 Squadron.

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