Lots Happening in the Research

I have made more progress lately in the research for my book project. I spent a couple of days last week with Brian Baber, a true gentleman who flew in the RNZAF in WWII. He trained in New Zealand on Tiger Moths and Hawker Hinds before being posted to Singapore where he eventually found himself a junior fighter pilot on No. 243 Squadron RAF, flying the Brewster Buffalo.Just as he joined the squadron the war with Japan erupted and he and his fellow squadron members were in the thick of it. The squadron is an interesting one in that the CO and Flight Commanders, plus the ground staff, were all British and members of the Royal Air Force. However the rest of the pilots were all kiwis and members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The most famous of them was Geoffrey Fisken who went on to become an ace in the Buffalo. I filmed an interview with Brian and he is the third membe of that squadron I have now filmed interviews with, the other two being Geoffrey Fisken, who went on later to P-40 Kitthawks to great acclaim; and James Cranstone, who’s subsequent career saw him flying Hawker Hurricanes and then P-47D Thunderbolts in Burma.

Meanwhile Brian escaped Singapore and got back to New Zealand where he took a different direction, onto reconnaissance bombers. He joined No. 8 (General Reconnaissance) Squadron at Gisborne flying Vickers Vildebeests and Vincents shortly after the unit arrived there from Whenuapai. He also flew Oxfords with the squadron, and carried out many patrols, anti-submarine escorts for convoys, and an intense submarine search. I got a lot of info from Brian for the chapter on this squadron, for which I am most grateful. Brian stayed with the unit when it transformed into No. 30 Squadron, first flying Harvards and then Grumman Avengers. He did a tour in the Pacific with the Avengers but was forced to give up flying after a sinus problem medically grounded him, and thereafter he became a Flying Control officer at Rongotai.

As well as Brian I have also met up with John McDowell, whom I have already interviewed twice by phone but am pleased to have met in person. John joined the Territorial Air Force in 1938 and trained as an Observer (taking in navigation, air gunnery, wireless operating and bomb aiming). He was in the Christchurch (Territorial) Squadron, and continuedwith that unit when war broke out and the squadron became the Christchurch (General Reconnaissance) Squadron. He then saw service with the New Zealand (General Reconnaissance) Squadron, followed by No. 1 (General Reconnaissance) Squadron, No. 1 (General Reconnaissance) Squadron Detachment and Waipapakauri, then No. 7 (General Reconnaissance) Squadron, and eventually No. 3 (General Reconnaissance) Squadron in the Pacific. After a tour in the Pacific he went to the Pacific Ferry Unit in Hawaii, involved in flying the Venturas to New Zealand. And then he became a navigation instructor at the School of General Reconnaissance and Navigation at New Plymouth. At one point he underwent a USAAF course in the new Loran naviagation system and then came home to teach others about it. He was on the first RNZAF Loran flight around the Pacific in a C-47 Dakota flown by Maurie Pirie. Having the oppotunity to photograph John’s extensive logbook for my project is really great, there will be lots of details within that will help fill gaps here and there. These are just a few ofthe activities I have been filling my days with up here in Auckland.

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~ by grsquadrons on October 10, 2010.