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Around The World In 253 Days |
L.A.C. WALKER, that was me. I was at last kitted out for my overseas posting and ready to
go, but I was told that the ship HMS Warrior wasn’t ready and I would be
allowed to go home on a 48hr Pass.
That made my day, because it would be better than hanging
around RAF Innesworth. So, off
early to bed and then away home to Manchester…. or
so I thought !
Just after 10:00pm that night, an NCO came charging in and
called out about seven names, mine included.
“Get dressed, pack your kit and get on the lorry
outside” he bawled.
“ Why?” I asked
“ You laddie, are taking off from Lyneham at 7:30
tomorrow morning.”
Dumped near the runway on a cold, wet January morning, and not a clue what to do
next, some chap came up and said “You’d better get something to eat,
you’ll be taking off soon”.
ITINERARY
Mid January 1957, RAF
Lyneham
AIRCRAFT:
Handley Page Hastings
REG:
WJ 327
CAPTAIN:
Flt. Lt. Hayley
1st Hop: Lyneham
to Malta
2nd Hop: Malta
to North Africa El Adam
3rd Hop: North
Africa to Habanya, Iraq
4th Hop: Habanya
to Karachi, Pakistan
5th Hop: Karachi
to Colombo, Ceylon (Now Sri Lanka)
6th Hop: Colombo
to Changi, Singapore.
7th Hop: Changi
to Darwin, Australia
8th Hop: Darwin
to Amberley, Australia
9th Hop: Amberley
to Fiji. Had full days rest from flying
10th Hop: Fiji to Canton Island. This day we crossed the international date line. Took off on Monday and landed on
Sunday the day before
11th Hop: Canton Island to Christmas Island. 160 Wing RAF Detachment. Tent C8.
Operation
Grapple, Britain’s H-Bomb test – Tour of Duty: 235 Days
12th Hop:
3rd April. Christmas Island to Malden Island
13th
Hop:
22nd May. Malden Island to Christmas Island
14th Hop: 30th July. Flew to Honolulu to make purchase’s for the Officers Mess and purchase presents for the lads
to take
hom
15th
Hop:
8th August. Returned to Christmas Island. In a Hasting
aircraft. No. TG523.
16th
Hop:
19th September. Christmas Island to Hickham Air Base, Honolulu
17th
Hop:
Honolulu to Edwards Air Base, Nr. San Francisco
18th
Hop:
San Francisco to Omaha, Nebraska
17th
Hop:
Omaha to Goose Bay, Canada
19th
Hop:
Goose Bay to Kinloss, Scotland
20th
Hop:
Kinloss to Lyneham, England
Note: Each flight lasted
between 8 and 11 hours, and we never had so much as a puncture!
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Things I Remember about Christmas Island Life |
Sgt
Goodchild. Officer Mess.
Flt Lt Conche. I think he was a doctor.
Reg Sewell. A great mate & Cpl Tasker our NCO.
Barry. I think he came from Southampton. Robert Lacy, from the north of
Manchester. There were many more lads that I had good memories of but I cannot
remember their names.
Memories:
Land
crabs that tried to get into your tent in the night. Rats running around the
roof of the tent between the inner and outer canvas. Falling down into the big
pit one night, that engineers had made for all the bad beer.
The
tidal wave warning. Seeing a TM
Avenger aircraft go into the sea. Getting
badly sunburnt.
The
experience of getting off Malden Island in a DUCK.
You
had to wait for a big wave to come in and then drive into it to get afloat and
give it the gun and you were off the island. Note: It did not have beaches as we
know, it just jutted out of the sea. We developed a technique like the DUCK used
to be able to swim in the sea, a bit dangerous really because
I mistimed it one day and the sea water rushing down the steep beach took
me with it, down and down I went all I could see were white bubbles, then I
broke the surface about 40ft out. I swam back slowly and waited for a really big
roller to make sure I got well up the beach this time.
I
went for a walk one day to see the ship wreck on the coral and the hut the
survivors had made. While I was out on my own I was looking to see if I could
see the supply Dakota coming in, when I noticed quite a heavy cloud with tail
coming out of it, the sea below began to boil. Not really ever having witnessed
any thing like this I sat down and watched. It didn’t take long before I was
looking at a full blown water spout or tornado and it was coming straight for
the island. I’m going back to camp quick I thought. I didn’t run but walked
quickly and kept looking back. After a while I looked back again and it had gone
as quickly as it came. That was a bit frightening and I believe HMS Narvik
anchored off the island was making plans to get out of its way.
The
other thing about Malden Island was that there were wild Wiltshire pigs roaming
about, they would come into camp in the middle of the night looking for food, we
just kept out of their way because they would attempt to attack us. They had
been on the island since 1927 roaming free.
The
Cold War
One day before the 15th May news came in that Russian submarines were
in the area which caused some concern and the New Zealand navy sent three
destroyers to help us. The next night a foxhole was dug just above the beach and
the radio operator and his equipment were installed.
Guess who was ordered to keep guard through the night with him, yours
truly.
I
could see armed men on the HMS Narvik and a lot of activity. The night passed
away peacefully and all was well in the morning. After that we never heard
anything else about the Russian’s.
Back to Christmas Island and life carried on uneventfully, except for one day
when on the beach, seven lads were washed over the reef. They were quite a
distance out and you could hardly hear their shouts for help. One of our group
grabbed a life belt and waded out to the reef but the line wasn’t long enough,
he did attempt to get over the reef with life belt but I don’t think he was
successful. They seemed to be out there a long time, the sea washed them to the
left and a big wave washed them back over the reef. We all ran to help and get
them out of the water but one lad slipped into a gully and went under. They did
get him out but I believe he died later that day.
The life on Christmas Island had its ups and downs, but it was a time I would not have missed.