Friday we were kept very busy
carrying out Daily Inspections on all aircraft and ranging them on deck ready
for the big fly off next day to Auckland. The whole Air Group was to be based
ashore for a couple of weeks at RNZAF Station, Whenuapai. Intensive and serious
flying was to take place there to get back to the efficient fighting force that
we should be. All aircraft were made serviceable and ready to go.
The whole Group flew off on Saturday without incident, and we disembarked later
to Whenuapai. We got settled in at the camp to start serious work on the Monday.
This gave us the weekend free to explore the delights of Auckland. There was
plenty of transport provided for shore leave to, and from town.
We all worked very hard to achieve a target of 200 flying hours in the two weeks
we were ashore. Perhaps then we could recover some of the prestige that we
seemed to have lost, for whatever reason; this didn’t prevent us, much as in
previous ports, from enjoying ourselves. The hospitality was just as
unbelievable, and the many invitations extended were gratefully received - we
just couldn’t go wrong.
During our stay at Whenuapai, a few mates and I had the opportunity to have our
first fly in an aeroplane. It came about as we were talking to a New Zealand
aircrew one day. They were training in a battered old Dakota transport aircraft,
and we were poking fun at it. We jokingly asked if we could have a ‘ride’. In
next to no time, and much to our utter amazement, they immediately obtained
permission for us to fly with them, and then laughingly, they called our bluff.
The Dakota was used extensively as a transport aircraft throughout the world,
during, and after the war. It was the ‘work-horse’ of aviation, but had the
reputation of being a ‘bone-shaker’ and very unsafe. Perhaps this was unfair
criticism, as the pilots who flew them, loved them. They had served with
distinction during the war, but as there seemed to be more Dakota crashes than
any other plane, they had become the proverbial ‘music hall joke’. There was no
way that we had intended going up in one, but the joke had backfired on us. We
just dare not disgrace the squadron’s reputation in the eyes of the New
Zealanders by backing down. So very reluctantly we climbed aboard, trying to put
on a brave face, when in fact we were terrified. We had to sit on the floor of
the fuselage, as there were no seats, and no belts to strap us in. The exercise
that particular day was instrument flying. The pilot had a tube fitted to his
helmet so that he couldn’t see anything but his instrument panel - which didn’t
boost our confidence. We took off, and after we had been airborne for some time,
we calmed down a little, and were gradually beginning to enjoy it, the views
were spectacular. When we arrived back at Whenuapai, (and changed our
underpants) we were soon boasting to the rest of our mates about the wonderful
flight that we’d had.
As the whole Group was ashore, there weren’t any ‘Open to Visitors’ days on
board ship. Instead, an Air Pageant was held at the airfield on Saturday 13th
September. The citizens of Auckland turned up in thousands to support this. An
admission charge was made in aid of the ‘Food For Britain’ campaign. It was now
time for the Group to put all their hard work into practice before the local
residents, and they loved it. There was formation flying, aerobatics, mock
battles etc. More importantly, everything went without a hitch. We were back
with a vengeance.
Mission accomplished, we re-embarked on board Theseus on 14th September ready
for further exercises at sea the next day. The entire Air Group ‘flew on’ next
morning, and a very successful day’s flying was completed. Theseus dropped
anchor in the bay for the night. It was up anchor next morning for another
successful day’s exercises, and we returned late afternoon dropping anchor again
for the night. There was a general rush ashore to enjoy this, our last evening
in New Zealand, and our last night of real civilisation for some weeks. We
enjoyed it to the full. Lower decks were cleared next morning at 0815 hrs, and
we were under way – our destination, the Solomon Islands.
Our purpose for visiting the Solomon Islands was to ‘show’ our aircraft to the
natives at low level in the hope that it would frighten the living daylights out
of them. It appeared that some unrest was forming amongst the natives and it had
to be curbed.
Flying exercises were carried out successfully each day during the journey; we
appeared to be back to peak form. As we were now well into the tropics again,
tropical rig became ‘rig of the day’ on 21st September. The next day, both
squadrons flew off for low flying around the coast of San Cristobal. All aircrew
carried pistols, knives and jungle survival packs in readiness to meet any
emergency. They took off again the next day, and it was a repeat performance of
the previous day, this time around Guadalcanal Island.