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Malaya and Singapore 1933 to 1939
After the long voyage from
A highlight of 1934 was the
Mildenhall to
An essential aspect of the work
of the Squadron was to become familiar with airstrips in
To be effective, torpedoes had
to be dropped from a height of 15 feet, which was just possible
in daylight, but almost impossible at night. A 36 Squadron
Horsley, which didn’t get it right and ditched in the Straits of
Johore, clearly illustrate the dangers involved. These night
operations were particularly dangerous. Aircraft would fly out
with only blue ‘streaming lights’ shining backwards for
guidance. One aircraft would ‘illuminate’ the target from 5000
feet with flares, which allowed the remaining aircraft to attack
individually.
The situation was improved when
modified torpedo racks were fitted, which allowed torpedoes to
be launched from 100 feet. Even so, it was a small crumb of
comfort to the crews to be told by the Royal Navy, that although
the aircraft would score hits when making attacks from that
height, the aircraft would be ‘sitting ducks’ for the gunners
aboard the ships.
Other aspects of training
included high level bombing from 8000 to 10000 feet, air to air
and air to sea gunnery exercises, photographic and visual
reconnaissance and target towing. On one such exercise, the
pilot of K2931 crash-landed in the jungle. The recovery of the
aircraft involved a heroic week’s trek through dense jungle
fighting swarms of insects, leeches and torrential rain. Parts
of the aircraft were ‘ferried’ back to Bekok on a daily basis.
At the end of the expedition, the RAF personnel all had beards
and were almost unrecognisable, but their sheer guts and
determination meant that 100 Squadron had one more aircraft for
the struggle that was yet to come.
The most notable pioneering
flight was that of three Vildebeests led by Sqn Ldr Croke, which
flew from Seletar to Risalpur. This flight was designed to
demonstrate that the Indian North West could be reinforced in an
emergency. The flight took 19 days covering 7000 miles in 70
hours flying time.
It is worth reminding present
day aircrew that the standard crew of a Vildebeest consisted of
the pilot and a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner as rear crew. Only
half of the pilots were officers, and the rest were NCO’s with
technical trade qualifications. The WOP/AG’s could be lower
ranking tradesmen, who also had responsibility for navigation,
bomb aiming, signalling, firing the aft Lewis gun and
photography!
During a typical long distance
exercise, there would be two daily inspections of the aircraft,
when all aircrew would co-operate in the maintenance of all the
aircraft. Improvisation was the order of the day; for example,
during the long flight to Risalpur, two feet of an alloy tubing
in a wingtip was damaged, and Sgt Beer went into the jungle to
find a suitable curved branch with which to replace the damaged
tubing. During the same trip, an engine replacement was needed
at
In 1938, there were violent
storms over the South China Sea during long distance navigation
exercises; eleven aircrew were killed, six of them in a mid air
collision. As the 1930’s drew to a close, an amazing air of
complacency pervaded the apparent calm and tranquillity. The
disasters, which were about to overtake 100 Squadron during the
early days of World War II, were just around the corner.
On 15th March 1938,
the Squadron received its first official badge. It was presented
to the Squadron by Air Vice Marshall Tedder. However, 100
Squadron did not receive the original painting was held in safe
keeping in
Twenty-four hours after |