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Dutch East
Indies and Australia 1942
Remembering that
6 Beaufort aircraft arrived from Australia on 5th
December 1941 to be designated as ‘Q’ Flight of
100 Squadron, we can now tell the tale of how
‘Q’ Flight rose from the ashes of Singapore to
become the nucleus of 100 Squadron Royal
Australian Air Force. As we have already
learned, Flt Lt Mitchell’s Beaufort encountered,
and fought with, Japanese Zeroes from an
invasion fleet some 30 miles off Kota Bharu.
Despite damage to his aircraft and an injured
rear-gunner, Mitchell made it back to Kota Bharu,
and thence to Seletar in a Buffalo aircraft thereby ensuring that his
reconnaissance photographs got back to the Air
HQ. We also learned that the 5 remaining
Beauforts were considered to be unfit for
combat, leading to the decision to fly them back
to Australia for modifications.
Arthur White’s book, "The
Hornets Nest", is the basis for this brief
history; to supplement this we have an account
given to the Association by Bill Ewing in 2006,
shortly before he died. Bill was a RAAF
navigator of 205 Squadron who was briefed to
navigate one of the Beauforts back to Australia on 19th December 1941. The
orders were that the crews of the 4 Beauforts
(T9542, T9544, T9545 and T9547) were to be
designated as ‘Q’ Flight of 100 Squadron, and
that they would assemble and train crews for
Beaufort operations in Australia .
Some of the complement was to be from 100
Squadron, but the remaining crews were RAAF and
RNZAF personnel. The Flight Commander was to be
Wg Cdr R N McKern, who was also the CO of 100
Squadron at that time.
The four
Beauforts took off on 19th December
for the 5-hour flight to Surabaya , where on landing Wg Cdr McKern,
flying T9544, experienced port undercarriage
oleo problems and ground looped. The aircraft
was damaged, and needed fairly extensive
repairs. Bill Ewing indicates that T9544 did
eventually arrive in Australia late in January 1942, but has no idea
who flew the aircraft down from Surabaya . He also went on to ask ‘what
happened to Wg Cdr McKern?’ as he was never seen
again on 100 Squadron. Indeed Arthur White asks
a similar question in the Hornets Nest, but
provides an answer in that Wg Cdr McKern
returned to the UK to take up command of another
Beaufort squadron.
On 20th
December 1941, the remaining 3 Beauforts took
off on the 8-hour flight from Surabaya to Darwin . The crews experienced fuel flow
problems and had to spend long periods working
the so-called ‘wobble pump’ to keep the engines
fed with petrol. All this to the accompaniment
of a blistering monologue from the pilot Flt Lt
John Burton about the shortcomings of the
Australian-built Beauforts! The 21st
December was spent at Darwin , with take off for
Tennant Creek at 14:00 on 22nd
December. Landing at Tennant Creek, Sqn Ldr
Kerby, flying T9547 experienced a nasty
situation when one propeller went into coarse
pitch. The aircraft ground looped and the
undercarriage collapsed.
And now there
were just the two! T9542 and 9545, took off
from Tennant Creek for Alice Springs, but
returned to Tennant Creek after just 50 minutes
in the air due to concerns about making a night
landing at
Alice .
Finally, on Christmas Eve 1941, it was off to
Alice Springs , and then on to
Fisherman’s Bend. On arrival, Sqn Ldr Miller in
T9542, instead of taxiing around the perimeter
track made a beeline across the rough ground
from the runway towards the hangars. Flt Lt John
Burton, in T9545 was taxiing at high speed
making almost right angled turns, arriving at
the hangar at 20 mph, jamming on the anchors
swinging the aircraft through 180 degrees to
come to a halt. As the crews clambered out of
their temperamental aircraft, across the tarmac
strode Mr (later Sir) John Storey, the Executive
Member of the Aircraft Production Division of
Beaufort. He headed straight for John Burton
and asked what he thought of the Australian
built Beauforts. He could not have expected that
the terse but emphatic reply would be in
invitation to conduct, with T9545 and all other
Australian built Beauforts, a physically
impossible exercise!!! John Burton stalked off
across the tarmac with the rest of the crew
sniggering in his wake! And so arrived the
advance party of ‘Q’ Flight 100 Torpedo Bomber
Squadron, Royal Air Force, in Australia .
Problems with
serviceability continued, and Sqn Ldr Millar,
who had taken command of ‘Q’ Flight, was far
from satisfied with the situation because of the
effect on his allotted task of training crews
for Beaufort operations. The rapid Japanese
advances in Malaya and then
Singapore , meant that
Australia
itself could come under threat. This led to an embargo on
the export of any aircraft materials or
equipment of any kind. At the end of February
1942, following the fall of Singapore , it was decided that the
RAF would have to relinquish their 90 Beauforts,
although only 20 had actually been delivered.
So, on 28th
February 1942, 100 Squadron RAF became 100
Squadron Royal Australian Air Force stationed at
Richmond . The
role of the unit was designated as GR(T), and it
was equipped with 18 Beaufort aircraft. 100
Squadron RAAF adopted 100 Squadron’s skull and
crossbones badge and the Malayan Motto, although
this was never officially recognised in
Australia
. The new unit retained the ‘Q’ of ‘Q’ Flight using the
aircraft identification letters ‘QH’. At the
outset, 100 Squadron was under the command of
the now Wing Commander Millar, and was officered
mainly by the original nucleus of 100 Squadron
members. Additionally, some 38 airmen formed the
basis of the ground maintenance crews,
supplemented by Australian personnel attached
from No 2 Maintenance Depot at Richmond .
So it was, that
100 Torpedo Bomber Squadron ceased to exist, and
the Squadron’s war in the
Far East finally came to a close.
100 Squadron RAAF went on to serve with great
distinction in the Pacific War. In May 1942,
100 Squadron was still at RAAF Richmond. In
September 1942, 100 Squadron RAAF relocated to
Bohle Airfield from where the Squadron carried
the attack to the Japanese in the Pacific and
over
New Guinea .
100 Squadron RAAF formed the nucleus of the 71st
Beaufort Wing, performing with great valour in
the
Battle of the Coral Sea
. The Squadron carried out the roles of torpedo
bombing, army support, medium level bombing,
anti-submarine patrols and naval support.
In New Guinea , World War II finally
came to an end on 15th August 1945.
100 Squadron RAAF was due to take off at 09:00
hours, the actual time of the cessation of
hostilities. Other Beaufort Squadrons were
recalled, but 100 Squadron continued and bombed
their target. This was the very last strike of
World War II in the Pacific and it was made by
the 100 Squadron RAAF, born out of the adversity
of 100 Squadron RAF.
During April and
May 1942, the 100 Squadron RAF personnel who had
made good their escape from the advancing
Japanese forces and escaped to Australia were
either repatriated to the UK , or were posted to Ceylon . A small
number of these, amongst them Eric Redshaw,
eventually rejoined 100 Squadron when it was
re-established at Waltham at the end of 1942.
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