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The reminiscences of
Leading Air Mechanic (Electrical) Leslie Dickinson.
Les served
with MONAB 8, .HMS Nabcatcher, from the units early days at
Middle Wallop until returning home to the U.K. in January 1946.
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I was drafted to Middle Wallop in Wiltshire to form up MONAB 8 which
was, I believe, one of the last MONABs to be formed.
Although only a humble Leading Air Mechanic (L) and not privy to any
secret conversations that may have been carried on elsewhere. The
rumour was that we were destined for a proposed invasion of Japan
although whether there is any truth in that would have to come from
some brain of Britain in the admiralty.
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My main memory of Middle Wallop is of hangar building which was
done by means of two sets of shear legs being erected the
correct distance apart and the hangar being built from the roof
down. Each piece was bolted on until then raised up by
means of a block and tackle (actually a chain running through a
metal block). When the edifice was completed with the
walls etc bolted in place the whole lot was covered with large
sheets of canvas. Incidentally soon after getting to Kai
Tak we built one hangar but before we could cover it the whole
of the canvas covering was stolen by, presumably, some Chinese
villains. God knows how they carried it away but they did,
as far as I know, it was never traced. |
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One silly piece of info occurs to me about our course at Middle
Wallop when we were learning how to build hangars etc. and that is
that there was someone in charge (and I can't remember what rank he
was) but his name was Smith and he was connected in some way with
the Smith Clock business. He was known to all as "Zoner Smith"
because he had devised some quite complicated method of Zones and
one had to remember to which zone you were in for divisions etc.
I must admit I never did quite get the hang of it and just used to
follow the majority hoping they knew where they were supposed to be
at any given time. I do remember that each zone was given a
colour from red through to black but what each colour represented I
know not. Perhaps you will find some one who knows.
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By far the most unpleasant time I ever spent in
the Fleet Air Arm was the journey out to Australia on the SS Maloja.
e were not allowed to keep our own hammocks and had to use
those supplied by P&O; there were no mattresses so we slept on
the bare canvas and were so close to each other that if someone
coughed at one end of the deck everybody felt it. I was on, I think D deck and you can imagine how unpleasantly
hot it was going through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. |
We then went
directly to a place called Warwick Farm (Sydney) where we lived
under canvas. No definitely not a trip I would wish to repeat.
After hanging about for six or seven weeks we were informed by the
captain (Capt. Surtees) that although we could have gone to Brisbane
and stayed there he thought we would like it better in Hong Kong.
So, the Jap war having just ended, that's where we went. We embarked
on HMS Slinger, which just happened to be passing and went via
Brisbane and the Philippines to Hong Kong.
Once there we disembarked stores, aircraft and vehicles at Kowloon
Wharf and took them to Kai Tak airfield which was at that time a Jap
airstrip. After the usual 'pusser' bull like putting
whitewashed stones round the quarterdeck and putting up the ensign
we then built tents to exist in. Although after so many years
my memory is a bit hazy over specific events I do remember getting
aircraft ready to attack Communists over the border where we could
see their campfires at night.
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One point of interest is that the captain,
(Capt. Surtees) told us as we were leaving for home that he
thought of the place as Surtees Circus. Whether this was a
reference to the fact that we were living in tents or whether
the whole set up was a bit of a shambles I don't know.
The whole
place as far as I can recall was a bit of a quagmire with
duckboards in the tents to use as a floor.
We were all issued with a daily dose of mepacrine, which apart from
having a tendency to turn us yellow probably did nothing at all
for our health.
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By the time I left Kai Tak in January ‘46 nothing much seemed to
have been done although a few hundred Japs were marched daily
from Stanley Prison when, after bowing to the flag, were
"usefully" employed about the place, mainly pushing aircraft in
and out of what hangars we had after the canvas had been stolen
by the local populace.
I do remember that myself, and a friend of mine whose name I no
longer remember, were detailed to wire up a laundry in Kowloon
with a Jap as assistant. Rather than let him muck up what we
were doing we got him to make us each a bedside cabinet from
what scraps of wood he could find (and a good job he made of
them) We were the only ratings to boast a hand-made cabinet by
our beds. |
Les Dickinson
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