The RN Air
Station was located on the Island of Gan, the southernmost
of the Addu Atoll Group, and lies 608 miles SW. of Colombo.
Secret Bases
Early in
the Second World War the threat posed from the Japanese
military push into Malaya and the Indian Ocean, prompted the
Admiralty to plan for the relocation of the Eastern Fleet to
a fall back safe harbour. In 1941 the Royal Navy began
searching for a safe, deep anchorage, in a suitably
strategic position in the Indian Ocean, where a naval base
could be established. Addu met the requirements and a
reconnaissance party consisting of Fleet Air Arm, Royal
Artillery, Royal Engineers and Royal Navy personnel under
the command of Lieutenant Colonel W. B. F. Lukis, Royal
Marines, was dispatched from Ceylon to the Islands in the
strictest secrecy aboard HMS Glasgow.
Permission to
establish base facilities on the Islands was granted and
work began in August 1941 to secretly develop a fleet
anchorage and base known as "Port T”. A group of 150 Royal
Marine engineers under the command of Colonel Jones were
landed in Villingili from HMS GUARDIAN to establish coastal
batteries, searchlights, signal towers, roads, camps and
jetties. An airfield was planned for use by the middle of
May 1942 and the Island of Gan, approximately 1½ mile long
by ¾ mile wide, was chosen as the location. The residents of
Gan and the adjacent Island of Feydhoo were moved to the
Maamendhoo area of Hithadhoo.
Work begins on an airfield
Port ‘T’
was sufficiently complete to begin operations by January
1942 but preliminary work on the airfield site was stopped
in April, the only work done to this point was to peg and
mark the centre of what was to be the main East/West runway
and the shorter Northeast/Southwest runway. This delay may
have been due to manpower shortages through illness; many of
the engineers fell victim to the medical problems that
commonly befell Europeans in the tropical conditions. On
February 22nd 1942 HMS HAITAN arrived at Addu Atoll to
assume duties as base ship, all personnel assigned to
facilities on the Atoll were now carried on her accounts.
In June the
airfield site, which at that time consisted of a natural
clearing about a mile long and 800 yards wide in the middle
of a coconut plantation, was visited by Flag Officer Eastern
Fleet (F.O.E.F.). Although the natural clearing existed a
considerable amount of scrub and undergrowth covered the
whole area; the sub-soil also appears to have been very soft
and spongy, which necessitated special construction
techniques for constructing the runways. As a result of the
visit by F.O.E.F. work resumed in July 1942 when more Royal
Marine Engineers arrived to clear the site and build three
runways and taxiways.
The runways
were mostly hand laid, it was estimated that 1000 Indian
labourers were needed for the task, these being housed in
tents and temporary huts on the Island, The first stage
involved removing the top layer of loose soil then a minimum
of 12 inches of lump coral was put down; then came 6 inches
of 2 inch coral, this being covered with sand and coral dust
and after this was well rolled and watered, a final layer of
pea coral was spread over. The result was a hard, even
surface end could take the landing of a fully loaded
Liberator.
In late
December 1942 Commander (A) (P) H. L. McCulloch was
appointed as commanding officer R.N.A.S. Gan [1] He was
joined by Lt. Commander (A) (P) L. Gilbert RNVR in January
1943 as Lieutenant Commander, Flying and Sub- Lieutenant (A)
J. G. Wetherspoon RNVR in February for control duties. This
nebulous complement was on site when the first runway was
complete in February, this running NW/SE and being 1,650
yards long, also the Western and Southern taxiways had been
completed; these were successfully tested by H.M.S. GAMBIA's
Walrus. Not long after the second runway was completed, this
one being slightly shorter, 1,000 yards and running NE/SW.
Construction of the third runway was held up due to lack of
rollers and by July 1943 had been cancelled, the part
finished strip being used as a taxi track instead. Work was
started in March on an emergency landing strip built of
consolidated earth and running 800 x 50 yd., N/S. on Bender,
an island on the E. side of the atoll, 6 miles NE. of the
airfield. This was completed by July.
Surplus to requirements
Despite its
rapid expansion to be ready as an alternate Fleet Anchorage
against the possibility that the Eastern Fleet would need to
withdraw from its primary bases, when that eventuality did
occur in May 1942, the Eastern Fleet withdrew to Kilindini
instead. Addu Atoll's importance was to wane accordingly;
from the middle of 1943 it became clear that it was very
unlikely that Port T would be needed as a major fleet
anchorage or a main servicing base. The naval air station
was also surplus to requirements and construction work was
suspended in January 1944. On February 1st The whole of the
ADDU Atoll naval facility was commissioned as HMS MARAGA .
The station
was designed to provide minimal facilities for up to 24
aircraft for short periods of time; there were no hangars,
but one thatched shelter situated on the NE. side of runway
15/33 was erected, housing the station flight Walrus with
its wings folded. Walrus L2321 arrived on the Island in late
February 1943; this was the only permanent aircraft on the
station. Disembarked aircraft were parked in the open, and
visiting squadrons had to disembark their own maintenance
personnel who were accommodated in a tented camp. There was
a Torpedo workshop planned [2] but this may not have been
completed. There is no record of any Fleet Air Arm squadrons
making use of the facility; however the Addu Atoll base was
visited by both Fleet Carriers and Escort Carriers during
the period it was operational, so individual aircraft may
well have been put ashore.
RAF detachments operate from RNAS Gan
RAF
Liberators from 160 Squadron occasionally stopped off at the
air station, the first time was in July 1943; Liberator “W”
made a round trip to Gan from RAF Ratmalana on the 23rd,
possibly to assess the suitability of the airstrip for a
temporary base of operations for this aircraft type. A
second Liberator,"N" BZ752, arrived at Gan on October 13th
from RAF Sigiriya carrying 12 250 lb. Depth charges, and a
ground crew of 14. They took off for an anti-submarine
patrol at 17:10 on the 14th, presumably to return to
Sigiriya. The RAF did not return until July 1944 when three
Liberators, "D" FL969 ,"N" BZ752 and "F" FL991 arrived from
RAF Sigiriya on the 4th; they were conducting a large
submarine hunt and landed on at RNAS Gan for an overnight
stop and to refuel, all three aircraft departed on patrol
enroute to Sigiriya the following day. On September 5th "D"
FL969 and "N" BZ752 arrive from 160 squadron’s new base at
RAF Kankesanturai with maintenance personnel and spare
aircrew to establish a detachment to operate from RNAS Gan;
Liberator "L" BZ825 joined them on the 6th. The detachment
was withdrawn on September 21st.
The Naval
Air Station was never intended to operate multi engine
aircraft although the runway was capable of receiving the
heavy bombers the limited facilities on site struggled to
meet their needs. Aviation fuel supply was a big problem,
although listed as carrying 22,000 gallons the maximum
actually available when the RAF detachment arrived was 6,000
gallons; in order to complete the six sorties planned, at
least 13,000 would be needed. On one occasion when fuel was
low, 2,7000 gallons was carried in four gallon cans, at
night, from a Carrier which was at anchor in the harbour.
The refuelling bowser was also not up to the task, being
much too small. The bowser pump broke down twice
necessitating the removal of bomb-bay pumps from a grounded
Liberator for refuelling purposes. Again, all fuel had to be
transported in four gallon cans.
Two other
areas of concern were the stations M/F beacon and night
flying arrangements. The Liberators repeatedly failed to
locate the beacon which it was discovered was being
overpowered by another much stronger signal, later
identified as Karachi, and when transmitting this gave a
false heading. A temporary solution was found, the liaison
transmitter in one of the aircraft on the ground was used
for this purpose, using the same frequency and call sign.
Liberator ‘N’ returning to Gan on the 10th received this
signal and homed from over eighty miles. The RAF aircrews
found that he very well shielded glim lamps in use for night
landings, were totally inadequate for large aircraft,
especially in bad weather conditions.
At 07:30 on the 11th the only known flying incident at RNAS
Gan occurred; Liberator "D" FL969, on approach to the strip
returning from an Anti-Submarine Sweep, struck a marine
target installed by the Army for gunnery practice tearing
away portions of the bomb doors and cat-walk. However, no
serious damage was done and the Aircraft made a successful
landing. This was the last aircraft of the detachment to
leave for RAF Ratmalana, departing at 12:30 on the 21st
after temporary repairs were made.
Because the
station never fully commissioned the crew complement of 30
officers and 110 other ranks was never filled, at its peak
in late 1943 there were only 6 officers appointed together
with a small number of non-commissioned personnel for
station duties., After the departure of the RAF Liberators
the facility was open for emergency use only until being
reduced to Care and Maintenance status on March 29th 1945.
HMS MARAGA paid off on February 28th 1946 the facilities
being redesignated as a refuelling facility and RAF
observation centre.
Post War military use
The
airfield and former Port T remained virtually unused until
January 1955 when 13 members of the Royal Air Force arrived
on Gan to carry out surveys of the island, and at Hittadu in
the NW of Addu atoll, where signals equipment was to be
erected. In 1957 the Royal Navy transferred the airfield
into the control of the Royal Air Force for redevelopment as
a staging post on the empire reinforcement route between its
bases in the Middle East and Far East. Plans were drawn up
for a single runway of 2898 yards, spanning the full length
of the island running East/West, together with technical
facilities and domestic accommodation for around 500
personnel. An advance party of 5001 Airfield Construction
Squadron arrived off Gan abroad HMS MODESTE at the end of
January 1957 and began to refurbish the wartime landing
strip; nearly 11,000 trees needed to be cleared, by August
the runway was able to receive its first aircraft. The work
of building the new airfield was to take two years and was
undertaken by Messrs Richard Costain.
Civilian use
Gan Island
was handed back to the Maldivian Government on April 1st
1976. Used initially for domestic airline traffic the field
was elevated to International Airport status in 2008.
Notes:
[1] The airfield is referred to as RNAS
Addu Atoll in the Admiralty Handbook of Naval Air Stations
Aug. 45 (CB 4368 B.) and in Admiralty Fleet Orders, but as
R.N.A.S. Gan in the Navy lists
[2] A torpedo workshop is explicitly
mentioned in Admiralty Fleet Order 1727/43.
Click here for a list of
Primary sources
Additional sources:
Report of Proceedings of Eastern Fleet 5th June to 1st July
1942, Defences at Addu
Eastern Fleet War Diary,
February 1943
Article: Now It Can Be Told! -
How Royal Marines Hacked a Base From Jungle; The War
Illustrated,
Volume 9, No. 214, Page 268-269, August 31, 1945.
Article: Secret Port T on Addu
atoll, Maldives 1945
www.maldivesculture.com accessed 08 April 2016
Article: Seenu Atoll History
www.maldivesholidayhomes.com accessed 08 April 2016
Jackson. A., (2006) ‘The
British Empire and the Second World War‘ London, Bloomsbury
Academic
Web site:
160 Squadron RAF
Downloaded PDFs of squadron activities for 1943.44. Site
accessed 12 April 2016
Admiralty Fleet Orders:
1727/43.—Tanks for 18-in. Duplex Pistols
Confidential Admiralty Fleet Orders:
C.A.F.O. 2451/44 R.N. Air
Establishments Overseas
Content last modified:
09 June 2020
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Comments (3)
my great uncle mr leslie thomas was a male nurse during the war and from recollection was on a medical ship that stopped at addu atol in 1943. i have a small picture he gave me of a ship anchored there at the time. on researching this ship was 3 funnelled and is considered to be the queen mary!!. i am trying to identify the ship he may have been on so i can then use this as a point to try to look up his movements during the war. there are no other relatives alive to ask for help. trying a long shot.any help or advice ? thanks
Unfortunately, all the photos I have of Addu Atoll (Port T - WWII) were accessed from the public domain. For my purpose of writing up the history of EAF Gan I also referred to "From Port T to RAF Gan" by Peter Doling. But that book has no RN fleet images at Port T. However, he names a few RN ships that took part in the surveys and development of Port T and from there you could Google for images. After the fall of Singapore the Eastern Fleet withdrew to Killindini Mombassa Kenya and not as intended Addu Atoll. The RNAS station Gan was never operated by shore base Fleet Air Arm aircraft. This would appear to be the best site for your quest - focusing on the Eastern Fleet. Regards Terry