Borneo Boys by Roger Annett

Author:Roger Annett
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783469161
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2013-08-18T16:00:00+00:00

Dick Holmes had arrived on 230 Squadron just as the first repatriations had resulted in a lack of experience among the ground crew. That changeover, a bulge in aircraft undergoing routine servicing and a continuing lack of spares (in particular replacement Gnome engines), led to a reduction in hours flown in July. However, no tasks were cancelled at the Sepulot and Tawau detachments and at Labuan an aircraft was found to take part in a Red Cross Fête on the Padang in Victoria town. But that Whirlwind, while hovering over the harbour with six on board, suffered a complete engine failure, and plunged into the sea in full sight of airmen relaxing at the Services Yacht Club. The sailors rushed to the rescue and all on the aircraft were saved but the ditching gave added urgency to Dick’s engine-off landing practice.

Over in Tawau a British hovercraft, on trial for Borneo operations, also lost all power, and ran aground in the full heat of a tropical day. The 230 Squadron Whirlwind not only winched down cooling drinks to the unfortunate crew but also managed to rig a line to the hovercraft and tow it to its base at Tawau Sawmills for repair.

At Bario a pair of 110 Squadron Whirlwinds flew in to relieve the Mk 1 Wessex of 845 NAS which, despite losing 1,000lb in payload between the UK and the tropics, had managed everything expected of them. They clattered off to the waiting HMS Bulwark for repatriation where their squadron, after some fun in Aden en route, was to re-equip with the Wessex Mk 5, a much more powerful helicopter, with twin Gnome turbines33.

In Kuching, following their tumultuous previous month of over sixty hours per aircraft, for 225 Squadron July turned out to be much quieter by comparison. This was mainly due to the over-tasking of the trial having disrupted the aircraft-servicing ‘stagger line’, the carefully-balanced interlocking of month-by-month scheduled maintenance on a forecast hours-flown basis. This had led to a shortage of engines, as Gnomes were pirated from aircraft under maintenance to aircraft on ground awaiting repair.

In the wake of the Plaman Mapu incursions, work continued for 225 and 103, in an action reminiscent of the Malaya Emergency, to move Chinese residents from the area to a series of secure compounds. All the helis and other aircraft in Sarawak were hampered by the start of the ‘slash and burn’ season, when the clearing of jungle by parang and fire created a dense smoke-filled inversion, trapping the haze and reducing visibility to a couple of miles.

225 Squadron gave more work to the Belvederes of 66 Squadron when two Whirlwinds crashed within a few days, each time flown by the same pilot. The first incident occured when a pair was tracking along the route home to base. Mike McKinley was there and wrote home about it:

Last Saturday, while returning to Kuching with Brian Skillicorn formating on my left, I was alarmed to hear him call ‘Mayday – Mayday – Mayday’ in a fairly unconcerned sort of way.

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