Guy Daniel Geoffrey PALMER

PALMER, Guy Daniel Geoffrey

Service Number: 84737
Enlisted: 29 April 1944
Last Rank: Leading Aircraftman
Last Unit: Royal Australian Air Force
Born: Harvey, Western Australia, 28 April 1926
Home Town: Harvey, Harvey, Western Australia
Schooling: Bunbury High School, Western Australia
Occupation: Plasterer
Memorials: Harvey District WW2 Roll of Honour
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World War 2 Service

29 Apr 1944: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Aircraftman, 84737
29 Apr 1944: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Leading Aircraftman, 84737, RAAF Pearce
14 Feb 1946: Discharged Royal Australian Air Force, Leading Aircraftman, Royal Australian Air Force
14 Feb 1946: Discharged Royal Australian Air Force, Leading Aircraftman, 84737, RAAF Pearce
Date unknown: Involvement 84737

Guy Palmer

By now I was 18 and keen to join the forces, being 1944 with the war still on. I remember asking dad if I should try the Army or the Air force and he suggested the Air force, so I went to Perth and enlisted. June tried to also join up but was rejected because of poor eyesight. After my medical exam we were posted to Busselton rookies station where we were issued with uniforms, put through a fairly stiff course marching, rifle drill, obstacle course, distance running and grenade throwing. At the base was an air strip with bombs placed about in bomb shelters. We were detailed to do guard duty. I remember I had a night shift and getting quite a fright. There were drums of fuel kept there and as the nights cooled the drums would contract with a bang. Needless to say I jumped out of my skin.
My next posting was in Perth where there were huts at the bottom of William St on the Esplanade, later becoming a car park and a fair ground. We use to march over to the Perth Tech College where we were taught basic metal work. During that time I passed The Mustering of an Armourer exam. After finishing at Perth Tech I was posted to Nhil in Victoria to an air armament and gas school. We travelled over in a train wagon with a door at each end, mattresses on the floor and seats each side. There was also a water bag at the end of each wagon. We stopped for meals and treats. On the troop train from Port Augusta to Adelaide at several of the stations there were girls handing out bags of fruit to the chaps in the carriages. At Adelaide we boarded another train for Nhil, arriving at night.
At Nhil we had instruction on all aircraft armaments and bombs, and also what to do in case of a gas attack. The course included ammunition for different gun types, bombs, bomb fuses and how to set the fuses. Also we did exercises with gas masks, identifying the smell of gas. An aircraft would fly over with tins filled with oil in a mock attack of mustard gas. The tins would burst as they hit the ground. I had one ‘leave’ allocation there and went to Horsham with several mates.
From Nhil I was posted back to a WA Spitfire squadron at Dunreath near the present airport. We were in tents on Great Eastern Highway. The Squad, prior to Spitfires, were Boomerangs, manufactured in Australia between 1942 and 1945. We only had one left when I arrived. The Squad was always on alert as the war was still on. We always had the planes fully armed. Basically it was a training squad for pilots who did a lot of exercises. I only witnessed one crash where one plane clipped another on landing, he pilot in front being injured, and others over shooting the airstrip and nosing up.
All pilots being young, 18 plus into their early 20s, were a bit dare devils. We used to listen to air conversations from some ground craft; they were reprimanded for swearing. Also one pilot telling the others his was ducking off to drop a message for a date to some land army girls who were working somewhere at Upper Swan. I asked one of the pilots for a flight in a Wirraway. He did all the aerobatic dives, roll-overs and low flying over a farm house. When we got back he said to me with a grin on his face, ‘How are you?’ But I never got sick. In 1945 the war ended. The aircraft were flown back east, fitted with belly tanks and they were dropped over the Nullabor. I often wondered if some were found.
When I was discharged I returned to Harvey. I had put in an application to go to Japan in occupation forces but never heard anything. Often think I was lucky.

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