KILSBY, Cecil George
| Service Numbers: | 430211, O33178 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 1 January 1943 |
| Last Rank: | Wing Commander |
| Last Unit: | Base Support Flight (RAAF) |
| Born: | Casterton, Victoria, Australia, 11 August 1924 |
| Home Town: | Casterton, Glenelg, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | RAAF Pilot |
| Memorials: | Strathdownie Honor Roll |
World War 2 Service
| 1 Jan 1943: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, 430211 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Jan 1943: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Wing Commander, O33178 |
Vietnam War Service
| 9 May 1966: | Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Squadron Leader, O33178 |
|---|
World War 2 Service
| 11 Aug 1974: | Discharged Royal Australian Air Force, Wing Commander, O33178 |
|---|
Vietnam War Service
| Date unknown: | Involvement Squadron Leader, O33178, Base Support Flight (RAAF) |
|---|
Help us honour Cecil George Kilsby's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Steve Larkins
Cecil George KILSBY, AFC (1925- )
Redacted from a full article published by "Friends of The Odd Bods Association"
The Air Force and Me
In 1924 when I was born, my parents (and the bank) owned and lived on Avondale, a farm of some 2000 acres close to the Victoria / South Australia border, 23 miles from Casterton and 24 miles from Mt Gambier. They continued to live there until my Dad retired about 1948. Schooling was not easy. The local school, 3 ½ miles away was a country elementary going to Grade 8. There were about 8 other pupils ranged across all the grades and taught by the one teacher. After year 8, I attempted Correspondence School fo 2 years but made little progress as I had to do such subjects as French and Art which I could not cope with by correspondence.
I then went on to the Higher Elementary School in Casterton. It provided high school type classes for Classes 7 - 10 inclusive. In some ways starting at Class 9, I was behind as I had gained little from the two years of correspondence. But I coped and gained the highest certificate available, the Intermediate Certificate, passing with 7 A’s.
That had not been easy as my parents were stretched to afford accommodation in Casterton but compromised by getting board for me Monday night through Thusday leaving me to ride my bike the 20 miles (32 k.) into school on Monday morning and then home on Friday night. I can tell you that it was bitter on those cold, wet, windy, winter nights. After completing all I could do at Casterton, I went home to help on the farm as three of my brothers had already enlisted.
WW2
There was no way I was going to stay on the farm and with some guilt applied to join the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). First I had to do an intensive correspondence course in science and mathematics.
After completing that I was called up and was sworn into the RAAF in Melbourne on New Years Day 1943. That is where I met my lifelong friend Geoff Lynar. That evening we were transported to No 1 Initial Training School at Somers to do rookie training mainly square bashing and further studies. Geoff and I then went to No 7 Elementary Training School at Western Junction, just out of Launceston in Tasmania to learn to fly on Tiger Moths and my god, it was cold in those open cockpits. We then trained on Airspeed Oxfords at No 1 SFTS at Point Cook where we gained our wings, and the rank of Sergeant.. The die was cast that we would be bomber pilots. To fill in the time before a troopship was scheduled we did a Jungle Training Course at Wonga Park (would you believe) and then a Beam Instrument Landing course back at Point Cook.
We finally embarked for England on New Years Day 1944 on the Nieu Amsterdam via South Africa. It soon became apparent to me that the pool of aircrew in holding camps in England was so big that I would have to wait a long time before even entering the progression to being on operations. At that time there was a call for volunteers to go to the Middle East to do conversion to a new Bristol aircraft and then Operational Training Unit as a preliminary to forming a new squadron to take part in the Burma campaign. I volunteered.
Thus, I was only in England for a short time during which I did a quick flying refresher at Elmden near Birmingham. In early June 1944, I departed, with about 20 other volunteers, by troopship to the Middle East. But, it had all been changed because the new aircraft was a fizzer. The first we knew was that we were not disembarked in Egypt and then informed that we were going to India. On arrival in India,we were all split up and I never saw them again. After a short Jungle Escape Course just out of Poona where I joined up with a number of RAF NCO aircrew, gunners and wireless operators. About the end of the course we encountered three officers who were looking for crew members. We crewed up and I became the second pilot to a RAF crew (five English, five Scots, and one Australian; me). The crew was:
. Flt Lt Les Evans, English, soon promoted to Sqn Ldr, Aircraft Commander, a very experienced pilot with a lot of instructor flying.
. Myself, Flt Sgt - Australian - second pilot.
. Flt Sgt Don Cartwright, English - flight engineer and waist gunner..
. Flg Off John Bruce, Scot, navigator.
. Flg Off ‘Gunga’ Herford, English - bomb aimer. The tag ‘Gunga’ was conferred as he had been a permanent RAF airman and had served on the North West Frontier.
. Sgt Fraser, Scott - nose gunner.
. Sgt Ian Moffit, Scott - mid upper gunner.
. Flt Sgt ‘Tash’ Sayer, English - first wireless operator.
. Flt Sgt Willie Williamson, English - second wireless operator and waist gunner.
. Sgt Pete Smith, Scott - ball gunner.
. Sgt Ginger Matier, Scott - tail gunner
The average age was about 21 years. John Bruce and Gunga were old blokes about 26, the Captain about 24 and the rest of us less than 20 years old.
Further Training
We then went to Heavy Conversion Unit at Kolar Gold Fields, not far from Bangalore. There we converted to B24 Liberators and completed an abridged Operational Training Course. By that time we had settled in as an eager but sprog heavy bomber crew and were posted to 356 Squadron (RAF) at Salbani which is about 300 kilometers north west of Calcutta.
The B24 Liberator
The B24 Liberator was a complete departure for us. It was American built and thus had more concern for crew comfort than the British ones (zilch). In fact, it was the most comfortable Air Force aircraft that I ever flew. It had some cabin insulation which provided a relatively quiet environment, and a small contribution to heating and cooling. It was powered by 4 Pratt & Whitney twin row 14 cylinder turbo charged engines. The engines were basically the same as those fitted to the Dakota, but some updating and the addition of the turbos increased the horsepower from about 900 bhp for the Dakota to about 1300 bhp for ours. It was a nose wheel aircraft which had considerable advantages over the British system of tail wheel.
It was a high aspect ratio wing with a fairly small cord and with complex fowler flaps. The high aspect ratio gave it high lift over a very limited speed range. It’s take off and landing speeds were higher than most British aircraft but reasonable because of the super efficient flaps. The wing design allowed for very long range cruising which is what we needed in our theatre albiet at a fairly slow cruising speed especial as the weight came down.
There were four turrets each equipped with two .5 inch automatic guns and a swivel mounted .5 at each of the waist openings. The turrets were nose, mid upper, underside ball, and tail. All in all, it could bring considerable fire power to bear on any aggressive fighter and that was increased mightily when a formation used coordinated firepower. It was also formidable in low level strafing.
Bomb carrying was not its most significant accomplishment. It had racks to hang 12 bombs arranged in four banks of three bombs attached one above the other. We mainly used either 750 pound or 500 pound weapons. Thus the maximum carriage was 9000 lbs against the Lancaster’s 18,000 lb. We seldom carried the maximum, as with the requirement for extra range, bomb bay space was traded for bomb bay fuel tanks each tank taking out a quarter of the bomb bay. All up weight was 63,000 pounds, the same as the Lancaster.
Control of many functions was electric. The propellers constant speed units were operated by four toggle switches. In the early aircraft, the tubos were adjusted by four levers, but in later aircraft, that was replaced by a single rotary control which controlled all four electronically. The auto pilot was excellent and I did not experience anything as good until the B66 some 20 years later. There was a Collins HF radio fitted and it worked which was different to the Marconi one in the Lincoln - mainly useless. Unlike the Liberators in Australia, ours did not have radar fitted.
Role
The roles of 356 Squadron were:
. Destroy the Japanese theatre logistic system ie
. The stores dumps
. and the transportation system consisting of the railways, ports, and coastal vessels.
. Support the army in its major offensives ie. Akyab, Mandalay, Rangoon.
Early Operations
Our first raid came up very quickly. The Allies had just started a push to recapture Burma from the Japanese. The first objective was Akyab, a town on the south west coast of the Arakan Peninsula (now part of Bangladesh). First, they needed to suppress all opposition from the adjacent Ramree Island. A saturation bombing raid on Ramree was our first operation. The method used for those attacks was for mass aircraft in formation all dropping their bombs when the leader did, thus creating a deadly pattern.
By that time bombing and naval operations were beginning to deprive the local Japanese Air force of parts to the extent that its activities were limited outside the major targets. Therefore, fighter opposition was restricted, but there was a fair bit of anti aircraft fire (flak) but it did not give us much of a problem.. Almost immediately after bomb release, there was a hell of a bang and we sustained considerable damage to the bomb bay area. Evidently, a couple of bombs had jostled on the way down and one exploded. It was large hunks of shrapnel from that which had caused our damage. Apart from that, it was rather tame and after a lot of work trying to effect repairs in the bomb bay during the transit home , we had little trouble landing our damaged aircraft back at base.
The second operation was not quite as easy. It was once again a mass aircraft raid but this time on the extensive stores depots at Mingladon , in an area adjacent to the Rangoon airport. There was substantial fighter opposition and also heavy predicted flak. Again, we bombed in formation, but on this occasion, each bomb aimer had his own aiming point within the limits of maintaining lose formation - quite effective. There was a bit of mayhem as the fighters got at us and the flak dotted the sky. When the flak got quite close there was a very audible krump. For the first time, we really got the impression that those people down there were trying to kill us which was a bit of a jolt. I guess that was fair enough though as we were not being all that friendly. The fighters had a hard time as the Libs had very impressive fire power. On later raids, the fire power was made even more effective through coordinating the whole formation.
We suffered damage again. Suddenly there was a mist of shredded insulation in the starboard cockpit and I thought that we must have hit a bird. But when I looked down there was a vertical tear in the side of the fuselage just forward of my right leg. Obviously, an anti aircraft shell had grazed us, luckily not exploding in the process. The damage was not significant although I had a bit of a bleed from a scratch on that leg.
Sustained Operations
We settled down to conducting operations to destroy the enemy’s logistic system by raids on their stores depots and attacks against the transportation system mainly the rail system between Rangoon and Mandalay and, between Moulemain and Ye to the south where the main north south rail line along the West side of the Malay peninsula linked up with the famous Burma Railway. We destroyed bridges and did numerous train busting trips. These were low level attacks with a gaggle of three or more aircraft using bombs and the considerable firepower of the Liberator for strafing. On theses raids the anti aircraft fire was very concentrated and accurate but they got back a lot from us. It was quite exciting.
Unfortunately, with the great amount of manpower (mainly POW’s and impressed Asians), bridges and facilities were soon repaired. Also, the Japanese positioned the prisoner repair gangs in the most vulnerable places, consequently there was some wounding and loss of life for them from friendly fire. But the trains and stores destroyed were not easily replaced. Other attacks were on rail yards where we not only damaged the railway hardware but also supplies awaiting transhipment.
Other areas also presented suitable targets. One such attack was at Korat, 150 NM north east of Bangkok on 28 February 1945. It was a long operational flight of 14 hours. Another was at Chumphorn, half way down the Malay Peninsula where some of the enemy stores were unloaded from rail and barges for transport along trails across the peninsula and then again transhipped to barges and small coastal ships for carriage up the east coast of Burma.
At the end of January 1945 we were diverted to a series of operations in support of the army push to take Mandalay thus doing a number of strikes in that area. We were hassled a bit by a few fighters and the flak was quite heavy. One strike stands out. We were briefed to attack the Japanese Headquarters in Mandalay. It was a formation attack with a number of aircraft. Unfortunately, the Japanese had taken over the Royal Palace and to the continuing regret of the Burmese, the palace was destroyed. However, militarily it was a great success and the British Army were then able to take Mandalay. We then returned to general disruption of logistics.
We had become quite accustomed to being fired at but not to the extent of not getting scared. However one operation stands out as being very scary for a different reason. First, I must describe a peculiarity of the Liberator. As part of the structure, longitudinally down the bottom center of the bomb bay, a catwalk about 300 mm wide was suspended by four large vertical stanchions. The stanchions were positioned in the middle of each of the four sections so provided. A rope was strung along each side of the catwalk about thigh height to provide a semblance of safety but, the catwalk was a place to be avoided with the bomb doors open. Up to three bombs were hung one above the other on some or all of those stanchions depending on the required bomb load. To prevent a jam up in the bomb bay, on release a sequencer released them in order around the bomb bay starting at the bottom. It was supposed to stop the sequence if a bomb hung up.
Sometimes the skipper allowed the Engineer to sit in the second pilot’s seat for part of the trip and that was the situation on a raid South West of Moulemain. On that raid, after bomb release, the Bomb Aimer noted a bomb hang up. The Bomb Aimer and I went down to see what the hell was going on and it was not a glad situation. On this occasion, a middle bomb failed to release and the sequence was not interrupted. The bomb above released and started to roll around on top of the hung up bomb and between the vertical stanchion and the outer bomb bay wall. In doing so the arming pin on the upper bomb was released and the bomb was armed.
We stood on the catwalk (bomb doors open) one each side of the stanchion and tried to operate the emergency hand release but it was jammed. It was quite a scarey situation. As well as the insecurity of our stance on the narrow catwalk with the next solid foothold several thousand feet below, we had to be nimble to avoid having an arm or hand crushed by the errant bomb as it rolled. But, more important was to hope it did not strike anything against its nose and set itself off. We were able to force one of the levers to the release position but the other remained jammed. In desperation I got the crash axe and a few well directed whacks with it forced the other release lever open and both bombs tumbled away. We watched them fall. We were not far from Moulemain, so our bar room story was that they clobbered the Old Moulemain Pagoda - fortunately not true.
Just before Xmas 1944, we did a night raid on the docks just south of Saigon which was another transhipment point for war supplies. It was a very long trip and we carried two bomb bay tanks. But on the way home the transfer pump for the second tank failed. A very careful redo of the fuel log confirmed that we were not going to make it to friendly territory without that fuel. The Engineer and I spent a long time up in the auxiliary loft and finally managed to re plumb the fuel system so that the other transfer pump could do the job. The wonder of it all was that we did not manage to cause all engines to stop or to flood the aircraft with fuel as we were working in low light and with scant diagrams.
Weather was always a major problem in the whole operational area but especially over the Bay of Bengal during the Monsoon. We had many dicy transits with boiling clouds, sheets of rain, extreme turbulence from the surface to much higher than we could climb. One mitigating thing was the excellent instrumentation and cockpit lighting of the aircraft - never equaled in Brit aircraft.
Another operation that stands out was when we took part in a low level sortie against a Japanese cruiser and its destroyer escorts in Port Blair harbor in the Andaman Islands. We set out on 14 May 1945 but were recalled when three hours into the mission - it was never explained why. We went again 17 May 1945 with a large gaggle of aircraft and performed a successful low level attack on the cruiser, its escorts and to some extent the harbor installations. I recall very heavy anti aircraft fire from all the warships and from the port defenses. It sure was some fireworks display on the run in but we were very low and engagement time was short. The cruiser was so heavily damaged that although it was able to leave the area, it never became operational again. We escaped, still at low level over the hills and remained at fairly low level for the return home which was quite eventful. The monsoon was at its worst and we battled against dreadful weather conditions for about five hours across the Bay of Bengal. One Liberator from another squadron was hit by a water spout and crashed into the sea with the loss of the entire crew. A RAAF friend of mine, Plt Off Roth Carter, was the second pilot of that Liberator.
Throughout April 1945 we concentrated mainly on the Rangoon area prior to the Army assault and the eventual re taking of Rangoon. The re-taking of Burma is always credited to the 14th Army under the command of General Slim (later to become General Sir William Slim, Governor General of Australia). They deserve all acclaim because of the dreadful circumstances that they endured in the Burmese jungles against the myriad Japanese soldiers often in hand to hand fighting. But success was only possible because we had almost completely cut off the Japanese supplies to the extent that they were very short of ammunition, spares, fuel and rations.
After the success at Rangoon, it was decided to send 356 Sqn and 99 Sqn to Cocos Island to prepare for the final assault on Singapore. But one last operations from Salbani on 24 June 1945 stands out. We were the lead aircraft in a low level attack on the rail bridge at Kanchanaburi - ‘bridge over the River Kwai’. I distinctly remember the low level approach beside the trestle supported rail line against the escarpment on the way down to the bridge. We destroyed the middle two sections of the bridge and they were not repaired until after the war. The repairs were then paid for from Japanese reparations. There is a photograph in the war museum at Kanchanaburi of three of the Liberators on the final approach to the attack.
In Cocos Island, there was a lot of settling in. Unfortunately, our Commanding Officer, Wg Cdr Sparks died of polio very shortly after arrival there. Les Evans became acting Commanding Officer. Officially the crew should have been tour expired and Les’s new duties restricted our activities. However we did some operations as a crew. One was a supply dropping operation to the Malayan Anti Japanese Army near Mandalay. I was amazed at how close to the city it actually was. Also, I was lent to another crew (captained by Flt Lt Yeates) whose second pilot was not available for some reason and I did two operations with them.
A Mosquito reconnaissance aircraft had taken a photograph of an airfield in West Sumatra which showed a concentration of Japanese bombers which it was thought were assembled to attack us. Three aircraft were briefed for a low level attack on the airfield and my temporary crew was one of the crews. Over the Japanese airfield, our three 356 Sqn Liberators got badly shot up. We lost an engine due to the ignition harness being shot away (that was the only engine failure I had in Liberators). We then had the task of climbing back over the rugged central mountain spine with one engine out. We made it by zig zagging which considerably increased the twitter time in enemy territory. But the enemy bombers were all dummies and it was a set up to draw us into a very heavily defended trap. My log book does not show that operation and some others from Cocos. There was no crew room there and there was little room in operations therefore most of the aircrew did not report down there daily. One crew member (Flt Sgt Cartwright) was designated to keep the log books up to date by transcribing from the Flight Authorization Book Unfortunately he only included the operations by the whole crew and my activities with Flt Lt Yeates and some others were disregarded.
When the war ended, we were involved in supply dropping to POW s at Changi and other POW camps. On one occasion, with the old crew, we landed at Kallang, Singapore. We stayed overnight and I remember that we, the NCO crew, had to refuel the aircraft with a hand pump from 44 gallon drums. It was a hell of a job pumping more than 1,000 gallons in the heat. For the return trip, we uploaded the Sultan of Selangor and his entourage and took them back to Cocos. Apparently, he had been a Japanese collaborator and it was thought best to get him out of there. A couple of days later we flew the same party on to Ceylon landing at Ratmalana just south of Colombo.
Early in September, I got my posting to return to Australia. It could be quite simple really as the Qantas crews on the Perth - Ceylon run frequently dropped in to Cocos for fuel and it would have been easy for me to hitch a ride to Perth. But that is not the way it works. On 25 October 1945, my old crew flew me to Kankensentura, a RAF base on the northern tip of Ceylon and then on to Madras. From there I took the long train journey to Calcutta and eventually to Jessore, a RAF holding camp some 150 miles north east of Calcutta where I joined a pool of Australian airmen awaiting repatriation. After some time, a gaggle of bods joined a troop train which took us all the way west to Bombay where we entered another holding unit. Finally we boarded a troopship which took us home via Perth, eventually arriving late in January 1946.
The rest of Bill Kilsby's Memoir is attached asa link.
Biography contributed by Steve Larkins
Cecil George KILSBY, AFC (1925- )
Redacted from a full article published by "Friends of The Odd Bods Association"
The Air Force and Me
In 1924 when I was born, my parents (and the bank) owned and lived on Avondale, a farm of some 2000 acres close to the Victoria / South Australia border, 23 miles from Casterton and 24 miles from Mt Gambier. They continued to live there until my Dad retired about 1948. Schooling was not easy. The local school, 3 ½ miles away was a country elementary going to Grade 8. There were about 8 other pupils ranged across all the grades and taught by the one teacher. After year 8, I attempted Correspondence School fo 2 years but made little progress as I had to do such subjects as French and Art which I could not cope with by correspondence.
I then went on to the Higher Elementary School in Casterton. It provided high school type classes for Classes 7 - 10 inclusive. In some ways starting at Class 9, I was behind as I had gained little from the two years of correspondence. But I coped and gained the highest certificate available, the Intermediate Certificate, passing with 7 A’s.
That had not been easy as my parents were stretched to afford accommodation in Casterton but compromised by getting board for me Monday night through Thusday leaving me to ride my bike the 20 miles (32 k.) into school on Monday morning and then home on Friday night. I can tell you that it was bitter on those cold, wet, windy, winter nights. After completing all I could do at Casterton, I went home to help on the farm as three of my brothers had already enlisted.
WW2
There was no way I was going to stay on the farm and with some guilt applied to join the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). First I had to do an intensive correspondence course in science and mathematics.
After completing that I was called up and was sworn into the RAAF in Melbourne on New Years Day 1943. That is where I met my lifelong friend Geoff Lynar. That evening we were transported to No 1 Initial Training School at Somers to do rookie training mainly square bashing and further studies. Geoff and I then went to No 7 Elementary Training School at Western Junction, just out of Launceston in Tasmania to learn to fly on Tiger Moths and my god, it was cold in those open cockpits. We then trained on Airspeed Oxfords at No 1 SFTS at Point Cook where we gained our wings, and the rank of Sergeant.. The die was cast that we would be bomber pilots. To fill in the time before a troopship was scheduled we did a Jungle Training Course at Wonga Park (would you believe) and then a Beam Instrument Landing course back at Point Cook.
We finally embarked for England on New Years Day 1944 on the Nieu Amsterdam via South Africa. It soon became apparent to me that the pool of aircrew in holding camps in England was so big that I would have to wait a long time before even entering the progression to being on operations. At that time there was a call for volunteers to go to the Middle East to do conversion to a new Bristol aircraft and then Operational Training Unit as a preliminary to forming a new squadron to take part in the Burma campaign. I volunteered.
Thus, I was only in England for a short time during which I did a quick flying refresher at Elmden near Birmingham. In early June 1944, I departed, with about 20 other volunteers, by troopship to the Middle East. But, it had all been changed because the new aircraft was a fizzer. The first we knew was that we were not disembarked in Egypt and then informed that we were going to India. On arrival in India,we were all split up and I never saw them again. After a short Jungle Escape Course just out of Poona where I joined up with a number of RAF NCO aircrew, gunners and wireless operators. About the end of the course we encountered three officers who were looking for crew members. We crewed up and I became the second pilot to a RAF crew (five English, five Scots, and one Australian; me). The crew was:
. Flt Lt Les Evans, English, soon promoted to Sqn Ldr, Aircraft Commander, a very experienced pilot with a lot of instructor flying.
. Myself, Flt Sgt - Australian - second pilot.
. Flt Sgt Don Cartwright, English - flight engineer and waist gunner..
. Flg Off John Bruce, Scot, navigator.
. Flg Off ‘Gunga’ Herford, English - bomb aimer. The tag ‘Gunga’ was conferred as he had been a permanent RAF airman and had served on the North West Frontier.
. Sgt Fraser, Scott - nose gunner.
. Sgt Ian Moffit, Scott - mid upper gunner.
. Flt Sgt ‘Tash’ Sayer, English - first wireless operator.
. Flt Sgt Willie Williamson, English - second wireless operator and waist gunner.
. Sgt Pete Smith, Scott - ball gunner.
. Sgt Ginger Matier, Scott - tail gunner
The average age was about 21 years. John Bruce and Gunga were old blokes about 26, the Captain about 24 and the rest of us less than 20 years old.
Further Training
We then went to Heavy Conversion Unit at Kolar Gold Fields, not far from Bangalore. There we converted to B24 Liberators and completed an abridged Operational Training Course. By that time we had settled in as an eager but sprog heavy bomber crew and were posted to 356 Squadron (RAF) at Salbani which is about 300 kilometers north west of Calcutta.
The B24 Liberator
The B24 Liberator was a complete departure for us. It was American built and thus had more concern for crew comfort than the British ones (zilch). In fact, it was the most comfortable Air Force aircraft that I ever flew. It had some cabin insulation which provided a relatively quiet environment, and a small contribution to heating and cooling. It was powered by 4 Pratt & Whitney twin row 14 cylinder turbo charged engines. The engines were basically the same as those fitted to the Dakota, but some updating and the addition of the turbos increased the horsepower from about 900 bhp for the Dakota to about 1300 bhp for ours. It was a nose wheel aircraft which had considerable advantages over the British system of tail wheel.
It was a high aspect ratio wing with a fairly small cord and with complex fowler flaps. The high aspect ratio gave it high lift over a very limited speed range. It’s take off and landing speeds were higher than most British aircraft but reasonable because of the super efficient flaps. The wing design allowed for very long range cruising which is what we needed in our theatre albiet at a fairly slow cruising speed especial as the weight came down.
There were four turrets each equipped with two .5 inch automatic guns and a swivel mounted .5 at each of the waist openings. The turrets were nose, mid upper, underside ball, and tail. All in all, it could bring considerable fire power to bear on any aggressive fighter and that was increased mightily when a formation used coordinated firepower. It was also formidable in low level strafing.
Bomb carrying was not its most significant accomplishment. It had racks to hang 12 bombs arranged in four banks of three bombs attached one above the other. We mainly used either 750 pound or 500 pound weapons. Thus the maximum carriage was 9000 lbs against the Lancaster’s 18,000 lb. We seldom carried the maximum, as with the requirement for extra range, bomb bay space was traded for bomb bay fuel tanks each tank taking out a quarter of the bomb bay. All up weight was 63,000 pounds, the same as the Lancaster.
Control of many functions was electric. The propellers constant speed units were operated by four toggle switches. In the early aircraft, the tubos were adjusted by four levers, but in later aircraft, that was replaced by a single rotary control which controlled all four electronically. The auto pilot was excellent and I did not experience anything as good until the B66 some 20 years later. There was a Collins HF radio fitted and it worked which was different to the Marconi one in the Lincoln - mainly useless. Unlike the Liberators in Australia, ours did not have radar fitted.
Role
The roles of 356 Squadron were:
. Destroy the Japanese theatre logistic system ie
. The stores dumps
. and the transportation system consisting of the railways, ports, and coastal vessels.
. Support the army in its major offensives ie. Akyab, Mandalay, Rangoon.
Early Operations
Our first raid came up very quickly. The Allies had just started a push to recapture Burma from the Japanese. The first objective was Akyab, a town on the south west coast of the Arakan Peninsula (now part of Bangladesh). First, they needed to suppress all opposition from the adjacent Ramree Island. A saturation bombing raid on Ramree was our first operation. The method used for those attacks was for mass aircraft in formation all dropping their bombs when the leader did, thus creating a deadly pattern.
By that time bombing and naval operations were beginning to deprive the local Japanese Air force of parts to the extent that its activities were limited outside the major targets. Therefore, fighter opposition was restricted, but there was a fair bit of anti aircraft fire (flak) but it did not give us much of a problem.. Almost immediately after bomb release, there was a hell of a bang and we sustained considerable damage to the bomb bay area. Evidently, a couple of bombs had jostled on the way down and one exploded. It was large hunks of shrapnel from that which had caused our damage. Apart from that, it was rather tame and after a lot of work trying to effect repairs in the bomb bay during the transit home , we had little trouble landing our damaged aircraft back at base.
The second operation was not quite as easy. It was once again a mass aircraft raid but this time on the extensive stores depots at Mingladon , in an area adjacent to the Rangoon airport. There was substantial fighter opposition and also heavy predicted flak. Again, we bombed in formation, but on this occasion, each bomb aimer had his own aiming point within the limits of maintaining lose formation - quite effective. There was a bit of mayhem as the fighters got at us and the flak dotted the sky. When the flak got quite close there was a very audible krump. For the first time, we really got the impression that those people down there were trying to kill us which was a bit of a jolt. I guess that was fair enough though as we were not being all that friendly. The fighters had a hard time as the Libs had very impressive fire power. On later raids, the fire power was made even more effective through coordinating the whole formation.
We suffered damage again. Suddenly there was a mist of shredded insulation in the starboard cockpit and I thought that we must have hit a bird. But when I looked down there was a vertical tear in the side of the fuselage just forward of my right leg. Obviously, an anti aircraft shell had grazed us, luckily not exploding in the process. The damage was not significant although I had a bit of a bleed from a scratch on that leg.
Sustained Operations
We settled down to conducting operations to destroy the enemy’s logistic system by raids on their stores depots and attacks against the transportation system mainly the rail system between Rangoon and Mandalay and, between Moulemain and Ye to the south where the main north south rail line along the West side of the Malay peninsula linked up with the famous Burma Railway. We destroyed bridges and did numerous train busting trips. These were low level attacks with a gaggle of three or more aircraft using bombs and the considerable firepower of the Liberator for strafing. On theses raids the anti aircraft fire was very concentrated and accurate but they got back a lot from us. It was quite exciting.
Unfortunately, with the great amount of manpower (mainly POW’s and impressed Asians), bridges and facilities were soon repaired. Also, the Japanese positioned the prisoner repair gangs in the most vulnerable places, consequently there was some wounding and loss of life for them from friendly fire. But the trains and stores destroyed were not easily replaced. Other attacks were on rail yards where we not only damaged the railway hardware but also supplies awaiting transhipment.
Other areas also presented suitable targets. One such attack was at Korat, 150 NM north east of Bangkok on 28 February 1945. It was a long operational flight of 14 hours. Another was at Chumphorn, half way down the Malay Peninsula where some of the enemy stores were unloaded from rail and barges for transport along trails across the peninsula and then again transhipped to barges and small coastal ships for carriage up the east coast of Burma.
At the end of January 1945 we were diverted to a series of operations in support of the army push to take Mandalay thus doing a number of strikes in that area. We were hassled a bit by a few fighters and the flak was quite heavy. One strike stands out. We were briefed to attack the Japanese Headquarters in Mandalay. It was a formation attack with a number of aircraft. Unfortunately, the Japanese had taken over the Royal Palace and to the continuing regret of the Burmese, the palace was destroyed. However, militarily it was a great success and the British Army were then able to take Mandalay. We then returned to general disruption of logistics.
We had become quite accustomed to being fired at but not to the extent of not getting scared. However one operation stands out as being very scary for a different reason. First, I must describe a peculiarity of the Liberator. As part of the structure, longitudinally down the bottom center of the bomb bay, a catwalk about 300 mm wide was suspended by four large vertical stanchions. The stanchions were positioned in the middle of each of the four sections so provided. A rope was strung along each side of the catwalk about thigh height to provide a semblance of safety but, the catwalk was a place to be avoided with the bomb doors open. Up to three bombs were hung one above the other on some or all of those stanchions depending on the required bomb load. To prevent a jam up in the bomb bay, on release a sequencer released them in order around the bomb bay starting at the bottom. It was supposed to stop the sequence if a bomb hung up.
Sometimes the skipper allowed the Engineer to sit in the second pilot’s seat for part of the trip and that was the situation on a raid South West of Moulemain. On that raid, after bomb release, the Bomb Aimer noted a bomb hang up. The Bomb Aimer and I went down to see what the hell was going on and it was not a glad situation. On this occasion, a middle bomb failed to release and the sequence was not interrupted. The bomb above released and started to roll around on top of the hung up bomb and between the vertical stanchion and the outer bomb bay wall. In doing so the arming pin on the upper bomb was released and the bomb was armed.
We stood on the catwalk (bomb doors open) one each side of the stanchion and tried to operate the emergency hand release but it was jammed. It was quite a scarey situation. As well as the insecurity of our stance on the narrow catwalk with the next solid foothold several thousand feet below, we had to be nimble to avoid having an arm or hand crushed by the errant bomb as it rolled. But, more important was to hope it did not strike anything against its nose and set itself off. We were able to force one of the levers to the release position but the other remained jammed. In desperation I got the crash axe and a few well directed whacks with it forced the other release lever open and both bombs tumbled away. We watched them fall. We were not far from Moulemain, so our bar room story was that they clobbered the Old Moulemain Pagoda - fortunately not true.
Just before Xmas 1944, we did a night raid on the docks just south of Saigon which was another transhipment point for war supplies. It was a very long trip and we carried two bomb bay tanks. But on the way home the transfer pump for the second tank failed. A very careful redo of the fuel log confirmed that we were not going to make it to friendly territory without that fuel. The Engineer and I spent a long time up in the auxiliary loft and finally managed to re plumb the fuel system so that the other transfer pump could do the job. The wonder of it all was that we did not manage to cause all engines to stop or to flood the aircraft with fuel as we were working in low light and with scant diagrams.
Weather was always a major problem in the whole operational area but especially over the Bay of Bengal during the Monsoon. We had many dicy transits with boiling clouds, sheets of rain, extreme turbulence from the surface to much higher than we could climb. One mitigating thing was the excellent instrumentation and cockpit lighting of the aircraft - never equaled in Brit aircraft.
Another operation that stands out was when we took part in a low level sortie against a Japanese cruiser and its destroyer escorts in Port Blair harbor in the Andaman Islands. We set out on 14 May 1945 but were recalled when three hours into the mission - it was never explained why. We went again 17 May 1945 with a large gaggle of aircraft and performed a successful low level attack on the cruiser, its escorts and to some extent the harbor installations. I recall very heavy anti aircraft fire from all the warships and from the port defenses. It sure was some fireworks display on the run in but we were very low and engagement time was short. The cruiser was so heavily damaged that although it was able to leave the area, it never became operational again. We escaped, still at low level over the hills and remained at fairly low level for the return home which was quite eventful. The monsoon was at its worst and we battled against dreadful weather conditions for about five hours across the Bay of Bengal. One Liberator from another squadron was hit by a water spout and crashed into the sea with the loss of the entire crew. A RAAF friend of mine, Plt Off Roth Carter, was the second pilot of that Liberator.
Throughout April 1945 we concentrated mainly on the Rangoon area prior to the Army assault and the eventual re taking of Rangoon. The re-taking of Burma is always credited to the 14th Army under the command of General Slim (later to become General Sir William Slim, Governor General of Australia). They deserve all acclaim because of the dreadful circumstances that they endured in the Burmese jungles against the myriad Japanese soldiers often in hand to hand fighting. But success was only possible because we had almost completely cut off the Japanese supplies to the extent that they were very short of ammunition, spares, fuel and rations.
After the success at Rangoon, it was decided to send 356 Sqn and 99 Sqn to Cocos Island to prepare for the final assault on Singapore. But one last operations from Salbani on 24 June 1945 stands out. We were the lead aircraft in a low level attack on the rail bridge at Kanchanaburi - ‘bridge over the River Kwai’. I distinctly remember the low level approach beside the trestle supported rail line against the escarpment on the way down to the bridge. We destroyed the middle two sections of the bridge and they were not repaired until after the war. The repairs were then paid for from Japanese reparations. There is a photograph in the war museum at Kanchanaburi of three of the Liberators on the final approach to the attack.
In Cocos Island, there was a lot of settling in. Unfortunately, our Commanding Officer, Wg Cdr Sparks died of polio very shortly after arrival there. Les Evans became acting Commanding Officer. Officially the crew should have been tour expired and Les’s new duties restricted our activities. However we did some operations as a crew. One was a supply dropping operation to the Malayan Anti Japanese Army near Mandalay. I was amazed at how close to the city it actually was. Also, I was lent to another crew (captained by Flt Lt Yeates) whose second pilot was not available for some reason and I did two operations with them.
A Mosquito reconnaissance aircraft had taken a photograph of an airfield in West Sumatra which showed a concentration of Japanese bombers which it was thought were assembled to attack us. Three aircraft were briefed for a low level attack on the airfield and my temporary crew was one of the crews. Over the Japanese airfield, our three 356 Sqn Liberators got badly shot up. We lost an engine due to the ignition harness being shot away (that was the only engine failure I had in Liberators). We then had the task of climbing back over the rugged central mountain spine with one engine out. We made it by zig zagging which considerably increased the twitter time in enemy territory. But the enemy bombers were all dummies and it was a set up to draw us into a very heavily defended trap. My log book does not show that operation and some others from Cocos. There was no crew room there and there was little room in operations therefore most of the aircrew did not report down there daily. One crew member (Flt Sgt Cartwright) was designated to keep the log books up to date by transcribing from the Flight Authorization Book Unfortunately he only included the operations by the whole crew and my activities with Flt Lt Yeates and some others were disregarded.
When the war ended, we were involved in supply dropping to POW s at Changi and other POW camps. On one occasion, with the old crew, we landed at Kallang, Singapore. We stayed overnight and I remember that we, the NCO crew, had to refuel the aircraft with a hand pump from 44 gallon drums. It was a hell of a job pumping more than 1,000 gallons in the heat. For the return trip, we uploaded the Sultan of Selangor and his entourage and took them back to Cocos. Apparently, he had been a Japanese collaborator and it was thought best to get him out of there. A couple of days later we flew the same party on to Ceylon landing at Ratmalana just south of Colombo.
Early in September, I got my posting to return to Australia. It could be quite simple really as the Qantas crews on the Perth - Ceylon run frequently dropped in to Cocos for fuel and it would have been easy for me to hitch a ride to Perth. But that is not the way it works. On 25 October 1945, my old crew flew me to Kankensentura, a RAF base on the northern tip of Ceylon and then on to Madras. From there I took the long train journey to Calcutta and eventually to Jessore, a RAF holding camp some 150 miles north east of Calcutta where I joined a pool of Australian airmen awaiting repatriation. After some time, a gaggle of bods joined a troop train which took us all the way west to Bombay where we entered another holding unit. Finally we boarded a troopship which took us home via Perth, eventually arriving late in January 1946.
The rest of Bill Kilsby's Memoir is attached asa link.
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