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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 2188.PDF
708 FLIGHT accommodation and feeding arrangements. Two barrackblocks were loaned by the R.A.F. and the Director-General of Civil Aviation for India loaned the terminal building atthe airport to be used as offices, for messing, and for the assembly of passengers. There was, however, no furniturewhatsoever; food and drink were scarce, and little could be obtained locally. Consequently, the normal York ser-vice through Delhi was used to fly from Calcutta and Karachi 200 camp beds, 40 wardrobes, 30 dressing-tables,250 chairs, and all the kitchen equipment, cutlery, bed linen and even charcoal for the kitchen fires. Local labour wasrecruited for cooking, cleaning and washing. Ground Organization On arrival Air Commodore Brackley called a conference,and Mr. George Tippens, the B.O.A.C. engineer instructor at Karachi, was made the engineer -in -charge and officer incharge of catering, transport and billeting. An Ops. room was set up, and flight controllers were flown in from Karachi andCalcutta. In the first few days of flying a multitude of lessons were learnt, but the captains co-operated fully andorganization automatically and rapidly developed. As pre- viously mentioned, the Government having received thedaily '' Mayfly,'' the pick-up points were communicated to Palam, and messages were broadcast to the remote villageswarning refugees to congregate on the airfields. The pick- up points included Peshawar, Risalpur, Rawalpindi, Chak-wal, Multan, Sargodha, Di Khan, Quetta, Lyallpur, Khanpur, Amritsar, Ambala and Lahore. These were in-variably disused R.A.F. airfields with concrete strips, but some were hard sand or grass ; one, at Multan, hadbrick-built runways. The first aircraft to arrive always made a quickreconnaissance of the airfield, landed, taxied to what the captain considered to be the best marshallingpoint, and immediately opened up R/T communica- tion with the following aircraft, to give directionsto land and generally undertake control responsi- bility until all aircraft were on the ground. It thenremained for each captain to organize his passengers. This was done by collecting groups of people aroundthe aircraft, weighing their baggage by "feel," stowing it in the aircraft and then allowing thepassengers to clamber over and sit on their belong- ings. Loading-sheets were completed and carriedfor each flight. After several days it was found, however, that traffic officers were necessary, andeight were flown out from England. Activity started each morning at dawn. Passen- OPERATION INJDMJL (Right) Three aircrew lunching under the tailplane of their Dakota. Catering was one of the initial problems and fresh vege- tables were flown in from Lahore, and fruit and eggs from Quetta. A port engine change on one of the bakotas. (Top right) Several of the operators carried engines and all took spares from the U.K., and since most of the aircraft used for the operation were Dakotas, there was normally a pool from which all could draw. (Above) Air Commodore Brackley, who was in charge of the operation, is seen examining some of the lug- gage. He was also in charge of the previous evacuation in Pakistan. (Left) Apersistent refugee, arguing with one of the captains. It was necessary for each captain to arrange his load, and on most occasions they had great difficulty in keeping the numbers down to within the limits of safety. (Centre) B.O.A.C. engin- eer, Mr. George Tippens, the Shell representative in Delhi, and Mr. Stuart Wortley, discuss operations for the dayi The latter was Air Commodore Brackley's deputy.
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