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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0150.PDF
' -••-• -••£ Jr1- "T,..?; *;- p:r"' =.*':';.'•Ji' 150 FLIGHT, 3 February 1961 Malaya to Middle Wallop BY CAPTAIN MICHAEL SOMERTON-RAYNER Part 1 THE trip was never meant to be an epic flight—just a holidaytour by aeroplane. The reasoning behind it was simple. Iwas posted to 656 Sqn Army Air Corps in Malaya in 1957, having just completed a flying course at Middle Wallop, and thiswas to be my first trip abroad at the Army's expense. My wife Ina and I were very excited at the prospect of 8,000 miles of sightsee-ing, but in the event we were flown out in a troop charter Hermes and saw absolutely nothing—taking 3J days to see it, too. We were then very determined to put that right when it was timeto come home and, as I was flying Auster AOP 9s every day in Malaya, the logical way to get home seemed to be to fly ourselvesthere. Of course, one of the first things one requires is an aeroplane,and this is not easy to get in Malaya where, due to British minister- ial influence, the private aviator is not encouraged and there arevery few light aircraft. In October 1959, however, I managed to obtain an old (17 years) Auster Mk 3 for a reasonable sum from aclub in Kuala Lumpur, and from that day our preparation for the flight began. The aircraft, we found out, had returned to the fold, so to speak,for it had started life in the former 656 AOP Sqn RAF at the Burma front in 1943, and had served until 1947 when the squadronwas disbanded and the aircraft sold to the flying club. My acquisi- tion brought it back to 656 Sqn. Modifications before making theflight were obviously necessary, for the Auster Mk 3 originally had only a ten-gallon nose tank, and with a Gipsy 1 engine thisgave a safe range of only 80 miles! The modifications were carried out by me, with the aid of Ina (now an excellent aircraft mainten-ance engineer), and were covered by a very sympathetic and help- ful ARB in the form of Mr Johnson, the Singapore surveyor. Themods included the addition of a 25-gallon rear tank (total now 35gal), a Plessey radio, a full flying panel resembling an Auster 9layout, electrics, generator and battery and, most essential, very comfortable seats. Finally, for rescue purposes (and this subsequently proved anerror) the aircraft was painted yellow—a good contrast to the jungle. Flight-planning took a year, and a total of four hundred andtwenty-eight letters. The plan went something like this. Out came my wife's school atlas and on it we drew the proposed route, theidea being to keep the water crossings to a minimum. From there we had to obtain some one-million maps. Two days later I hap-pened to be in the planning section at the Royal Australian Air Force Base at Butterworth, picking up a target marking brief. Iremarked "I'm flying an Auster to England soon; you don't happen to have the maps, do you?" Five minutes later I staggered out withthe compete set. God bless Australia! Route for the trip, which crossed 19 countries. Most of the places named on the map were night- stops. The flight began on October 1 last and ended on November 75 The author and his wife Ina, seen on arrival at Middle Wallop after their flight in an Auster 3 from Malaya From these maps the route was plotted in detail and clearanceswere then sought via the Malayan Government, who went to an immense amount of work, and the fun started. Out would go theletters, and back would come the reasons why we couldn't use that airfield, why we couldn't fly over that part of Burma, thediversion for the Syrian border, the prohibited area in Iraq, and so on. It went on for months, but finally things started to son them-selves out and clearances gradually came through. Notable among these was the use of T.I in Iraq, which arrived two days before wewere due to depart; and Syria, clearance for which we still await. Fuel was relatively simple to arrange with the local oil company,and we paid in advance, telling them where we wanted the fuel, what amount and the approximate date. However, it didn't turnout quite like that,because wewanted 73 Octane for our old bronze- head engine (since changed) and in some places it just did not turnup. Fuel proved to be our biggest worry. The Flight, Saturday, October 1, 1960, dawned bright andrelatively cool for Malaya, and we took off at 0730hr for Penang. Not far out of Ipoh we ran into light drizzle, but landed safely atPenang to clear customs, immigration and all the rest. This was a heavily escorted flight with a send-off of six Auster 9s from No 2Reconnaissance Fit, Army Air Corps. Airborne from Penang just after 0930, we were really on our way,although we still had the company of one Auster 9 flown by Capt Nigel Budd, who was on his way up to Alor Star, the Siameseborder and the communist terrorists. The flight heralded a good beginning for the light rain cleared thirty miles north of Penang,the sun re-appeared and visibility went up to ninety miles. I like to be able to see where to land just after take-off, and it proved agood way to start Ina's navigation lessons. Phuket came up 250 nautical miles further on in the right place,and with it our first night stop—and our first lesson that when you fly your own aircraft you become aircrew, ground crew, passenger,refuelling crew and tie-down service. Dealing with all these jobs and with customs formalities, it took two hours from landing togetting clear of the field. During the entire flight we rarely managed it in less time, in fact very often it took three hours, andthe same time was required to get off again next morning. Of Phuket there is little to say—a hotel reminiscent of the state peni-tentiary; an enterprising but friendly set of local officials who suggested £14 for landing fees and £2 for customs overtime.In addition, some chap asked for the cash for the fuel. A big smile, a friendly handshake all round, and insistence through theonly interpreter that we hadn't got that sort of money, and away we went with the usual ten-bob landing fee. Incidentally, thelocal currency used in this part of the world is measured in Tickles! Day 2 nearly proved our undoing, so perhaps I may be forgivenfor describing it in detail. The leg was from Phuket to Mergui (Burma), a distance of 261 nautical miles. A glance at the mapwill show that it is a coastal route with the Mergui Archipelago bordering the Siamese/Burmese peninsula, and jungle comingright down to the sea and far out into it with miles of mangrove
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