A View from the Back: The Recollections of a Fleet Air Arm Observer 1941-1946 by Tony Inman (Part 11 of 14)(Apr-May 45)

A View from the Back: The Recollections of a Fleet Air Arm Observer 1941-1946 by Tony Inman Part 11 of 14 (Apr-May 45)

By the end of April we were back in Manus where we were appointed to 885 Squadron in Ruler. This was it! Squadrons that were numbered in the 8 hundreds were operational so we knew we would be flying, though not front line as Ruler was another escort and not a Fleet carrier. The squadron was mixed, Avengers and Hellcats to fly ASP (anti submarine patrols) and CAP (combat air patrols) for the Fleet train and, when replenishing, the whole of the Fleet. There were more than enough fighter pilots and Avenger crews for the number of aircraft in the squadron so we were replacements as well, and some of us did depart to the Fleet carriers. Ruler flew the flag of a Commodore and was the flagship of the 30th Aircraft Carrier Squadron, (AC 30). AC 1 was the group of 4 Fleet carriers with the main fleet but I sometimes wonder about the other 28.

AC 30 commanded the Fleet Train. This was an idea of the Americans that enabled the main Fleet to operate for longer periods without having to retire to a forward base for replenishment. The Fleet did two days offensive operations and then retired a couple of hundred miles to the Fleet Train. 885's job was to provide continuous air cover during refuelling, one Avenger out beyond the destroyer screen and 4 Hellcats overhead, If you happened to be on the first patrol which took off just before dawn you also ended up doing another patrol round about 1 o'clock. During replenishment the Fleet idled along at about 5 knots while the smaller ships refuelled from the tankers or the Train escort carriers. Ruler usually stayed out to one side so that she could operate aircraft. Dawn patrol was least favourite because it meant getting up very early indeed so that you could wash, dress, eat breakfast, be briefed, get your kit and be airborne soon after 5 o'clock. The ship always stood to at dawn and dusk so every morning early the Action Stations gongs went off. Most aircrew could ignore this for duty and standby crews had been up a long time. The Fleet joined the Train at first light so the dawn patrol first met them. I found this an exhilarating sight, meeting them about 20 miles out, the destroyer screen spread across in front still going at speed through the patches of sea mist, Signal lamp and Very pistol at the ready we flew on to our patrol line. Although I did not recognise the destroyers I could identify many of the cruisers, Colony class such as Uganda, and Black Prince, Argonaut, Swiftsure. Because of the possibility of air attacks the operating speed of the Main Fleet was 30 knots which meant that many of the pre-war ships were not fast enough for this Fleet. Illustrious was replaced soon after this when one of her three propellers became useless and she could do no more than 24 knots. Only after the war did I learn the names of the destroyers from the London Gazette. The Royal Navy had the happy habit of naming destroyers of the same class with the same initial and keeping them in the same flotilla, so that the 25th was Ulster, Undine, Urania, Undaunted and Ursa while the 4th was Quickmatch, Quiberon, Queenborough and Quality. Reading these names is like music to me.

One squadron rule was that the bar was closed to aircrew on the day before, and during flying days, so there was no ‘drink driving’.

Ruler was a carrier similar to Striker with a wooden deck. Along each side of the deck was a catwalk set a bit lower so that when walking along it the deck was about level with your chest. Several large radio masts were arranged down the sides and these were normally in a vertical position but when flying was taking place they were lowered out board to a horizontal position. The island was, as usual, on the starboard side and there was a platform built out from this that ran all round the island with access from within. There were six, (I think) arrestor wires which, for landing-on purposes, were raised from each end to about 9 inches to catch the plane's arrestor hook and pilots were expected to catch the third or fourth wire when landing. If, by some mischance (or poor airmanship), all wires were missed there was a safety device which, I'm glad to say, I never had to try. This was a barrier further up the deck which consisted of two steel cables stretched across between two steel stanchions which could be lowered to deck level out of the way. The height of the wires could be varied according to the type of aircraft and were at such a height that the engine of the bolting aircraft would meet the wires, which were joined vertically to stop the wires separating to slide over the engine. This barrier protected any aircraft or personnel who happened to be on the front of the flight deck. Towards the stern on the port side was a steel platform over the catwalk where the batsman stood. He was the man who controlled all landings. He held a bat (like a large table tennis bat) in each hand and gave instructions to the pilot coming in to land. His instructions were mandatory! They had to be obeyed. If he raised his arms then go up, if he lowered them come down and if he waved one arm over his head then open the throttle and go round again for you were making a right mess of everything. There were also signals to indicate that flaps or arrestor hook was not down, or if wings were not level. For the batsman's benefit there was a safety net out from his platform into which he could fling himself when some pilot drifted over to port and was likely to clip him. The safety net was angled so that he would slide down under his steel platform for extra protection. This was later tested when one pilot drifted over to port when landing and although he caught a wire he ran over the edge of the deck and dangled there for long enough for the crew to get out and be pulled on to the deck before the hook broke and the aircraft fell into the sea smashing the Captain's barge on the way. I expect the pilot is still paying for it. The batsman, meanwhile, was probably having a stiff gin to recover his nerve.

The atmosphere in Ruler was much different from earlier voyages. I am sure this was because we were at last serving in a squadron at sea, doing what we had trained for over a long time, and the squadron belonged to the ship so we were part of the ship's company instead of passengers. I suppose the ship was there for our benefit. My memories are sharper of my time in Ruler. After a couple of days at sea there was no fresh milk, of course, beer had run out, and fresh water was severely rationed. Apart from cooking, fresh water was only on for a very short time in the morning and was not available for showers or baths which were in great demand. We were in the tropics, the ship did not have the luxury of air conditioning so there was condensation everywhere and copious sweating. Salt-water showers, even with salt-water soap, only cooled you for a short time and left you sticky. Occasionally the Tannoy would pipe "There will an opportunity for a fresh water shower in about 5 minutes” which meant a rain squall was approaching that was likely to hit the ship. In no time at all the flight deck would be crowded with near naked bodies clutching a bar of soap and with a towel tucked out of sight where they would not get wet. You then hoped that the squall would hit the ship and that the cool drenching rain would last long enough to get yourself wet, soaped and rinsed off.

I saw several waterspouts, none of which came very close but it was strange to see this grey twisting column joining the sea to very low cloud and moving quickly along. Once we went through the edge of a typhoon getting only the big seas, which at times made the bow of the ship lift so high that it was possible to see where the hull curved under to the keel - and to realise that a ship is not rigidly built but will allow the keel to flex in rough seas. We saw this one day on the flight deck where we could see the gaps between the planks opening and closing. The catwalk round the flight deck was known as the 'goofers', that is, the place where people went to goof at the flying. I think it was like watching boxing or speedway, don’t look for skill only blood.

Prior to flying there was usually a pipe "No smoking in any part of the ship" which meant that refuelling was being done and there was a lot of high octane fumes about. This was later followed by "Hands to flying stations" which was the signal for the flight deck party to muster, put the aircraft that were about to fly in their correct places, test engines and see that everything was ready In the meantime the crews and pilots who were about 'dice' were briefed. (Dice was a contraction of 'dice with death' the casual throwaway phrase used for flying, originally from the RAF). We would then wander out on to the deck and get into our aircraft and make ready. (I don't remember that we had the American phrase "Pilots, man your planes!”) When we were ready, strapped in, equipment out of the way etc, we would tell Norman who would indicate our readiness to the Flight Deck Officer. He was the man in charge on the flightdeck and I mean in charge. When all planes, Avenger and Hellcats were ready he would signal to the bridge where Commander Flying would then have the affirmative flag put out. Flying could now begin.

The ship now turned into wind and engines were started. When the steam jet at the front of the flight deck indicated that the wind was blowing straight down the deck and the ship was going at full speed (about 17 knots) the Flight deck officer brought down his flag and the first aircraft took off. This was the Avenger, which, having a shorter take-off was always in front of the fighters. Open the throttle wide, stand on the brakes, and just when you thought everything would shake to bits, release brakes. The tail was up by the time we passed the bridge and if the wind was strong enough we were just about airborne when we were at the end of the deck, so bank away to starboard to get our slipstream clear of the deck where the next plane was already on its way. If the wind was less strong we would not be airborne by the end of the deck and would sink down towards the sea. The drill was then to raise the undercarriage and put on less flap which all had the effect of increasing airspeed to a safe amount before climbing away. Such occasions were always a great delight to the goofers, especially if the pitching of the ship was on the up roll so that the aircraft's disappearance was exaggerated, when there was much craning over the side to see any wreckage coming by. Luckily, all the time I was in Ruler the wind was always strong enough, but not often enough for Wings (Commander Flying) who introduced us to the delights of the catapult at a later stage.
Although most of the flights we made were quite uneventful some stick in the memory. On one trip the ship called us up (we had now passed from the age of Morse communication to radio telephony- RT) and told us to find out how deep the cloud cover was. I don't know why they wanted this information but we duly started climbing up through the cloud, which started at about 2000 feet and we were still in cloud as we went through 8000. We passed this information and were then told not to bother any more but carry on with the patrol. As we came down to sea level again and out of the cloud we found we were approaching a group of warships, a cruiser and several destroyers. The cruiser was not one of ours and I was able (with the aid of my identification tables) to recognise it as one of the Northampton class Americans. This was reason enough to turn tail and fly away, flashing the recognition signal. American ships had very quick trigger fingers and aircraft approaching them were not only required to flash recognition letter but also to do other strange things like turning 2 circles to port and then 1 to starboard or some other combination of gyrations. The required gyrations changed as often as the recognition letter. This was all too much for tiny minds in the Royal Navy so we had taken the steps highly recommended in the Branch-- run away.

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