Australian Interlude - Part 2

They flew across the main operations area on full power at about 100 feet, raising clouds of dust, before breaking into the circuit to land

A search party found me at about 1000hrs. I was mildly hung over after my boozy flight from Singapore and I had a desperate thirst. They took me to the Officers Mess bar and used my needs as the excuse for opening the bar and having an impromptu drinking session which went on for several hours during which I consumed a large number of ice-cold 'tinnies'. A senior officer eventually arrived, relieved me of my briefcase and said I could take the rest of the day off. My Boss in Singapore, who had served time in Australia, had warned me before I had set off not to let the RAAF officers drink me under the table. He said Poms were fair game and I would find that the ice-cold beer would slip down the throat easily but was surprisingly strong. As it happens, I was the last person to leave the bar and I felt fitter than any time since leaving Singapore 24 hours earlier..

The next day I gave my Top Secret operational presentation to all the senior RAAF officers. They treated me with great respect because they had all heard that I was a 'rare POM  who could hold his liquor!' Four Victor bombers were to fly by night at low level, mainly at a height of 500 feet above the sea, from Tengah in Singapore to Darwin. 'Confrontation' was one of those euphemisms so loved by politicians. Malaysia and Indonesia were not at war but, nevertheless, RAF flights did not routinely fly over Indonesian territory. The Victors would use what was then known as the Blue Route - a devious route entirely over sea through the Indonesian archipelago, taking care to avoid Indonesian airspace - deemed in those days to be three nautical miles from any land. A glance at a map of that part of the world will show what a convoluted route was needed and the Victor navigators needed to keep their wits about them. Indeed, I doubt if the aircraft were able to avoid over-flying every one of the many hundreds of small islands.

To comply with international air traffic control regulations, formal flight plans would be submitted - but only once the bombers were airborne from Tengah. It was assumed that the very poor communications that existed in the 1960s would ensure that the Indonesian military authorities would get no advance knowledge of the flights. On the approach to the north coast of Australia the Victor bombers were briefed to descend as low as regulations permitted and then carry out a simulated bombing run on the Darwin air base, hoping to evade the new air defence radar that was about to be commissioned in the presence of the Australian Defence Minister. But it turned out that there was an unforeseen problem with the plan! The flights were timed so that the Victors would land at Darwin at first light.

In 1965 there was no other airfield within range anywhere in northern Australia that was long enough for the under-powered Mark 1 Victors to land and take off. The bombers would be short of fuel when they approached the north coast of Australia so the weather forecast for Darwin was crucial. It had been arranged that the Victors would not take off from Tengah until I had sent a teleprinter signal to Air HQ to say that the weather at dawn would be perfect. I was to send the signal, using the highest precedence and classified Top Secret, no later than one hour before the planned Victor take-off time. If there were any doubts I was to recommend a 24 hour delay. Accordingly at the first opportunity I took myself to the Met Office at RAAF Darwin and consulted the staff. That was when the trouble started.

''At this time of year we almost always have clear blue skies with unlimited visibility,' I was told. 'However, it's winter here, as you know, and the dew point can be quite low at the end of the night so there's a 20 per cent probability of radiation fog around dawn valid until 0800 local time. '

'But how likely is it that fog will form?' I asked. I explained why I needed more clarification.

'As I said,' replied the Met Officer patiently, 'there's a 20 per cent probability that it will, which means there's an 80 per cent probability that it won't. It's your decision.'

Clearly the Met Officer was not going to put himself in the position of scapegoat. I signalled this pearl of wisdom through to Singapore and recommended a 24 hour delay. I, a mere junior flight lieutenant, did not wish to be blamed if fog came down and four valuable bombers ran out of fuel because there was nowhere to land! To while away an hour or two, II was taken for a ride around the local area of Darwin in a helo.

The same thing happened the next day, and the third day. By this time the RAAF senior officers were worried because the Defence Minister was still hanging around waiting to see how effective the new air defence radar would be. I explained to the Base Commander that the Victors would be short of fuel when they arrived and with no suitable diversion airfield they could not risk arriving if it was foggy. Not on a peacetime mission anyway!

'In that case we'll be waiting three months,' said the Base Commander dryly. 'The Met folk put 20 per cent prob of fog in their forecast every day at this time of year just to cover themselves. We've not actually had any fog here at Darwin in living memory.'

I made my decision. The RAAF Base Commander actually stood right alongside me in the Signals Centre that night while I signalled Singapore that the weather would be perfect the following morning. I crossed my fingers very tightly.

I was out on the airfield at Darwin on the following morning when the bombers were due. There was not a cloud in the skies and visibility was, thankfully, unlimited. The bombers arrived exactly on time at roughly one minute intervals. They flew across the main airfield area on full power at about 100 feet, raising clouds of dust, before breaking into the circuit to land. I felt jolly proud to be British! I heard a couple of hours later that the Victors had not been seen on the new Australian air defence radar because they were too low - but they were heard when they flew over the radar installation at tree top height (not that there were any trees) having homed onto the ground radar signals using their on-board electronic detection equipment. Those gathered underground in the bunkers watching the glowing radar screens were startled when they heard the sudden tremendous roar as the four bombers flew overhead. I gather the Defence Minister was not too impressed.

A couple of RAAF officers berated me afterwards because the bombers, by flying so low, 'did not act fairly' ! That was 1965; I am certain the RAAF would not need to use that argument these days.

I think it is safe now to reveal the following facts after a gap of 42 years. I had to go from RAAF Darwin to Operational Command HQ in Penrith to take part in debriefings of the V Bomber exercises we had just concluded. I could have travelled in comfort on Ansett-ANA but a kindly RAAF officer, Group Captain Rose, offered me the spare seat in his Canberra Bomber down to Richmond. I assumed it was a 3-seat version, bit it wasn't!. What he had not told me until I we were walking out to the aircraft, A84-226, was that I would have to perch on the very narrow space between him and his navigator. They had ejection seats; I did not even have a parachute!! The ground crew's faces when I got out at Richmond were an absolute picture - they thought I was mad. Not sure what they thought of the group captain. It was, however, a fascinating trip and for the first time I began to realise just how really, really big and empty Australia is. For some reason it had amazed me that Darwin is nearer to Singapore than Sydney. That's probably because you don't normally see all three places on a single map page.

To complete the story of my Oz Trip, my RAAF hosts were astonished that I was having to travel back to Singapore in Economy Class. Because I was not acting as a Courier on the return to Singapore, the RAF had not been willing to buy me a First Class ticket. The RAAF, however, insisted on buying me a First Class ticket and I chose to take the whole of my final day going on an internal flight, ANA304, that made stops at Brisbane, Mount Isa and Tennant Creek, before reaching Darwin in the evening. I was then able to transfer to the BOAC flight to Singapore, but there was no invitation to the flight deck this time and I did not consume any alcohol en route.

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