I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety

On 19th May 1945 Norman embarked on H.M.S. Arbiter , an escort carrier, to start the 2000 mile journey to Ponam. On June 1st they arrived at the island of Manus, the main base, before going on to Ponam. The next day Norman wrote: Yesterday we weighed anchor in the morning and a few hours sailing brought us to Ponam, a small island just off the main one, two miles long by six hundred yards wide. Highest point above sea level 6 ft. About 12.00 we came ashore in the cutter and surveyed our new home. To look at it is a typical desert island complete with lagoon, coral and wind swept palm trees.  Vegetation found growing naturally appears to be coconut palms, wild orange trees, bread fruit with a few tropical flowers and grasses. The seasons appear to be two – wet and dry. (Now we are at the end of the wet). Rainstorms are fairly common. The main island of Manus lies about a mile across the straits and is fairly large. I judged it at some ten miles long; the ground rises to a r

I explained in this blogpost how my dad, Norman Buckle, came to be in Australia in April 1945. He was waiting with his unit M.S.R.6 to be sent on to Ponam in the Admiralty Islands (present day Papua New Guinea) to join MONAB 4 (Mobile Operating Naval Air Base). An extract from his diary describes his first day in Sidney where he was to remain for almost six weeks. On the morning of the 9 th April we arrived at Sydney, largest city in Australia and second largest in British Empire. Before entering the great harbour the sea was very choppy but once inside became calm and we moved alongside without incident. The main impression I now recall is the first view of the magnificent bridge across the harbour. About the middle of the afternoon we disembarked and travelled to a Naval Air Station a few miles outside the city which was to be our home for the next few weeks. We settled down and that same night caught the electric train back into the city. Our first call was an eating

Earlier in the blog I wrote about my dad's war-time experiences when he was stationed at H.M.S. Nabaron  http://tinned-variety.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/hms-nabaron-monab-4-msr6-1945.html on Ponam Island in the Pacific Ocean. When I was researching the background for I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety I read several books and websites that had a few references to H.M.S. Nabaron - but not a lot (as someone famously once said). Nevertheless, from time to time, I continue the search and yesterday stumbled upon this fantastic insignia which seems to really sum up the place and the situation. You can read more of the story in   I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II by N. Buckle & C. Murray at  http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009QXEUG2  and http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009QXEUG2

When Norman arrived back in the UK, in December 1944, he was given a couple of weeks leave before he was sent for more training at H.M.S. Gosling at Warrington (Cheshire). Norman's job in the Fleet Air Arm was that of a radio mechanic and the training at H.M.S. Gosling was for air fitters and air mechanics and for those working on electronics and radar. On March 10th 1945, Norman was sent to Liverpool for embarkation on R.M.S. (Royal Merchant Ship) Empress of Scotland . He wrote in his diary: Left England. A party of girls from the dockers' canteen sang songs as we left the dock trying to cheer us up. By Hell, but I felt terrible watching England slip away once again. The Empress of Scotland was a beautiful liner built in 1929 by Fairfield Shipbuilding at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland. Originally known as The Empress of Japan , on conversion to a troop carrier her name had been changed on the special orders of Winston Churchill as it was against regulations

Last time I posted on this Blog I mentioned I was trying to get hold of a copy of Ponam - A Base of the Forgotten Fleet by Harry J Bannister and that Waterstones were on the case trying to fulfil my order. Unfortunately, they sent an email the other day to say the book was unavailable. I've looked on Ebay and on a couple of specialist book-sites and there's no sign of it there either; so I suppose that's that. I'm disappointed because I thought the book might have a really full account of what went on on Ponam Island in 1945. My dad didn't write much in his diary once he got there and afterwards he told a relative they all thought they were going to die so I don't suppose writing about it was very high on his priority list at the time. During the 1950s when we were growing up, our dad never talked about his war-time experiences and we weren't all that interested anyway. Sadly he died when he was in his mid-fifties and now we do want to know what happ

In 1945, my dad was sent out to the Admiralty Islands as part of the back-up team with the British Pacific Fleet. As a member of MONAB IV (see previous post http://tinned-variety.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/monab-1-10.html ) he was stationed on the island of Ponam, near Manus, in what is now part of Papua New Guinea. When I was researching for my annotations to I Think I Prefer the TinnedVariety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm duringWorld War II  I found out that Ponam Island had been prepared for service in the Pacific War by the American Construction Battalions – CBs – who came to be known as The SeaBees. Ponam Island from the air From the air Ponam Island looked rather like an aircraft carrier and the American SeaBees had built an airfield on it using crushed coral for the runway. The island was handed over to the Royal Navy fully equipped. As well as the airstrip there were aircraft repair shops and storage for aircraft parts; petrol and oil storage

My dad arrived at Ponam in the Admiralty Islands in June 1945 as part of the British Pacific Fleet. When I was researching his service record I discovered that he was a member of  MONAB 4 (Mobile Naval Operating Air Bases). His diary records arriving at Ponam: Saturday 2nd June 1945 Yesterday we weighed anchor in the morning and a few hours sailing brought us to Ponam, a small island just off the main one, two miles long by six hundred yards wide. Highest point above sea level 6 ft.  About 12.00 we came ashore in the cutter and surveyed our new home. To look at it is a typical desert island complete with lagoon, coral and wind swept palm trees. Vegetation found growing naturally appears to be coconut palms, wild orange trees, bread fruit with a few tropical flowers and grasses. The seasons appear to be two – wet and dry. (Now we are at the end of the wet). Rainstorms are fairly common. The main island of Manus lies about a mile across the straits and is fairly large. I jud

Seventy years ago, World War II uprooted my father from a coal mining village in South Yorkshire and transported him thousands of miles to Sierra Leone in West Africa and later to a tropical island in the Pacific. I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II is a short, annotated diary (approximately 22,000 words) which records his extraordinary experiences and the on-going banalities of everyday life on a naval air-base far away from home. This blog includes the collection of original photographs that go with my short e-book I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II.  They are in the October 2012 folder of the Blog Archive. If you would like to read I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II you can get a flavour of the book from the free sample on the Amazon site. Just follow one

As I wrote in my previous post, my dad (Norman Buckle) had kept a copy of the first edition (Friday July 20th 1945) of  The Pacific Post: Daily Newspaper of the British Pacific Fleet with his photographs and diary. It's only a 4 sides of a folded sheet newspaper but it is crammed with interesting stories. It's fascinating to read what the authorities thought would interest the servicemen all those thousands of miles away from home. Here are the remainder of the cuttings from the front page:

I explain in I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II that o n Friday July 20th 1945 "The Pacific Post: Daily Newspaper of the British Pacific Fleet" was launched. My dad, Norman Buckle,  saved a copy of the first edition with his diary. He was a member of  MONAB 4 stationed on the island of Ponam as part of the support network for the British Pacific Fleet in 1945. [If you click on the cuttings they're easier to read when they are on the black background.]   First page of the first edition of the Pacific Post: Daily Newspaper of the British Pacific Fleet 20/07/1945     Close-up of the main picture story.     Editorial Part 1     Editorial Part 2     From the front page of the first edition of The Pacific Post  

When I was researching the background to I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II I tried to find out about the development of the island of Ponam, near Manus, in the Admiralty Islands (part of present day Papua New Guinea) as the naval air base to which my dad was posted in 1945. I was delighted to find out more last week in Hansard (the record of Parliamentary debates). In The House of Lords on July 11th 1962 in a debate to do with Naval Estimates Lord Ashbourne reminisced about the base at Manus, in the Admiralty Islands of which he had had first-hand knowledge during the war. "Within about three months of capturing the Admiralty Islands from the Japanese the Americans had turned this almost desert island into a great fleet base, with alongside berths for unloading cargo, with floating docks, with a 10,000-feet airstrip, completed, they say, within fourteen days of the initial landings on the island. They bu

Name, Rank and Number Norman Buckle, Petty Officer, FX585169 This photograph was taken in May 1945 when Norman was based at H.M.S. Golden Hind (Sidney, Australia) before he went to join MONAB 4 at Ponam in the Admiralty Islands.

In my book I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II, I explain that in 1945 my dad was sent to a naval air-base on Ponam Island in the Admiralty Islands (part of present day Papua New Guinea). He was  a member of MONAB 4. The MONABs were Mobile Naval Operating Air Bases which were needed to provide repair, maintenance and servicing for the aircraft used by the Fleet Air Arm on board the ships of the British Pacific Fleet. The plan was that there would be ten MONABs in total. Each MONAB was given an H.M.S name that began with " Nab " to reflect the NAB in MONAB. Norman was attached to MONAB 4. All the war-time MONABs were based in or near Sidney or Brisbane in Australia . The exception was MONAB 4 which was to be based in the Admiralty Islands over two thousand miles from Australia in the Pacific Ocean. MONAB 1 - R.N.A.S Nowra (approximately 99 miles south of Sidney , New South Wales , Australia

In 1945, Norman Buckle was stationed at HMS Nabaron on Ponam Island (Admiralty Islands) as part of the support network for the British Pacific Fleet. Ponam Islanders, Admiralty Islands. Ponam Islanders, Admiralty Islands. Ponam Island Ponam Islanders, Admiralty Islands.

In his diary my dad, Norman Buckle, had some photos of his Fleet Air Arm colleagues which identifies his group as the support unit MSR6 (Maintenance, Storage and Reserve 6) of MONAB 4 (Mobile Naval Airbase) which was stationed on Ponam Island in the Pacific Ocean. The base was known as HMS Nabaron. From the air Ponam Island looked rather like an aircraft carrier and the American SeaBees (CB's - Construction Battalions) had built an airfield on it using crushed coral for the runway. It was handed over to the Royal Navy with all services including the airstrip, aircraft repair shops and storage for aircraft parts, petrol and oil storage tanks, a control tower, jeeps and trucks, huts for accommodation, an officers' mess, dining halls, a hospital, water de-salination plant and kitchens (including an ice-cream maker). The U.S Navy also left behind a forty strong team of SeaBees personnel to maintain the island and its facilities. Norman 's unit M.S.R.6 was attached to H

My dad, Norman Buckle, was stationed at HMS Spurwing (Royal Navy air base at Hastings, near Freetown, Sierra Leone) from October 1943 until November 1944. After a period of further training in the U.K he was sent in March 1945 to join the British Pacific Fleet. He was to be based at the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm base on Ponam Island, Admiralty Islands known as HMS Nabaron. In his photo book he placed a map of Australia and indicated the location of Ponam Island. Map of Australia showing th location of Ponam in the Admiralty Islands. Even though it doesn't look like it on this map, Ponam was over 2000 miles away from Australia.