I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety

In recent months I've been researching the lives of some of my ancestors during the First World War. You can read about them at Writing a Family History First World War Stories if you follow this link . 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 learned how the Fleet Air Arm contributed to the First World War: The Royal Navy had an air section from 1903 which was utilised during the First World War for spotting, signalling and reconnaissance. It was combined in 1918 with the Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force. By 1919, naval air power had been hugely reduced to a very small number of aircraft:  reconnaissance planes, torpedo bombers, fighter planes, sea planes and flying boats.  And how it evolved in the years prior to WW2: In 1924 there was a policy change at the Admiralty and it was decided that all observers and 70% of pilots of navy planes wou

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