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Introducing the Air 0.P. Mk9.

Far Away Places

by L. A. Leetham.

When the Mk.9 was sent to Malaya as its first service release a haste of unexpected problems occurred. The key items are outlined with the writer’s struggles as an all in one fitter, pilot and technical representative in this almost forgotten theatre of the Army’s active service in the post war era.

Getting the Auster Mk.9 into active service with 656 Air O.P. Squadron RAF in Malaya meant that we had to pull out all of the stops to get the very latest information on modifications, essential spares and other data still in preparation, plus any hardware, ready to fly out with me by the end of July 1955.  Drawings, provisional manuals that were practically being handwritten right up to the last moments finally took up most of the 80lbs. baggage allowance allocated to me, so that my personal effects were cut down to an embarrassing minimum.  The Drawing Office and the assembly line very soon became used to me being constantly at their elbows as I gleaned every morsel possible, and it was in this way that I found out that two of the fellows in the spray shop that I had known for ages had been prisoners of war in Singapore and they told me that if I was ever near to Taiping they would like me to try to find the graves of some of their closest friends buried there.

My visit was to be for 4weeks, and I thought that I would be expected to hand over all of the paperwork and spares etc. at Seletar, demonstrate the Mk.9 and talk to the pilots out there so did not expect to go “up country” -- it was not to be that simple however.  As the data pile grew I began to have doubts. We already knew that the payload and performance would be criticized and that the ground staff would find the Mk.9 as strange as Malaya would be to me. I could not imagine that much of the news that I would be sending back would be good news and thought of the old time Chinese Emperors that had the bearers of bad news beheaded.  Financial matters also began to concern me. The firm had calculated an amount that should last the month, and I guessed that the usual care and thrift would apply but had no way of arguing against them without some experts advise that was not available. However the Ministry granted me officer status and undertook the feeding and accommodation details so basic needs were covered.

July 25th. found me as ready as I would ever be at the Air Trooping Section, R.A.F. Hendon to meet up again with F/Sgt. Len Childs prior to being “emplaned” on an Airworks charter aircraft at London Airport on the 27th. with some 60 or so National Service airmen also bound for the Far East Air Force at Changi, all looking very young, sporting severely close cropped haircuts and all shod in gym shoes for the trip out.  It was on the stages (via Reggio, Nicosia, Bahrain, Karachi, Delhi, Calcutta and Bangkok) that I prepared my party piece - a monologue that would anticipate the complaints and put over some of the reasons for the Mk.9’s final format in a way that would be acceptable, as humor, where a “whitewash” attitude might be resented. This “Albert and the Lion” type recitation was later modified to include topical references and delivered at a “do” to mark the 10th. Anniversary of the Air 0.P. presence in Malaya.

We arrived at Seletar on 10th.July but found that Monday was a holiday, giving us time to acclimatize and enabling me to augment my skimpy wardrobe - essential if I was to be socially acceptable amidst the heat and humidity. One memory of those days is the scent of baby powder - it was lavishly applied by one and all from huge economy sized tins in an effort to get into clothing when the mere effort of showering left the perspiration springing afresh.

On Tuesday we leapt into action and got a taste of things to come. The Rebuild Section had managed to assemble four of our charges but a quick check proved that their manuals were out of date. We began correcting the publications after we had shown them our copies and helped to re-rig the Mk.9’s. We also had the experience of raising our first A.O.G. signal, sadly the first of many, the supposedly magical Aircraft On Ground (AOG) priority for urgent action. The cones of the propeller hubs had all begun to corrode due to cadmium transfer during transhipment - either the sea air or climate or both. This was when the urgency for the Mk.9’s clearance became understandable. The Mk.6’s and Mk.7’s had begun to shed their propeller hubs in the same way that the Avis 2 Ambulance had, only the Army pilots were over hostile jungle territory and not Rearsby’s green fields, so prop hub doubts were not good news. With such a fault so early in the venture it seemed ominous that some of the technicians that we were working with turned out to be visitors from the Salvage Section seeking a degree of familiarization with these potentially new customers.

It was on this first day that the Unit Test Pilot, a very friendly and helpful Fl./Lt.Sinclair, made himself known and was surprised to find that the “civvy” bod working on the elevator rigging was also the firms test pilot, technical rep. and general dogsbody, but gladly accepted my copy of the Pilots Notes for future reference.  The day finished with a hurried cable to confirm the A.O.G. action and to urge information on new batteries and the jacking adaptors that were on the manifest but still missing, a longer follow-up letter to complete the picture with a restless night over such an inauspicious start. All this haste was later proven unproductive as, of course, it was the August Holiday week back home and the call for aid lay dormant.

The next day proved even worse. I had to sit in on a meeting of F.E.A.F. senior staff that was to settle the modification standard for acceptance and clearance at Seletar and during the meeting I was given the first news of the fuel starvation fault found during tropical tests, in Idris I believe. The de-aerator in the system was acting like a kettle and causing vapour locks with ambient temperatures of 30 degrees (c). After the first days problems this blow caused the R.A.F. staff’s attitude to become very chilly - the only thing that was cool about the whole visit. My feelings probably spilled over into that days cable and letter - anger at getting such information in those circumstances and demands for immediate action, as amongst my eventual replies was a “cool it” letter from the Managing Director at Rearsby instructing me to restrict the mail to the brief essentials.

When we finally got WZ670 airborne on Friday it was a very un-glad representative that found the mag.drop excessive, after having to re-bleed the undercarriage personally (the N.C.O. we had shown the method to managed for a long time to get more air than fluid into the unit), and bully the electrician into signing the Form 700 before the new batteries arrived.  I took the Unit Test Pilot along as passenger and to give me some familiarization with the local territory. He was as keen as I was to get to grips, so we swapped over and he did some circuits in readiness for his role as official test pilot.

The “dual” was in name only as the dual control modification parts had also gone astray, and in fact were to remain absent until nearly all of the pilot conversion had been completed, but Fl./Lt. Sinclair had also had an eventful day as his last trip had also been as “second dickie” in a Meteor that had crashed on the runway on take-off. The aircraft was a write-off but he had escaped with mild burns on his arm, so a mag.drop and no dual controls was par for the times.

We changed the plugs next day without much improvement, but I was able to get some operating temperatures and performance figures to report to Rearsby - my qualms about my budget were being realized. Apart from kitting myself out the cables had become more extended and costly than expected and in a way it was fortunate that I was too busy to spend much time in the Mess in the evenings.

Monday’s flying proved the engine still rough but gave me the chance to take a visiting Air O.P. pilot along. We checked points, the injector system and more plugs, and once the engine was run it seemed to stay hot for the rest of the day with the result that we got burns trying to set the inaccessible points in situ, so removed the magneto for subsequent adjustments.

The theory that WZ670 had a rogue engine proved incorrect when the next two Mk.9’s were ready for flight. All of these faults were separate from any vapour locking symptoms and were purely down to the climatic conditions. We finally tried altering the fine adjustment screw in the pressure-compensating capsule, by trial and error as the manual gave no information on such use, and we found that we could reproduce the effect of either richening or weakening the mixture as a carburetor would. We settled for a third of a turn out and cleared WZ670 for the official check by Fl ./Lt .Sinclair.  Feeling very resourceful I cabled this data to Rearsby and had the quickest reply ever. They were horrified - a check with Blackburn’s had confirmed that two “clicks” was the maximum that could be permitted without expert tests. We repeated our alteration on the next rough power unit and sure enough we could feel slight clicks as the screw was turned - ten in all to get the required running.

The next flight test I made was an extensive one, verifying the magneto drop was O.K. and that temperatures and running etc. remained satisfactory at levels, maximum r.p.m. checks right up to 6,000 ft. and remained satisfactory on subsequent ground runs so we decided to carry on but to keep a wary eye on the engine’s performance and to be less cavalier in our adjustments.

Other snags occupied our attention, one rudder became bowed, aileron ball race housings loosened - we blamed the heat for those and for nuts loosening that had never given trouble all through the intensive trials. The more aircraft that were put together the more the variety of faults escalated until I felt like one of those music hall jugglers spinning plates on long canes as we hastened from one crisis to another to examine those that had previously been alright to see if the fault was common to all or just the one aircraft.  Amongst all this my ghast got really flabbered when the Wingco. called me in to tell me the Army had sent a signal that said they did not want the Mk.9’s.Apparently they had begun a programme of engine changes on the Mk.6’s. His other news was that he was going to request via the Air Ministry that I be kept on for another month, if I was agreeable.

The second item allowed me to get slightly un-cool again as I pointed out that there was no point in staying on if the aircraft were not wanted and that he could get a Blackburn representative out to fix the rough-running, fuel leaks etc. and that I did not intend to continue as a stand by fitter cum engine man. We exchanged views and he eventually agreed to force two Mk.9’s into service at Kuala Lumpur for handling and familiarization

Feeling better I returned to the Rebuild Section to find that the latest item was that cracks were starting in the nose cowls. We had a repair scheme that involved glass cloth but of course no glass cloth kits. A few enquiries and I was en-route to Singapore in Fl./Lt. Sinclair’s new Alfa Romeo to buy some “Bondaglass” kits (more dollars gone) and then went through the reinforcing of the repairs with the ground crew.

The next day I had the firm’s confirmation that I was to stay if I agreed, reply to be urgent - more dollars gone again.

At last the C.O. of 656 Squadron, Major Robertson arrived with another officer for conversion flying. I was busy getting two machines clear for use when they turned up but they did not seem surprised - perhaps the news had spread. I ran through the briefing that I had prepared (it seemed a long time ago) and insisted that spinning was to be part of the procedure as it must have been a long time since the Air O.P. pilots had done any and also to counteract the rumours that I had heard that the Mk.9 was vicious in spins — the strakes had been the cause of the concern - and all went well.

The two carried on soloing (my first flights with all of the pilots was from the starboard. dual-less seat) and were much less hostile afterwards. The C.O. came back unexpectedly again the next day for further practice to find me stripped off in the running battle with WZ670’s engine - it gave trouble right through my visit - and insisted that I lunched with him in the Mess.

Afterwards I ferried him over to Changi to catch the Pembroke back to Kuala Lumpur - a little bit creepish but he had told me that I was to go “up country” to train the pilots that could not travel down to Seletar. This meant using the Army strips -literally single strips 400 yards by 30 yards usually and living in their temporary quarters where necessary, so I needed to be cooperative.

The C.O. also explained that part of the delay that had not been publicised was that the Air O.P. units had been involved in a minor scare, searching for a band of terrorists that had stolen arms from the Johore camp.

Pilots began to trickle in after that with varying responses to my stalling and spinning routine but all seemed pleased after and their confidence in this new mount was obvious, some even carrying out additional spins during their solo’s.

When I had finished my visit this right-hand hands off introduction had been given to some 25 Air O.P. pilots - the C.O. had trained the rest- and only had one “freeze” in the spin. A quick thump on his shoulder and a very clear shout of “stick forward” had him un-froze, but he had to do a few more, and from rather higher after that.

The ground crews were getting used to the airframes and the snags so that things became more as I had originally anticipated and I was moved over to Sembawang to let the pilots there “have a go”. This flight had been allowed to operate from a corner of a Royal Naval Air Station there, and when I was allocated quarters some amusement arose as I was a civilian with an R.A.F. officer’s temporary rank attached to the Army on a Naval station.

With the officers there dealt with, one of the Noble Field pilots (Noble Field being the Army strip near Kuala Lumpur) arrived to ferry WZ669back there with myself to ferry WZ670. It was a two hour jaunt - my longest since the Rearsby trials, and of course 670 turned rough again and was grounded on arrival.

Handling trials were started immediately and we soon proved that the payload quickly reached its limits, that the width of the fuselage was a handicap on supply dropping missions and that the 30 degrees(C) limitation meant that operations had to be halted very early in the day. Flying started at first light, and at about 6.45 a.m. the sun shot up out of the mists which burnt off almost as quickly. Once the dreaded 30 (C) was reached it was servicing time - “genning” up the ground crews and up-dating their manuals and often the temperature didn’t drop below the forbidden figure until about 6 to 6.30 p.m. and it got dark about 7 p.m.

Perhaps it was in return for my initiation routine that I was taken to some of their “pet” strips - the hairy ones -some literally hacked out of the surrounding jungle with the felled giants being used as the foundation for the 400 by 30 yd. runway, with a surface of the all pervading laterite - the local red, shale type deposits with the consistency of crushed brick.

With some I was told that if you could see the strip during the approach you were too high. On one it was advisable to land uphill and take-off downhill regardless of wind, and it wasn’t unusual to see directions in the flight’s strip manual(essential reading) that certain locations in valley bottoms had offshoot clefts in the valley sides that had to be avoided after take-off as they quickly became blind alleys ,ending abruptly before the aircraft had time to gain height and. were too narrow to allow a turn. I wondered how they found out in the first place.

One favorite “scarier” location was K.K.B. -Kuala Kubu Bahru -amongst deep narrow valleys and dense jungle. It was whilst the ground forces were making such sites that the A.0.P. pilots were using the Mk.6’s to drop cross-cut saws, dynamite etc. and when I carefully edged the rudder of the Mk.9 into the growth at one end and studied the trees looming so solidly at the other I wished that those working parties had been rather less optimistic about the aircrafts abilities or more generous in their measuring as the jungle looked much closer than 400 yds.

The mag.drops were checked much more carefully and the throttle well and truly wide open before releasing the brakes. As the strip was quickly used up the Army’s yearning for helicopters soon became very understandable.

After seeing the terrain and the strips, remembering the storms and the down draught season when aircraft could be literally pushed below the tree tops, dodgy engines etc. you could only admire and marvel at the casual professionalism, courage  and skill of the Air 0.P. pilots

On September 4th I celebrated my first month in my new role by spending Sunday working on one of the pilots M.G. that also had engine trouble. I missed my own toolkit, as I had throughout the visit, but managed to get it running although it really needed new plugs and points, but my next bit of fixing was less demanding.

The communal “boy” who looked, after our block of cabins was known as Flash, not a complimentary term either. He could have been any age from 40 to 70 but had recently bought an almost new bicycle. In whatever few spare moments we allowed him he lovingly polished his bike and I got myself priority for his services by re-adjusting his brakes, chain tension and giving the bike a much needed oiling.

An unplanned and brief spell of formation flying happened when two returning Mk.9’s joined up on me near the circuit and afterwards I caused some comment by telling them that if I had known we could have had the pitot head probes retracted and really got close.

I did some flights in the Mk.6’s for comparison purposes and managed to go on a reconnaissance sortie of “Beehive” area as the observer in a Mk.7, before moving from Noble Field to Taiping. I recalled the lads in the spray shop and made a point of finding that cemetery. It was at the foot of Maxwell Hill near the Lake Gardens, quiet and peaceful and very well kept. The caretaker helped me find the graves and as we stood by them and I tried to imagine all of the suffering of those days my own problems seemed so very small.

To help get the hours in we did some night flying assessments and I was taken on a flare-dropping sortie. The faults still kept cropping up but the ground staff seemed more adaptable and made less fuss so that I was able to get the last few pilots converted at Taiping within the week. Comments, criticisms and performance figures at the overload weights needed, all were still being funneled back to Auster’s but by the 29th Sept. the wheels were in motion to get me on my way home.

Back at Noble Field the rundown got under way, handing over all of my reference books, manuals and what spares I had left. there were still problems that I was drawn into, but by now the third batch of five Mk 9’swere in the pipeline and the spares were beginning to filter through to the various units.

Before leaving I was able to make myself useful once more. I gave one more “dual” session for a new arrival and then helped Capt. “Bunny” Allum with his move to Benta, a strip North East of Kuala Lumpur, on detachment. Instead of a long hot drive by road my offer of ferrying the Mk.6 back enabled him to move all of his gear and his very large dog, Buster, in a half hour flight.

It was only on the return trip that it dawned on me that this aircraft was VF618, the very machine that I had spent some time on in the winter of 1948 fitting a special SKI undercarriage, and sitting there (the doors were not fitted - they seldom were on any of the flights) I wondered if this engine was a new one as I studied the jungle below and remembered that terrorist bands were able to roam throughout the district.

Len Childs tour was also over and we were taken over to Kuala Lumpur on the 6th October to catch the casualty evacuation Valetta to Changi. I don’t know how Len felt but as we drove past the end of the strip for the last time I felt almost guilty to be leaving but began to look forward to getting home at long last.

We left on the 8th.in an R.A.F. trooping version of the Hastings, via Negombo, Mauripur, Hahbaniyah and Idris to Lyneham with the knowledge that the mod.kits to allow operating in temps of 40deg.(C) were at last available.

It was home by the 13th. (definitely not unlucky for me) and a quick visit to Rearsby to show my face before having a whole weeks holiday - a belated Bank Holiday? - before getting back into harness again. It had been an eventful eighteen months with the Mk.9 and as we eventually sold 35to the Indian Air Force the engine problems were presumably cured as I at least heard nothing more.

The second anniversary was marked by one last hiccup. Ranald Porteous had taken XK379 on a sales tour of Europe when on the 9th.April 1956 we heard that he had made a precautionary landing at Le Touquet with a dodgy engine. Spanner Man was called out again. While the firm got XK376 ready as a replacement I rushed home to collect my passport and toothbrush and Blackburns flew their representative to Rearsby. His tool kit nearly filled the rear cabin (Icould not help thinking that this was what we had needed out in Malaya). ‘Mac’ McSwaby was prepared to practically rebuild the engine if needed and we were under way by late afternoon. At Lympne I had to argue them into letting me carry on to land at Le Touquet after dusk - it was by goose-necks that our arrival at 15 minutes after dusk was greeted and the first action was to run the engine to try to get some idea of the task ahead. Mac sat in the cockpit with Ranald demonstrating the noise that had caused the scare. I could not hear anything from my position outside in the dark but they called me to the open window and the knocking was loud and clear. I took Macs torch to see of there were any visible signs and saw that the exhaust pipe from the cartridge starter was fouling the bulkhead. This had been one of the earlier faults, due to the reaction of firing the starting cartridge, if the tightening and locking was not absolutely positive.

I pushed a handful of cotton waste from Mac’s kit between the pipe and the bulkhead and asked them to run the engine up again, and all was well. Mac and I rested better that night knowing that we had no major rebuild or delays in store, but in the morning Ranald insisted that we still swapped aircraft. His had the cable-laying mod as part of the sales feature, I had to borrow Mac’s tools and swap the rear cabin layouts over so that it was 3p.m. before we each went our different ways.

Two very unusual years indeed, and so you can see why that tune of Auld Lang Syne, played for the finale of the Mk.9 after 15 years “in action” sets my memories wandering all over again.

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updated 4th September 2010