113 SQUADRON RAF
F/Sgt GERARD BRIGDEN
F/Sgt Gerard Brigden, RAF Fighter Pilot, Hurricane and Thunderbolt, Burma theater.
Although I volunteered as a Pilot in the RAF in 1941, I was not enlisted until December 1942. The delay was due to the fact that I had to have an operation on my nose which had been broken during a cricket match at school when a ball unexpectedly jumped up as I bent down to field it.
After a brief six weeks of induction and *fitting out" in the U.K. I was sent with approximately half of the Unit, by passenger liner, from Southampton to Durban in S. Africa. (The other half of the Unit went for training in Canada.) Our journey to S Africa took about four weeks. From Durban we travelled by rail to Bulawayo in what was then Southern Rhodesia and is now Zimbabwe. We arrived in Bulawayo in March, 1943.
March - September, 1943
We had extensive theoretical training at a camp just outside Bulawayo , in Air Navigation; Meteorology; Advanced Mathematics; Engine and Flight Functions; and RAF Administration and Organisation. We then travelled by rail to Salisbury, the capital of S. Rhodesia.
September - 15th November, 1943
Flight training on Tiger - Moths (Bi-plane.)
22nd November - 18th April, 1944
Flight training on Harvards (Mono-plane.)
21st April, 1944
Awarded "Wings" and qualified to wear "Flight Badge.
23rd April - 9th May, 1944
Travelled up through Africa by lorries, then by boat across the Great lakes, then by lorries again to Kisumu in Kenya. From there we went by air to Cairo.
21st June - 17th August, 1944
Commenced operational training on Hurricanes, at Ismaelia, N.E. of Cairo.
September - Mid-October, 1944
Jungle Training at Poona, India.
18th October- 18th December, 1944
Advanced Operational Training on Hurricanes Mark 2, at Ranchi, Bihar Province, India.
Group photo at conclusion of advanced training at Ranchy Bihar, India 1944.
P/O G. Brigden seated second from left and third from left is John Skelly believe. Photo includes Engineers and Ground Crew
SOURCE: F/Sgt Gerard Brigden Collection
Again at Ranchy Bihar, India 1944
Gerard Brigden, Tony DeWitt, John Skelley
SOURCE: F/Sgt Gerard Brigden
From 17th January, 1945
Commenced Operational Bombing/Strafing flights against Japanese positions in the Irrawaddy area. Subsequently we supported the army as they advanced down Burma, operating from airstrips that were bulldozed out of suitable terrain. This was then laid with perforated metal sheets to make runways.
F/Sgt Gerard Brigden in his P47 Thunderbolt K - AD about to take off
from an airstrip at Meiktila, 1945
SOURCE: P/OGerard Brigden
In all, I made 32 operational sorties. One very memorable sortie was the bombing of the walls of Mandalay, to enable the army to make an effective entry into the town which was occupied by the Japanese.
On July 15th, 1945, we converted to U.S. Thunderbolts Mark 2. Although it was a much more complicated aircraft there was no training given for this conversion. We were just given information about the take-off and landing speeds. As the minimum landing speed of the Thunderbolts was 120 mph compared to the 70 - 80 mph of the Hurricanes, there was a lot of rubber burnt up on our short airstrip on our first take-off and landing exercise. Hardly surprising considering the aircraft was also heavier than a Blenheim bomber, however, the whole squadron managed it without mishap. One of the distinct advantages the Thunderbolt had was a 4hr flight time compared to 1 1/2 hr of a Hurricane.
During this time I made a number of reconnaissance flights down the peninsula joining Burma to Malaya where the Japanese were still holding out.
My last operational flight was on 11th September, 1945 - the day before the Japanese surrendered, However, up to the 2nd September we were flying into remote areas in the peninsula between Burma and Malaya, distributing leaflets confirming the surrender of the Japanese, and locating P.O.W. camps along the Bangkok - Moulmein Railway - line.
A detailed hand drawn crest giving valuable
information on the dates and places the
squadron flew Hurricanes and Thunderbolts
SOURCE: F/Sgt Gerard Brigden
Following this we were assigned to a number of different localities. A small group of us were assigned to the Cocos Islands where there was an aerodrome still being used as an intermediate refuelling base for flights between Australia and Ceylon. I believe that it was in January 1946 that direct flights between Ceylon and Darwin were inaugurated and the Cocos Islands base was thus no longer needed. A ship arrived later in the month upon which the whole unit boarded and were "shipped" back to the U.K.
TIMELINE
16-01-45 Joined the squadron at Onbauk. The commanding officer at the time was Sq/Ldr Rose and the Flight Commander was F/Lt Slinger.
17-01-45 Practised formation flights and sector reconnaissance flights.
21-01-45 First operational flight in a Hurricane Mk 2 which consisted of the bombing and strafing of Monywa.
22-01-45 to 30-01-45 Continued to attack Japanese positions in the Monywa Irrawadi area and log book lists 13 sorties during this period. Desired results were achieved with the Japanese being pushed further south.
23-02-45 Squadron moves to new airstrip at Ondaw further south in pursuit of the retreating Japanese. Bombing and strafing of Japanese positions continues and includes the walls of Fort Dufferin in Mandalay where the Japanese were holding out.
10-07-45 Squadron again moves to a new airstrip at Meiktila where American Thunderbolt 2 aircraft had been flown in.
15-07-45 First solo flight in a Thunderbolt (Note this is only 5 days after being introduced to this advanced fighter aircraft)
15-07-45 to 08-08-45 Squadron practices formation and reconnaissance flights.
13-08-45 First operational flight in a Thunderbolt.
02-09-45 Started to deliver surrender leaflets to remote areas.
11-09-45 Last operational flight lasting 3.5 hrs flying along the Bangkok Moulmein Railway line to photograph and identify prisoner of war camps the Japanese had established in order to construct the notorious Burma railway.
NARROW ESCAPES
K-AD on Ops
A Spinning Duo....... We did a practice flight in Hurricanes to gain experience in how to recover from a spin. On this occasion there was a small flight of four planes and I was No. 2. I went into a spin when instructed, pulled out successfully at about 2,000 ft , and then flew back to base and parked the plane. No. 3 followed me in and parked next to me. As I got out of the cockpit I glanced across to George ?, the pilot of No 3. I was astonished to see that his face was completely drained of colour and he looked very shocked so I went across to him "Are you all right?" I asked. For some time he had difficulty in speaking but at last he stuttered - "D-d-d-didn't you see?" "See what?" I said. It was some time before he became coherent enough to explain. He said that he had been spinning down just above my plane, virtually nose to tail. He could not know the direction in which I would pull out. To pull out in one way would have meant that our two planes would collide and poor George was conscious of this as he was spinning down. As the plane in front, I was of course ignorant of the situation and by good fortune I pulled out safely for us both. The reason for this awful situation was that the instructor had told No. 3 to spin off too soon after me. It took George a long time and several beers in the Mess that evening before he recovered from the experience.
A Gung-Ho Beat-up....... This near-miss was purely of my own making. Shortly after obtaining my wings as a Hurricane Pilot, and feeling very *gung-ho," I was on a solo reconnaissance flight , when I noticed a Dakota flying along at a lower altitude to me, in the opposite direction. An obvious target that I couldn't resist! So I went into a half-roll and began my descent. By force of habit I glanced at my altitude meter and to my horror I saw that it was registering under 3,000 ft. and I remembered that the minimum height to recover from a vertical dive was said to be 3,500 ft. To pull back the throttle was almost a reflex action and then I began pulling on the Stick as hard as I could in order to get out of the dive. If you pull too hard on the Stick you black out, but I just pulled and pulled, willing myself not to lose consciousness, and, of course, I completely forgot about the Dakota. I did manage to pull out of the dive before hitting the deck, but as I did so I was just skimming over the desert. I remember seeing the sand flying by me and if there had been any poppies blooming I would have cut their blossoms off!
...................Then there were the near-misses in operational sorties.
Brakes failing on landing......... When returning from operational trips we would land rapidly one behind the other on our short and narrow airstrips which were usually just wide enough to take one plane. On one occasion I was No. 3 and landed promptly behind No. 2 only to find, when trying to slow down, that my brakes had failed. I was rapidly catching up with No. 2 in front, and automatically I did the only thing possible to avoid ramming him. I swung off the runway onto the rough patch of cleared jungle at the side. The plane bounced around and ended up nearly vertical with its nose in the ground. I climbed out of the cockpit, fortunately unscathed, later to face my furious C/O, "Why the hell did you do that ?" he demanded, thinking, perhaps, of the difficulty of replacing a valuable plane." "Brakes failed," I replied and was pleased to add "So that I would not tear into the tail of No. 2 and maybe No. 4 would have been unable to avoid a collision as well." Enough said!
The Night Flying Mystery........ We did not do any operational flights at night but we did do some night-flying exercises. We had no radar to help us to find our way but when we believed that we were over the airstrip we'd radio to Base and then would see a small glimmer of light which showed us the airstrip. On one occasion I had a short night flight, landed safely, taxied back to parking and then went to the Ops Room to find out how they had traced my flight. There they told me a piece of very astonishing news. They said that as I was circling the airstrip before landing I was followed around the circuit by a Japanese plane. It didn't attempt to attack and I had no knowledge of it. Why did it not try to shoot me down? It was a clear moonlit night. Did its guns jam? Did the Japanese pilot have a twinge of conscience? Hum! Hum! I shall never know. The mystery remains !
But mentioning "conscience" in that last episode brings back to my mind the conviction that increased for me during the war years - that after the war I should, if possible, devote my time to constructive and creative activities. I did, in fact, train and become an Architect, working for much of my time in undeveloped countries - with the constant help and support of my wife, Eve, who participated in many local activities.
NOTE: Not surprisingly, Gerard being an architect whose buildings can be found the world over, is also a talented painter and is currently doing some watercolours of the Squadron in action. See below, and also the STORES ROOM
Gerard is an active Co-Founder of the 113 web site and has played a key role in it's development from the beginning. Both a good friend and deeply committed to this project, he has been a source of numerous ideas and much inspiration throughout. My profoundest thanks to his wife Eve who has patiently allowed me to drag Gerard away from other things I am sure she would rather he expended his energies on.
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