A few WW2 FAA photos

B Ryan 6 – the Walrus might be from 1700NAS, which sent detachments to various escort carriers, from its Trincomalee base, for air sea rescue and minesweeping operations; Ameer got one for her work off Phuket Island, 19-20/7/45.

Thanks for that Flood. If I may add from my Walrus research experiences, the ‘base’ was usually nominal for most of the unit’s history as they operated in detachments, and the base was there for paperwork rather than an operating centre. The Walrii were used with the fleet or (sometimes, rarely in the FE) from other shore airfields. It’s nigh-on certain it’s from 1700 Naval Air Sqn. “Minesweeping operations” can mislead – the Walrii were available for mine spotting, as a key part of anti-mine operations by the naval unit. They were not fitted with any anti-mine kit (apart from a machine gun, used to shoot up floating mines – from a ‘safe distance’!) so don’t expect Walrii with degaussing rings. Likewise, that was a potential rather than actual use; it seems they didn’t have many problems with mines, at this stage of the Japanese war so the Walrii were rarely if ever used in that role.

HTH

Thanks for the info Flood ,I will try to put up a few more of the pics over the next few days.

Info on a few of the pix (now I’ve got the time, if its not too late…:rolleyes: ) taken from various Air Britain FAA-based publications:
B Ryan 6 – the Walrus might be from 1700NAS, which sent detachments to various escort carriers, from its Trincomalee base, for air sea rescue and minesweeping operations; Ameer got one for her work off Phuket Island, 19-20/7/45.
B Ryan 11 – shows JW723 6G on 28/5/45 after Lt TH Pemberton bounced on landing and the hook failed to take a wire, crashing through the barrier into JW733, JX827, and JX889. I imagine that JX889 is the open top varient in the picture…
B Ryan 17 – my records do not show Ameer operating Seafires, so presumably, from the well tied down and disrepaired states shown, this is a post war transport mission to/from Australia?

If any of the other serials are readable on the original prints/scans then that would be a great help.

Flood

Given that two of the photos refer to places in of Ceylon/Sri Lanka, viz. ‘Sailing from Colombo’, ‘VJ Night in Trincomalee’ I would try looking there first. VJ Night in Trincomalee is fantastic, BTW.

Many thanks for sharing, once again.

Rob / Kansan

In the photo close to the centre is a stack of boxes that look a lot like coffins ,also the group of people look like they are wearing uniform ,it could be a hospital or hotel used as a hospital or prison.

That building isn’t a hotel in Scarborough is it? It looks like a building I saw once before that was identified as a famous hotel on the Scarborough seafront. I’m not sure if it is still there today. Just a thought.

Not too many palm trees and wooden buildings in Scarborough, Dave. 😀

Could be Queensland, or a lot of places in the Far East, Singapore etc…

That building isn’t a hotel in Scarborough is it? It looks like a building I saw once before that was identified as a famous hotel on the Scarborough seafront. I’m not sure if it is still there today. Just a thought.

Fantastic photos by the way.

Interesting collection!

There’s another example of that exact same Walrus photo in the Fleet Air Arm Museum archive where I took it from for use in my Walrus book. (MMP Books here )

In the book, the caption reads:
“Bombed up with smoke floats, this SEAC marked Walrus gathers speed to get of the deck of HMS Ameer, after transporting a Hellcat pilot back to the carrier on 8th July 1945. The pilot had been rescued 200 yards off the Japanese coast according to the original caption. Note that the pilot’s quaterlight is open and that the cockpit cover is slid back.”

In the original photo (and another in the sequence) you can see that the pilot is a Sikh. The smoke floats would be to judge wind speed and sea state in an open water rescue landing.

Wow, that Walrus landing on the flight deck sure is unusual, would have thought they’d have landed in the sea and be craned in

Actually, no, though one might be surprised. The original Walus had a small solid wheel in the tail rudder/skid expressly or the purpose of shore landings and carrier landings. This one would probably have had a Sea Otter type tailwheel with a Dunlop tyre fitted. They were intened for water landing only because Cruisers and Battleships were not fitted with flying decks, so the only way off was catapult, and the only way back was a water landing and hoist.

An open water landing and hoist operation was always more dangerous than a deck landing for a Walrus, and the aircraft could land in no distance on a steaming carrier, or using half the deck on a stationary carrier in a light / medium wind. You’d also use more fuel keeping the engine running and take more people undertaking a water landing.

Sorry I can’t ID the building, but I suggest you get in touch with the FAA Museum.

Hope this helps!

Quite outstanding. Very many thanks for taking the trouble to post these, it is very much appreciated.

Wow, that Walrus landing on the flight deck sure is unusual, would have thought they’d have landed in the sea and be craned in

Not at the minute ,thought you would like to see them I have to get more details about them

Great!
You didn’t have anything better to do, did you?;)

Flood

And more

Stunning stuff.

Quite the best collection of period material we have seen for some time.

Thank you for sharing them with us.

Mark

Photo of the Hellcats on the rear are signatures as shown,can anyone identify the buiding in the last one?

great clear photo’s! please do post more 🙂

Great photos.

The Hellcats certainly look different in the SEAC markings and white ID stripes.

Alex

Some more.

Superb! Thanks for sharing.

Tasty!

Thanks for posting them. They’re interesting!

Rob / Kansan