Fairey Firefly details sought please

Hi Super Sioux, as a matter of interest I have interviewed Ian Darby about his Fleet Air Arm career and he went into some great detail of the shoot down and time as a POW. Ian was the first ever Observer to escape from a doomed Firefly by parachute alive, he said it was a very tricky aircraft to get out of due to hitting the tail, and so he and his pilot Burn O’Neill had practiced a possible technique they devised just in case the worst happened. When it did happen, they employed that technique and it worked. Ian and Burn were captured, and went through various places before ending up in a POW camp at Yokohama, where they were placed into the same hut as US pilot Greg ‘Pappy’ Boyington.

I’d be interested to know the serial and code of Ian and Burn’s aircraft too. I didn’t get the opportunity to see Ian’s logbook sadly. A great bloke though, very interesting to talk with. At the time I met and interviewed him in October 2009 Burn O’Neill was also alive, and I’d hoped to try to get to interview him too. But sadly he was very ill and within weeks he died.

Lynx, many thanks for that. I got the same answer on another forum I posted this request on. I’m now satisfied thanks to that answer that Glen McBride’s aircraft was coded as 273/S.

The only question mark that remains is whether it carried any nose art or nicknames on the Firefly but we will likely never know that now unless a photo of their plane shows up. i have several shots of Glen McBride from Ian’s album as they joined, trained and served together, and were shot down on the same raid.

Looking at Air Britain’s Fleet Air Arm Aircraft 1939-1945, it looks like 1770/1772 used the same codes and that a number of aircraft were transferred from 1770 to 1772 and retained the codes. DT979 was 273-S on 1770 and may well have retained this code when transferred to 1772 but there is no guarantee.

Hi there,

Would anyone here happen to know the squadron code letter that was worn on Fairey Firefly Mk. 1 DT979 of of No. 1772 Naval Air Squadron, from HMS Indefatigable, when it was lost in action over Japan on the 10th of August 1945, with Sub Lt (A) Thomas Chalmers Glen McBride RNZNVR as the Observer? He was the last New Zealander killed in air operations in WWII..

Some more info. concerning the day of the incident, the pilot was S/LT Roberts snd the aircraft was shot down in flames by Jap. AA at the airfield of Koriyama which they had strafed after escorting Avengers on a mission. Of interest is the fact that on the same day a 1772 Sqdn. Firefly was shotdown by naval AA fire and the two crew who were New Zealanders Sub/Lt O’Neil and Observer Sub/Lt Darby bailed out and were taken prisoner by the Japs and returned to their ship in Tokyo Bay after the surrender. Were they the last New Zealander aircrew to be taken POW? Details from ‘Fairey Firefly the operational record’ by W. Harrison published by Airlife 1992.

Hi Baz, that deck photo certainly clears up where the codes were on these aircraft. Now all I need to know is what was the three digit number on the side of Glen McBride’s aircraft.

A good friend of mine is building a 1/48th scale model of his aircraft in honour of him, as he was the last kiwi killed in aerial action in WWII.

Also here a painting by Sub Lt Val Bennett of Fireflies entering the circuit for Indefat (He was based on indefat)…

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=sub%20lt%20val%20bennett%20paintings&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CEgQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.btinternet.com%2F~t.briggswww%2FSquadron1770.htm&ei=-jD8TsncHYyosgaNysnQDw&usg=AFQjCNGqgBet8tkiQqSMkt07atdRqsiqNA

Also a pic of a/c on Indefats deck 1945…

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=1772%20sqn%20firefly%20photography&source=web&cd=11&ved=0CCAQFjAAOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.maritimequest.com%2Fwarship_directory%2Fgreat_britain%2Fpages%2Faircraft_carriers%2Fhms_indefatigable_10_ken_lomax_collection.htm&ei=5i78Tt_mJ8Gz8QOa8qnSAQ&usg=AFQjCNH4xfotNOj0eThnXz5iq8O4rCin9A

Don’t know how accurate but one of these model schemes (1772) might be similar…

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=1772%20sqn%20firefly%20photography&source=web&cd=4&sqi=2&ved=0CD0QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmodelingmadness.com%2Freviews%2Fallies%2Fgb%2Fcleaverfflypreview.htm&ei=RSz8TtueEpHRsgbOtqH_BQ&usg=AFQjCNFDhS1J3EhtRLRD1lBTBeWuVsmUew

Thanks.

Found this post for you:
“Some marking info for your Firefly, 1770 Sqn used Firefly’s aboard HMS Indefatigable and were coded 270 – 281. The deck letter for Indefatigable was ‘S’ this was repeated on the tail of all aircraft to identify the parent carrier. The markings would be white for a machine in a temperate sea scheme but could have been sky, med sea gray or ‘India’ white a pale blue colour.”
http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=71488

Thanks Laurie. That does help somewhat I think. Now I have to discover exactly which number applied to this aircraft.

Dave, have had a look through my copy of Air-Britain’s book “The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm”.

Only a brief entry in there for 1772 Sqn. That indicates they changed codes in mid-1945 from 4A + individual letter, to numerical codes in the range 270 – 281/S. The ‘S’ was Indefatigable’s deck letter. Not able to help on positioning though.