In reference to the dinghy that alledgedly washed up a year after the disappearance, even if it was the same make and model, I would be pretty sure it would not be from their aircraft. If it had been floating in the Pacific Ocean for a year it would have deflated (rafts lose their pressure pretty quickly with temperature changes, etc, hence the supplied bellows in their kit to top them up). And being rubber it would have also perished in the hot sun.

Also if they had the raft and they had the aircraft’s maintenance logbook they could probably check the raft’s serial number. I doubt it would have matched.

It seems to be little known that Ceylon was attacked on the 25th of April 1942 by the same Japanese fleet that had attacked Pearl Harbor and Darwin. They bombed both Colombo and the massive Royal Navy and RAF base at Trincamolee. I know a chap who was there and was patrolling in a Vildebeest as the first wave of Japanese aircraft came in. He managed to land safely and get under cover. His mate flying another patrol had to land on a beach to avoid the Zeros. Don said that luckily most of the bombs were dropped on a B-17 that had conked out and been left on the end of the airstrip, but they also bombed a lot of buildings including brand new barracks. He took photos of the burning base. I’m not sure how many ships they sank or hit. But Don also told me that there was a FAA Swordfish squadron on Trincamolee. he knew most of the guys in the unit as he lived in the same barracksand often he borrowed their planes if his Vildebeest was u/s. He said that the twelve Swordfish were sent out as a group to look for the fleet as they were suspected to be out there (this is before the attack). After the attack it was realised the Swordfish had not returned. He was sent to search and he found the wrecakge and rafts. It turned out a lone Zero had intercepted the 12 aircraft and knocked them all out of the sky. Of the 36 men aboard, only 3, or was it 2, survived.

I have tried to find more about this squadron and cannot find any information. I do not doubt Don, he has photos of most of the stuff he talked about and I think he was genuine about this event. but there seems to have been a media blackout on this loss as I cannot find which unit it was, and who were killed.

Following the attack the Royal Navy’s Eastern Fleet was moved over to east Africa as a base for a long time till the Japanese were beaten back a bit. It’s amazing how this massive attack seems to have bypassed most history books. It never gets mentioned.

Some WWII brothers from New Zealand include:

Sets of Twins:
Colin Gray DSO, DFC** (NZ’s top fighter ace) and twin
Kenneth Gray DFC, Czech War Cross (killed on ops)
These twins were from the small coastal town of Gisborne

Anthony Singer DFC
Peter Singer DFC
These identical twins joined up, trained together and served together as pilots on No. 57 Squadron, both completing 29 sorties together, often being over the same target together flying their Lancasters, and they both received the DFC on 18 May 1943. Though born in the UK they were both from Gisborne too.

Gisborne produced a third set of twin brothers who served in the Air Force. F/Lt Wallace Spencer and LAC Geoffrey Spencer. I’m unsure if they were pilots.

F/Lt Hugh Wilkie DFC who flew 28 ops on No. 15 Squadron Stirlings before being killed also had a twin brother in the RNZAF, buit I don’t know more details.

Another set of twins in the RNZAF were P/O C.A. Eden and P/O F.A. Eden.

The tiny seaside town of Raglan also produced Air Force twins P/O J.A. Jackson and P/O T.A. Jackson; and also twins P/O Roger Peart (an engineer) and the more well known F/O Alan Peart, Spitfire ace.

Families
From Kaikoura, north Canterbury in the South Island of New Zealand came four brothers:
F/O J.N. Trolove
P/O Peter Trolove – killed over Norway, 29 June 1940
Sgt Pilot William Trolove – killed in an Avenger, Pacific, 31 May 1944
P/O Derek Trolove – killed in air accident, 11 Aug 1944

Groups of three bothers in the RNZAF:
F/Sgt T. Whyte, F/O John Whyte and P/O G. Whyte of Bayswater, Auckland.

S/Ldr Alexander George DFC, (P-40 pilot), W/C Francis George (Signals Officer, served on No. 75 (NZ) Squadron, No. 485 (NZ) Squadron, and later Pacific service), and F/O C.D. George, all of New Lynn.

F/O Neville Cowan DFC (Pilot, Wellingtons – later mentioned in despatches for service in malaya ), F/O James Cowan DFC (Pilot on Wellingtons and Lancasters. Killed on ops), andP/O Bruce Cowan.

Air ace S/Ldr Michael Herrick DFC* (killed 16 June 1944), P/O Dennis Herrick, George Medal (died as POW 30 June 1941) and F/O Brian Herrick (killed 24 Nov 1940)

P/O G.C. Allington and Sgt Pilots R.H. Alington and G. W. Alington, of Invercargill.

Other brothers:
S/Ldr John Desmond Paterson OBE (known as Des, flew Venturas in Pacific, later ran Air New Zealand), F/Lt William Keith Paterson AFC, mid (known as Keith, flying instructor), of Epsom, Auckland

F/O Alan Gawith DC bbc and Sgt Peter Gawith DFM, both pilots.

S/Ldr James M. Smith DFC* (pff) and F/Lt John M. Smith of Te Awamutu.

S/Ldr Wilfred Clouston and P/O J Clouston, both Spitfire pilots, of Wellington.

F/Lt Maurice Cullinane DFC (Lancaster pilot) and F/Lt Bernard Cullinane DFM (Wellington pilot)

F/Lt George Culliford DSO, Virtuti Militari (Dakota special ops pilot) and Frank Culliford (Corsair pilot)

F/Lt John C. Paterson (Mosquito pilot, killed 27 Apr 1944) and LAC Bruce Paterson.

W/C Harry Wigley and S/Ldr Sandy Wigley.

There were many others too. If anyone wants more, let me know and I’ll place more here.

I recently had the opportunity to watch this series for the first time when my friend loaned me his DVD sets. Utterly fantastic, a really superbly written and acted series. It never gets dull, you never know what might happen next. They do not make television like that any more.

It was made by the same people who made the series Colditz, which i also think was brilliantly made. Those two series, and Danger UXB, are examples of the best kind of television drama about WWII in my opinion.

I like the fact that Secret Army features lots of aeroplanes too. The BBMF Lacaster, B-17 Sally B, a Lysander, and a Mosquito all featured in different episodes.

I have a book on the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, I thinbk published by Osprey in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s, which is mostly photos and superb. Has there ever been other books on their aircraft with more of a text history of the aeroplanes?