AD LIB No. 37

Life President:               Frank Green, 4 Silo Drive, Farncombe, Godalming, Surrey GU7 3NZ
                                    Tel: 01483 416655                     Email: gwware.cons"at"btinternet.com
Reunion Organiser:        Gary Bunkell, 16 Thorney Road, Capel St Mary, Ipswich IP9 2LQ
                                    Tel: 01473 310414                     Email: garybunkell"at"aol.com
Editor:                           Les Crawley, 10, Cleasby Gardens, Low Fell, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear: NE9 5H
                                    Tel: 0191 4878734                     Email: lescrawley"at"lineone.net

OBITUARIES: The editor writes:-
It has been a very sad last few months and, frankly, I have felt unable to pin myself down to even making a start for this edition of AD LIB. Anything I have to say will be so inadequate and could never do justice to the memory of the friends we have lost. However, here goes and I hope you will excuse the shortcomings in what I have to say. EDWARD HAROLD DAINES (TED): Our Life President. Ted died on the 5th March 2008 at the age of 87. He had been ill for some weeks and in fact had never really settled down to having to make the necessary move into a smaller home. I could sense his frustration, whenever we were comparing notes on events, in that he could no longer put his hand on the information he knew he had ‘somewhere’. Added to this we had noticed that in the last year his health had deteriorated. Ted was born in Norwich and, apart from his RAF service, lived his whole life there working for Lotus where he became foreman in the upholstery section for their luxury cars. I knew of his football ability but had not realised that he played for Norwich City Football Club in his younger days. Ted had only a son, Michael, and to him and his daughter in law Julie and his grandchildren Helen and Alan we have sent our deepest sympathies. It was also possible to send a wreath with the 160 crest and with an inscription from us all. The funeral was private but Alan Johnston and daughter Christine plus Tom Kellock and Gary Bunkell represented us all at the small gathering.
TUDOR MORRIS: Tudor died in his sleep on the 20th October, 2007 from pneumonia and congestive heart failure in Bournemouth Hospital at the age of 87. Tudor, a navigator, had completed tours with 612 Squadron before joining 160 and it was revealed that initially he had been a conscientious objector before joining up. Tudor had a varied life and I remember him telling me how after leaving Grammar School he passed an exam for the Co-op Society and was employed by “Mr Jones, the Co-op” in the Butchery and Grocery Department. The fact that his subsequent career included publican of the White Horse, Southill, and Senior Vice President of The Texas Commerce Bank, apart from his distinguished RAF service, shows that Tudor must have had a very interesting and eventful life. Tudor is survived by his two daughters Pippa and Penny and son Philip who continues to attend reunions.
RON CRAWFORD.DFC: Ron, a regular at our reunions, died very suddenly on 20th February, 2008. Ron was also a navigator with 160 in Ted Horton’s crew along with Derek Collins who was able, with his wife Barbara, to attend the funeral in Salisbury. Ron is survived by his wife, Olwen, and his daughter and two sons: he was 84 years of age.
JIMMY GREENSTEIN: Jimmy, another of our reunion regulars sadly died on 10th February after a short illness. Jimmy was one of the original 160 crew and though he was later transferred to Digri with C1341 Flight – special missions – he, with Sam Hirst who went with him, always considered himself 160. Jimmy leaves his widow Leila and two daughters. We will sorely miss him though we sincerely hope that it may prove possible for the family to join us at future reunions. Jimmy was 87 years of age - and looked a lot younger.
GEORGE “GINGER” NICHOLS: ‘Ginger’, a widower, died on the 30th January but unfortunately there are no further details available. As sergeant ground crew chief ‘Ginger’ according to Frank Green knew his stuff and was very highly regarded both for the job he did and as a particularly nice person. He showed sporting prowess with the squadron particularly at rugby though on the occasion of taking on a Royal Navy team at water polo fared not too well – the team, bar one male, just happened to be Wrens! (AD LIB No.9).
ERIC NORMAN: Here again we have no further details other than Eric died just before Christmas. He leaves a widow and we send our sincere sympathy to her and her family.
MARGARET COOPER: Bill’s widow, we hear, died in January – not very long after Bill and there was surely a great reunion. Margaret was a joy to speak to and her caring for Bill for all the years of his illness was inspirational. Sadly, we have no other information but we did know that she had been unwell and latterly in a care home.
Bill and Margaret had no family but they will be greatly missed by their many friends.

NEW APPOINTMENTS:
Life President: Frank Green:
Reunion Organiser: Gary Bunkell:
Their addresses are given in the panel above

2008 SECOND REUNION: Details now fixed: 12/13 Sept, 2008 at The Angel, Leamington Spa.
A questionnaire was recently sent out by Gary Bunkell to seek opinions on when and where we should hold our next reunion with the choice of either the second or third week end in September or either The Falcon at Stratford or The Angel at Leamington Spa. Although we have not had all replies in, the overwhelmingly majority is in favour of The Angel and the dates 12th/13th September.
A booking form is enclosed with this AD LIB and it would be very helpful if those proposing to attend would return the form quickly. We do need to have the bookings so that we may be sure that sufficient rooms are reserved for us – so PLEASE treat as urgent!! There is no booking fee and all the hotel does request is that cancellations be notified in reasonable time before the 12th September.
If you wish you can email your booking to Gary at the email address shown on the heading.
SUBS: Members have been asking if there are any subs to pay and whilst it may prove necessary to seek donations at some time in the future there is no charge at present so please keep up your membership and keep in touch.
“AD LIB” Newsletter: Again !! the editor apologises for the non appearance of AD LIB since last year. Eye trouble was partly the reason and whilst this situation is improving the vacancy for a new editor remains OPEN.

BOOKS:
“60 Aviation experiences” Edited by Jack Burgess: Published Woodfield.
Mentioned in AD LIB No.36 and now published by Woodfield, 300 pages, £15. It includes some of Jack’s own memories and of course 160 Squadron and we are grateful to Jack for his permission to print the article re Aircrew Leadership – John Stacey – which appears in this “AD LIB.
Jack’s other book “Well - you wanted to fly” £15, 227 pages, is still available from Woodfield and 160 is also mentioned therein.

“Chocks Away!” Memoirs of W/C. John Leighton Beck DFC and Bar. Woodfield Publishing, 200 pages.£12.
Although this book details his operational tours in all 3 operational areas with 99, 214 and 159 Squadrons John Beck did fly operationally with 160 in the Middle East, being one of the very first crew captains. One memoir refers to his flight April/early May 1942 taking a Liberator for the first landing of a large 4 engined plane on Gibraltar fully loaded with a 159 crew plus a second, 160 crew, as passengers. It stopped just about 10 yards from the sea!
John Beck, after his 159 experiences, was then involved with the Chindits – he obviously had a career worth writing about. There is a short article about him in AD LIB No.24.

“The Liberator in Royal Air Force and Commonwealth Service” by J D Oughton from “Air Britain” £43.50 (£29 to members).
Robert Quirk advises that it includes photos of KL561 “A” after it arrived back in England and of KN732 on its nose after the landing accident at KKS on 7th June 1946 elsewhere referred to in this newsletter.

“Sink the Haguro!” by John Winton – Pan Books. Although this book is out of print, several second hand copies are available at ABEBOOKS on the internet. The Editor is grateful for the copy sent to him by Dave Clarke – correspondent re Henry Deeney and Joe Cohen. The book tells the story of the last major destroyer action of World War Two in great detail. The story is about the 26th Destroyer Flotilla (Trinco) and the relentless pursuit and destruction of the Japanese Battle Cruiser Haguro in the Straits of Malacca. Liberators of 222 Group (Colombo) receive mentions and, though not specifically identified in the book, two can be related to involvement of 354 Squadron and the loss of “A” EW319 on 26.3.45 and “L” EV945 on 15.5.45. “A” was responsible for the sinking of the Japanese ship ‘Rishio Maru’ on 26.3.45, witnessed by the destroyer HMS Saumarez, but in so doing “A” crashed either from damage from its own bombs or enemy fire which may or may not have been the cause of it hitting the ship’s mast and cart-wheeling into the sea. Two of the crew were rescued by the Navy. The reference to “L” is an oblique one in that the mention that a Liberator had flown at 500 feet over a dinghy carrying a Navy Avenger crew of 3 without seeing them, then later crashed in the sea, points to it being “L” which had spotted the “Haguro” and reported its position on 15.5.45. (The Avenger crew, without supplies landed on an island after 9 days being then handed over to the Japs. They survived their ordeal and imprisonment).

Royal Leamington Spa was not at its best with cool and wet weather typical for the time of year BUT there was only warmth and cheeriness for all 35 who attended the reunion. It was a highly successful occasion with good food, good humour and a lot of laughs in our usual informal atmosphere.
Sadly, we greatly missed the four regulars Ted, Tudor, Jimmy and Ron who have died since the last get together and this meant that only 11 of the squadron were attending this time but we did pick up a couple of new lads – Peter Howard and Freddy Salt - to add to this number and there were a few others who would have been there but were not able to accommodate this earlier, extra, week-end this year.
It is a good sign that family support does enable those not in the full flush of youth to attend and the extra bods do give us a tremendous boost. As is evident from the numbers, we do rely heavily on these extra family members who come along and it is quite clear that, where others may have initially thought that they were carrying out some kind of family obligation, it was soon apparent that they had come to enjoy it and they did!
So there is a message for the other non-attending 30 or so UK veterans – do not write it off, you can make it, even if it does mean asking if one of the family or a friend can spare the time as support if it will enable you to attend. Being realistic there may not be many more reunions so it would be wonderful if more could see it as a happy break which the family will also enjoy. SO - GIVE IT A GO!!!! It may be wishful thinking but wouldn’t it be great if we had to put up the ‘full up’ sign – who knows?
As to the week end, having mentioned the weather, the majority ventured out on shopping or the Shakespeare experience in Stratford which became a chance to try out our new national free bus passes – they do work! There were the usual opportunities for exchange of memories and information then, to the meals which gave us all a choice of fare so we were not tied down to a single main course.
At the Saturday dinner the proceedings were started off by our new Life President Frank Green who knows more about 160 than anyone else. He paid tribute to Ted Daines and our other deceased comrades and a copy of his remarks is included in this issue.
After enjoying an excellent meal in a light hearted atmosphere, Glyn Williams entertained us all and used the occasion to test our memories relating to events and happenings at Minneriya. Seemed it was mostly the family members who knew the answers!
At our discussions it was agreed that we should repeat our normal reunion date for September (or as available) this year and we are grateful to Gary Bunkell who kindly volunteered to organise the event starting with obtaining dates and prices from both The Angel at Leamington Spa and The Falcon at Stratford upon Avon. An inspection had been made of The Falcon and it was all rather new and not quite so ‘homely’ but clearly still a good, if more expensive, venue - and, although not easily seen, the 160 Squadron crest was still on view.

PETER HOWARD: Electrics. Good to have a completely new face on the scene and still alive and kicking – so much so that after making contact via his son, Neil, they both came along to the reunion where, I believe, they enjoyed the week end and the company. Peter remembers the name of a friend on the squadron – Billy Leason – anyone remember him? He does not appear on our record of members, but, someone may remember Peter’s cross-bed terrier dog “Monty” which sadly sought shade behind the wheel of a truck and was reversed over. He also spent some time at Koggala – probably on 240 Squadron Catalinas.

FREDDY SALT: Fred has been on our mailing list and his son brought him along to his first reunion where he was clearly delighted to see old sparring partners in Sam Porter and Frank Green.

GEORGE WOODHART, W/O: Wom/Ag: George served with 160 from December 1943 to August 1944 following service with 22 Squadron (Beauforts) then 205 Squadron (Catalinas) both also in Ceylon. With 160 he flew with Jim Jackson and other captains, Paisley, Burn, Boyle, Stow and Hynes. With 205 Squadron he flew as a member of the crew of Wing Co. George Melville Jackson, DFC. As some of our members were also on other Ceylon squadrons does anyone remember him?
Heather Farrier, his daughter, tells us that as he has had strokes, George’s recall is not always good but she is gradually piecing together more details of his RAF service. She has made contact with Jim Jackson so far. We are grateful for a copy of his flying log book covering his 160 service also his pay book plus a number of photographs. A couple of them are shown here – anyone know who they are?
Heather believes Melville Jackson may still be around as according to the Daily Telegraph in April 2005 he was campaigning for a pardon for Anne Boleyn!! (Editor – As it happens I am including a photo of this illustrious gent in this issue).
Heather has also advised that she has log book pages and photos of her father’s service with other units and can copy them to anyone interested. They include service with Squadrons 13, 22, 62, 139, 205, 353 plus 10 O T U Abingdon and Flights 1428 and1440 as well as his time at Yatesbury, Dumfries, Lower Topa and Ootacamund.
If anyone has contact with people from 62 and 205 squadrons she would like to be put in touch with them.

George is on the right. Others ??

Who might this be at the foot of Sigiriya Rock?

DONALD. G. McCREESH, F/O Pilot: Missing in action with 354 Sqdn March 11th 1945. Previously a F/Sgt with 160 from mid 43 to mid 44 then returned to Nassau to train as a captain before joining 354 Squadron. He was a member of P/O K H Landick’s crew when with 160. Don is actually listed in the 160 Roll of Honour because War Graves list him as 160. He is commemorated on the Kranji War Memorial in Singapore.
His nephew Don McCreesh has been in contact seeking news from anyone who may remember his uncle and we are grateful to Don for a very comprehensive record of his service with both 160 and 354 plus a log of his postings and extracts from letters home. Don advises that the family have been thrilled that through Robert Quirk’s web site they have been able to find so much detail of his uncle’s wartime experiences. He hopes that by mentioning this on the internet someone from 354 Squadron who may have further information, will make contact. Anyone out there?

F/Sgt JOHN MARTIN,DFM:Wop/AG. Ray Brown has asked if anyone knows anything about his Uncle, John Martin, who was awarded the DFM in 1943 and this would be in respect of his service with 160 in the Middle East. The citation makes good reading so here it is:-
Martin, John. 547523 Flight Sergeant. 160 Sqdn.
London Gazette. 23/3/1943. Sorties 85, Flying hours 550. Air Gunner. Air2/8940
“This N.C.O. has completed 218 hours of his third tour of operations. In 85 operational flights he has completed 550 hours operational flying out of a total flying time of 900 hours. He has already been credited with shooting down two enemy aircraft before arriving at this unit. At Tobruk on 19th July 1942, his aircraft was engaged by an Me. 109 which he probably destroyed. On 11th October 1942, over Crete, his aircraft was attacked by a Ju. 88 and an Me. 110 and as a result of his return fire, the Ju. 88 was seen to be falling out of control. He has at all times shown a keen and determined spirit on operations affording an excellent example to the other gunners of the squadron.
12th February 1943”

We are particularly pleased to have this contact as it adds a new name to our list of our Middle East awards. Sadly the family has lost touch with their Uncle John who was last known to live in the Redbourn, St Albans, area. Maybe this mention may bring some news.

SIDNEY POOLE: and the Quetta mob.
Very grateful to Valerie Hunt for some photographs from her father’s archives particularly as they include Little Joe Cook and Doc Riddell and other photos which are good to have for the record. (Joe Cook has more hair than I remember from Sigiriya – anyone agree? – Editor)

(Back W/O’s Fletcher, Cook, Nickson:
Front Row Morgan,Hunter and Sidney Poole)

(No explanation with the following picture but you can use your imagination -.Rs 2 hmmmm 15p!! - Does anyone have any first hand knowledge? – You can send it to the editor in confidence. Seeing also the photo of the Equipment and Medical Officers one can suppose that it would be right that equipment or whatever at the establishment would have to be checked).

ROBERT BLANDAMER, Navigator: Son Steve Blandamer has been in touch with details of his father’s service which includes his time with 160 from posting on 24th February, 1946, flying KN749 to Karachi and joining and flying with 160 at KKS till 19th June 1946 when he flew back to UK in “M”. An eventful journey with two forced landings due to engine fires! After disembarking at Leuchars an ‘erk’ climbed on board and released the undercarriage resulting in a flopped aircraft on the tarmac. Obviously NOT one of the original 160 T L C ground crew!
Robert died some time ago but his son has sent us some photos from his service days including one of a Liberator which on 7th June,1946 on air test, prior to flying home, had hit the water and broken its back but managed to land but the nose wheel collapsed, then it swung, and the undercarriage also collapsed. The pilot was S/Ldr Sandall and it was KN732 a brand new Mk Vlll.

Alan Johnston writes that he was Duty Officer that day and one of his duties was Flying Control so he was on the spot. He chased down the runway in a jeep and was one of the first there – much relieved to find that no one was hurt. He collected the officers and took them to the mess, opened the bar (he was also Bar Officer!) and gave them a stiff brandy. The M O duly arrived and wasn’t too pleased with him – he said it should have been a cup of sweet tea, not brandy. Anyway, all was well and they all recovered though a lot of personal belongings under the floor of the aircraft were said to be destroyed. He also recalled how efficient the engineering section was – they had the runway cleared in no time, lifting the aircraft with air bags, putting caterpillar tracks underneath and towing it away.

Steve says that his father told him the story of one of the lads trying to tell one of the KKS locals about ‘beefeaters’. Something went wrong in the translation and the local thought that was his name ‘Massa Bigfeeter’. If Massa Bigfeeter is still about please get in touch

Aircrew Leadership – from “60 Aviation Experiences” Edited by Jack Burgess, published by Woodfield, 2007.

(S/Ldr J N Stacey when with 202 Sqdn at Gibraltar standing between F/O Hamilton, 6’5” tall, and F/Lt Melville Jackson, 6’3”. Photo from “Wings of the Dawning” by Arthur Banks. – Images Publishing (Malvern) Ltd).

In every walk of life, individuals may be found with the ability to create motivating factors, capable of producing maximum effort from others. In other words the quality of 'Leadership.' Fortunately, many Air Force Squadrons were influenced by strong leaders who led from the front; such a person was Air Vice-Marshal John Stacey, CBE, DSO, DFC, JMN, who spent most of his life in the Royal Air Force.
We first met in mid 1944, when I joined 160 Squadron based in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and S/Ldr Stacey was my Flight Commander. I was aware at that time, that he had a great deal more flying experience than most of us.
Born in 1920, he joined the RAF in July 1938, and at outbreak of WW2 he was attached to 240 Squadron flying the bi-plane Saro London Flying Boat based at Shetland. Experience of rough weather flying came in handy when in February 1944 flying Catalinas from Madagascar, and at the risk of court martial, he persisted in flying through warnings of a severe cyclone. His action was instrumental in sinking a German U-Boat mother ship.
My first experience of flying with John Stacey occurred on 13th September 1944, when I joined his crew as Flight Engineer. Our target being the German submarine U862. With code-buster ENIGMA making things rather uncomfortable for U-Boats in the South Atlantic, this one decided to look for pastures new, and continued on its way around the Cape into the Indian Ocean. Eventually making its way to Penang where it hoped to refuel and replenish supplies from the Japanese occupying Malaya, U862 had sunk five Allied ships during the past month.
Our task was to intercept and destroy U862, as intelligence informed us it was making its way down through the Malacca Straits, past Singapore, and heading south for Australia. One U-Boat commander had made the boast that it would be easier for a crow to attack a mole, than an aircraft to find a submarine; we reckoned later there was an element of truth in this statement, for we failed to find and destroy U862 on its way to Australia. This was a source of great regret, as we discovered later it had sunk more ships including two American Liberty ships 'Robert Walker' and 'Peter Sylvester' in New Zealand and Australian waters.
Meanwhile, intending to spend a few days searching for the elusive submarine, we landed (with great difficulty) on the small island of Gan in Addu Atoll, the most southern of the Maldives, a few miles south of the equator. Requiring a long, low approach to land on such a short runway with the ocean at both ends, one of the three Liberators had struck a navigation pole, ripping off the aircraft's bomb-doors.
Ordering the other two aircraft to return to Ceylon, Stacey insisted on staying behind with the damaged Liberator. He instructed the four members of ground-crew we had brought along and myself, to set to work and patch up the space left by the ripped off bomb-doors with the only material available on the island - sheets of corrugated metal. This we managed to complete in a few days and S/Ldr Stacey announced his intention for everyone to pile in and return to Ceylon, as he was determined not to lose one of his valuable aircraft. There was only one snag left (apart from the plane being airworthy). Where do we find sufficient 100 octane fuel to enable us fly back to Ceylon - a four-hour flight?
Once again, the resourceful Stacey had sussed out the position of a fuel dump, consisting of 5-gallon cans buried in the sand. Digging those up, we poured them into an up-ended 40-gallon oil drum, before pumping the contents into the main tanks of the aircraft. Having convinced ourselves, that we were about as ready as we could ever be, we boarded the Liberator, and on 21st September 1944 with a sigh of relief, we became airborne without losing any 'patches’. In fact we had a 'rattling' good flight lasting 3 hours 50 minutes. All was not well however with Liberator FL969, as we discovered later from the Maintenance Unit at Ratmalana, Colombo, where we had landed with the damaged aircraft.
When the other crew had struck the post on their approach to the Island runway, the overall damage had been much greater than ripped-off bomb doors that our superficial inspection had revealed. Among other things, a main bulkhead had also been fractured and Liberator FL969 was declared a 'write-off.'
On a later occasion when I was now flying with another aircrew, John Stacey (now W/Cdr) was conducting an operational briefing on the morning of 21 January 1945. This was to be the first mine-laying operation off the west coast of Japanese-occupied Malaya, carried out by Liberators based in Ceylon. Possibly bearing in mind, that a Japanese Invasion Fleet had already attempted to inflict damage in Ceylon in April 1942, SEAC had decided to keep 160's base as secret as possible considering our long-range capability. This policy of secrecy was kept to the letter by our Squadron Commander as the following incident shows.
It all amounted to the fact that our three Libs were to attempt to cross the Indian Ocean, and be the fore-runners of similar operations to drop mines in the Malacca Straits to halt the flow of Japanese supplies ships that were supporting Japanese Forces in Burma. After going over every detail, and stressing the importance of approaching the target area at under 50 feet in order to get under the Japanese radar, Stacey still had a trump card to play. He calmly announced that after we dropped our mines at Penang, Crawley and Waterfield crews had to maintain low level to avoid the Japanese radar, and get the heck out of it back to base. Meanwhile, he had intended to climb and set course for India. The purpose of this was to give the impression we were based in India - in the hope 160 could remain anonymous at our base in Ceylon. I shall never ever forget the amazed look on the faces of Stacey's crew as he outlined their unexpected heroic role. I believe they may have preferred to scarper home with us after the job was done!
In any case, we took off at 14.45 Hrs on 21st January 1945, and Squadron ORBs will confirm that our Liberator 'P' BZ828 with skipper Les Waterfield, dropped our mines in the exact spot intended. This was the start of a whole new mine-dropping era. Post war records show that ten Japanese ships were destroyed in this manner. Let's hope we played some small part in reducing Japanese supplies being used against our Allied Forces.
The chief danger point at that time, was flying past Sabang on the north tip of Sumatra, which was home to three squadrons of Japanese fighter planes. This did not deter Stacey, who had paid an earlier visit to Sabang in a Catalina. Despite intense anti-aircraft fire, he successfully dropped his four 250 Ib bombs before returning to Ceylon. For this action, he was awarded the DFC, the first of several awards, the DSO following as well as being mentioned in dispatches three times.
My first long-distance operation accompanied by Stacey's aircraft, was quickly followed by much longer flights, until W/Cdr Stacey eventually led eight Liberators on a 3,640 mile mission to lay mines in Singapore harbour. Even on subsequent operations to Japanese-held Singapore, I can still clearly recall harbour and shipping lights being distinguished one by one, as they apparently still didn't believe our Liberators could reach them over so great a distance. Little did they know this was only the beginning, for 160 Squadron went on to even longer flying operations, when we dropped Force 136 guerrillas deep into Japanese-held Malaya and Thailand.
At the end of the war, John Stacey completed a tour as assistant air attaché in Washington, then, in April 1960 Stacey was seconded to the embryonic Royal Malayan Air Force as the Chief of Staff. Two years later, he was invested with one of Malaya's highest orders, the Johan Mangko Negara (JMN). Returning to UK he was appointed AOC Air Cadets, on completing this tour he was appointed CBE. His final appointment was Air Officer Administration, Support Command. Air Vice-Marshal John Stacey, CBE, DSO, DFC, retired in 1975.
A classic example of a Leader who would not ask anyone to do something, that he wasn't prepared to do himself. Just the reverse, Stacey would probably take action first himself - before allowing others to follow.
Twenty years later in 1995, John Stacey and I spent some time reminiscing on our days with 160 Squadron in Ceylon. This was carried out courtesy of Dr. Arthur Banks in preparation for his book "Wings of the Dawning." During this discussion, we both agreed that the skill, expertise and commitment of our ground crews had played a major part in our survival. Bearing in mind that we had very low priority in materials and resources in the Far East, little or no air-sea-rescue over exceptionally long distances, and very little hope of survival if forced down as the Japanese had stopped taking prisoners, we were very fortunate to have made it back to UK in one piece.
This was to be my final discussion or contact with John Nichol Stacey, the former Merchant Navy apprentice who spent most of his life in the Royal Air Force, and rose to the rank of Air Vice-Marshal. A man with the gift of motivating others, then making the first move himself. During the final discussion, credit was given to others, no mention was made of his qualities of 'Leadership' - but leaders are born that way, aren't they? (Jack Burgess, Scottish Saltire Branch, ACA).
Footnote:
The Squadron John Stacey commanded in the Far East during WW2 (No. 160) was renamed 120 Squadron after the war; No 120 had been the RAF's highest scoring anti-submarine unit with 14 kills. Despite this record, the Squadron was disbanded on 4th June 1945 and not reformed again until October 1946, when No. 160 Squadron returning from the Far East and based at RAF Leuchars, was re-numbered 120 Squadron.
It could be claimed that the same spirit shown by personnel of 160 during WW2 still exists today (2006). At present, 120 Squadron flying 'Nimrods' based at Kinloss, Scotland, are carrying out operational flying duties on attachment in Afghanistan and other troubled areas. (Jack Burgess)

JEREMY CLARKSON ; 186 mph??.
He may have been just too fast for your hair drier Marian.

Bob and Marian of Colwyn Bay in their role as members of a community team aimed at cracking down on drivers who flout the law. The man behind the scheme is none other than the Chief Constable of North Wales Richard Brunston nicknamed the Mad Mullah of the Traffic Taliban! The picture was a news item in the Daily Mail on 11th October, 2007, and was then used again for their “Caption Contest” on 26th October.
(For overseas readers – Jeremy Clarkson is the presenter of the B B C programme “Top Gear” and, to make this a better story, has, in fact, since allegedly stated that he has travelled at 186 mph on a public road. Bob and Marian are of course our ever presents at reunions and no, it is not a hair drier – it was for real).
(With acknowledgements to reporter Jaya Narain and the Daily Mail)

TED DAINES – A TRIBUTE by Frank Green as related at the reunion and Ted with the last word.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen. This is a weekend that we all look forward to, a meeting of friends and ex comrades and recalling some of our experiences of 60 or more years ago. It falls on me this year to say a few words that for many years have been spoken by our late very dear friend and comrade Ted Daines, to open the evening’s proceedings.
Every year we hold a minute’s silence to remember the comrades we lost during the war and each year since: we miss them all. But the very sad loss of Ted this year somehow leaves an empty chair that will be extremely difficult to fill. To me, Ted was Mr 160: nothing was too much trouble to him when it came to working through the organisation on our behalf. So I say "so long Ted old friend" yours was a final posting we hoped we would never hear of during our time but I feel he would like me to say here the words he always said to me when I mentioned how sad it was to keep losing our friends and comrades. His words were "Yes Frank, it is very sad, but remember life must go on.”
So let us take him at his word and feel grateful that we have been able to share a part of our lives with Ted and our other late comrades and have a pleasant evening in his memory.”
AND a poem from Ted – on his thoughts when at Quetta:
When o’er the mountain ridge
Slowly sinks the blood red sun
I think of how we parted and
Of the joys and sorrows
We may have to face until
Once more we may share together,
The beauty of a setting sun. (Ted Daines)

SPECIAL OFFER: Not really, but with prices for the reunion week end so reasonable don’t miss out. With no booking fee you can make a provisional booking anyway and make sure of a room!
So, please send in your booking form straight away: it will be much appreciated and make life easier for the organiser.