PACIFIC SERVICE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25172, 9 April 1945, Page 7

PACIFIC SERVICE

TBANSPOBT COMMAND BRITISH AIRMEN'S TASK (From Noel Chappell, N.Z.P.A. War Correspondent with the British Pacific Fleet) The Royal Air Force Transport Command is playing an increasingly important part in Britain's active participation in the war against Japan. Manned by United Kingdom crews, two-engined Dakotas and four-engined Liberators are Hying priority passengers, mail and urgent freight from Australia to advanced bases in the Pacific. American authorities, through the Naval Air Transport Service and the Army Transport Command, are giving complete co-operation. The job of the British crews is as tough as any airman's in the world, the worst feature being the completely unpredictable weather over certain stages. Storms race up from nowhere with a violence which nas to be seen to be believed and which crew members with long experience of operations over Europe, Africa and Burma say is the worst they have ever met. A British war correspondent newly arrived after several years in Burma said the worst monsoon weather he saw in that theatre did not match the fury of one recent Pacific storm. One of the pilots said: "1 would rather be back bombing Germany any day than flying this route." Another on a recent flight was caught in a sudden storm, and for what seemed a lifetime the aircraft dropped, with its tail down, at 200 miles an hour while the pilot vainly tried to make it climb. The best feature of the flights is the generally excellent standard of the airfields, particularly those hewn out of jungle and coral by the Americans. Some have their "bugs" (Special characteristics). which demand special care by pilots, but having regard for all circumstances they are very good. Some are bigger than any in New Zealand and most arc at least as big as Whenuapai, Ohakea or Wigram. All have played their part in the past defeats of the Japanese and some are still operational, with fighters and bombers sharing the strip and dispersal bays, with an amazing variety of transport machines, from the faithful Dakota 47 to .the huge Skvmasters or ('54 s.

But for the officers and men of the British Pacific Fleet, most of them farther away from home than af< any other stage of the war, the R.A.F. service

into the Pacific, so extending the existing R.A.F. services from Britain to Australia, is of special value in reducing the time taken for their mail to reach i them. The service is not yet_ fully organised nor has it reached its intended size, but already the time taken for mail to come from Britain to the final distributing centre has been reduced to an average of 12 days. Although the weather will probably interrupt the service on many occasions, this is much better than the time taken when the fleet began to assemble.