From the Good Old Days, when beer was about one and six a pint - Ted Mason writes:
I am attaching a picture which was taken at a 36 Sqn party at a local hostelry in about 1955/56. You may wish to use it in the web page as a-" does anyone recognise the ex 36 members on this old photograph?" or you could identify the officers in the photograph and ask-"where are they now". I regret that this photo is not very good, the original was in a terrible state and I did my best with it.

The officers in the photo are back row from left to right-Derek Rothery, Keith Broughton, Ted Mason, Mac Ilsley , and Alan (Bob) Cherry is in the front.

This Kevin is just a thought and I shall not be disappointed if you do not use it. I think it might produce some interest from the ex-Neptune contingent.

Yours aye

Ted Mason

(You will note that I have changed my e-mail address)

Please note, Ted can be contacted at Tedmas@btinternet.com (Ed.)

For those who aren't in the habit of looking at our Guest Book, the following was received last month and is worth printing in full here. If anyone can help, please respond to Matt!

Tuesday 11/21/2000 5:31:11am Name: Matt Poole E-Mail: feb2944@aol.com Homepage Title: Homepage URL: http:// Referred By: Just Surfed On In Location: Wheaton, Maryland USA Comments: Hi to all those who served on 36 Squadron.

If there are any 1943 India experts/historians reading this, I have a couple of questions, which come after the background info:

My mother's first husband flew for 159 Squadron on Liberators out of India. On 29 Feb 1944 he and his crew were shot down and killed by Japanese night fighters over Rangoon, and I have spent years delving into the past to learn the story of their disappearance. In the process I have met various veterans of 159 Squadron.

One, an American air gunner from Ohio named Bob USTICK, became a great friend of mine until his death nearly four years ago. It turns out that Bob flew with 36 Squadron in India for a short time before being reposted to 159. He was a member of the RCAF. The dates of his 36 Squadron duration: 4-1-43 thru 17-4-43. During this time, he flew various ops (shipping patrols, anti-sub patrols) and other flights (i.e., "Mosaic of Trichy" photography flight on 4-3-43), mainly with Pilot Officer ALLAN. Bob was sometimes front gunner, sometimes second pilot, and his logbook shows a total of 20 hours at the controls of Wellington IC's.

Bob had trained in the UK at 21 OTU (Moreton in Marsh) with P/O Allan and had flown out to India with him, too. Other 36 Squadron pilots with whom Bob flew:

G/Capt Lewis - Shipping Patrol in Wellington HE120, 8-2-43, front gunner;

S/Ldr Sloane - Shipping Patrol, Wellington HE114, 18-2-43, front gunner;

F/O Mayhew - Shipping Patrol, Hudson FH313, 19-3-43, dorsal gunner;

F/O Parker - "Dhubalia-Argatalia-op-Dhubalia A/C U/S", Wellington HX 598, 20-3-43, front gunner.

It is clear from Bob's logbook that he was in "A" Flight, as a P/O E. Catley (??), OC of "A" Flight, signed his book each month.

QUESTIONS:

Anyone know Bob?

Any known photos of Bob? (for his family)

What became of Bob's regular pilot, P/O ALLAN?

WHERE WAS 36 SQUADRON STATIONED DURING BOB'S SHORT STINT?

Was it Tanjor, as the narrative of the squadron's history on this website suggests? I ask only because Bob mentioned being at what sounds like "Balem" while with 36 Squadron. In a taped interview he said the following:

". . .the state of stress as far as Indian independence was concerned when I was there. There were smatterings of it, there were no big problems, there were some isolated places where there was more activity than in others. When I was on Balem on 36 Squadron, there was a group of Ghandi's followers who threatened to strike. The word then was passive resistance. And the flight crews had to guard their aircraft at night. Now that sounds pretty brave and bold and daring. Not groundcrews.

And you went out with a pistol and a rifle with a couple of bullets and you walked around. There were also civilian Indian guards hired by the air force that you chatted with all evening, and that was it. There were some little more severe uprisings in places that we only heard of.

Balem was the town of just a few people. A store, a post office, that's about it."

Bob went on to become Squadron Gunnery Leader with 159 Squadron. Wonderful person, sorely missed!

If anyone has any info, I'd be pleased to hear from you.

Regards to all,

Matt Poole