Canadians on Radar in South East Asia 1941 - 1945

The Saga of the Seven Hundred and Twenty Three RCAF Radar Mechanics who served with the RAF in South East Asia during World War II

by Angus Hamilton

and many of
"Those Who Were There"

(Note: Angus Hamilton cannot be contacted directly by e-mail; however if you e-mail me, I will forward it to Angus and he will reply to queries)

This volume is part of the Canadian Radar History Project

Canadians on Radar in South East Asia 1941-1945

This document is in PDF format, and in order to facilitate downloading, it has been divided into 8 parts.
In this format, the largest download is just under 6 megs.

The files are:

File 1

File 2

File 3

File 4

File 5

File 6

File 7

File 8

For information, the Table of Contents is given below

Dedication	vi	File 1
Foreword by Air Commodore (ret) Douglas Gooderham	vii
Technical Foreword by William Barrie	viii
Preface	ix
Acknowledgements	xi
Prologue	xii
Maps of the Region	xiv

Part I: The War in South East Asia; the role of radar and the contribution of Canadians

1 Why we were there	1	File 2
2 Where we came from and how we got there	6
3 When, where and how many?	23
4 Canadians on Radar in "The Far East" when the Japanese attacked	28
5 Ground Search Radar in India and Ceylon	40
6 The Imphal Battle, AMES 857 and Jack Wadham	48
7 Portable RDFs/Wigwams/Light Warnings	63
8 ASV: Air-to-Surface-Vessel radar	85	File 3
9 Night Fighters: AI Technology and the Operations of 89 and 176 Squadrons	94
10 Memories of 176 Squadron	104
11 IFF: Identification Friend or Foe	113
12 Rebecca and Eureka	121
13 Support Services	129
14 Repatriation	140

Part II: We Were There

Preface and Synopsis		147	File 4
On Ground Radar	Date of arrival in South East Asia
Oswald Luce	5 February '42	149
"All except myself have either died in the prison camps or. . . "
Edward Goodchild	February	160
". . . having displayed great courage in the face of his Japanese captors"
Gordon MacPhail	7 February	164
"We left in great haste"
Carl Tory	5 April	178
"There was always a shortage of repair parts"
Ed Morgan	5 April	184
"We sawed the 18 inch square teakwood timbers and, with a hand auger. . ."
John Greenaway	5 April	188
' . . . my fingers were inches away from a Russell's viper'
Douglas Gooderham	April	191
"As Command Radar Officer I had a staff ... one third USAAF, two thirds RAF/ RCAF"
Olive Roberts	21 June	201
"In spite of our proximity to the enemy, it is a very quiet war, here [Cox's Bazaar]"
Frank de Macedo	21 June	216	File 5
"I wouldn't have missed it for the world"
Geoff Marples	21 June	222
"Grasping the ladder firmly in both hands, I set my foot on the first rung"
William Ashworth	7 July	234
"The famine did not seem to affect our rations"
Alfred Owen	23 July	238
"His Burma Star was his proudest possession"
John Gardner	17 October	243
"In Bengal nothing was safe from predators"
Al Brown	April 1943	252
"My sixteen months at the Radio School in Bangalore remain a fond memory"
Bernard Holt	June	259
"I have always regretted that I was posted away from the barge"
Fred King	7 August	266
"I had never heard of Eureka beacons"
Murdock Smith	December	272
"Our work had been observed by a controller who was more impressed than we realized"
On airborne radar
Ed Bastedo	7 June 1942	276	File 6
"Our equipment provided the aircrew with an all-weather all-seeing eye"
William Hilborn	17 October	280
"The squadron was at the ready every night at dusk and stood down at dawn"
Ross White	17 October	288
"Thirty months of continuous summer taught me to appreciate our four seasons"
William Barrie	18 October	291
"A box-car-sized aircraft packing case was converted to a temporary workshop"
Robert Weeks	14 September 1943	299
"In the past two weeks I've done four drops from a DC3"
Herb McClure	20 September	305
"I was the only Canadian they had seen in the Maldive Islands"

Vignettes

309

File 7

Looking back from 1998

• Rehabilitation and a tribute to the Legion	313	File 7
• In retrospect: our relationship with the RAF	316
• Some thoughts on India and the break-up of the British Empire	319
• Was it all worthwhile?	321
• The last word	323

Part III: The Details

Appendix I Getting there: By sea and by air	325	File 8
Appendix II AMESs (Air Ministry Experimental Stations)
A Ground station types	328
B AMES numbers, names, types and locations	329
C Canadians on AMESs and signals wings	332
Appendix III Squadrons and flying-related units
A Types of squadrons and flying-related units	338
B Squadrons and flying-related units on which Canadians served	339
C Canadians on squadrons and flying-related units	341
Glossaries
• Technical/Military	346
• RAF and RCAF ranks	349
• Colloquial Hindustani and other terms widely used in India and Ceylon	350
References and Bibliography	352
Geographic Index	356
Names, numbers and names index	359
About the author/editor	364
For notes by or about one or more of "Those who were there"	365

Maps

Asia as of the 1940s	xiv	File 8
Burma and surrounding countries	xv
Japanese Invasion Routes Burma 1942	3
The Battle for Ceylon	4
Convoy and troopship routes from the UK to South East Asia	8
Casualties in "The Far East"	29
Distribution of Canadian radar mechanics on ground stations in India and Ceylon	41
Japanese invasion routes in the Imphal region, March 1944.	49
Topographic Map of the Imphal Valley	52
Assam and Northern Burma	74
Air photo of the airstrip at Broadway	75
Clive in India 1942 - 1945	202
Siting radar barge AMES 8514 near Akyab	263
Radar stations in the Calcutta area	336
Radar sites in India and Ceylon March 1943	337
Some of the larger Allied air bases in India and Ceylon	344
Approximate locations of some RAF stations, naval bases and other places	345

Last updated: June 21, 2003