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URING WORLD WAR TWO TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT WERE REGARDED AS THE DOWDY COUSINS OF THE MUCH MORE GLAMOROUS FIGHTERS AND BOMBERS, THOUGH THEY WERE EVERY BIT AS IMPORTANT. FROM THE HUMBLE AIRSPEED OXFORD TO THE MIGHTY DOUGLAS SKYMASTER THEY FERRIED COURIERS, EXPERTS, OFFICIALS AND MILITARY PERSONNEL ACROSS THE GLOBE, BUT FEW EVER CAUGHT THE IMAGINATION. AN EXCEPTION, HOWEVER, WAS THE REMARKABLE BRISTOL BUCKINGHAM. DESIGNED AS A BOMBER IT WAS RENDERED OBSOLETE BY THE TIME IT ENTERED SERVICE, AND WAS TRANSFORMED INSTEAD INTO A SPECIAL LONG RANGE TRANSPORT.
STORY ALAN HEBDEN ART KEITH PAGE
THIS IS THE STORY OF A COMBAT PILOT WHO CAME TO REALISE THAT FLYING A LOWLY TRANSPORT COULD BE EVERY BIT AS GLAMOROUS — AND DANGEROUS — AS THE FIGHTERS AND BOMBERS HE HAD LEFT BEHIND, AND WHO PROCEEDED TO MAKE THE BUCKINGHAM HIS VERY OWN.
COVER KEITH PAGE
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BY 1944 MANY SENIOR MILITARY OFFICERS HAD COME TO REGARD AIR TRAVEL AS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THEIR JOBS. ONE SUCH “FREQUENT FLIER” WAS AIR VICE-MARSHAL BOB DUNN. A LOGISTICS SUPREMO WITH AN UNSURPASSED REPUTATION FOR SORTING OUT PROBLEMS, HIS WELL-DESERVED NICKNAME WAS “GETS IT” DUNN. BASED IN CAIRO HE COULD BE AIRBORNE TEN MINUTES AFTER LEAVING HIS OFFICE EN ROUTE TO THE MEDITERRANEAN, NORTH AFRICA OR THE MIDDLE EAST TO DO WHAT HAD TO BE DONE.
ITALY AGAIN TODAY. WITH SO MANY DIFFERENT COUNTRIES CONTRIBUTING TO THE ALLIED FORCES THERE, HEADS ALWAYS NEED BANGING TOGETHER TO MAKE THEM SEE SENSE.
DUNN’S SPECIALITY WAS BRINGING NEW AIRFIELDS INTO SERVICE. KEEPING WARPLANES IN THE AIR REQUIRED MASSIVE LOGISTICAL SUPPORT ON THE GROUND. RUNWAYS AND HANGARS NEEDED CONSTRUCTING, AS DID ADMIN AND ACCOMMODATION BUILDINGS, SERVICE AND REPAIR FACILITIES AND FUEL AND AMMO STORES, THE WHOLE KIT AND CABOODLE. ON THIS TRIP DUNN’S DESTINATION WAS A NEW R.A.F. AIRFIELD IN ITALY. LOOKING OUT AS THE PLANE LANDED HE GAVE A WEARY SIGH.
IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN UP AND RUNNING TWO WEEKS AGO, BUT IT LOOKS A LIKE A HALF-BUILT SHAMBLES. DEFINITELY HEAD-BANGING TIME.
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DUNN KNEW THAT MAKING PHONE CALLS AND SENDING SIGNALS FROM DISTANT CAIRO DIDN’T GET RESULTS. ON THE OTHER HAND, THE PRESENCE ON THE GROUND OF AN ENERGETIC GENERAL OFFICER COULD SOON CUT THROUGH THE RED TAPE. HE IMMEDIATELY SUMMONED THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE NEW AIRFIELD TO EXPLAIN THEIR PROBLEMS.
OFFER THE CONTRACTOR THIRTY PERCENT MORE. THEN GET ME REAR-ADMIRAL BRUNTON ON THE PHONE. HE’LL TRACK DOWN THE HANGAR SUPPLIES AND SEND THEM ON. THE R.A.F. REGIMENT HAVE AN A.A. UNIT IN SICILY. I’LL HAVE IT HERE TONIGHT. GET TO IT, GENTLEMEN!
THE YANKS HAVE POACHED OUR ITALIAN CONTRACTOR BY OFFERING HIM TEN PERCENT MORE. THE NAVY SAYS IT CAN’T TRACE THE HANGAR SUPPLIES SHIPPED INTO TARANTO LAST WEEK.
THE LOCAL ARMY COMMANDER SAYS THE A.A. UNITS WE WERE PROMISED HAVE BEEN SENT ELSEWHERE BECAUSE OF THE DELAY.
IT WAS A CATALOGUE OF WOES, PROBLEMS CAUSED BY OUTSIDE AGENCIES THAT SEEMED INSURMOUNTABLE TO THOSE ON THE SPOT, BUT WHICH WERE DUNN’S BREAD AND BUTTER. IT TOOK HIM ONLY A FEW SECONDS TO BEGIN REMEDYING THEM.
HMM.
AMAZING. NO WONDER THEY CALL HIM ‘GETS IT’ DUNN.
WITHIN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS THE PREVIOUSLY MORIBUND AIRFIELD HAD BEEN TRANSFORMED INTO A HIVE OF ACTIVITY. WORKERS SWARMED EVERYWHERE, THE R.A.F. REGIMENT’S A.A. UNIT WERE TOWING THEIR GUNS INTO PLACE AND THE HANGAR SUPPLIES WERE ARRIVING FROM TARANTO. IT WAS, AS THE AIR VICE-MARSHAL LIKED TO THINK, A JOB “WELL DUNN”. I MUST SAY, SIR, YOU WORKED WONDERS.
THEN THERE’S NO NEED FOR ME TO TARRY ANY LONGER, AIR COMMODORE. PLEASE INFORM MY TRANSPORT CREW THAT I’LL BE READY TO LEAVE IN AN HOUR’S TIME.
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DUNN’S NEXT PORT OF CALL WAS CYPRUS AND, AS USUAL, HE WAS MILDLY IRRITATED AT BEING ASKED THE INEVITABLE QUESTION.
WHAT ROUTE SHALL WE TAKE, SIR?
THE LOCKHEED LODESTAR BEGAN ITS TAKE-OFF RUN, BUT ITS YOUNG PILOT TRIED GETTING AIRBORNE TOO SOON, RESULTING IN A JARRING BOUNCE BEFORE THEY FINALLY LURCHED OFF THE GROUND. IN THE PASSENGER SECTION DUNN SIGHED.
WHOOPS, SLIGHT MISCALCULATION! WHERE DO THEY FIND THEM?
YOU’RE THE NAVIGATOR. PLOT A SUITABLE COURSE, ONE WHICH PREFERABLY AVOIDS ENEMY AIRSPACE. OH, AND PILOT, DO TRY AND MAKE YOUR TAKE-OFFS AND LANDINGS A LITTLE SMOOTHER.
DUNN WAS REFERRING TO THE CREWS HE WAS INVARIABLY LUMBERED WITH. THOSE ASSIGNED TO TRANSPORT COMMAND WERE ALMOST ALWAYS THOSE PREVIOUSLY REJECTED BY FIGHTER, BOMBER OR COASTAL COMMANDS. IN OTHER WORDS THOSE ALREADY CLASSED AS UNFIT FOR COMBAT FLYING.
SOME OF THESE CREWS SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ALLOWED NEAR ANY SORT OF AIRCRAFT IN THE FIRST PLACE. THERE WAS THAT IDIOT WHO FLEW STRAIGHT INTO A THUNDERSTORM…
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DUNN STILL SHUDDERED AT THE MEMORY OF IT. GOING OVER NIAGRA FALLS IN A BARREL WOULD HAVE BEEN PREFERABLE.
YAAARH! STRAIGHTEN UP, MAN! GET OUT OF THESE RUDDY THUNDER CLOUDS!
I…I’M TRYING, SIR!
BADLY DAMAGED BY THE BUFFETING, THE AIRCRAFT, AN ARMSTRONG-WHITLEY ALBERMARLE TRANSPORT, MADE AN EMERGENCY LANDING AT GIBRALTAR. A TRICKY ENOUGH AIRSTRIP IN THE FIRST PLACE, IT HAD JUST BEEN SOAKED BY THE SAME STORM. WHEN THE UNDERCARRIAGE COLLAPSED AS WELL, DISASTER WAS INEVITABLE.
WE’RE OUT OF CONTROL!
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AS SURE AS NIGHT FOLLOWS DAY, THE ALBERMARLE SLID OFF THE SIDE OF THE RUNWAY INTO THE SEA INTO WHICH IT HAD BEEN EXTENDED.
FORTUNATELY THE WATER WAS SHALLOW, AND A BATTERED DUNN MADE AN UNDIGNIFIED EXIT. ARE YOU ALL RIGHT, SIR? IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO?
YES! FIND ME A NEW CREW, PREFERABLY WITH A PILOT WHO RECOGNISES A THUNDERSTORM WHEN IT HITS HIM IN THE EYE!
AAARH!
THEN THERE WAS THAT MONUMENTALLY STUPID NAVIGATOR. ALL HE HAD TO DO WAS TO PLOT A COURSE FROM CAIRO TO BENGHAZI, FOLLOWING THE NORTH AFRICAN COAST. EVEN A CHILD COULD HAVE DONE IT.
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THE AIRCRAFT ON THAT OCCASION HAD BEEN AN AVRO ANSON, AN UNREMARKABLE BUT RELIABLE LITTLE TWO-ENGINED TRANSPORT. WORN OUT BY SEVERAL UNBROKEN DAYS OF HARD WORK, DUNN HAD FALLEN ASLEEP SOON AFTER TAKE-OFF. WAKING AN HOUR OR SO LATER HE GLANCED OUT OF THE WINDOW AND WAS SURPRISED BY WHAT HE SAW, OR RATHER DIDN’T SEE. WHERE THE DEVIL ARE WE? WHERE’S THE COAST?
JUST TAKING A SHORT CUT INLAND, SIR. NO NEED TO BE CONCERNED.
ANOTHER HOUR PASSED WITHOUT ANY SIGN OF THE COAST AND DUNN KNEW IT WAS HIGH TIME TO BECOME CONCERNED.
ARE YOU SURE YOU KNOW WHERE WE ARE?
ER, WELL, THERE MIGHT BE LITTLE PROBLEM WITH THAT, SIR.
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A FEW MINUTES LATER THEY FLEW OVER A DISTINCTIVE ESCARPMENT. DUNN GAVE A GASP OF DISBELIEF. THAT’S THE AL-SAHMI ESCARPMENT! IT’S OVER THREE HUNDRED MILES SOUTH OF TOBRUK. WE’RE ON COURSE FOR THE MIDDLE OF THE SAHARA, YOU RAVING LUNATIC!
OH, DEAR!
THE PILOT IMMEDIATELY TURNED ABOUT BUT THE DAMAGE WAS DONE. AFTER ANOTHER THIRTY MINUTES THE FUEL TANKS RAN DRY AND THEY MADE A BONE-JARRING FORCED LANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.
THIS IS A NIGHTMARE.