Hi Guys
Today I spend an afternoon with Stan, the pilot of A8-159, and his wife Nancy, of whom the aircraft was named after. Stan still remembers quite a bit and is still in good Health. In addition, he was happy to share a few photos he had, and I will post these over the next few days. To start with, he had a good photo of the tail art of A8-159. He told me that the cartoon of Ginger Meggs was inspired by Nancy's younger brother Bill, a red head that Stan had taken to calling "Ginger Meggs" while dating Nancy. He related a few stories of how Ginger (Bill) would interfere in their dates, trying to protect his older sister!
Ginger Meggs cartoons were and still are a popular comic strip cartoon that originated in Australia before the war and is still being produced. Stan said that his aircraft was the first to get tail art and this was due to seeing US aircraft with this sort of adornment. He recollects that once others in the squadron saw "Ginger Meggs", the rest followed with their own. The tail art was painted by one of the ground crew, but unfortunately, he cannot remember his name. He asked for the painter to paint Ginger Meggs on the tail, and a little afterwards the painter suggested that it should also have a rocket underneath, so that was done. It was also suggested that the rocket should be shown with a little smoke for effect, and you can see this emanating from the front, so this was done. It kind of looks like a hand, and the decal has this coloured green, but maybe this was not the case. Probably white and gray. The style was all down to the painter, and Stan doesn't know why the smoke is coming from the front and not the back!
Stan also said that A8-159 was the best aircraft in the squadron, and was renowned for being the fastest of the bunch.
Unfortunately Stan no longer has his log book which was lost moving house over 50 years ago, so it is not possible to confirm some of the information with dates and times.
Stan flew one operational mission on the 14th August 1945 against targets in Borneo. They flew low - under 50 feet - just above the water on their trip into the target. So low that one aircraft bent the tips of it's propellers hitting the water (but kept going). Stan made his attack, but was hit in the wing by flack, creating a large hole. He nursed the aircraft all the way back to Labuan, shadowed all the while by a rescue Catalina. Flight duration was a "nerve-racking" 5 hours and 15 minutes.
From the operational record, A8-159 did not appear to be flown many times after that, presumably due to the repairs needed. Stan and David flew a leaflet dropping mission in another aircraft on the 3rd September 1945 in A8-102. Stan does not know exactly what happened to A8-159. It was repaired and reportedly was used to escort Mustang fighters to Japan as part of the occupational forces. Stan and David were ordered to return to Australia on October 17th along with two other Beaufighters as escort to 15 Spitfires. For the return they were assigned A8-123 SK-S "Paddy", which on completion of the flight was to be flown to RAAF Station Wagga and handed over to an aircraft depot located there. This flight was eventful from start to finish, as A8-123 was, as Stan puts it - "A b@st@rd of a plane". The undercarriage gave problems on one leg of the trip, and the flaps refused to deploy correctly on landing at Wagga, causing an overshoot and forcing Stan to ground loop the aircraft to avoid terrain and the boundary fence.
Stan was discharged from the Air Force in December 1945 and after a clerical role, became a quantity surveyor in an architect's office. He retired in 1980. Stan and David remained good friends and kept in contact up to David's passing.
Cheers
Peter