141
side. So we gave the gifts to the friends we made everywhere amongst the local population round us; we even broke up the cotton parachutes and distributed the cloth. We sometimes found when we could not buy such things as chickens or eggs with money, a piece of parachute cloth quickly brought results.
In supplying us the R.A.F. ran great risks. They had to fly six hundred miles over enemy-held territory to reach us, and then they had to find their way about the mountains, locate our particular little valley, come in below the mountain crests, fly up the valley, turn sharp right at the head, where the d.z. ran up at a slope of one in three, and drop their men and containers within the length of the zone, which measured on the level could not be more than 200 yards. A stick would sometimes be as many as seven containers, but the spread was found to be too great; some would fall short of or beyond the d.z., way down in the thick jungle of the valley; and though we had many willing villagers, wondering at these new toys of the white man, to help us in the search, it would sometimes be days before all the containers were located. The white cotton 'chutes to which they were attached, of course, helped us to trace their whereabouts. The sticks were cut down to a maximum of three for men, or four for containers. Much credit is due to the pilots and their skilled crews who so successfully co-operated with us.
The risk for the parachute men was also considerable. Sawn-off stumps of trees are not comfortable to fall on; fortunately they did not know about these until they landed. Sometimes the container-chutes would not develop owing to failure of the static cord, or the container might be too heavy for the 'chute and would break away from its straps. You would then hear a swish and a plonk in the nearby jungle. In theory the faulty 'chute would leave the aircraft like a bomb, and travel with the speed of the aircraft till it hit the ground, so that it should overshoot the dropping zone; but in practice it did not always work out that way, and the first we would know, straining our eyes up in the dark, would be the plonk near at hand. One container with explosives crashed and blew up one day not thirty yards from our lower signal fire. Many is the night we spent out on the d.z. in the bright moonlight, in vain; though the weather over us was perfect, it might be cloudy in India and the aircraft would not start. Or clouds might form up over us, while they were on their way, and after vainly searching for our fires, they would fly back, without result for their pains. It was nerve-wracking to hear our own aircraft, in the clouds amongst the dangerous mountain tops, searching for our
141
side. So we gave the gifts to the friends we made everywhere amongst the local population round us; we even broke up the cotton parachutes and distributed the cloth. We sometimes found when we could not buy such things as chickens or eggs with money, a piece of parachute cloth quickly brought results.
In supplying us the R.A.F. ran great risks. They had to fly six hundred miles over enemy-held territory to reach us, and then they had to find their way about the mountains, locate our particular little valley, come in below the mountain crests, fly up the valley, turn sharp right at the head, where the d.z. ran up at a slope of one in three, and drop their men and containers within the length of the zone, which measured on the level could not be more than 200 yards. A stick would sometimes be as many as seven containers, but the spread was found to be too great; some would fall short of or beyond the d.z., way down in the thick jungle of the valley; and though we had many willing villagers, wondering at these new toys of the white man, to help us in the search, it would sometimes be days before all the containers were located. The white cotton 'chutes to which they were attached, of course, helped us to trace their whereabouts. The sticks were cut down to a maximum of three for men, or four for containers. Much credit is due to the pilots and their skilled crews who so successfully co-operated with us.
The risk for the parachute men was also considerable. Sawn off stumps of trees are not comfortable to fall on; fortunately they did not know about these until they landed. Sometimes the container-chutes would not develop owing to failure of the static cord, or the container might be too heavy for the 'chute and would break away from it straps. You would then hear a swish and a plonk in the nearby jungle. In theory the faulty 'chute would leave the aircraft like a bomb, and travel with the speed of the aircraft till it hit the ground, so that it should overshoot the dropping zone; but in practice it did not always work out that way, and the first we would know, straining our eyes up in the dark, would be the plonk near at hand. One container with explosives, crashed and blew up one day not thirty yards from our lower signal fire. Many is the night we spent out on the d.z. in the bright moonlight, in vain; though the weather over us was perfect, it might be cloudy in India and the aircraft would not start. Or clouds might form up over us, while they were on their way, and after vainly searching for our fires, they would fly back, without result for their pains. It was nerve-wracking to hear our own aircraft, in the clouds amongst the dangerous mountain tops, searching for our
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.