Edward Bryce Chase in Southeast Asia
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Edward Bryce Chase trained at No. 16 Elementary
Flying Training School (EFTS) in Edmonton, and at No. 7 Service
Flying Training School (SFTS) in MacLeod, Alberta. Awarded
his Wings in October 1942, he was soon posted overseas for
additional training in England. In the summer
of 1943, Chase was posted to No. 310 Ferry Training Unit in
India and Burma, and where he was chosen to go to No. 143 Repair
and Salvage Unit as a test pilot. Despite its moniker,
the unit was soon conducting transport
operations supporting Allied
action in Burma.
 Our
first leg was across the Bay of Biscay and along the coast
of Portugal to Gibraltar. A German Junkers 88 fighter gave
us some anxious moments, but left us after we dove down to
get near the tops of some clouds....Nine hours after take
off we
had landed at the
foot of the Rock of Gibraltar, impressed and relieved.
After
a short stop to have tropical filters installed on the engines
of our aircraft, we left for a short trip to Ras
El Mar, near Fez in French Morocco. Our next leg of six hours
and 40 minutes took us to Castel Benito, near Tripoli in Libya. The following day after six hours and
50 minutes (half of which was flown by Eric, our bomb aimer, as I was
suffering from a boil on my forehead), we landed at Cairo
West. Three days later, after my release from hospital we took
off for a one hour and 50 minute trip to Lydda, near Tel
Aviv in Palestine. Unfortunately shortly after landing,
one of the aircrafts batteries exploded and we were sent
back to Cairo West for repairs.
Our aircraft repaired, we
flew for over four hours to Habbaniya, near Baghdad
in Iraq. The temperature upon landing was 127 degrees Fahrenheit,
the hottest I had ever experienced....The following day we
completed the trip to Bahrein Island in four hours. Happily,
we had only to stay overnight in the very oppressive sticky
heat. We had to park the aircraft on metal
planks to keep it from sinking into the sand.
The final day it took two hours and 20 minutes to
reach Sharja, a desert fort on the tip of Arabia where we dropped off mail
and two boxes, each containing 4,000 silver rupees with which to pay
the very fierce looking Arab tribesmen guarding the fort ... Stopping
only long enough to pick up some fuel and a passenger, we took of for
the three-hour flight to Jiwani, on the most westerly frontier of
India. Dropping our passenger off, we landed two hours and 20 minutes later at Mauripur, on the outskirts of
Karachi...
On September 20, 1943, we were ordered to deliver
our aircraft to Allahabad in central India. Although we seemed to be victims of
"hurry up and wait" for some time, I
managed to put in time at Allahabad by doing a few air tests for the
local maintenance section, which included flying some "clapped
out"
Wellington 1C aircraft that had survived operations in Europe, the
Middle East and the Far East. They were primitive compared to LN 320, which I
had now given up. In the meantime, I think I read every book that P.G.
Woodhouse ever wrote and plenty of others as well.
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