55 coy RASC Malaya 1958

By Norman W Doctor
23347972 National Serviceman 1956-1958,
Civilian trade - electrician, and Army trade- air despatcher.

Having completed my apprenticeship as an electrician in August 1956, it took till the middle of October before my calling up papers arrived. I had to report to Aldershot for my induction course with the RASC, and after a couple of weeks I was sent to Blandford Camp for training, and as I could already drive lorries and motor bikes my training was very easy. We were at the camp for six weeks and on completion of training were allocated to other units. Mine was Regents Park as a staff car driver, but when your pay was only 30 shillings a week and you had allotted 10 shillings to your mother I'm afraid London seemed very daunting! Then they said that if you went on an Air Despatch course you would get flying pay, so that was it, and we were sent to RAF Watchfield, 47 Coy, RASC, AD near Swindon. The course took 4 weeks and off we went to Woolwich Arsenal for a week to wait before going to Malaya.
 

The G.O.C. Malaya Command, Lieut-General Sir Roger Bower, K.B.E.  C.B.  inspects55(AD) Company R.A.S.C.   

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RAF Watchfield, 1957	55 Coy, RASC	55 Coy & 22 SAS Paras	Norman
Airdrop leaflet	Despatcher check notes	Beverley	Valetta at KL

As we were flying in a civilian aircraft and landing in unfriendly countries so we could not wear our uniforms, and the journey was to take 4 days, which included a night stop in Karachi. We flew from Stansted, which was just a nissen hut for the departure lounge, and the aircraft was a Hermes. After many stops we arrived at Paya Lebar Singapore, and taken to the transit camp at Nee Soon where they issued us with our tropical uniforms, and after a week we were taken by train to Kuala Lumpur Airport in Malaya where we were to remain. Our unit was 55 Coy, RASC, AD, and on arrival I was put in the MT section and worked as a dispatch rider. After a couple of weeks I was informed that I was being transferred to a detatchment at RAF Changi, Singapore where they trained the RAF pilots to drop supply packs, There was only a Sgt., a Cpl., L/cpl., and 3 drivers there, while air drop crews flew in for a couple of weeks then returned to the Kuala Lumpur unit. Nice little number. One day my pal, who was company clerk, phoned me and told me that he had put my name down for a para course at Changi.
 

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Getting ready	Valetta	Paras at DZ leaving Aircraft	5th Jump at Seletar, 1957
2nd Landing at Seletar	Air Despatch BREVET	Kemar platoon, 1958	NAAFI break
Jungle Survival course, 1958	Tree jump Kajang	Sid and Doc	Blackburn Beverley

The people on the course came from all units in Malaya, and it lasted 5 weeks. All jumps were from a Valetta aircraft, which took off from Changi and dropped us at Seletar 20 miles away, where after completing 8 jumps we were given a parachute badge to clip on our uniform. They told us that we would get an extra payment of 21 shillings a week, but it was only while we were on the course! After a spot of bother at Christmas 1957 at Changi I was returned to KL and put on flying duties, as all air despatchers had to complete 40 flights to obtain their Brevets.

Our duties were one day packing and next day dropping supplies, and all flying personnel had to complete a Jungle Survival Course at Kota Tinghi in case the aircraft came down in the jungle, which took a couple of weeks and wasn't very nice. It made you realise what the patrols had to endure, and they were in there for weeks. It was about this time when they had an exercise, in which all personnel who had completed a para course were to be dropped at Kajang about 30 miles south of KL. Having made the jump, which was in what was listed as a black area and being on active service, we were awarded full Parachute Wings.
 

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Sand ballast	Packing supplies	Jock Grubb 1958	Malayan Police supplies
Waiting for DZ	Packs away	Packs leaving the plane	Beverley dropping paras
Paras	Multi drop,1958	Valetta 1958 airdrop	Dropping Heavy lift

Unfortunately, one of our aircraft on a supply run crashed, and the RAF crew died but the despatchers survived. During my last few weeks at the camp I worked in the cook house, where you started early and finished at noon, which gave us a chance to go swimming and sunbathe prior to embarkation, which was on the troopship SS Nevassa from Singapore. The journey took 4 weeks and we called in at Colombo, Aden, Gibraltar, Southampton, and then by train to Bordon where we were demobbed mid October 1958. Looking back it did me no harm but I was glad that being a tradesman I had a job to go back to.
 

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Supply Pack

Coy funeral 1956

Lone survivor

Norman Oct 1958