UK

041678 - FAR EAST RAF LIBERATORS: Attacking The Japanese: Roy Andrews and 215 Squadron

By Matt Poole

Between 11 October 1944 and 8 April 1945, wireless operator/air gunner Roy Andrews flew thirty-five missions on Consolidated B-24 Liberators of the RAF’s 215 Squadron, operating out of Digri airfield, then Dhubalia, in Bengal, India. Some of Roy’s flight times surpassed thirteen hours per mission. One of his ops was an exercise near the India-Burma border, one was an Air-Sea Rescue mission close to the Japanese-held Burmese mainland, and thirty-three were either bombing and strafing, or just bombing, attacks against targets in Burma and Thailand. These included three sojourns (one in 1944 and two in 1945) to destinations along the infamous Thailand-Burma ‘Death’ Railway, notorious for the suffering of Allied PoWs and Asian labourers who had been forced to construct nearly 258 miles of rail line through an often inhospitable landscape.

Roy’s tenure on 215 Squadron coincided with the unit’s use of the American-built four-engine B-24 Liberator. Before he arrived, 215 Squadron flew bombing operations aboard twin-engine Wellingtons against the Japanese in Burma, and after the Liberator period it flew twin-engine Dakotas on transport duties.

Roy began his Liberator operational flying as his crew’s second wireless operator, meaning that he was then primarily responsible for manning one of the single .50-calibre beam guns. He became his crew’s first wireless operator – the main W/Op – on 13 January 1945 and flew his final twenty-five ops in this role. As an officer he was called upon to fulfil other 215 Squadron duties, such as censoring outgoing mail, preparing and distributing jungle kits before flights and collecting and inventorying unused kits after flights.

Roy’s intriguing insight into his Hong Kong and England upbringing, his pre-war evacuation from Hong Kong and relocation to the Melbourne, Australia area, his military training, and his varied wartime experiences in India, in part taken from his own words, are presented in the book. Every one of his thirty-five ops and his two longest non-operational Liberator flights are described in detail.

Historian and author Matt Poole added much information about 215 Squadron, including an analysis of Digri and Dhubalia airfields and of each 215 Squadron Liberator op not flown by Roy. Among these were three more combat flights to Thailand-Burma Railway targets and two other railway destinations near this stretch of legendary horror.

Illustrated with a collection of high-resolution photographs, including aerial bomb-strike photos from Roy’s ops and many never before printed images, this book presents a glimpse into the rarely featured episode of Far East RAF operations during the Second World War. In what is the most comprehensive summary of 215 Squadron’s B-24 Liberator activities ever attempted, all of its three longest non-operational flights (each greater than eleven hours in flying time) and seventy-seven missions aboard this iconic bomber are examined.