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LAC James Edward "Jim" Fryatt 631210 RAFVR 1918–2008 Jim Fryatt had not long turned 20 when, in January 1939, he went to Uxbridge Depot and joined the RAF. Perhaps his prescience was prompted by a sense of adventure and thoughts of a change from the building trade in Willesden. Now thrive the armourers... Encouraged by his step up and with posting overseas imminent, he and Joan married on 6 March 1940. Within a week his posting was notified: he was on his way to the Middle East and 211 Squadron in the Western Desert as an AC1 Armourer. Made LAC Armourer in October 1940, he stayed with the Squadron through all the Middle East period and the transfer to the Far East. Jim was one of the lucky ones, escaping the fall of Java in March 1942 aboard 205 Squadron's tender RAFA Tung Song to Australia. Later serving in India, in June 1943 Jim Fryatt was fortunate once more, posted home to No 1656 Conversion Unit at Lindholme in South Yorkshire. There the training of aircrew on Lancasters was to draw Jim into further technical expertise, at No 10 School of Technical Training for the Boulton-Paul turret course, to continue with 1656 HCU as it became No 1 Lancaster Finishing School. Late in 1944, the unit disbanded at RAF Hemswell in Lincolnshire, where Jim saw out the end of the war. He marched out of the RAF from No 102 Personnel Despatch Centre in January 1946, an LAC Armourer with the Africa Star and a good conduct badge. Like others of the Squadron, Jim's fine photograph collection is a mixture of his own shots and those of his mates, including Len Cooper, Mick Dudman, and Len Abbs . These and others appeared in his pictures or in turn photographed him. The collection grew until it filled a cake tin, which he carefully carried through the tribulations of war. Jim’s son Adrian keeps the family tin of photos safe today, and has kindly made part of the collection available for this site. Few of the originals bear any description, so the following notes have been provided variously by Adrian, by Len or Mick, and by me. 1. Tradecraft
Jim, third from the right, back row. ‘H’ Flight Uxbridge, the day after signing up. Cap on for once, and a huge grin.
Fusing up 20lb fragmentation and 40lb GP bombs by the look of it. There are 4 armourers in this shot, two with 20-pounders and 2 with 40-pounders. That looks like Jim, 2nd from the left, seeing to a 20lb. The armourer far left and next to Jim also has a 20lb. The third seated man and the man bent to his task each have a 40lb to deal with. The containers in the foreground are the wooden crates in which bombs were transported. For close attack of MT they liked using 20lb F and 40lb GP bombs together with say 2x250lb GPs. The 20lb and 40lb bombs were carried either on the external Light Series Carrier (the two LSC racks mounted beneath the fuselage abaft the bomb-bay), or in Small Bomb Containers (the SBC, the reusable rectangular metal canister winched into the bomb bay). While 500lb bombs could be carried, they were not often used in the Middle East theatre at this period. They felt that, depending on the target, a mixed load of smaller ordinance (the Standard Small Bomb load) or 4x250lb offered more chance of a hit. See, for example CFR Clark SSB references, and Blenheim armament.
Small bombs aplenty and ordinance crates aplenty, but there are no SBCs in these shots. Sound enough for repeated re-use, the complex alloy electro-mechanical containers could not live out in the open bomb dumps at the mercy of wind and weather. The mysteries of the SBC and LSC are further discussed in Blenheim armament.
Menidi Armourer’s store perhaps? No accommodation like this in the Desert. On the wall behind is a Mark IV series bomb diagram, showing (left) the separate tail unit, and (right) the wooden transit collar used to protect the rear fittings of the bombs before arming. 2. Aircraft
Two Flights, en echelon, over the UK. A fine picture, however Jim came by it.
211 Squadron had completed their conversion from Hinds to Blenheims in May 1939, well before Jim joined them. Still, this is a very nice Hind shot, whoever took it and whenever it was taken. The 4 gallon petrol tin was typical of desert refuelling and the under-wing bomb mountings can be just be made out. Although no firm identification can be made, the aircraft is certainly a Hawker Hind and may very well be of 211 Squadron, “somewhere in the Middle East...” as they were wont to say. Very likely taken in mid-1939 or earlier (no camouflage paint).
Almost undoubtedly taken on the same occasion. Obscured in the background, another Hind. Might that be Jim, back to camera? See also Len Cooper's photos of a 113 Squadron Hind, the Audax and Hind page, and Geoff Grierson’s log extracts of Hind operations with 211 Squadron.
Mercury clatter....a really great shot of an engine test, with the cowlings off both engines. Again unidentified, but almost without doubt a 211 Squadron aircraft and probably in Egypt or perhaps the Sudan.
Chocks in, the dust flies as both engines are run up. Perhaps the same aircraft? A shot to make the groundcrew shake their heads. The Stokes filters needed frequent maintenance to cope with these conditions. 3. Places: Egypt
El Dabaa, the “tented encampment” (Wings Over Olympus, Ch 2). This photograph shows the main RAF camp, sited alongside the railway station, in April 1940 (from the copy in Geoff Grierson’s album). By July, the Squadron had moved to a newly selected landing ground at Qotaifiya, where a number of Landing Grounds were established LG 20 Qotafiyah I - on the northern fringes of LG 104 LG 21 Qotafiyah III - 9 nautical miles southwest of Dabaa LG 104 Qotafiyah II - 7.5 nautical miles northwest of Dabaa LG 105 El Daba - 2.5 nautical miles south-southeast of Dabaa In the photograph, a train stands short of the station proper, left of centre in the background. The white tower immediately to the right of the train is a not a lighthouse: it is the mosque for the local villagers. Immediately to the right of the mosque are the station buildings, while the rectangular railway water-tank can be seen further to the right still. Among the tents in the mid-foreground are two Photographic Section trucks and other MT. Behind them lies a substantial man-high sandbagged enclosure. A sharp result from Jim's mates in the Photo section: the graticule (mid bottom and right margins) indicates the use of an unmounted aerial camera. A short distance from the Mediterranean coast, El Dabaa is a station and goods siding on the railway about 200 km West of Alexandria, with El Alamein about 60 km back to the East and Tobruk over 500 km further West. The Western Desert was a big place. Dabaa's DLGs were established as part of the RAF expansion in Egypt that followed the 1938 Munich crisis. By mid-September 1940 the Italian advance had forced AC Collishaw (AOC 202 Group) to withdraw his HQ from Mersah Matruh, to stand with his forward operational HQ at El Dabaa while the administrative HQ withdrew further to the rear. El Dabaa was subsequently over-run in Rommel's advance on El Alamein during June 1942, only to be re-taken (somewhat battered and at some cost to the Germans) by Montgomery's 8th Army, in pursuit of Rommel after the 2nd battle of El Alamein in early November. The photographs in the AWM collection are poignant indeed, and leave no doubt at all that this is Dabaa: trees, tank, tower tell it all. By the time this small station and its sidings were in British hands once more there were many graves by the wayside. Note on spelling: the transliteration of Arabic to our alphabet with any semblance of accuracy in pronunciation is a topic that has long diverted better authors than I am. A good starting place for the casual inquirer can be found in Lawrence, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. 4. Places: Greece
The Armourer’s store and Photo section were housed in these workshops at the rear of the main hangar at Menidi
Another copy of this photograph is in my father’s collection, long ago fixed in his copy of Wings Over Olympus.
Again unidentified, the preceding pictures show the 211 Squadron ground party en route to north-western Greece in January 1941. The ground party from Menidi took 4 days to reach Paramythia, for a trip requiring a little over an hour’s flying time. The convoy journey obviously made an impression on the groundcrew, from the shots retained by Jim, by Len Cooper and by Mick Dudman.
This shot shows a now familiar landscape: the boys at smoko on a brisk day at Paramythia. A Photographic Section truck lies beyond the two tents. Whose is the motorbike (far right mid-ground)? Between Jim, Mick Dudman, Len Cooper, Check Checketts, my Dad and “Doc” Squire, a fair idea of the Paramythia operation can be gathered.
Squadron Leader Nedwill was killed in an a Gladiator accident 26 March 1941. Here the RAF funeral party on 28 March is proceeding through the town square, perhaps en route to the service. Jim has several other photographs of this sad occasion. The Paramythians lined the streets for the final cortege. 5. Places: Java
RAF personnel wait in the street on a dull, sultry day in March 1942. Perhaps assembled near the station, they are still in orderly fashion if not at parade dress. This photo is in both Mick and Jim’s collection, Jim’s the sharper of the two. Mick’s photo is captioned Poerwokerto.
And what does the world-weary airman do while action looms?
The boys brew up in the disused sugar factory (see So Long Singapore). The last few photos from Java all show the same symptoms of heat affected film or processing. Mick Dudman and Jim Fryatt each hold a number of these photos in common. Apparently Mick took them.
Jim’s copy is sharper than Mick’s, while Mick provided the caption
6. Faces Egypt and the Western Desert
Manning a gun emplacement. Behind Gibby is a Lewis gun mounted for AA work, its characteristic waterjacket quite unmistakable. Swede taught the boys a fair bit about guns, as Len Abbs’ narrative makes clear. See also the photo below.
Swede (r) and others grinning madly. Have they just set up the ancient Lewis on this high angle AA mount? Perhaps the same gunpit as above, although there is another in the background. El Dabaa
Jim caught slightly unawares. The framed picture is of Jim and Joan on their wedding day. Packing case cupboards, and a nice firm bed (straw-filled palliasse, a couple of boards and 4-gallon petrol tins. (057) Port Sudan
Relaxing with Johnnie! There are some very young faces here and some possibly familiar, but no names and no date. Jim labelled very few of his photos, but this is one of them. Menidi (Tatoi)
Jim Fryatt (R) standing in the door way. The late Bill Pettitt, a FE PoW survivor, is seated (L) with mug and sandwich. That just might be J Fearon, standing, next to Jim. The other two seated are familiar from other pictures but unnamed. The Armourers section, along with the Photo section, occupied the workshops and stores at the rear of the main hangar at Menidi. The sign above the door is of the previous occupiers, an EVA (ie HAF) unit. In the EVA, the Greeks had 14 front line Mire (Squadrons), among which there were four Fighter Mire equipped with PZL P24s, and three Bomber Mire (one each of Potez 63s, Blenheim IVs and Fairey Battles).
Outside the workshops by the main hangar at Menidi. Unknown Sergeant with arm in sling, Bill Pettitt centre, tall man on the right possibly J Fearon or possibly “Mush” Hale. There are pictures of both men in other Sections, confidently identified: on balance, the man on the right seems to be Fearon. Grim-faced, all. Java
The original of this photo is shot from such a low angle that the foreground is out of focus.....Adrian Fryatt suggests this might indicate the group is on a railway platform, photographed by someone standing in the permanent way. Mick Dudman’s copy is identified as Poerwokerto, while Jim Fryatt long ago wrote Tjilatjap on the back of his. There is a station in both towns. Three of the group are fresh from the barber’s shop and one has managed to secure some “essential supplies”.
Mick Dudman’s identification so far: The man in the peaked cap at the left is R Stewart. Hatless, and with his back to Stewart is M Charlton. With sola topee and bottle of beer at foot is C Cooke. The almost obscured head between Charlton and Cooke is T Quirke. The lanky lad with his head almost out of the picture is J Fearon. Australia or India
Arriving at general agreement about this 211 Squadron group across the mist of sixty years seemed beyond reach. Ron Lovell had believed it to be Fremantle, but despite diligent searching, has been unable to find any building like it. Brian House describes it as "all we had left of 211 when we came to Australia". Mick Dudman has since firmly dated his own print as 30 May 1942 and placed it at Derha Dun in India. Other sources suggest that on arrival they were issued with RAAF blue kit, but Bill Baird confidently recalled (when presented with a photo of tired airmen from Java in Blues at Spencer St Station) that the 211s had still been in tropical kit. The presence of the Bedford QL 3-ton GS truck would be very unusual in Australia, though not unheard of. Finally, a perhaps telling interpretation. The British Council in India, in answer to an enquiry from Adrian Fryatt, noted the highly decorative sawtooth edge of the bargeboard at the end of the eaves. This, it seems, is characteristic of the Indian Hill Country. Not mentioned in the correspondence are the steel sun awnings over the right hand window. These two features are found together in India: they are not found together in Australia. On balance then, probably Derha Dun, although all the known men in this photograph had stepped off the Tung Song at Fremantle. In any event, a rather happier group, identified after multiple contributions as follows: And home again
Joan and her Jim, safe at last (cap on, too!) and safely captioned long ago. Post-war, Jim and Joan migrated to Australia and sunny Queensland to bring up their young family. Joan passed away on 14 July 2003. Jim, residing happily in care but increasingly frail, passed away peacefully on 19 July 2008 at the age of 89 years.
www.211squadron.org © DR Clark & others 1998–2008 |
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