James H. "Jim" White, Warrant Officer RAAF

[Mike K]

I know a local chap here . His dad was a RAAF pilot in WW2 and he has a lot of interesting pics taken by his dad , some taken during actual operations . He flew Stirling bombers mostly and was considered a top pilot , he was even involved in the moonlight dropping of agents into occupied Europe and glider towing . He came back from the war a somewhat damaged individual, like so many others . As his tour ended, his crew got a new pilot , sadly the whole crew were killed when the plane crashed . Mike

[Mike K]

I sometimes spotted the old chap who lived over the road here as drove out of his place . He died around 10 years back. Anyway his daughter was telling me he was a navigator in the RAAF . She said, he was with a RAF squadron in India flying in Liberators . We looked it up and it was 355 RAF squadron . There is a pic of him in the AWM archives with his mates at the airfield in India ! The squadron was bombing the Thai Burma railway among other things.

[Mike K]

I was speaking to my friend in town yesterday , this chap's dad was a local Gippsland lad who joined the RAAF , he became Stirling pilot in we think 299 squadron , I posted the pics somewhere on this forum . Phil was telling me his dad had flown missions to drop SOE agents into Norway , on one trip the poor SOE guy lost his nerve and wanted to return back to the UK. . As they were circling the drop zone , the crew opened the door and pushed the chap out ! Going by the markings on his Stirling we think this is the unit http://www.pegasusarchive.org/arnhem/batt_299.htm Jim towed a Horsa over to the Market Garden operation.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Mike, what a cruel story, having to bump out a fellow soldier to do his job. Possibly never made it back? Shows that even SOE guys were humans after all and scared shitless of their job.

[Dan Martel]

General question about the Stirling Mk IV, the paratroop and glider-tug version. From what I've read the Mk IV fleet consisted of converted Bomber versions and newly built off the assembly line. What I can't seem to find out is, if when being converted or from the factory, was a door provided for the paratroops to exit from or did they jump from a hole in the floor? And how many paratroops could the aircraft carry?

Thanks,
Dan.

[Mike K]

Yes Dan , I think the Special ops Stirlings had a rear exit for the parachutists probably done at the factory .

Jim grew up in Neerim South and did a apprentiship as a slaughterman before the war. He barely survived the 1939 black Friday bushfire holocaust, he drove his car into the Latrobe river .

[Mike K]

Few more pics. We think he did some training in Canada as we have a few pics from there. The group of paras are meeting their assigned aircrew , this was done for morale reasons. We believe most of Jim's original crew were killed in a post war mission to Europe when the Stirling they were assigned to ( not Jim ) crashed. We discovered that Jim's particular Stirling he flew ( EASY AS EVER ) survived the war and was sold off for scrap around 1947

[Bob Carriere]

....was taken at Nepean point in Ottawa...... overlooking the Ottawa river...

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

....was taken at Nepean point in Ottawa...... overlooking the Ottawa river...

Few more pics from Jim's old album. Snow, looks like Canada somewhere !

[Mike K]

Bob Baynes & Jim, Shropshire 1943

[Mike K]

.........................................

[Mike K]

Think this is Sheperds Grove airfield UK

[Grant Bowker]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

Few more pics from Jim's old album. Snow, looks like Canada somewhere !

I read the license plate on the propellor driven snowcraft in the first photo as being from Manitoba.
WRT the second photo - According to a bit of web snooping (starting with wiki, then http://pastforward.winnipeg.ca/digit...erman/id/2367/) RCAF No. 2 Manning Depot was located on the fairgrounds at 1010 Victoria Avenue, Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, R7A 1A9. Based on the address, this might be the present Brandon Armoury but details of the buildings don't match in photos. On the other hand, quite a bit could have changed during renovations/repairs over the years. (there are also references to No. 2 Manning Depot being in St Jean, Quebec however I think this may have been a 50s-60s location.)

4th photo - CPR Docks Vancouver are no longer working docks. The caption on the photo at https://www.flickr.com/photos/37908073@N04/3842903702 ststes they've been taken over by Canada place and the Convention Center https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ca...4d-123.1111209

[David Dunlop]

Hi Grant.

The photo with the snow machines was taken at the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg. Those are the main floor windows and parking like that used to be on the north side of the building, facing Broadway Avenue. Just off image to the left was Osborne Street and the old Labatts Brewery and Beer Store.

The No. 2 Manning Depot in Brandon was in the old Livestock Building from the Brandon Fair. Converted to human occupants during the war, it became the post war hockey arena for the Brandon Wheat Kings. It was located just down the street from the Brandon Armoury but was torn down a few years ago to make a parking lot for the Brandon Police HQ.

David

[Grant Bowker]

I did wonder about the police building area, about the same address but Victoria Sreet East as opposed to plain Victoria Street. Neither area shows evidence of a fairground, and fairgrounds are usually on the edge of town...
I'm pretty sure other Manning Depots were also frequently the fair livestock buildings. They were large, usually only used seasonally and I'm sure a lot of the recruits felt they were being herded like the former occupants of the buildings.
The legislative buildings make sense. Cut stone construction wasn't usually the choice for cheap, fast builds....

[Dan Martel]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

The photo with the snow machines was taken at the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg. Just off image to the left was Osborne Street...

Being a font of totally useless information, I know that the Manitoba legislative building was constructed the on the site of the original wooden Fort Osborne, the location of the Permanent Force garrison in Winnipeg and HQ of Military District 10. When the fort was torn down and the garrison moved to the new Fort Osborne Barracks in Tuxedo Park, the legislature was built where it once stood. Hence, Osborne Street.

Originally Posted by Grant Bowker

I'm pretty sure other Manning Depots were also frequently the fair livestock buildings. They were large, usually only used seasonally and I'm sure a lot of the recruits felt they were being herded like the former occupants of the buildings.

No 1 Manning Depot in Toronto was located in the aromatic Equine Building of the Canadian National Exhibition. Recruits were allocated four to a stall.

Cheers,
Dan.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

Jim grew up in Neerim South and did a apprentiship as a slaughterman before the war. He barely survived the 1939 black Friday bushfire holocaust, he drove his car into the Latrobe river .

Hello Mike,

What was Jim's full name, rank, unit etc.?

[Mike K]

Hanno
James White , he was a Warrant officer which I think was the rank between a F/sergeant and a Pilot Officer ? We had a look on the NAA website but his service records have not been released yet. Think you can pay the NAA a fee and they upload the records.

The post card with the names in red, I think these guys were the trainee pilots onboard the ship that went to Canada with Jim. SFTS = Secondary Flying Training School

[Mike K]

Lineup of JU88 ? aircraft was taken just after the war , think Jim went over to have a look around but I will ask Phil for more info. Primary school Neerim South. And Harvards ?

[Keith Webb]

What a great series of photos and stories. The German aircraft look like Ju188, a development of the Ju88.

It was a fairly common exercise for Australian pilots and navigators (observers) to be sent to Canada for their SFTS which stands for Service Flying Training School.

Thanks for sharing these Mike.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

Hanno
James White , he was a Warrant officer which I think was the rank between a F/sergeant and a Pilot Officer ? We had a look on the NAA website but his service records have not been released yet. Think you can pay the NAA a fee and they upload the records.

The post card with the names in red, I think these guys were the trainee pilots onboard the ship that went to Canada with Jim. SFTS = Secondary Flying Training School

Thanks Mike,

I have changed the title of this thread to his name as a little trubute to the man and his deeds. Also merged with an earlier thread of you. Hope that's alright with you. Thanks for sharing this story.

[Keith Webb]

The photo outside a Nissan hut looks like it might have been at his Elementary Flying Training School in Australia. The Harvard/Yale data sheet would indicate that at his SFTS in Canada he was being streamed for single engine aircraft, but on arrival in the UK many of those were reclassified for multi engine training which was likely where the demand was.

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

Hanno
James White , he was a Warrant officer which I think was the rank between a F/sergeant and a Pilot Officer ? We had a look on the NAA website but his service records have not been released yet. Think you can pay the NAA a fee and they upload the records.

The post card with the names in red, I think these guys were the trainee pilots onboard the ship that went to Canada with Jim. SFTS = Secondary Flying Training School

[Ed Storey]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

....was taken at Nepean point in Ottawa...... overlooking the Ottawa river...

No that photo was not taken in Ottawa as the Nepean Point statue holds an upsidedown astrolobe.

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

The photo outside a Nissan hut looks like it might have been at his Elementary Flying Training School in Australia. The Harvard/Yale data sheet would indicate that at his SFTS in Canada he was being streamed for single engine aircraft, but on arrival in the UK many of those were reclassified for multi engine training which was likely where the demand was.

Ok yes that all adds up with what the photos are describing . Never heard of a YALE aircraft ? Was it a Canadian design ? OK found this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_NA-64_Yale

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

Ok yes that all adds up with what the photos are describing . Never heard of a YALE aircraft ? Was it a Canadian design ? OK found this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_NA-64_Yale

One of the identical twin Payne brothers, John and Alf who became Spitfire pilots both trained in Canada on Harvards and Yales, it was a crash in a Yale ("I rolled it up into a ball") which made it easy to distinguish one from the other after Alf had a front tooth broken.

[Mike K]

James White service records are now online. The file is 39 pages long.

WHITE JAMES HENRY : Service Number - 409974 : Date of birth - 23 Apr 1921 : Place of birth - Unknown : Place of enlistment - MELBOURNE : Next of Kin - WHITE JOYCE
Contents range
1939 - 1948
Series number
A9301
Control symbol
409974
Access status
Open
Item ID
5524114

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

The photo outside a Nissan hut looks like it might have been at his Elementary Flying Training School in Australia. The Harvard/Yale data sheet would indicate that at his SFTS in Canada he was being streamed for single engine aircraft, but on arrival in the UK many of those were reclassified for multi engine training which was likely where the demand was.

Three of my father's uncles flew multi-engine aircraft in WW2. The smallest man Darryl R Paige was supposed to go to fighters, but was streamed as stated to where the need was greatest. He did all his trips, and came home with a DFC for kicking burning incendiaries out a hole in the fuselage of their Halifax. Older brothers Milton and Osborne Paige were lost on missions. My brother did a pilgrimage to Denmark for one.

My aircrew story is about the puzzlement I felt as a youngster watching these fat, gray haired, men from town marching on 11 Nov parades. There was no Legion, but a parallel veteran's service club called the Army Navy Air Force Veterans or ANAVets, which was operated "The Hut". How could Mr. Sample, Mr Beaulieu, or Mr Doherty ever have been able to fit into the cockpit of a fighter aircraft, I remember asking myself?

[Mike K]

Have found some more about Jim's crew . My friend, Jim's son, informed me that Jim had done his tour and apparently his crew still had some ops to do before finishing their tour. Sadly, Jim's crew were all killed in a post-war flying accident.

I believe that the picture of Jim and two of his crew, all standing with bicycles has revealed that the chap in the centre, W/O Alan Griffiths, the bomb aimer, was one of the crew who died in the accident along with 25 other occupants of the Stirling.

https://www.wartimememoriesproject.c...ew.php?pid=498

Have also confirmed that Jim flew on at least three trips towing gliders and resupply missions to 'Market Garden'. The squadron records, held in the UK national archives, reveal that Jim's aircraft towed a glider with a Jeep onboard. Jim also did a few trips over to Norway dropping SOE agents .

Part of the war diary of 299 squadron: Jim White is mentioned as taking part in 'Market' on day one and also on D+1. Market was the codename for the airborne operation and 'Garden' was the ground offensive codename. Jim White's aircraft was badly damaged by flak during another Market op D+6 .

[Mike K]

More comes to light !

A few days before the official German surrender was signed, 299 squadron flew over and landed on a Luftwaffe controlled airfield in Denmark. Jim's Stirling 'EASY AS EVER' can be seen in a photo of the line-up on the German controlled airfield.

I believe Jim also was involved in operation Varsity, the Rhine airborne landings. I will download more of the unit diary.

Jim did many dangerous ops and had some hair raising experiences, engines conking out and flying at low level up Norwegian fjords in the middle of the night with the throttles set at way past the red line. You would think he would have got at least got a DFM or some similar medal, no, all he got was a 'Mention in Despatches' Very sadly, he was damaged by the experiences he went through and he died young.

Looking through the dairy, the squadron did a daylight SOE drop near Brussels to supply the Belgian constabulary. The UK national archive files are free but the process is rather convoluted, you first register as a user by email , then you select the files you are interested in and place it them in the 'out basket' , they then provide you with a download link. The files are in PDF format which is handy.

[Mike K]

A few reports found in TROVE: this refers to the crash where the bomb aimer, Alan Griffiths, was one of the unfortunate victims who perished in the Stirling.

Also found JH White in the list of MiD recipients that was published in the newspaper

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) View title info Wed 27 Jun 1945