This is an account of an epic flight of 7000 miles from Cambridge to Colombo in 1946 by a young gentleman in a small single engined aircraft taking 70 hours of flying time.
The pilot, a graduate of Trinity College, was a member of the Cambridge University Air Squadron. A pilot of Air Transport Auxiliary and a member of the Royal Observer Corps, he was also a keen motor sportsman, the owner of several mouth watering sports cars including a 41/2 litre Blower and a 3 litre Bentley, a brace of Frazer Nash, and an SS airline saloon. He was a member of the Cambridge University Automobile Club and an organizer of the first ever motor races to be held in England after the war at Gransden Lodge airfield.
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| The aircraft that made history |
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| Mother greeting James while father J.P.0. tries to take a photograph. |
James was the son of the Maha Mudaliyar, had a very privileged upbringing but in reality was a very modest person. In his application to the Air Ministry for registration of his aircraft he had entered his nationality as 'Singhalese'. This had been scored out and replaced with the word British in the same pen and same hand as had signed the permit. James went on to win the Attanagalle seat with a huge majority and served the country as Deputy Minister of Health and later of Finance.
His trip was no silly undergraduate prank but carefully planned and executed as the meticulously maintained logs and notes included in the book will show. He did not carry a radio, depending on his navigational skills and he very nearly came a cropper only once and that due to faulty information given him by the airport of departure. The aircraft he flew was a single engined two seater with a 90 HP aircooled engine. These types of aircraft were designated 'army cooperation' and used for spotter duties. Due to their short take off and landing capabilities (STOL) they were used to deliver and collect top army brass operating from roads and fields near the front. Better known craft of this genre would be the Feiseler Storch and the Westland Lysander whose duties are now served by helicopters.
The faithful little plane brought him safely home except for an emergency landing at Santa Cruz airport in Bombay due to sand in his oil filters. James had foreseen such an eventuality before he left but this had been discounted by the manufacturer.
A trip of a third of the way round the world in such an aircraft would be like an overland journey of this length driving solo in a VW Beetle. Incidentally in the 1950s James used to drive Beetles in the Monsoon Reliability Trials with great distinction.VP CAO was then given on permanent loan to the Air Academy where it served to train many pilots before it unfortunately crashed and burned killing both its occupants. The wreckage after lying forlorn in a hanger at Ratmalana has now been restored to its former glory by the staff of the SLAF museum but for the moment only as a static exhibit.
The route James had planned had of necessity to cross three seas but in spite of a request from the Maha Mudaliyar he could not cross the Alps because the Auster could not fly that high.
Being just after the war however all the airfields on his route were under British control where his CUAC blazer with the RAF buttons got him VIP treatment. His refuelling stops were on airfields which any person who followed World War 2 would have recognized, Castel Benito, Marble Arch, El Adem, Mersa Matruh, and Cairo.
The later part of this trip took him across an Arabian peninsula still unsoiled by lines in the sand where the hot inhospitable desert did not even have smooth areas for an emergency landing.
He noted that Bahrain and Sharjah were little better than a few tin huts. Then on to an undivided India and home.
The book is highly recommended. It is not the story of an adventurer suffering against terrible odds but rather a good humoured account of a hazardous journey undertaken with excellent planning so that the travelogue unfolds smoothly.
The fact that it was a tremendous feat in the history of aviation in this country makes it very special.
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| VP-CAO
over France |
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