Who was Fl/Lt A.E.(Bill)
Minty, and what did he do that deserves recognition?
Bill Minty did what was thought
to be every young man’s duty. But like a lot of young men at that time
he carried out deeds that - looked at in cold blood - were nothing short
of heroic. He was born and educated in Sydney, and when the war intervened
he was midway through a civil engineering degree at Sydney Technical College.
Volunteering for the RAAF he was sent to a Catalina squadron (no. 11) based
in Cairns, and there learned to lay mines, first as a second pilot, then
after completing one tour of ops, retraining as a captain and doing another
tour with 20 Sqn.
Minelaying. Mention that to European
ex-service people and they will come up with vague ideas of Coastal Command
doing something like that around Holland in aircraft that were too obsolete
to use in mainstream raids. Mention it to an Australian, and you will draw
a blank. However the minelaying missions carried out by the members of
Australia’s Catalina squadrons were long and arduous, rivaling the European
raids for length and hazards.
In Europe raids were usually carried
out by large numbers of aircraft operating over a previously mapped course
that had also been extensively photographed. This gave the crews an idea
of what to expect in the way of resistance, and landmarks or features by
which to accurately navigate. The concentration of machines also gave weight
to their defensive armament, and the moral support of not being alone.
Their flightpath was mainly over land, and there was a better than even
chance of succour after a forced landing, even ditching into the North
Sea gave you a good chance of a quick retrieval. Their target was often
marked by pathfinders in a manner that was usually visible for over thirty
miles, and precision bombing was carried out by special crews or squadrons.
If a specific target was to be hit,
the crews were given special training, flew simulated missions, often had
models of the target area to study, and were supplied with recent photos
of the target area.
Minelaying in the Western Pacific though
was a different ballgame. There were two Australian PBY-5 Catalina squadrons
operating out of Cairns that were the major and sometimes only long range
offensive arm of the RAAF. The Catalina is a sedate flying boat designed
for long range ocean patrolling. Not visualised as an offensive machine,
it has no bomb bays and only two hard points under the wing that are capable
of carrying 2000lbs each. As well as utilising these hardpoints, it was
not unusual for Cat crews to carry up to 300lbs of 20lb fragmentation bombs
on the floor of the aircraft to be thrown out over the target through the
fuselage gun blisters. They were very slow, but with great range
(and as Bill Minty often claimed, it also made them the only aircraft known
to suffer birdstrike from behind!) Until late in the war, most Australian
Catalinas were not amphibious, being the earlier models without undercarriage.
They were designed to operate from
sheltered bays, inlets, lagoons, and rivers, not the open ocean, hence
the hull plates are only made of 1.5mm sheet metal. To allow the aircraft
to carry more load, a large portion of the armour plating was removed,
along with the self sealing apparatus in the fuel tanks, some of the guns,
and a lot of the ammunition.
The missions required excellent navigation
skills as the target area was usually very small, say an airfield or in
the case of mines, a ten metre square of water, and ten hours flying away
over featureless ocean that was sparsely populated with islands that due
to Japanese occupation had to be avoided. (In fact the navigation was so
good that from mid 1942 the Cats were used as pathfinders for the American
heavy bombers.) It was known by the crews of the Cats that capture by the
Japanese was usually followed by beheading. The target was often a harbour
or river entrance and to get the most effect the mines had to be laid with
an accuracy that has only recently been re-achieved, (this time by smart
bombs during the Gulf War).
To get these results the crews were
given a datum point to work from. This was a known fixed point, usually
on land. Once at this point the aircraft was flown at a precise height
and heading for a period that was timed with a stopwatch until the mines
were released. This may not sound too difficult, but consider that to actually
get to the datum point the Catalina had to be flown for distances of up
to 1000 Nm. Not only that, but for the most part they had to be flown by
"hand" because the constraints of aircraft performance due to their overloaded
condition precluded the use of the automatic pilot. Then once at the target
the most precise instrument flying had to be undertaken, often in the face
of searchlights and enemy fire. When the task was completed a return to
base that took another ten hours flying. Missions ranged from fifteen to
twenty-five hours duration. Two or even three missions a week was not unusual.
Knowing all this you would expect the
crews of these machines would be pretty special. Not so. The crews were
standard aircrews, and whoever was next on the flying list got the job.
Intelligence was gathered by whatever means was available, often out of
date photographs, verbal descriptions by crews that had been to the target
area, and at times pre-war tourist pamphlets with photographs of the target
harbour. Then to top it all off, the mission was often carried out by one
or two machines. If more than one aircraft was going to the same target
they flew independently, and arrived at the target at different times.
A not uncommon occurrence was to mine or bomb more than one target on each
mission, or be instructed to carry out procedures to induce "alarm and
despondency" over a protracted period. An almost famous example of this
is the five hour continual harassment of the Bismark Sea convoy by Fl/Lt.
Duigan and crew with only four 250lb bombs! This convoy was later almost
totally destroyed during the battle of the Bismark Sea.
Fl/Lt. Minty was an ordinary chap of
medium build and stature. His manner was quiet and unassuming, but his
mind was extremely sharp and calculating. Despite having completed only
half of his civil engineering degree before joining up he had an excellent
grasp of the fundamentals of it, and had no trouble turning his knowledge
to aircraft. Known to both his crew and commanding officer as a man to
whom thorough was a watchword, he could at a pinch fill any position in
the crew and perform their tasks as well as they. Minty was known for careful
forethought planning, and determination. What follows is an account of
one operation that he was involved in. Though it appears to unusually difficult
and lengthy, the only really unusual thing about it was that it had to
be aborted.
On January 21/22 1944 Fl/Lt Minty and
crew were detailed to lay mines in Kau Bay, a central harbour of the Halmahera
part of the Dutch East Indies, about 1000 Nm north west of Darwin. Their
datum was to be a small wharf from where their run would be sixty seconds
at 85 knots, at mast top height. Moored near the wharf was a Japanese cruiser.
The departure from Darwin harbour was that day made more than usually difficult
by a long swell that Minty avoided by making a crosswind take off. Even
then, the aircraft was so overloaded that during the 2min 10sec take off
run ( as opposed to the normal 50 second run) the pilots had no forward
visibility due to their tremendous bow-wave that at times sent water over
the wing. Added to this was the fact that sitting so low in the water as
they were, rotating caused the rudder to partially submerge. This (as Minty
was wont to ruefully comment) was yet another occasion upon which a Catalina
had only become airborne because of the curvature of the Earth.
Whilst in flight to the target they
encountered the intertropic front and stormy weather. Gaining altitude
to clear mountains on the island of Ceram, the aircraft demonstrated yet
another of it’s traits, and began leaking heavily. To help control the
deluge, a groundsheet was rigged above the navigator and re-directed the
water into the bilge. Upon reaching the other side of the storm and having
flown on dead reckoning since Darwin, Minty took a star shot and when the
navigator returned with the fix they found that they were quite a way off
course. An alternative course was given and they approached the Halmaheras
from the west. The idea was to arrive at Kau Bay from inland, fly just
over the top of the harbourside mountain on minimum power, and glide down
to the datum point for the mining run. By this tactic, two things were
hoped for, the first was to make themselves very difficult to see, and
secondly to give them a clear low level run across the harbour. An added
advantage of this approach was that it would silhouette the cruiser against
the water enabling them to pinpoint it’s position.
Unfortunately upon arrival they found
cloud down to water level and Minty decided to abort the mission. This
was one of only two missions that he aborted during his entire flying career.
The next problem was how to get back to Darwin ( a ten hour flight) in
full daylight past Japanese held islands and not be seen. They dropped
to wavetop height and headed south while they discussed where to jettison
the mines. This duly done, they continued on and again encountered the
intertropic front. This time it brought violent winds as well as storms,
and the Catalina suddenly surged upwards at a rate of almost 1000 feet/minute.
Minty was able to control this ascent a little by putting the aircraft
into a thirty degree nose down attitude. As the weather appeared to be
slightly better ahead, he applied full climb power in the nose down attitude,
dragged the machine out of the upward surge, and decided to take shelter
in nearby Snake Bay on the northern coast of Melville island. Whilst riding
at anchor there, a trawler approached and they were informed that a small
supply of AvGas was cached there in 44 gallon drums.
Upon consultation with the flight engineer
and considering the consumption of fuel on take off, Minty decided to avail
himself of this opportunity and taxied to the indicated area. Using an
electric bilge pump they began transferring the fuel, but halfway through
the second drum contact between the fueling nozzle and the wing was momentarily
lost and the resulting spark ignited the fuel. The rear third of the Catalina
wing is skinned in doped fabric, and when the flames reached this they
quickly took hold and destroyed it. the crew hurriedly vacated the craft
in fear of an explosion, as there were tongues of burning AvGas erupting
from the fuel tank. However when no explosion was forthcoming, Minty went
back aboard armed with a cornsack soaked in sea water. This he draped over
the fuel tank opening, and then dived off the wing. This action successfully
extinguished the fire, and they clambered back aboard to survey the damage.
Apart from the fact that a large portion
of the lifting surface was missing, the aircraft was in surprisingly good
condition. A radio message was sent to Darwin appraising them of the facts,
and eventually the flight commander arrived in another Catalina, bearing
dire threats from the CO. At this stage Minty was justifiably upset. Having
had to abort the mission, sleepless for over thirty hours, and now through
no fault of his own having had his aircraft partially destroyed and being
threatened with a Court Martial for it, he became somewhat agitated. He
burst out wrathfully to his flight commander that it was patently ridiculous
that the fueling system should rely on a man holding the fueling nozzle
in continuous contact with the wing to prevent sparks. Why, he continued
heatedly, hadn’t someone thought of attaching an earthing wire ending in
an alligator clip, to the pump? The clip could be attached before the pump
was started, and there would be no more problems. (This is now mandatory
procedure in general aviation. Ed.)
Bill Minty and his crew were ferried
back to Darwin for some much needed sleep that night, and returned
the following day to somehow get the Cat home. Fortunately the minesweeper
HMAS Mercedes was there, and they followed it out to sea whereupon a 200m
towline was attached, and they were unceremoniously towed the 200Nm back
to Darwin.
The threatened disciplinary action
did not proceed. Bill Minty survived the war and lived in Canberra until
his death in 1995.
