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William Hallisey | Flight Lieutenant William Hallisey With No.230 Sqn, flew Sunderlands against the Japanese. Working as a customs and excise officer at the outbreak of war he was finally allowed to enlist in January 1941, in the RAF Volunteer Reserve. After training he became a Flying Instructor spending two years in Canada, sometimes flying anti-submarine patrols. Receiving an operational posting to 202 Squadron in April 1944 and based in Gibraltar as a 2nd Pilot on Catalina PBYs, he flew during Operation Cork to protect the western flank of the D-Day landings from U-Boats. In April 1945 he was posted to the Far East where he flew Sunderlands with 230 Squadron against retreating Japanese coastal vessels, where he also gave informal night-flying training. Following the Japanese surrender he represented the squadron to fly in the formal surrender ceremonies, then helped to ferry recently liberated Allied POWs out of Singapore and back to India. |
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Tropical Duties by Richard Taylor. On Wednesday 22nd June 1938 a new sound was heard over the humid streets of Singapore as four Bristol Pegasus radial engines heralded the arrival of the RAF's newest flying-boat. For the men of 230 Squadron gathering on the slipway at Seletar, the approaching aircraft looked formidable and even from a distance, they could spot the powerful array of .303 machine guns it possessed. 230 Squadron had been chosen as one of the first units to be re-equipped with the world's most advanced flying boat - the Short Sunderland. Richard Taylor's painting is a tribute to the outstanding Sunderland and the men who flew it in the Far East. As the sun beats down on tropical island anchorage a Mk III Sunderland from 230 Squadron unloads essential supplies at a forward base on an archipelago deep in the Indian Ocean. A second aircraft, breaking a patrol, prepares to land. |
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