Memoirs of GD Fell

At the end of September, we were told that we were to return to the UK for a major refit. This was to prepare us for service in the Far East.

We travelled back to the UK via Gibraltar and arrived at Londonderry, where we disembarked our aircraft, before taking passage to Woolwich where we went into the King George V dry dock to carry out repairs and have a refit for service with the Far Eastern Fleet. During this refit, our DF equipment was changed from the FH4 to the FV4. The difference was that the frequencies that could be D F’d were in the very high frequency range of 30 to 300 Megahertz. This also meant that we were no longer equipped to monitor the German U Boat frequencies. With the new equipment we now had another new, and totally different, operational duty.

The FV4 was to be used for guiding our planes back to the ship when on operational duty. The refit lasted for about two months, during which the whole ship’s company were able to get three weeks leave. This was achieved by half of the ship’s company being on leave whilst the other half stayed on board, carrying out essential duties.

I was on the first party to go on leave and before I left I asked the Master at Arms, who was also in charge of the mail, if he would send on to me a parcel I was expecting. He said that he would and sent on to me a parcel containing 1,000 cigarettes. This had been sent to me by my mother under a scheme which allowed cigarettes to be sent to forces serving overseas duty free. The parcel arrived at Carlisle about two days before I had to return from leave, so my father got the benefit of the majority of them.

During the time we were at Woolwich, it was a nightly event for the air raid sirens to sound, heralding the arrival of the ‘Doodle Bugs’,

or V1’s, over London. You knew you were safe if you could hear the sound of the engines. When the engines stopped, you were in the danger zone as the flying bomb was about to land.

When the refit was completed we had to carry out trials to get the ship, and Ship’s Company, fighting fit. My main objective was to ensure that we, the Tel(S)’s, became acquainted with the FV4 equipment, and that it was working accurately.

On January 11th 1945, we set off to join the East Indies Fleet and after an uneventful voyage through the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean, arrived at Cochin in India. When we passed through Suez we were issued with a daily ration of lime juice. This was to give the crew vitamin C and most likely was where the British got the nickname ‘Limeys’ from.

We also had to take a tablet called Mepacrine each day to protect us from Malaria. I believe it was a substitute for quinine. This tablet had an unusual side effect of turning your skin yellow.

At Cochin we were able to go ashore and one of the first things I noticed on the quayside was a large crane, not just any crane, but one which had on the side of it, “Made by Cowans Sheldon Carlisle”. Would you believe it, this crane was made literally within a stone’s throw of 100 London Road, and more than likely my father or brother had helped to build it.