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mmunition, Medical Suppliers etc, would need a parachute drop, so we would go in at 600 feet. The time over the dropping zone was normally about twenty minutes, involving six,or seven runs over the target area. On several occasions, the operation had to be aborted due to interferance by enemy aircraft.
On one occasion returning from a supply drop my aircraft ws chased by two enemy Zero's and we only got away by diving into cloud, and then dropping right down to ground level to lose the enemy. It worked!!
About this time, I was engaged in a night operation to rescue some eleven British soldiers left stranded on Akyab Island. The Japs were expected to take the Island in a matter of days !Unfortunately, the pilot of my Dakota got the runway mixed up during the darkness, and he put us down in the middle of a bomb crater ! The result was the aircraft was a right off, and we, who had come as rescuers, now needed rescuing !
During the following day, the Japanese bombers gave us a real pasting, and during the raid, I was very much aware of the fact that a Zero was following me flying at almost ground level, and bullets were kicking up the dust a foot or so to my right,I got down the slit treench alongside the runway going at twice the speed of sound !!
Eventually, two days, and several air raids later, another Dakota from 31 Sqdn, flew in at night and took us all back to Chittagong, All's well, that ends well!!
I have a log book recording rather more than 300 hours operational flying. Never had a parachute or as much as a peashooter to defend ourselves with. Not bad going for an engine fitter !!