The insert on left was taken in DNG in 1943 and insert on right again of Jim was taken at Gawler 18th of March 2003
I first contacted Clem during the Christmas 1997 having read of his project to write the history of this Squadron in the magazine "Wings." expressing my interest this project. We exchanged several letters on my experiences, this was too much for me so I put these memories to tape giving him my permission to use them as he wished. These are my recollections and records from my notes and Pay Book of that period. I moved into the squadron in March 1943 well, my first pay after I was posted to 86 Squadron at Gawler in was in March 1943.
On or about the 15th of February 1943, a Squadron
Leader W J Meeham on active service with No 75 Squadron recieved
movement orders instructing him to proceed to Gawler South
Australia and take command of No 86 Fighter Squadron in
formation, his adjuant was to be Flight Lieutenant R L Marsh,
with Equipment Officer Flight Lieutentant C Allen, Engineering
Officier King, Barracks Officier Flying Officier Mackerl,
Catering Officier Flying Officier Lake and the Armament Officier
Warrant Officier A Hunt. We moved onto open farm land. There was
no landing strip just flat paddock with lots of dust. An American
construction unit moved in and laid a concrete landing strip,
large enough for largest aircraft. 
(Click on this link.) This unit also
erected a cookhouse and a mess for the airmen. The banks of the
Gawler river were very high and the Americans tunnelled into
these bank and built large concrete bunkers for ammunition
storage, one I believe was to be an underground hospital,
fortunately they where never used while we there there. In the
beginning things where pretty primitive for the squadron we
didn't quite have any accommodation other than tents which we
pitched along side a wire fence and the ground was pretty powdery
also to make it worse their was a plague of mice present.
Squadron Leader Meeham. He was an experienced pilot from North Africa and walked with a limp, obviously he had some kind of aircraft accident but he was a very experienced man and he was very disappointed with us as we were very green, not many had been in a squadron before. He would tell us when we were all on morning parade that the main problem is that "You havent got a squadron spirit:. You will need to develop such a spirit this, you will find be a great help and it will make this a successful squadron and assist each of you through the difficult times and situations you will face in the near future. Well! I think we did find that squadron spirit, as camaraderie was created and is evident to this day at the reunions when we get together. S/L Meeham was posted back to Australia four month before our tour ended he was replace by Squadron Leader SW Galton
During March and April of that year the community had fully accepted our unit as their own and to this day the ties between it and 86 Squadron Club of South Australia as are strong as they were in then. The other problem was the mice in plauge, these vermin got into every thing, kit bags, food bins, footwear, the air craft and the palliasses that we slept on. The tent lines were set along one of the boundry fences. The standard tent used used by the armed forces was a 12x12 ft ridge pole type that in the RAAF housed six men, ensure some comfort the C O had supplied by the Dept of Works enough 6'x6' flooring sections for each tent.
After 86 squadron left the area was further developed with a another runway and buildings that could service all of the aircraft in service even the heaviest bombers. In the post war period the area after war was used as the local airfield and later became Headquarters for the Adelaide Soaring Club. It was on the20th of March 2001 that a Plaque was unveiled on this site by the President of the South Australian Air Force Association to Honour the memory of the men who formed the squadron and served with it in Dutch New Guinea. One of these men was a Pilot Officer Ivor Hatcher a former resident of the area, By late April 1943 the Squadron was ready to move out. Rail transport was at hand and the first advance party was flown on to the Ross River Strip Townsville where the aircraft and personnel would set their first stage. a second advance party also moved out to an unknown destination.
The rail transport was open top goods trucks and the CO again with foresight commandeered the flooring to use as extensions to the sides of the rail trucks. Once under way it took the train nine days to reach Townsville. This was the first indication as to their desination, the effects of that train journey was nothing to what these men would have to survive within the next seventeen months. The local community knew that the unit was to move and staged a social dance in its honour, and by those who attended then can still recall the event. Another action of the C O was to procure a substancial supply of seeds of the popular vegetables. Our next principle stop was Horn Island.
Back to Chapter two.