BIOGRAPHY - Frederick John Inger - RAAF
Wing Commander O31424 - enlisted 31 Jan 1940, Discharged 2 Dec 1968 Dept of Air, Canberra
Born 3 Dec 1918 in Bondi, Sydney Fred Inger and at twenty one years of age enlisted in 1940 at Beecroft and was posted to Laverton Victoria.
1945 saw him in the Pacific over Borneo.
"There was an entirely different atmosphere flying the Far East compared to the European show. The risk from enemy action was considerably less in the Far East, but, really, the anxiety and fear was probably worse. [We had a] real fear of the Japanese and of coming down amongst them"
W/Cdr Lucian Ercolani, No. 159 Squadron RAF
"If you landed in the jungle, the chances of getting out were remote. You were briefed on what to do, but few made it." P/O Basil Hewes, No. 82 Squadron RAF
Flying Officer Fred Inger, pilot of No. 457 "Grey Nurse" Squadron RAAF had the misfortune to be placed in that position.
On 11 July 1945. in the afternoon of that day, the squadron was assigned just another armed reconnaissance mission to search for the remaining Japanese forces over British North Borneo. The squadron despatched four aircraft. Fred was flying a Spitfire Mk. VIII A58-633 as a wingman to the unit's CO, Sqn/Ldr Bruce Watson.
The formation was approaching their target area in North Borneo when at 5:10 pm the engine of Fred's Spitfire suddenly cut. Instinctively, he checked his fuel cocks, but these were in correct positions. He switched on the electric pump and oil, but with no results. A quick glance at the altimeter ensured him that he had to abandon the aircraft very soon, otherwise the altitude would be too low for a parachute jump. He called his number one, squadron CO shortly stating what he was going to do and
glanced quickly around the landscape to assess his position. There was a clearing with huts nearby.
In general, villages were to be avoided; they could provide shelter to the Japanese soldiers, or locals which were hostile to British airmen. Considering this, Fred decided to keep his course and bail out over some heavily timbered country. He slid the canopy back and undid his harness. In the stress of the situation, he forgot to trim the aircraft nose down before climbing out of the cockpit. Now, struck by the slipstream, he found it very difficult to get out. He pushed himself up with all his strength and fell clear, very nearly being hit by the tailplane.
He pulled the cord of his parachute and the canopy developed fully just a few seconds before he reached the ground. He saw himself falling directly towards a large tree.
Photo - Fred Inger in the cockpit of his Spitfire Mk. VIII
Pulling the side of the parachute sharply, he managed to steer clear of it. He cracked through smaller branches, striking a limb on the way. Then suddenly the parachute caught on the tree above him and he stopped abruptly. He didn't stop completely. Under the weight of his body, the parachute pulled through and Fred continued to slide down. Finally, the canopy stuck on one of the lower limbs and he rested hanging a few feet above the ground.
He could release his harness and jump to the ground. His stricken leg hurt upon the impact.
Examining it he realised that he tore his flying suit and rendered his dinghy unserviceable. This was bad news as there were many water obstacles in the area, and getting to open water presented his best chance of being picked up by Allied rescue aircraft. When the first shock disappeared, Inger noticed the sound of firing. Panic struck at first when he thought that there was a party of Japanese nearby.
Photo - Fred in the flying outfit demonstrates many of the items mentioned in his story.His waist belt carries pouches for E-3-J emergency kit, a supply of ammunition and pistol.
Then he realised that his aircraft struck the ground somewhere nearby and the sound came from the ammunition exploding in the burning wreck.
The first thing to do now was trying to conceal the site of his landing from the Japanese which were likely to search for him. He buried his Mae West under the tree. Then he tried to remove the parachute, but couldn't succeed, so he had to leave it as it was. The matchbox-size compass he had in his E-3-J emergency kit was of mediocre quality and he couldn't get a bearing. Judging from the position of the sun, he set out roughly towards the East and made his way through the jungle, hoping to make his way to the coast.
He had to hack his way over jungle-bound ridges using his knife. He had to put on his flying gloves to protect his hands, but even so his progress was rather slow. While proceeding along a ravine, walking in water, he saw an imprint of a service boot. The Japanese seemed to be in the area.
Approximately one hour before dark, Fredreached the top of a hill. It was clear of timber but covered with a heavy growth of kunai grass. There he decided that his badly damaged dinghy was of no further use. He was just in the process of hiding it when he heard a measured noise as of someone walking. He hid quickly in the grass and remained still for endless minutes as the voices stopped nearby. Close to the sunset, the noises finally moved down the hill and died away.
He was now wary and started to be hungry at the same time.
There were a lot of wild animals in the area - mouse deer, wild pigs and so on, but after the evening's incident he was concerned that a shot would give away his whereabouts and decided to endure without food, spending the night at the clearing. He chose a spot at the centre of the patch using a three-feet pile of grass to serve as a makeshift bed. He also tried to mend his flying suit and used some iodine off the escape gear, rubbing it over all the scratches on his body.
He put on his flying gloves to protect the hands and made a mosquito net for his head with three small silk maps provided in the escape kit. This was not nearly enough to keep the invasive insects away, but at least offered some kind of protection. During the night he remained half-awaken brushing off mosquitoes that he felt on his face. It started raining. Then he dozed off, waking up later with a feeling of something else crawling across his face. Violently, he shook it of. It was a snake.
At daybreak, Fred selected a high tree with clear approaches and climbed it to look around and try to establish his position. He could see the majestic massif of Mount Kinabalu and the coastline barely visible in the distance.
It was a large distance to cover in the jungle, without food and having to stay undetected, but there was little choice. He expected a search party to look after him from the air, and for this purpose he had a small mirror in his escape kit to try to signal any passing aircraft. Unfortunately, after the night's rain the sky was completely overcast, so the mirror was rather useless. He decided that waiting at the crest would be a waste of time and decided to proceed towards the coast, trying to avoid arriving close to the town of Jesselton which was held by the Japanese.
He set off North along a ridge. After some time, he turned East, climbing the steep edge of the ridge, then descending to the next one, climbing again and so on. Keeping his bearings in these circumstances was very difficult.
He checked his course by selecting a tree on the opposite side of the ridge, walking to it and then checking back to the tree he had left. Twice he saw a clearing in the valley with a few natives' huts and had to make detours to avoid being detected. In doing this, he had lost his bearings so he had to climb to high spots again and again to reset his course.
Passing through a stream of water running along the ridge, he stopped and tried to prepare a meal. Eating fruit or wild plants in the jungle was out of the question - many of the species were poisonous enough to kill a man. However, he had bouillon cubes in his kit. He took his vinylite map case and filled it with water. Then he put in a Halizone tablet to purify the water and two bouillon cubes. It took some time mixing with a stick for the cubes to dissolve, but in the end he had something like a soup which helped him to keep going.
Late in the morning he struck another clearing, then a very thick jungle which seemed impossible to hack through except for a narrow game path. Following it for some time, he run straight into a native man and woman. As he could not avoid them, he stopped and tried to make a conversation. Using the simple Malay vocabulary, Inger asked if there were any Japanese in the vicinity. He understood from their answer that there were four, approximately a mile away. He gave the man a razor blade as a gift, hoping that they would not share the news about their meeting. Then he left the path and headed in the Northerly direction, climbing a very steep hill and at times hacking his way through the jungle for approximately 3 miles.
It was now about noon. With all the physical strain of the day, Inger was becoming tired. His standard-issue light Australian boots were soaked with water. With their leather soles, they were not well suited for the ever-present mud and he started worrying that they would not last through the entire journey to the coast.
He struck another ravine and headed West. Soon he sighted another village in an opening. Encouraged by the outcome of his first encounter with the natives, he decided to see if the inhabitants could help him. He decided that if the villagers would turn hostile, he would use his pistol to get away.
To his relief, the people were very friendly and the head man spoke a little English. When asked if there were Japanese in the area, he replied that they were, but that he could made the coast without difficulty. Fred asked if someone could guide him to the coast. Fred tried to convince him promising a reward and that he would fly over his village with his aircraft and drop food for them as soon as he rejoined his unit.
The Chief agreed and provided him with two old men and a youngster. There was a narrow stream passing nearby, and they would be setting out in two prahus (canoes). Before leaving, Fred could hear the sound of aircraft circling in the vicinity. At this stage of the war, it could only be an Allied one. As the sound grew louder, he recognized it as a Catalina, no doubt sent out to search after him. In the Pacific, Catalinas were widely used as rescue aircraft due to their ability to land on water, large endurance and great downward visibility from the aircraft.
Fred assessed his means of alerting the aircraft and tied a map to a stick to produce a flag. For a moment, the Catalina passed overhead and he waved, but as the prahus were under the canopy of the vegetation his sign wasn't noticed onboard the aircraft. He knew all too well himself how difficult it was to spot any people or boats under from the air in these circumstances.
They set out on the water, rowing. The stream got progressively wider, forming the Easter arm of the elongated Sulaman Lake. Fred noticed that the water became salty, an indication that the sea wasn't far away.
After an hour's paddling, the Catalina, piloted by New Zealander F/Lt Wally Mills appeared again, circuiting over the jungle. Fortunately, there were now in the open area. Inger waved his improvised flag and signalled with the mirror. This time, Fred's commanding officer, Sqn/Ldr Watson, who was onboard the Catalina guiding the search, spotted his signals.
Facsimile - The Accident Report describing Inger's crash.
Photo - A contemporary notice in the Sydney Morning Herald describing Inger's adventure. Interestingly, the paper has concealed the fact that Fred had contact with and received help from local villagers. This was a normal practice during the war to prevent any reprisals on the civilians in the occupied territories.
The Catalina turned around and passed low overhead Fred dropping two messages. On the second attempt the message fell very close to Inger's prahu and he was able to recover it. The note was asking him to indicate by waving if the water was more than six feet deep to allow the Catalina to land. Fred inquired from the natives, they answered the affirmative and he waved.
At 3 o'clock pm Mills skilfully landed the Catalina on a stretch of water which was barely wide enough for the aircraft's wings to clear the jungle-fringed banks. Fred's adventure was over. Before departing, he gave the natives all the tinned foods carried by the Catalina. He also added his signalling mirror as the gift for the head man of the village. He knew that mirrors were highly regarded presents among the tribesmen.
Fred Inger won his way to freedom less than twenty four hours after he bailed out over the Japanese-occupied territory. His success was a result of his resourcefulness, which is readily evident from his story, and a degree of luck.
Fred's post-war career was also to provide some thrilling moments. While commanding the Target Towing and Special Duties Flight in 1947, he was obliged to belly-land a Beaufighter after collision with a tree. Later he survived a nasty helicopter crash, wrestled with engine failures in Lincoln bombers and went on to be part of the F-111 procurement program.
A modest man who would not talk about his own achievements Fred reportedly once said.
"telling stories was for other people to do"
Credits: John Inger Martin Waligorski
