Mutiny in the RAF - Secret History
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- čas přidán 11. 01. 2019
- The Royal Air Force Mutiny of 1946 was caused by slow demobilisation and poor service conditions following the end of World War II.
In reality the mutiny was a strike action, beginning at Karachi and later spreading to 60 RAF stations in India and Ceylon, including the largest base at Kanpur.
Later declassified reports have shown that British troops were retained in India by Clement Atlee’s Labour Government to control possible unrest caused by the Indian independence movement.
The RAF Special Investigative Branch was dispatched to quell the mutiny and the resulting interrogations and kangaroo court trials ruined many lives.
From UK C4 1996.
Brilliant documentary. I remember my father telling me about this and how angry they were being stuck in India, in his case, until 1947. Volunteered in 1941, posted to India in 42, and served in Burma, India Celyon until 47.
And that they had no home leave in all that time.. My father was almost 5 years in N Africa & even with Malaria was not cas-evacted home.
Mirrors my dad's experience.
@@caahacky Same same mine. Six and a half years starting in N Africa including El Alamein, then Monte Casino being casevac'd to Florence to be patched up, back to his Regiment (Sherwood Foresters), then Eggwhite as he called Egypt, then Palestine Mandate. Finally makes it home and his wife's cleared off with a yank and left my elder brother with his Grandma. What a lovely war.
A fantastic documentary. I had really no Idea about this, but in the dim and distant past of my childhood I vaguely recollect my father saying something about this. He was an ardent trade unionist, and felt that these men were treated abominably by the RAF and worse by a Labour government, who he felt had betrayed the men serving out in the empire when they should have come home to be demobbed. He was in the RAF medical branch and ended his war service in Schleswig Holstein and on the Danish Border, in December 1945, to travel home through the ruins of Germany. He ended up at RAF Cardington, in Bedfordshire to be demobbed finally, In late February 1946 after nearly six years service. God bless him.
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My father was blackmailed by the RAF after he went AWOL from a processing camp in England after he was repatriated as a POW. Apparently he and a mate went into the local town for a few beers, the deal was sign up for 3 more years or forfeit your POW back pay ( 2.5 years). Safe to say he got back to Salford in 1946 penniless.
I served a long time in the RAF after joining in 1960. I knew that there had been unrest overseas after the war but was unaware of the scale of it. It was really quite shocking the treatment meted out to these unfortunate airmen.
Thank you for this exposure of a history which was hidden from me despite my father's 24 years of service in the RAF and my 5.5 years. The RAF did not really improve much though, for much of my service I lived with all other airmen at RAF Fairford in rudimentary accommodation of 16 man huts made of single layer concrete block with a corrugated roof, no insulation and the rain came in and filled the light fittings, for ventilation there was a 2 ft square hole in the end wall with 3 angled planks in it. During my service I was run down by a landrover whilst on the airfield, the senior NCO's in the rover were trying to scare me but miscalculated, as I was thrown in the air I heard one shout "We hit him" I suffered a fractured skull and broken collar bone, I lost consciousness that evening and was unconscious for 4 days I was never attended by a doctor but when I awoke and made it to sick bay was told by the doctor to go back to work, I went home instead and of course was listed as AWOL. I was blamed for the entire event. FUCK THE RAF!
Maybe you should have done what USA GI's did to their crappy officers during Viet Nam war. Using hand grenades thru their barrack windows.
@@arturolcbarcelona7649 I doubt that RAF non Regt personnel had access to grenades. Everything would have been in the armoury. Also fragging in peacetime on an English airfield can hardly be blamed on the Viet Cong and who wants to be arrested for murder?
Its not just the RAF.... its just the human condition to put "others" into despised categories. The piss off with the RAF is that they claim to classless and egalitarian...... hypocritical bastards.
Totally outrageous! All of those convicted should have their convictions quashed and their good name returned to them. A great documentary about a subject that I had no knowledge of.
We're you a part of mutineers or had your family there.
@@alfredawomi2340 I didn't think that I look that old! No family there either.
@Hello Paul how are you doing
@@paulbradford8240 Good thanks i hope we can get to know each other and can you suggest a way we can talk off here if you dont mind
@@jennifercapps105 Aye, aye, we got ourselves a stalker here !
British foreign policy was largely unchanged, Indian independence was still 18 months away, so if thousands of airmen were returned to the U.K., it meant that thousands of new conscripts had to go out to replace them. As for fighting fascism, a 19 year old mechanic or fitter or store man in 1946 wouldn’t have done very much of that. On the other side of the coin I remember early in my RAF career, being told by ex-India hands the resentment felt at their being taken off aircraft going back to the U.K. to make space for the last viceroy, Mountbatten’s, carpets to be sent home. One small point of detail, the accused in a court martial does not wear his hat.
@Hello Corporal how are you doing
@Tim Prosser While we're at it correcting inaccuracies, Simbalist should be spelled Cymbalist.
@Tim Prosser just another senior officer doing as he was commanded by those in Whitehall above him.
As an ex R.A.F. signals operator I was surprised and deeply moved by this. I have never heard of this incident which is typical official policy as when posted to Singapore in 1966 I was unaware that there was a war going on which I knew nothing about until I got there and to this day it is still rarely mentioned. I was a volunteer (at 15 years old) in the late 50's but met National Service Men. They had worse quality uniforms and less pay than us regular guys. However they were often better educated than us and very competent at their jobs. I am so pleased that these guys never had to serve long prison sentences and of course it was a disgrace that they were considered mutineers rather than strikers - seems the only violence committed was by the establishment. I had joined when I was a brain dead kid so I have to confess I was very unsuitable military material once I grew up, and did leave before my commitment was over to spend the rest of my life as a rock guitar player. To illustrate the lack of morality within British military recruitment - the advert to volunteer for the R.A.F. was in my children's comic.
Great to read your comment @ jack freeman
@@gordoncampbell100 :)
Thanks Jack
Had to smile at the first writing on the engine cowling Dum Dum. It's now Calcutta's airport and we had to drop in there en route from Nepal to Singapore in a C-130 to pick up fuel. We didn't need to, but it was a condition of the overfly by the Indian authorities. Taxiing in at Kathmandu I emptied two suitcases of redundant children's clothing out the back of the Herc as we were always followed on the taxiway by the local youngsters. 1971, no perimeter fences in those days!
I've been a keen student of British and European history for 66 years and I found this documentary to be a real eye-opener.
I had no idea that these things had taken place and I'm rather shocked at learning about it!
What Pigs those Officers were.
I'm not defending them, but they were being told what to do and doing it. What is the difference between their acquiescence with a higher authority and that of the German soldiers that they were fighting the year before?
@@paulbradford8240 My whole life I’ve heard that the German excuse “I was just following orders” is no defense at all. If it was wrong, it was wrong.
@@itsjustme4848 I agree that it was wrong, but that defence was outlawed by the prosecution at the Nuremburg Trials. What position does that leave someone in? Obey orders, or be shot? Army induction then, not so much now, created a group of people that will follow orders unflinchingly. That mindset was what got soldiers off the beaches at Normandy and the poor soldiers out of the trenches in WW1.
My Grandfather (an NCO) spoke of an incident when a man in his company was ordered to blow a bridge, despite there being civilians on it. The man protested and was told he would be shot if he refused. My Grandfather told me he was shot. He wouldn't say by whom, but would say no more about it. I rather fear that my Grandfather either shot him, or more likely had to blow the bridge. They were ultimately forced to surrender. The only thing that he did say about it was the family never got to find out how the man died.
War is hell and put under pressure, in those circumstances, I'm sure many people did things they were ashamed of.
@@paulbradford8240 At last someone speaking sense.
@@paulbradford8240 I agree with much of what you say here, but then I don’t understand your initial comment. You say you’re “not defending them, BUT...”. Making it sound like what follows is a sort of defense. Were you saying if it was wrong for the Germans, it should have been wrong for the British? Or it perhaps shouldn’t have been wrong for the Germans? I’m not arguing, just really confused by your initials point.
This was a hard video to continue watching, especially part 1, the more I watched the angrier I got. When the former officers spoke I was so angry, I'm glad no one was home with me at the time. The video ended 20 minutes ago and I'm still angry. God bless the rank and file for their service for freedom during the war and the unbelievable treatment they received as thanks for all they gave.
The class system in British society was brutal and cruel. God bless the mutineers.
It still is.
An enlisted solider is NOT ALLOWED to become an officer.
Class oppression still exists.
Let's deal in facts, I know of several enlisted men who later become officers.
@@davidcarter6737 such as?
In the British military, enlisted men CANNOT become commissioned officers.
Fact.
@@NiSiochainGanSaoirse My father was in the RAF his boss had joined as an enlisted airman as a ground radio technician, he became NCO aircrew and was then commissioned and flew as an AEO in Valiants he then retrained as a pilot, was a flying instructor and flew Victor tankers. So your statement is complete and utter bollocks.
Nothing in UK has changed. The class system is alive and thriving. Just look at our present government.
My father had his aircrew training terminatedin May 1945 and was shipped to India to work in stores. Although we have documentation for 1943 to1945 he kept nothing from 1945 to 1947 in India and never spoke of those two years. I am currently requesting his complete service record from 3rd Party Disclosure Team at RAFCranwell and wonder how close he was to these events.
I think many here would like to know what you find out or don't as I suspect will happen. If he was involved on the periphery they may well have expunged his record or it has become "Lost"
My dad was taken of aircrew training and trained in Japanese morse code and went to India, I believe, quite late in the war.
Disgusting how the officers were treated so well versus the NCO's whom were treated like shit! Good officers share the same burden as their soldiers.
I did 25 years in the paras , crab ruperts (RAF Officers) are a bunch of cunts , but WTF was the station Warrant Officer and Senior NCO s doing FFS ? -in the Army , Warrant Officers and SNCO's robustly point out any shortages/hardships affecting the lads , ( Field Marshall Sir Bill Slim on leadership ) " Don't sit down , drink or eat until you are sure your men have done so first " -problem is , crab ruperts are mainly a bunch of civvie managers wearing the same suit.
@@jaquesdaniels2964 Spot on mate. ex RAF.
No, they carry a greater burden than their soldiers in having to take responsibility and care of the men under them and also to be prepared to lead them to places where sometimes many will be at risk of dying. That's true of the "crab ruperts" as much as anyone else. And the price of that is often them taking greater physical risks too. Just look at the rates of loss amongst junior officers.
@@llewev No officer's were fed ,''old buffalo meat"or died from illnesses due to poor conditions in the Maharaj's palace after WW2 in India according to this documentary.
@@alanle1471 As well as added burdens, rank also has its benefits. True in every military organisation of note since the Roman legions and before and still today.
What kind of Officer would think it's ok for officers to live in luxury while their men lived the way they were forced to live ( BRITISH OFFICERS} SICKENING
All of them
Those British officers should have been flogged for an hour straight.
@@carolynwertelecki698 I understand that women of your character can find lucrative employment in the more perverse sectors of prostitution, which might somewhat sate your hatred of men.
Most of the officers I had experience were spoilt Ruperts. The C.O was a reasonable man, as he rose from the ranks and had life experience!
This "mutiny" was caused by the high handed, pompous, disdainful disregard of volunteer fighting men by ruperts who believed themselves to be superior. The same pompous pricks who thought then, as they still do now, that it was perfectly aceptable to try to utilise Military men, equipment and establishments as free labour and resources to further civilian corporation agenda's and private commerce.
Quite right
@Dr Moriarty There is, indeed, a long history of involuntary servitude to satisfy the caprice of king and country.
Your apt description of the fuckn POMS is so spot on, you used the words "pompous pricks" you should have used the words "fuckn arseholes" which is a better & a truer description!! Otherwise as I said you are spot on!!
The highly-decorated U S. Marine General Smedley Butler (d.1940) realised (and wrote) that he and his men had been suppressing democracy in Central America for the benefit of Wall Street and the big bankers. He called himself 'a gangster for Wall Street'
@@brendonrutherford5118 No worse than the Aussie tendency to mope around with giant chips on their colonial shoulders.
As an ex member of the UK armed forces this story does not surprise me at all, people in the UK armed forces get treated like shit
It still goes on today
@Barry Hunt. Really, who would've thought that Barry. This is an eye opener for me as a former soldier. What we are shown across the world by the British media, is, service personnel regarded highly in the UK, especially veterans and disabled veterans, so this is not so? God bless you Barry mate. Robert Wilson. Veteran Soldier. RNZIR. Malaya 1961/63
My uncle told me his unit, Canadian army. One officer was shot and a British officer was rotated in. This new officer wanted the Canadian soldiers to parade in the middle of a battle zone. The guys in my uncles unit told the new officer to fuck off.The new officer pulls out his pistol and threatens to kill anyone who disobeys. the guys in the unit turned their sten guns on the British officer. Put the pistol away or your dead. The officer backed down.
@@daddybob6096 I was not talking about the media I was talking about the management
So true. Google the case of David Clapson to see how veterans are treated by the Tory Govt. He was starving and couldn't afford to keep his insulin in the fridge. He died penniless.
This tragic story just show how easily the authoritative British legalese such as he military and the whole of the present legal system is corrupted by arrogance. position and money. There is no justice unless they say so.
just look at those 1400 white girl's at rothchester....
Dad was in the RAF at this time in Austria...I wish he was still around to ask about this...I also served in the RAF, am a keen historian but have not read or heard of these events until now. Thank you for posting.
My dad joined as a bomber pilot in 1942, he was never an officer, but a warrant officer. He wasn't demobbed until 1947, he was flying Lancastrians and Dakotas, He told me that is was flying the so called leaders of the country to Africa so they could enjoy big game hunts. He'd had enough of it by that time.
Never heard of someone flying lancastians ,,, maybe have a drink with one, my grandad was a mosquito pilot, they really did bite
Lancastrians. ...?
Before you have a go I buried my 99 year old grandad last week , one of the last of his squadron, he didn't understand covid
@@stephenlowton2539 The Lancastrian was a conversion from the Lancaster Bomber. Not many seats, but at the end of WW2, my Dad went from Bomber Command to Transport Command and flew VIPs around. He told me about a long trip from UK and ended up in South Africa, he said they stopped over in Cairo. He also had a chance to fly a Mosquito, he said it was a great plane. He also said that all ranks were demoted by one rank, he went from Warrant Officer to SSgt, but then went back up after a few months. I don't if that happened to Officers. But he was glad to get out , he said the attitudes RAF changed after 1945. He also took part in Operation Varsity flying a glider, he hit a chimney as he landed, he was carrying ammunition, the load was too heavy. When he landed, lots of Germans ran out of the farmhouse and surrendered, so he used them to carry a crew member who was injured in the landing. I've still got his camouflage smock with pilot wings.
@@stephenlowton2539 Sorry to hear that. My old man died in 2016, he was 92
During WW2, casualties were sent to recuperate to small towns near Calcutta, also TB patients. A Scots Guard unit mutinied against pay and took over a fort and entrenched themselves. They had to be physically taken over..
My Grandfather was in the RAF stationed in India pre WWII. He hated it. Apparently he found the food 'too bloody hot'.
Been hoping somebody would upload this
My father was in the air force over there at that time, he died of yellow jaundice, over there in 45 it makes you wonder with the conditions that were shown in the video.
Jaundice means yellow..... I think they call it "hepatitis" now....... nearly killed me in '61..... and I've not heard of it since. My dad was a noncom pilot in Burma and got sent home just before the mutiny........ strange all these sad connections. ;=)
I would like to know the truth.
@@japeking1 Hey pal I could've pointed-out to buddy the redundancy of his prose or joked about how "Yellow" jaundice is the most popular SHADE of jaundice....Earth to Mister Spell-Check guy, Gill there is talking about his Dead father so why don't you cut the guy some slack??
Somewhere in the electroether is the long letter I've tried to send Gil Hunt. Seems to have vanished. Not that I have much to offer him beyond my dad's recollections that non com life was slightly preferable to being an officer and my personal experience that catastrophic liver failure can strike at random and surviving it ( in my case ) was just as random ( my parents were told there was no hope for my survival ). We tell ourselves to "let it go" but most of us can't and then we realise that knowing or not makes no difference and we gratefully fade out. Cheers
japeking1 @
Fascinating!! I never knew about these strikes and the turmoil in Indian military
Watch Gandhi film , I support the Indians independence and also Great Britain for mmm , I wanna say the technology progress , as the Indian ppl live a bit better with it , I don’t think they would not without it , there would just be less Indians , a long hard road for progress , there would always be those who take advantage of those who cannot resist
@@leefithian3704
I just read that it is estimated that Britain ripped the equivalent of $30 trillion USD out of India from 1750 to 1947. India essentially paid for the UK's War efforts in WW1 & WW2.
@@cdnsk12 I’m sure colonizers benefits are a part of history , just imagine how much the moguls took , Persians , bunch of cavemen took from each other pre written history , always something going on lol
@@leefithian3704 Exactly & now the upper caste take from the lower caste (always have done) in India. Nothing new under the sun. Same in every country, biggest criminals rule the roost under the management of the central banking cabal who are the top dogs.
@@leefithian3704 Not to mention the irony that the men are thinking "we came here to fight fascists and now you have us being fascists." I mean, when you really think about it, Hitler's biggest mistake was probably taking over countries where the people had the same skin color. Otherwise, nobody might have noticed.
In 1947 the Royal New Zealand Navy also suffered a widespread mutiny under a Labour Government: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_Royal_New_Zealand_Navy_mutinies
@Hello John how are you doing
My father used to say you needed to look no further than the RAF to find apartheid (during WW2.)
I read the autobiography of the founder of Pakistan's special forces (SSG), Colonel A.O Mitha last week. He describes how he faced racism from the British officer class while serving in Burma in WW2. If the arrogant British officers can do this injustice to enlisted British soldiers and airmen, imagine what they did to the Indians in their own country.
Ya gotta admit, the British do irony like none else, even when they don't mean to. The Raj began with a mutiny and ended with a mutiny.
the Raj existed for long before the Mutiny though
Contrast the RAF mutiny of 1946 with the Connaught Rangers mutiny in India in 1920. This was a protest against the conduct of the Black and Tans in Ireland at that time. One man, Private Daly, was executed by firing squad following a court martial. Two years afterwards most of the Irish regiments of the British Army including the the Connaught Rangers were disbanded following the creation of the Irish Free State. In effect this started the process of dissolution of the British Empire.
No, the dissolution of the British empire was not begun in 1921, most of Ireland was given colonial rule rights, adding that area to the empire. 1921 was a dissolution of the UK, 26 counties went to the empire.
@@robertewing3114 A moot point! 1921 led to 1949 when Ireland left the Commonwealth.
Perhaps the words ‘ in the 20th century’ should have been added after ‘Empire’. I had quite overlooked the happenings of 1776.
@@johnbanim978 Yes 1949, no 1776, I did not refer to the empire of any previous century. Dissolution in the 20th century, some even say Neville Chamberlain began it, I do not. He said to Halifax on his deathbed, I have felt better the past days, dissolution I suppose brings relief!
He laughed, wrote Halifax, only he does not relate it where his memoir refers to that last meeting, as if maintaining the establishment tradition of excluding Nevilles jokes from his speeches!
See Butterfly in the Well for more Chamberlain, www.Butterflyinthewell.com
Mutiny on the Bounty, BTW, that was about the women, not harsh management, and I wonder if the Admiralty trialling the captain was only a smokescreen to avert the public saying, who could blame them!
All articulate, politically aware men.
Ordinary men and women were regarded as crap then....and still are.
The arrogant so called elite Remoaners from left AND right do over Brexit and got a good punch on the nose for their arrogance.
@@trevorgiddings3053 I could never understand the belligerent behaviour from either side, especially not calling remainers traitors. Both sides consider that their standpoint is best for the country, a vote, especially with such a relatively small majority doesn't mean a person is going to change their opinion suddenly. Calling Brexiteers stupid is unwarranted and counterproductive. I have no dog in the race as I haven't been back to the UK in 50 years. I personally think the vote was emotional and not based on real facts but only time will tell. It doesn't seem to me that the UK is too far from the apron strings of the EU and is looking additionally for a senior partner in the USA. No country is independent, we all rely on each other so let's keep it civil, the fat lady hasn't finished singing yet
@Hello Bundy how are you doing
@@jennifercapps105 Very well thank you, my new dentures and I have become firm friends but my new Hollywood smile doesn't impress anybody here. In a Thai village most people have missing teeth but can't afford the unnecessary luxury of dentures, it is assumed that I, as a foreigner, can so to my great disappointment nobody tells me how handsome I look, how like them! It is the hot season now so I can only sit at the computer with the air-con on anyway, god bless the rice farmers.
@@albundy9597 Thank you God bless you too i hope we can get to know each other and can you suggest a way we can talk off here this is my jennnifercapps787@gmail.com write me
Just wish my Dad could have seen this. I remember him telling me about gathering on the airfield in the dark to take part in this strike.
I would have liked to have met him and chatted with him over a beer or three, Elisabeth.
My father was in the R.A.F., at the time of the strike., Always a very private man, it wasn't until quite late in life he spoke about the strike. I tried to find out more, sadly many had passed, who could have helped.
My father passed in 2012, I wished I could have helped him more., to put a piece of history to rest, for him.
Thank you for this film. For my Dad.
R.I.P. Scotty.
@@aussiepilgrim8620 I have a picture of my dad lying on his charpoy in the basha hut. Someone had chalked his nickname "The Voice" on the leg of the charpoy because he was so outspoken. He was a trade unionist and had seen his coalminer father treated like shit after the 1926 general strike back home.
@@caahacky It sounds like your dad was a great fellow and a man that you can be proud of
@@paulflah4562 Thank you Paul. He was a true gentleman. He was proud of his service in the RAF during the war (we played The RAF March Past at his funeral) but he hated injustice. I still have his sea trunk and kit bag full of memorabilia from his 4 years in India. India filled his dreams but his biggest reminder was a severe facial tick as a result of two bouts of Malaria.
First time I've EVER heard of this story from WWII... AMAZING! How many MORE shocking "hidden" or "buried" stories will emerge as documents are finally declassified? WOW!
That's why they accuse other countries of atrocities.. to distract from their own.
As an ex 1960's RAF airman (SAC), i am amazed by this largely unknown incident. I was born in Agra/India in January 1947, my dad serving in the British Army. We left India in August by troopship for the UK, he never mentioned this incident to me throughout his life. Some of the Officers in mentioned here were totally out of order. Recommending 15 years prison for a serving airman was ridiculous and he deserved to be reduced in rank. My father told me of an incident told to him by a driver in Egypt in 1943 who witnessed an unpopular Army officer murdered by his Sergeant whilst being attacked by German aircraft.on the retreat to Dunkirk. The driver was too scared to report the incident when he got back to the UK, but decided to tell my dad who didn't know what to do either, so left the matter open. He told me this in the 1970's assuming the guilty Sergeant would probably passed away by then. I did experience a couple of officer idiots during my 5-1/2 years in the RAF but fortunately they were in the minority and not pilots. This could be made into a great film - Ahoy any producers out there.
R. Braga
Brave SGT! thinking of the airmen under his command.
What a horrible story of British injustice against the men who had fought against fascism. Thank goodness some kind of justice prevailed in the end. Excellent production. Deeply moving.
What is almost unbelievable today, was the integrity and power of the British Trade Unions in those days, and their strong and effective actions against the RAF injustice portrayed in this excellent tv film. Today, most people are more concerned with entertainment and money . . .
My dad felt that he was real lucky to have been shipped to Britain in December 45 and avoided the "strike" that he would have had to join in with. Still wasn't demobbed until August 46. Was used as a "test" pilot for 6 months and after nearly getting killed numerous times ( disastrous fall in quality control after hostilities ended ) swore never to fly again...... which he managed till about '75.
He was sent "home" because he had done 5 years overseas without leave.
Whether US or UK, we can never trust or believe in any political party. In the end all politicians are only concerned about themselves and those that can further their careers.
sledge hammer........And no government is more skilled and adept at this as the Tories.
Any government/country run by aristocrats lacks real justice and the ordinary man is seen as a second class citizen by these aristocrats. Nowadays these aristocrats include those we call the establishment. They run the country and make politics to suite them and benefit them. I cannot understand why poeple admire royal families. These aristocrats live in wealth from riches obtained through slavery, exploitation and even murder.
bullshit, politics is the only route to dealing with political problems and an attitude of just pure nihilism does nothing but help the worst politician maintain power whilst real issues are left undealt with. This is the same government that brought in the NHS. You should always be sceptical with politics and politicians and demanding of things that you want done but giving up the ghost into cynical nihilism is the cowards way out in life.
@@hifimonkeykong You're as deep as a mud puddle and sharp as a bowling ball. At no point does the post make any claim of doing nothing or wringing your hands and crying. Everybody else understood the post to be watching and never trusting those we elect. Maybe when you're old enough to vote, you'll get it. Because now everything just goes over your head.
@@sledgehammer9739 hah, you quite clearly stated all politicians are in it for purely selfish reasons and one should never trust them or political parties. If this was meant to be some subtle point then it clearly failed on that level.
How smug that Officer sounded with his luxurious palace living, late night poker and bottle of whiskey. You would have thought that he and his fellow officers would have shown some concern about the conditions of the men under their control. Nothing changes in this country.
Despite what the "establishment" says, there ARE times when mutiny is fully justified. Even today these damned officers think they're better than everyone else. What they always seem to forget is that the enemy's bullets don't discriminate between officer and enlisted. 4 years of that crap in the US Army was enough for me. I'd never do it again knowing what I know now.
IDIOTS there was NO WORK "at home". !!
Check out the Port Chicago incident during WWII when black soldiers were ordered to load munitions onto ships with no safety regards to them and a ship blew up with many dead and injured. The survivors were then ordered following the explosion, to continue loading under the same conditions and without regard to THEIR safety! A few did refuse to continue work and were accused of mutiny and court martialed. They were exonerated a few years ago. This was a good example where mutiny may have saved lives.
@@Moshavnik7272 You silly fuk.. look at the BATTLE of IWO JIMA.. there was no SAFETY plan there either
certainly in some branches of British military like the Royal Marines there are a fair % of Corps commissions - promoted from ranks
Never knew about this and found it quite disturbing in some respects. I knew two ex RAF personnel , one a very dear friend who shared similar experiences when thousands of miles apart. Both were selected for pilot training and promised that regardless of the war ending would complete their pilot instruction. One was in Canada and the other in Rhodesia . When war was declared over , the Hangar doors were locked shut and all flying ceased . The trainees were then given the option of signing on for a few years and continue flying instruction , or going home for demobilization . The one in Canada had 12 hrs solo logged and the other had advanced where his next aircraft would be P 47 Thunderbolts in the Far east. Neither signed on and returning to England ended up lorry driving for the next six months as sick as pigs. A further coincidence, after demob they both returned to being apprentice electricians.
The Levellers, The various revolts historically in Britain: a noble antecedent.
Absolutely a disgusting way to treat our and other countries brave service men!!!
It was a terrible situation all round. The post war government were trying to peacefully withdraw from the empire and leave those places safe and the airmen wanted to go home. If the officers had behaved better this would likely never have happened.
My grandfather, rest his soul, was an RAF aircraft fitter in the second world war.
He served in Burma and mentioned this 'mutiny' upon his return.
Of course it was never public knowledge and no one really believed him.
There were similar events in post-war Canada which are rarely published. Nova Scotia, if memory serves. It didn't make the history books. The media has been "captured" by vested interests for a long time.
@@bobgillis1137 Amen
My father too..Alf ( Scotty ) Scott.
For Dad R.I.P.
My father served as a pilot in RAF Bomber Command in 1939-45 and afterwards he was seconded to BOAC for a year in 1946 flying to North Africa and the Mediterranean in C47/DC3 Dakotas. After a year he went back to the RAF on a permanent commission until ill health forced his retirement in 1960. In turn I served as an RAF Officer pilot from 1970 -1989. I've never heard of this and he certainly never told me.
Of course we had our training in Courts Martial procedure and had to be acquainted with The Manual of Air Force Law but I never took part in one in any capacity. A feeling always existed amongst my generation of officers that they were little better than kangaroo courts even though there would be or could be civilian QCs involved.
I'm not sure about the legality, even under Air Force Law, of that officer's threat to decimate his men if they didn't return to work. That would have been straight forward murder in my book but it's not the sort of bluff you could call.
Expecting a liberal government to be lenient is fallacious. Labor was the government in power. Power tends to corrupt and a liberal government doesn’t want to be perceived as soft so may be more likely to be draconian than conservatives. Other considerations are incompetence and stupidity by the establishment.
So called liberals have always been concerned with strong central authority they just want to be the ones with the power. Only 'tyrants' tread carefully with public opinion because they don't want to be assassinated. At least they do if they are wise.
There is a different between the rhetoric and the practice. In my experience, the more egalitarian rhetoric is employed, the more authoritarian the attitudes.
@Hello Fred how are you doing
These men had justice on their side. They were no communist or whatever organisation. They were civilians, who joined the forces, therefore ceased to be civilians, FOR as long as fascism was alive. BUT, because fascism had been gladly killed and buried their service in the military was no longer necessary. This is democracy.
Sir Keith has just gone down in my estimation of how great a guy he was compared to how he was during the battle of britain
My thoughts too...shocking really.
I am appalled at the "could not care less" attitude of the senior ranks and the SIB. It does however, show that the senior officers were completely out of touch with the situation, and the airmen's "lot", position and feelings which lead up the discontent. It does not surprise me to see that so many of the airmen were supporting the "rebellion" or strike, as it was referred to. I sometimes wondered if some of the officer ranks ever even cared about the conditions of the men, still referred to as "others" incidentally, when I was in the RAF, and yet as I say that, I know many officers were also close with the lower ranks, and had some understanding and sympathy for bad conditions. It is an experience one has to see or be involved in, to understand. The fact that anyone in trouble, deserved or not, is isolated from any real unbiased help is not good either.
The difference in leadership attitudes compared with US forces is remarkable.
At this time the US forces were racially segregated
Proud to learn that these R.A.F. personnel went on strick against being used to facilitate commercial activities and suppressing foreign people's .
David I think that both of us are saying the Samething and I also happen to agree with Alan Le in his Comment and it also shows how Snobbery the class system existed Something that World war two was Sopose to have eliminated
Yes, good on 'em - and shame on the RAF for the breach of trust in re-deploying these men who had signed up for the defence of their nation in a time of peril, and forcing them to fight in a foreign land and a foreign cause.
What a pity that this channel is incapable of making such well researched products as this nowadays.
It is , treating every one like mushrooms and fed with a diet of "Reality" TV along with singing and dancing shows and how your living room should look . keeping every one subdued .
@@rodden1953 Spot on. Of course cheap so called "Reality" programmes are cheap to make and people seem to love them.
@@barry-cq4xg They dont want people to know about things like mutiny's only plucky Tommy's,
@@rodden1953 mainstream media is reducing the TV watching population to imbeciles. Fed on a diet of talent shows and trivia. I gave up my TV and prefer instead to scour CZcams for great documentaries like this. Much more liberating.
@@snakemansnakes1 I too am watching youtube most of the time now i have it on my TV ,
My dad was in the middle of that as an L.A.C. at a Base Signals Depot at Sion in Bombay. This documentary tallies with everything he told me.
The strikes are mentioned in the old Yorkshire TV series " Airline" with Roy Marsden, produced in the 1980's. In Episode 1, he is a Flight Sergeant pilot flying a Dakota to the Far East on a trooping flight, and has a U/S (unserviceable) engine in flight. He lands at an RAF base in India with no emergency equipment, etc ready to meet him, so he is rightly miffed as he could have pranged the landing of his Dakota and made a real mess and a based SNCO tells him that the "erks are all on strike".
"Airline " was/is available of YT . Type Airline Roy Marsden, so you don't get the Easyjet series. A good series in its time, especially for looking at the Dakota's.
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
I didn't know about this but it's strikingly similar to the Warre mutinies of the New Model Army in 1647 when Parliament tried to disband it without its arears of pay and send it to fight in Ireland when its tenure of service was over, an event leading to the Putney Debates.
Absolutely terrible how one can volunteer to fight against tyranny of another country then suddenly find oneself the victim of tyranny at the hand of one's own country.
the officer who ordered the men to parade in the searing heat in their heavy uniforms should be jailed for being a bullying coward Pompous attitude of the presider of the Court Martial made me nauseous. Going to his grave with his inflated ego
Not a 'bullying coward', but an abusive psychopath!
@@dilly1863 👍. Disgraceful the palaces the officers lived in compared to the men that do the work. So glad I watched this video. Changed my view of the Brutish Empire
@@JerryFreeman265 Perhaps you should read up about Churchill and 10 Million Indians and why they died of starvation. Not a very pleasant story.
@@josephking6515 Thanks Joseph. I will.
@@josephking6515 "Churchill did everything he could in the midst of world war to save the Bengalis; and that without him the famine would have been worse."
How ironic, Indian troops helping to put down a mutiny by British troops...
Another reason why the working class should never trust the Labour Party
120 000 dead and nothing said
Yet they could not see in MI5 and MI6 Kim Philby and his lot that were really going to cause problems.
Part of the inner Club, the Establishment Old Boy. Like many of them were avid Nazi supporters in the 30's, including the tosser of a king..
The clique that included Philby and Burgess and MacLean was/is loyal only to itself, just like the 'Establishment' of which it was part.
I wonder if that could have anything to do with Kim Philby and his lot being shady spies and not shoving their ideas in the face of authority.
I was under the impression that the organisational culture of the RAF, was more egalatarian and liberal, when compared to the Indian Army , with its class feeling and snobbery. This video is very enlightening , and shows up the world of difference between the British classes.
I had no idea this had happened then. Thanks for the video.
Never knew about this .I'm 72 and worked in engineering for the first 16 years of my working life ,I was not very keen on trade unions ,but I've realised as I've grown older that the working class need them ,we once had the Labour party and the trade unions to look after them,now they have no one .Those who hold the power will use it to suit themselves before they bother about the workers .
There was alot wrong with the unions ,but at least you knew they were on your side
Unions were only started because those in power abused their power ,Money and power are more important to those at the top ,that's why they move jobs to different countries and get rid of their staff if they can make more money
Someone has to stand up for the working class otherwise they will not get a fair crack of the whip
FAIR DAYS PAY FOR A FAIR DAYS WORK ,. FAIR TREATMENT FOR THE EMPLOYED
Enjoyed this video imensley
Same here! As a "conservative" in 2021 I see wholesale rejection of everything "left", but this shows there were deep injustices and attitudes which could only be addressed with brave, united action from the working class.
I've heard it said "The Labor Party was once the cream of the working class, now it's the dregs of the upper-middle class".
The Labour Party has always been fake, an Establishment distraction, replacing a true Socialist party
My dad was an RAF radio operator who volunteered in 1940 and commenced service in January 1941. He went to India late in the war and didn't get home until 1946. I have applied for details of his service record but I know that he spent some time at a large airbase near Karachi and also near Bombay.
Even non-conscripts (volunteers like my father who joined the Tank Corps in 1938) did so with the belief that they would be fighting Fascism and the Nazis. Many ordinary people had no personal interest in the maintenance of the British Empire as envisaged by the power elite (including Churchill) at that time.
Did ordinary people have personal interest in the maintenance of the British Empire at any time?
@@edwardrburgess3308 Children were educated at school on the greatness and superiority of the British Empire.
Wow this is such powerful stuff . Glad to become aware of this story amidst the literally thousands of untold events of World War 2 and its aftermath .
English incompetence and snobbery by the upper classes. it's not changed in hundreds of years.
Very important to set the record straight. No apology from the Government for the appalling treatment. There must be other 'secret' mutinies that have happened that need investigation - my uncle was marooned in South Georgia in 1950s by the the RAF with some of his fellow airmen as they had complained about their conditions. They were starving and had to trap penguins for food. He couldn't talk or write about it after ( official secrets act).
I'm very very surprised that the queen didn't stop the airing of this film!!!
A splendid documentary.
Slavery is not gone... it is blooming.
Very interesting! You have another subscriber.
Having just seen several documentaries on about Indian Independence & watching the movie Ghandi; I am surprised by this documentary. I've never heard about this RAF Strike. I can appreciate that the British Raj was panicking. Bad enough to have Hindu & Muslim Independence rioters, now they had RAF & communists revolting. interesting for sure.
Interesting that the Officers lived like East India Officers ... good rooms, good food, servants ... while the RAF Grunts lived in hot tents. Typical Brit Upper Class.
Simple abuse by those in power. Living conditions and food are the responsibility of officers. They caused this disgusting. Shame on them. We know now it’s on the web you should be named and shamed. They should have looked after the men better.
You do understand this was 75 years ago, don't you?
A remarkable documentary,
Very interesting series of post-war events, & not very well known.
Absolutely fascinating. I've never heard of this before, and I wonder why?
Phil Hi I think it has not been reviled because of so many years have to pass before secret information can be released . An example is the braking of the enigma codes did not come out till the 70 ‘s and Turin’s massif computer colossus . I maybe wrong but just a thought. I’m the son & brother of RAF ground crew . And have never heard of this story. Greetings from Canada.
I believe the RAF and the government wanted to keep this as quiet as possible.
I've been on the receiving end of two SIB interviews, I would have loved for them to have been filmed or taped as I'm sure the way they bullied and harassed was illegal.
You are not wrong... Not just SIB but Regulators and Service Police. Wannabe coppers, who think they are columbo but invariably abuse their power. I was an Officer and member of my Division was once picked up ashore, for being intoxicated (he was on leave so I couldn't care less what he does on his own time) but because he lived in Plymouth they picked him up and he had an ID card so threw him the cells. Next day they said to him.. "If you volunteer to be waiting staff for the Service Police Ball on Saturday, they would make this go away..."...I went ballistic and the Base Commander, CO etc all got involved. Disgusting abuse of power, no accountability unless Officers and NCO's fight them on principle. If that Rating had not told me, and I hadn't dug my heels in, this kind of behaviour would have carried on, likely it had been done before.
In the early noughties ...they started allowing you to have civvie barristers for courts martials...due to using junior officers for defence briefs conviction rates at cm were 98%.....wheel the guilty bstd in ..after civvie barristers went down to 18% i walked away from 2 untouched..SIB are a bunch of cnuts...
Power hungry, Navy, Army, Air force, Marines, spies, Mod govt workers.
The power of authority in the mod, and act like an occult if you pose a threat to shakedown their shambles,
Trust me I've been in both British army and both the RAF reserve's and FTRS,
@Gareth Cooke Someone had their locker broken into one bonfire night while everyone was at the Station Fire works display. I lived in the 20 man room and we all got the third degree. The questioning was basically "We know you did it so cough now and we'll go easy on you" Trouble was I had a pretty good alibi, being duty Armourer that night I was letting the fireworks off at the display with a willing helper the Station Commander. Don't get much better then that.
@Gareth Cooke We're all Mr once we leave the service buddy no matter what level we served
A Very important Episode in our History and these blokes were right to be asking to go home like the rest thet werent professional Peacekeepers but like they say Civilians in Uniform not an episode in our History thats wideley known about cheers
Fascinating!! Absolutely fascinating.
Bravery comes in many forms.
Excellent! Thanks
The big reason for mutiny in the Indian Navy and Air force was the British government attempt to try and convict the officers and soldiers of the Subhas Chandra Bose INA who were arrested after they surrendered, British hoped hoped that by holding public trials in the Red Fort, public opinion would turn against the INA if the media reported stories of torture and collaborationism, helping him settle a political as well as military question, However Indians rapidly came to view the soldiers who enlisted as patriots and not enemy-collaborators ,The resulting public outcry and volatile situation created made Britishers to release almost 11000 prisoners even after charging them guilty and finally deciding to leave India
Amazing, never knew this part of history ..
The officers where given there rank because of there social standing ,upper class , family name or wealth not for there war knowlage or leadership skills.
... which apparently also caused the fiasco at Gallipoli in WW1. Leadership is what's needed, not social status in the Class structure.
Quite a lot more than gallipoli, here in nz now the dcasum between the leaveaged dumb olddes and the young educated will see some come back for dismissivness
Knowledge, you spelled it wrong.
I am 72 now, i was in the RAF from 66 to 78, i was stationed at Seletar (Singapore) as mentioned on the video, I have never heard of even a hint of anything of any mutiny ever taken place, why now with all our TV channels looking into everything from aliens to ancient history, and WW2 in detail daily on history chanels why was this never covered, is it still too raw to cover, on the Yesterday channel every day we get a dozen programs about WW2, why can no one cover something as important as this?
G'day John, Thank you so much for his video. I feel, almost, ashamed that as an Australian military historian, I'd not, yet, read about this terrible situation in the RAF. Especially, since I was a former member of the RAAF. Throughout my RAAF service I never once met an officer I didn't respect (although a rare few were a tiny bit dodgy on a personal level). Indeed, I even got on well with some officers I worked under, to a point where we became friends after our generation had left the Service.
I guess you have to put it down to our far less delineated 'class system'. Perhaps, it is the so-called 'infamous' accusation that Aussie servicemen and women are overly 'lax' with military discipline. This, of course, is totally wrong, in my experience. At least that's the way it was in the 1970s.
In various parts of my many history comments on CZcams, I formerly retract anything good I’ve written about Sir Keith Park. He, a New Zealander, of all people, should have been far more tolerant and had the good sense to see that it was purely awful working conditions that sparked this widespread discord; a word I use deliberately, for I would never call what happened in 1946 a ‘mutiny’. Perhaps Park’s terrible actions in 1946 were why, since the War, he has taken a definite ‘back seat’, in an historical sense, to ‘Stuffy’ Dowding. Maybe it wasn’t Park’s silly support of Douglas Bader’s ‘Big Wing’ that had him filed far away among those that are said to have won the Battle of Britain.
I volunteered 5 months before a relatively short period of conscription for all Services came to an end. I never knew if the person serving next to me was a volunteer or a conscript (National Serviceman), the subject just never came up, we thought ourselves all, exactly, the same.
I was aware there was a ‘Short Service Commission’ scheme for some officers but, again, it was not like you could tell who they were.
I realise that my service took place in a ‘modern’ part of the RAAF’s long history, since 1921, yet I’d never heard of anything even vaguely resembling a ‘mutiny’ within the RAAF.
I have studied the entire written history of the RAAF; of course, if it suited them, less savory parts could and probably would be left out. Yet, of such behaviour, I never even heard a whisper.
Given all of the above; I am outraged that any government of any stripe acted as it did; aided and abetted by an officer corps so completely out of touch with reality.
Officers living in a ‘Royal Palace’ while their NCOs and airmen lived in squalor is a tale from the 18th Century or further back. I was half expecting that this tale would end in bloodshed; it would not have surprised me.
Thanks again, John. I’ll now begin a deeper search to see if any similar events happened in my former Service. Cheers, BH
can't have rich people without poor people
When was the last time a poor person gave anyone a job? Can't have a middle class without rich people.
@@stevelawrence5123 Poor poor idiot.
Power and control. Still the same.
Great stuff! I lived in Jodhpur for years whilst working in India
This is still relevant to the enquiry authorised by General Campbell in 2020, and the utterly disgraceful Brereton Report. Now the Army are trying to bury this report given that it was greeted with outrage by decent Australians. The issues dont seem so different from 1946!
@John Cliff Rubbish.
The Vietnam "vets" - the whining and self-pity is never-ending. I am 70 y.o. and am Australian. I saw and heard no denigration of Viet 'vets', except by left-wing/Communist trade unionists and University students. Don't paint the whole country as so despicable just because Communist sympathisers did what Communist sympathisers always do.
Great Documentary!
Fascinating. I had read about this but it is good to hear voices of the actual men.
Excuse my ignorance of British conscription and volunteer enlistment terms, but why couldn't the strikers simply claim, "Hostilities have ceased, send us home?" These were shameful actions by a desparate government and military commands losing their grip, but the defendants seem to have tied their distress and mishandling to "support for imperialism" and British foreign policy by elected officials. You have to question whether the rank & file really cared about these issues and whether they were the cause of their distress. It seems a more powerful argument would have been for decency and simple fairness rather than a play on national politics?
My father told me that the same kind of thing went on in the royal navy with sailors throwing things at the officers as they ate better food! Real pity a revolution did not break out
I love to study history. I served for 25 years. But when one see this program, than I ask my self, how can such an Impeir like the British allow this to happen? But again, the time and the officers and no one was thinking on lower ranks. But this has happened before and only 30 years apart. in WW I a lot of soldiers were shot and the trails they had...... WOW. But we must remember it so it will not happen again....
@Hello Henrik how are you doing
@@jennifercapps105 I am all good, just doing the last on my book about the Japanese attack on Ceylon in 1942, the first place and time they were stopped
@@henrikmelder6443 Oh okay i see i hope we can get to know each other and can you suggest a way we can talk off here if you dont mind
Snobs being incompetent from start to finish.
Correct! Upper class double-chinned scumbag bastards, Why the UK working class has nor arisen and killed the so-called upper classes including the horrible benefit scrounging Windsor family I do not know!
A very dark episode in British history! I wonder how many of these brave men felt betrayed by their country?
That sense of betrayal is common to all conflicts, then and since!
Disappointed in Kiwi Keith.
Bloody unbelievable.