Daniel Mathieson, born 14.11.1923 & died 29.10.1962 aged 38 – WW2 Profile

Air Mechanic Class 2 1942 / Aircraft Fitter 1943 / Leading Aircraft Fitter 1945 / Service Number L/FX 99424.

My Father in Navy Uniform WW2

WW2 Service Record

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“ HMS Duke “ ( Great Malvern, Worcester ) 6/7/1942 to 13/8/1942

“ HMS Gosling “ ( Risely, Warrington ) 14/8/1942 to 14/9/1942

“ HMS Daedalus “ ( Weston Super Mare, Somerset ) 15/9/1942 to 17/2/1943

“ HMS Hednesford “ ( Cannock,Staffordshire ) 18/2/1943 to 10/5/1943

“ HMS Daedalus “ ( Weston Super Mare, Somerset ) 11/5/1943 to 6/7/1943

“ HMS Waxwing “ ( Townhill, Dunfermline ) 7/7/1943 to 9/7/1943

“ HMS Ashbury “ ( possibly San Francisco, California, USA ) 10/7/1943 to 27/1/1944

“ HMS Ukussa “ ( Ceylon / Sri Lanka ) 28/1/1944 to 10/11/1944

“ HMS Bherunda “ ( Ceylon / Sri Lanka ) 11/11/1944 to 17/10/1945

“ HMS Waxwing “ ( Townhill, Dunfermline ) 18/10/1945 to 26/4/1946

My Father, Daniel ( Danny ) Mathieson served in the Fleet Air Arm during WW2 between 6.7.1942 and 26.4.1946,

volunteering at the age of 18, having left his job in Ardrossan Shipyard, he served for nearly four years until

the War was over before returning to the Shipyard in 1946.

Initially, when I began my research, the only information I had to go on was that Danny had been in the Navy and

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had travelled to America and Ceylon ( Sri Lanka ) during WW2. Danny died on 29.10.1962 aged just 38 and in later years this was the only information my late Mother, Eileen,

( 1928 to 2003 ) was able to tell us. Fortunately, Eileen kept my Father’s service record which gave me the

aforementioned dates on page 2 and armed with this I set out to try and find more about his war experiences ( in 2004 ). At first I thought that the service record was a listing of ships but I could not find any of them on the

internet as I was sure I would, after all, there are thousands of websites with more than enough information

on the subject.

I was about to give up when out of the blue I stumbled across a website on BBC WW2 People’s War written by a

man called John Maley. This website mentions among others, HMS Duke, HMS Daedalus, HMS Bherunda and

HMS Waxwing. It immediately became clear why I could not find the ships, they were not ships, they were in fact shore based Fleet Air Arm Stations, Navy Bases & RAF Stations. John Maley, 81 years of age in 2004 when he

posted the website, speaks about his WW2 experiences and where he served at some of these places at roughly the same time as Danny, It is possible that their paths could have crossed in Scotland, England, Ceylon or the

States, and that they may have known each other, although that is irrelevant here, Danny would also have been 81 in 2004, had he lived, the same age as John.

We can see from John’s website that he joined up on 21.1.1942, a few months before Danny, and left the

service on 6.5.1946, 10 days after Danny. John was also an Aircraft Mechanic / Fitter as was Danny and they both

started their service at the same base, HMS Duke.

HMS Duke was a shore based Fleet Air Arm Station located at Great Malvern, just outside Worcester. John was based at HMS Duke during January & February 1942, whereas Danny was based there from 6.7.1942 to 13.8.1942, so they would have missed each other by 6 months. On his website, John describes arriving there and the conditions he encountered, it would have been the same for Danny,

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so I will describe it here. John travelled down by train to Malvern and describes being met by a Petty Officer at the Railway Station and being marched, two by two, through Malvern to the camp, where they were given a hot meal

and directed to their bunk beds in chalet type accommodation. The next day they were issued with their kit which consisted of a Navy uniform, hats, two pairs of

overalls, two sets of duck suits, a heavy overcoat, an oilskin coat, two pairs of boots ( no shoes ), a kitbag and a hammock. They were also issued with a long piece of blue material with sewing needles, thread and some wool. John

then goes on to describe being taken for a medical, inoculations and dental checks, prior to being given a

piece of brown paper and string to wrap their own clothes in and post them home. Later, he describes marching

practice, inspections, physical exercise and what ( rumour had it ) was put in their cocoa. John states that they put potassium bromide in their cocoa, which is normally a

sedative, but the purpose in this case was to control their sexual urges. John also mentions that this was a five week course and that would fit in exactly with Danny’s service

record details. John would then go to HMS Medina whereas after HMS Duke, Danny went to HMS Gosling.

HMS Gosling was situated at Risley near Warrington in Cheshire and Danny was based there from 14.8.1942 to

14.9.1943. HMS Gosling was a Fleet Air Arm establishment for training Air Fitters, Air Mechanics, Radio Mechanics and

Royal Marine Trainees.

Danny would then move on to HMS Daedalus ( his first of two spells there ), an RAF training station at Weston Super

Mare, Somerset. He was based there from 15.9.1942 to 17.2.1943. John Maley also attended there although it is not clear when, but it would have been around the same time. John describes conditions at Daedalus when he was there as follows. He describes it as learning about “ how a

plane flies “ by weight, thrust, drag, lift, main-plains, ailerons, stabilisers, flaps, slats, landing wires, flying wires,

non return valves, splicing wire ropes, high tensile nuts and bolts, angles of incidence, dihedral angles, hydraulics, aerodynamics, mechanics, geometry etc, etc. John states

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on his website that the course was of 5 months duration and again this fits in exactly with Danny’s service record. This would have been when Danny passed out as an Air

Mechanic, as John would also have done around the same time.

John Maley left Daedalus and went to HMS Waxwing at Townhill, Dunfermline whereas Danny then went to HMS

Hednesford, although later in the War Danny would attend HMS Waxwing twice.

HMS Hednesford was situated at Cannock, just outside Wolverhampton in Staffordshire and Danny was there

from 18.2.1943 to 10.5.1943. Another website I found on BBC People at War was produced by another John, a John

Gibey. John describes his time at Hednesford the year before Danny was there and he goes on to say the

following. HMS Hednesford was an RAF Training Station with a Royal Navy Wing. He describes having a good time

there, working hard, playing hard and going to the dancing in Walsall on a Saturday night, usually missing the last train back and the inevitable long walk back to camp. He also talks about going to the pubs in Hednesford and

Cannock. I have no doubt that Danny would have frequented the same places as John did, albeit one year

later.

I will also mention here that in John Gibey’s article, he states that HMS Duke was at Hereford, about 20 miles from Malvern. I could not find anything on the internet confirming HMS Duke as being at Hereford but it was

probably an annexe or overspill facility to complement Malvern.

Having completed around three months at Hednesford on 10.5.1943, Danny then returned to HMS Daedalus on

11.5.1943. I have already described life at Daedalus and my Father would end his second spell there on 6.7.1943, moving to HMS Waxwing on 7.7.1943. I will mention here

that the UK headquarters for the FAA was at Lee on Solent, just outside Portsmouth and was also called HMS

Daedalus, It is therefore possible that Danny was

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stationed there on one or both of his postings as opposed to Weston Super Mare, Somerset. At the end of the day conditions would have been the same wherever he was.

Danny would arrive at HMS Waxwing on 7.7.1943. HMS Waxwing was situated at Townhill just outside

Dunfermline in Fife. Again, from John Maley’s website we can figure that this would have been where Danny would

have learnt about Weaponry Drill. John describes Waxwing as the “ greatest gunnery school in the world “. John also

describes going to the “ Kinema Ballroom “ and upstairs to the “ Coop dancing “ as no doubt Danny would have done

during his time there. Danny would end his first visit to Waxwing on 9.7.1943 before moving on to HMS Ashbury

on 10.7.1943.

The only “ Ashbury “ connection I could find was an American Naval Base in San Francisco Bay, California and I suspect that this is where Danny spent around 6 months

of the War between 10.7.1943 & 27.1.1944. We know that he was in America during the War and it seems likely that

this is where it was although I cannot be certain.

HMS UKUSSA was located at Katukurunda, Ceylon ( now Sri Lanka ) and Danny would arrive there on 28.1.1944

remaining until 10.11.1944. This would be his first posting in Ceylon. Danny would spend nearly 10 months based at

UKUSSA.

After finishing at UKUSSA Danny was transferred to HMS Bherunda on 11.11.1944 where he would be based for about a year ( until 17.10.1945 ) bringing his total time based in Ceylon to nearly 2 years. HMS Bherunda was a Fleet Air Arm shore based station built on what had been the local Horse Racing Course at Bherunda in Columbo,

the capital of Ceylon. John Maley was there briefly although he only passed through on his way to HMS

Rajaliya at Puttelan, 90 miles up the coast. John had joined a ship at Liverpool before sailing north to Greenock where his ship would join a convoy. The convoy then proceeded through the Mediterranean Sea stopping on the way at Port Said ( Egypt ), before entering the Suez Canal and

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stopping again at Mombassa ( Kenya ) on the Red Sea coast, on route through the Indian Ocean to Ceylon. Danny

most probably travelled to Ceylon in a similar fashion although I cannot be certain. We are given a flavour of

John’s time at Bherunda on his website and his subsequent period in Rajaliya. Conditions would have been similar at both. He describes the toilets as wooden closets with a pail and goes on to describe the “ dreaded scurvy “. He records how on entering the Dining Hall there was a 50

gallon drum of ice cold lime water to increase their vitamin C levels. He also goes on to mention swelling and painful legs, bleeding, extreme debility and swollen gums that prevented you from opening your mouth, such as the consequences of the condition were. John also states that the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on 6.8.1945 and the second three days later, happened while he was in Rajaliya. Danny would also have been in Ceylon at this

time, but 90 miles to the south.

Both of these bases at Bherunda and Ukussa were named after Ceylonese birds ( the first one being mythical ).

The great plan of course was for the British Navy assembling in the Indian Ocean to join up with the

American Navy, to amass the largest force of ships the world had ever seen, and probably has seen since, for the final assault on the Japanese Fleet. However the dropping of the atomic bombs in August 1945, ensuring the defeat of the Japanese, meant that this particular sea battle did

not have to take place, perhaps if it had, who knows, Danny may never have made it home and I would not

have been able to write this article today.

The following are a few photographs that remain of Danny from that period in his short life.

Danny is the one with the sunglasses ( Ceylon 1944/1945 aged 21/22 ).

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Danny is on the left as you look at the picture ( Ceylon 1944 / 1945 aged 21/22 ).

Danny is on the left as you look at the picture ( Ceylon 1944/1945 aged 21/22 ).

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Danny is on the right as you look at the picture ( probably Ceylon 1944/ 1945 aged 21/22 or possibly America the

previous year – 1943/1944 aged 20/21 ).

Danny is in the centre of the picture, I am uncertain of the location, the photo never scanned well either ).

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On my Father’s return to the U.K. on 18.10.1945 from Ceylon he was posted to HMS Waxwing again at Townhill in Dunfermline, where he would spend 6 months before leaving the Navy and returning home to Ardrossan and

back to the Shipyard which he had left in 1942. I have to thank John Malley and John Gibey for giving us an insight into their experiences which my Father and themselves would both have shared, and cannot help but wonder if

their paths ever crossed.

John Malley’s website is definitely worth a look at for a more in depth picture of what life would have been like for my Father during the War. Google in the following “ BBC

WW2 People’s War “ and once into the BBC website proper, type in “ Article ID A2166284 “. Similarly, for John

Gilbey’s contribution, type in “ Article ID A6869226 “.

“ Bobbie from Baywatch “

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This is a picture of an old girlfriend of Danny’s who he met in America during his War adventures. In later years my

Mother told us that her name was Bobbie and she used to joke with us that Danny could have had his pick of “ good

looking women “ but that he had chosen my Mother. It was her idea to keep the photo, I think to proudly show us the competition that she had “ beaten off “, so to speak.

I would be interested in hearing from anyone with experience of being at the locations my Father was at on or around the same time. While appreciating that most of

my Father’s contemporaries will be in their eighties or nineties, perhaps some of their children or grandchildren

may have an interest in the subject.

Researcher,Danny Mathieson,

Ardrossan, Ayrshire,

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Scotland.

Email danny.mathieson@btopenworld.com

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