84 Squadron Bases

84 Squadron moved to Yanlahanka near Bangalore on 31st October 1944, converting onto Mosquito FB1V. from mid-February 1945.  Various moves were made by the Sqdn. ending up at St. Thomas' Mount. Madras. in time to celebrate the end of WW2 in August 1945.

On September 22nd 1945, the Sqdn. once again moved, this time to R.A.F. Seletar on Singapore Island.  In February 1946. Flt Officer Shakeshaft of 84 Sqdn. travelled to Allahabad to collect a new Mosquito (Out of 99 Mosquito's there was only one fit for flying).

I  understand from reliable information gathered and personal experience,  the Mosquito aircraft was not suited to be stored as they were, in the open, in the Far East.  In the extreme heat the wood would shrink and when heavy rains arrived, the rivets would pop out from many places.

The Mosquito had scarf joints in the main spar just outboard of the engines, these joints were glued using Casein Cement under pressure during manufacture, together with many other joints in the aircraft, a loss of adhesion occurred on  joints under tropical conditions.  The leading edges of some wings were found to suffer from the same condition and at times the leading edge became detached during flight, causing the wing to rip off.

There appeared to be a limit to the types of aircraft which were available to the R.A.F. suitable for the kind of work required of them during the post-war period.  The Mosquito and the Beaufighter being the chosen piston engine types.

The availability of and the acquiring of spares , very often caused long delays and directly affected the number of aircraft available for a Squadron to have in service at any given time.

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