I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety

In my book I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II, I explain that in 1945 my dad was sent to a naval air-base on Ponam Island in the Admiralty Islands (part of present day Papua New Guinea). He was  a member of MONAB 4. The MONABs were Mobile Naval Operating Air Bases which were needed to provide repair, maintenance and servicing for the aircraft used by the Fleet Air Arm on board the ships of the British Pacific Fleet. The plan was that there would be ten MONABs in total. Each MONAB was given an H.M.S name that began with " Nab " to reflect the NAB in MONAB. Norman was attached to MONAB 4. All the war-time MONABs were based in or near Sidney or Brisbane in Australia . The exception was MONAB 4 which was to be based in the Admiralty Islands over two thousand miles from Australia in the Pacific Ocean. MONAB 1 - R.N.A.S Nowra (approximately 99 miles south of Sidney , New South Wales , Australia

In 1945, Norman Buckle was stationed at HMS Nabaron on Ponam Island (Admiralty Islands) as part of the support network for the British Pacific Fleet. Ponam Islanders, Admiralty Islands. Ponam Islanders, Admiralty Islands. Ponam Island Ponam Islanders, Admiralty Islands.

In his diary my dad, Norman Buckle, had some photos of his Fleet Air Arm colleagues which identifies his group as the support unit MSR6 (Maintenance, Storage and Reserve 6) of MONAB 4 (Mobile Naval Airbase) which was stationed on Ponam Island in the Pacific Ocean. The base was known as HMS Nabaron. From the air Ponam Island looked rather like an aircraft carrier and the American SeaBees (CB's - Construction Battalions) had built an airfield on it using crushed coral for the runway. It was handed over to the Royal Navy with all services including the airstrip, aircraft repair shops and storage for aircraft parts, petrol and oil storage tanks, a control tower, jeeps and trucks, huts for accommodation, an officers' mess, dining halls, a hospital, water de-salination plant and kitchens (including an ice-cream maker). The U.S Navy also left behind a forty strong team of SeaBees personnel to maintain the island and its facilities. Norman 's unit M.S.R.6 was attached to H

My dad, Norman Buckle, was stationed at HMS Spurwing (Royal Navy air base at Hastings, near Freetown, Sierra Leone) from October 1943 until November 1944. After a period of further training in the U.K he was sent in March 1945 to join the British Pacific Fleet. He was to be based at the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm base on Ponam Island, Admiralty Islands known as HMS Nabaron. In his photo book he placed a map of Australia and indicated the location of Ponam Island. Map of Australia showing th location of Ponam in the Admiralty Islands. Even though it doesn't look like it on this map, Ponam was over 2000 miles away from Australia.