Formation of the 33rd Pursuit Squadron (Provisional)

On Jack's arrival in Australia on the 22nd of December he was attached to the 21st Pursuit Squadron that were based in the Philippines until he was assigned to the 33rd Pursuit Squadron. Prior to the defeat in the Philippines some pilots were sent to Australia and joined new recruits in Australia and once the Philippines fell were absorbed into other squadrons and groups. Of the several hundred pursuit pilots based in the Philippines most were killed and captured and there were only nineteen Philippines Veterans now among the many straight out of flight school. Included in the Philippines veterans was Captain Floyd Pell. (Alford Bob 2017 pp28) Pell was the most Senior graduating flight school in 1938 who would later be promoted to Major and lead the 33rd. Although having served in the Philippines Major Floyd Pell never gained any battle experience. Gerald Keenan (Graduated Flight School 1940) who would be the second in charge of the 33rd. (Bartsch 2010 pp377) also was a Philippines veteran. The new recruits started assisting with the assembly of the newly arrived P-40's and received flight training from the Philippine veterans. Valuable flight time was also gained through the test flying of the P-40 aircraft as they were built.

 24th January

While likely test flying a P-40 on the 24th of January 1942 Jack Peres crash landed a P-40E Kittyhawk at Fort Lytton Brisbane QLD Australia. In the incident the aircraft suffered damage to the undercarriage, wing tip, mainplane, aileron, flaps and airscrew damage. The aircraft was later repaired and crashed in Canberra while being piloted by L.B. Marks and sent to Geelong for repairs. The tail number of this P-40 was number 85 and pictured below (adfserials.com.au 2019)

Some of the more experienced P-40 pilots which was sometimes only ten to fifteen hours of flight time started flying P-40's along the Brereton Route through Mt. Isa, Darwin, Timor and on to Java however a combination of mechanical failure and inexperience meant a lot of aircraft were lost along the way.

In fact, below is a quote from the ozatwar.com website referencing this.

"You won't have any trouble finding your way to Darwin. Just follow the trail of crashed Kittyhawk's, you can't go wrong."

The words of the Corporal in charge of the refueling crew at Cloncurry in November 1942. (ozatwar 2019b)

4th February

On the 4th of February Major Floyd Pell was assigned to pick twenty four pilots to form the 33rd Pursuit Squadron (Provisional) for a flight across to Fremantle WA. Pickings were thin and most were new recruits with minimal flight time in a P-40. Twenty three were new recruits and one was a Philippine Veteran and flight instructor Gerry Keenan who became the second in charge of the squadron. (Bartsch 2010 pp177-178)

Over the next few days valuable time was spent flying the P-40 practicing formation flying, landing and tactics, however no firing of weapons was made. During these practice days four flight leaders were selected, Major Lloyd Pell, Gerry Keenan, Bob McMahon and Jack Peres. A few pilot changes were made to the roster and further training occurred until notified on February 10 that they were to leave the following morning to Perth to rendezvous with the USS Langley the first aircraft carrier in the US fleet. (Bartsch 2010 pp178-179,181-182) (Wikipedia 2019d)

Along with the 33rd Pursuit Squadron the 13th Pursuit Squadron was also to be ferried to Java. Although a carrier, it was being used purely as a transport ship for this journey and aircraft were to be loaded and unloaded rather than land and take-off. (Bartsch 2010 pp182)

11th February

On the 11th of February the 33rd was advised they would be leaving that afternoon to Sydney. The squadron was split in two with Pell leading the first contingent and Keenan the second contingent the following day. Pell's A flight, McMahon's D flight along with Jack Peres and John Glover were to leave first and the remainder with second in charge Keenan the following day. On the flight to Sydney Jim Naylor was forced to turn back and crashed near the runway with minor injuries and halfway to Sydney Bob Kerstetter also encountered engine issues and crashed unharmed at a nearby airstrip. (Bartsch 2010 pp196-198)

12th February

On the 12th of February the A Flight of the 33rd flew to Melbourne via Canberra without major incident and spent the night in the city. (Bartsch 2010 pp198-199)

13th February

The following day while heading out to the field Pell advised McMahon of new orders that he would be flying to Darwin via Port Pirie with Pell and thirteen others. Orders were to depart on the 14th from Pt Pirie and arrive in Darwin the following day. On take-off from Melbourne Wilhite encountered mechanical issues and had to stay behind leaving Pell with eight aircraft in his group and Keenan arriving safely with fourteen planes in his group. Seven pilots were selected from Keenan's group to make the trip to Darwin and Keenan was to guide the seven in his group to Perth along with the 13th Pursuit Squadron (Provisional)