Colin Terras - wireless operator
Colin was born in October 1924 in Taree, New South Wales Australia. His father was a bank manager who was killed in a car accident at Bulli Pass when Colin was young. His mother, Vera owned and ran a boarding house at 18 Boundary St., Roseville which is a suburb in Sydney and was also very active in the Red Cross.
Following his school days at Scots College, Colin joined the Bank of New South Wales, acting as a teller's clerk and doing general clerical duties. At this time he enjoyed playing tennis, cricket, football and swimming. He was a member of the Scots College Senior Cadet Corps for twelve months. He volunteered for the RAAF on 23 October 1942 at No.3 Recruiting Centre in Sydney where he was given his service number of A432286. He had a short wait before being called to his Initial Training School at Lindfield on 5 December. His training as a wireless operator/air gunner began in February 1943 at No.2 Wireless/Air Gunner School, Parkes, moving on later in July to learn bombing at No.2 Air Navigation School, Nhill.
His training complete and now a sergeant, he was posted at the end of October to the holding and embarkation centre at Bradfield Park, Sydney from where he embarked for the UK on 26 November 1943. The sea journey lasted till 10 January 1944; once arriving in Britain he was sent to No.11 Personnel Despatch and Reception Centre at Brighton, where he waited for two months before going in early March to RAF Whitley Bay which specialised in teaching machine gun drills.
After this short course, which was primarily designed to keep impatient trainee aircrew busy, Colin was posted on 5 April to No.2 Radio School Yatesbury in Wiltshire to further practise his wireless operator skills, initially in de Havilland Dominies (converted DH Rapides) then Percival Proctors.
The Dominies were known as flying classrooms, the training being based on the motto "The Signals Service of the RAF aspires never to lose an aircraft." Practical instruction is given in the air in sending and receiving messages, direction finding etc., contact being maintained with the ground. The pupils take it in turn at the wireless control panel near the front of the aircraft.
It's rather cramped inside the Dominie. Below, a group of relieved students after a training flight. There was a forfeit of 5 shillings to be paid if anybody was sick inside the aircraft!
The wireless set up in a Proctor, flown in the final stages of the course. Below, a row of Proctors at the ready.
