Portable gramophone : 354 Squadron RAAF

Places
Accession Number REL28364
Collection type Technology
Object type Technology
Physical description Chrome plated steel, Felt, Leatherette, Timber
Place made United Kingdom
Date made c 1930s
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Description

Portable gramophone record player built into case with hinged lid. Turntable is felt covered, stylus arm is chromed steel, sound box is timber. Clockwork operated. Crank handle is stowed. Includes HMV tin of playing needles. The name 'Hughes' is scratched into the lower base of the machine.

History / Summary

This portable gramophone originally belonged to Canadian Flight Lieutenant Franklin Riffle and was used in 354 Squadron RAF's officers mess. The gramophone was used to entertain men at RAF bases in India, Burma and Ceylon between 1943-1945.
On 15 May 1945, the Liberator Riffle was piloting ditched in rough seas while returning to Ceylon. It had been hit by flak while cruising over the Nicobar Island group at 1,000 feet. Three of the ten men in the crew were lost in the ditching, and one airman suffered burns when a navigation flame-float ignited and caused the floating gasoline and oil to catch fire. The seven survivors, in a dinghy, made landfall on the northern tip of Ketchall Island. Betrayed by natives, the seven were captured and imprisoned in Imperial Japanese Navy custody on Comorta Island. Three died as POWs; their remains lie in Madras War Cemetery. Four were informed in late August that the war was over and were rescued by an Indian sloop on 6 October.
Three days after the crash, 354 Squadron was disbanded and items acquired by the officers for the mess (including personal property other than air force issue) were auctioned off. This gramophone was sold for 50 rupees to Flying Officer Gordon McIntosh Hughes. The money raised from the auction went to the RAF Widows Fund. The gramophone logged quite a few operational hours, playing records on the return trips across the Bay of Bengal (the average duration of a Burma Coast operation was 13 hours). It was later used aboard SS Sontay to entertain men returning home to Australia from Calcutta in October 1945.