Air Marshal John William Newham AC (Rtd) as a pilot No 77 Fighter Squadron RAAF, Korea 1953, interviewed by Dr Chris Clark

Jake Newham talks about his early working life and his difficult path to being accepted for RAAF flying training; his training prior to being posted to Iwakuni, Japan for his conversion on to Meteors; early ground attack sorties with No. 77 Squadron; several attacks on different targets; a few casualties and how aircrew handled them; air to air sorties; the flying characteristics of a Meteor in various roles; the advantages of having two engines; activities when not flying; living conditions and hot showers; armistice and the return of POWs; recovering aircraft that are short on fuel; dodging flak; targets of opportunity; handling damaged aircraft; some aircraft losses; his return to Australia and posting to N0. 78 Wing, Malta; applying lessons learned in Europe as Chief of Operations and Plans; cooperating with the RNZAF 14 Squadron, based in Cyprus; his experiences in Malaysia [then Malaya],flying Sabres; night flying with day fighters; improvement with instrument flying with the advent of the Mirage and the F-111; a spell as ADC to the Governor General; training in Malaysia as part of the British Far Eastern Strategic Reserve; the importance of careful pre-flight planning; and lessons learned from the Israelis.