291 - Far East RAF Liberators
The WW2 Podcast
Angus Wallace
4.6 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 1 January 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
RAF Liberator bombing operations in India, Burma, and Thailand remain one of the least explored air campaigns of the Second World War. Flying long-range missions from Bengal, RAF crews attacked Japanese targets across Southeast Asia, including the infamous Thailand-Burma Railway, under demanding and often dangerous conditions.
In this episode of the WW2 Podcast, I am talking to historian Matt Poole, author of Far East RAF Liberators: Attacking the Japanese: Roy Andrews and 215 Squadron. Together, we explore this campaign through the experiences of Roy Andrews, a Royal Australian Air Force wireless operator and air gunner who flew with RAF 215 Squadron on B-24 Liberator bombers during the final months of the war.
Between October 1944 and April 1945, Roy Andrews flew bombing, strafing, and air-sea rescue missions over Burma and Thailand. By viewing the wider RAF air war through the lens of one airman, this episode examines long-range Liberator operations, low-level attacks, and daily life on a forward airfield in India, offering a personal perspective on an often overlooked chapter of the Second World War.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This country is at war with Germany. |
| 0:04.6 | We shall go on to the end. |
| 0:08.3 | I remember the sheets of flame which came up and almost blinded us from our guns. |
| 0:26.0 | Today we're heading to a part of the Second World War that is still too often overlooked. |
| 0:32.5 | The skies over India, Burma and Thailand, where the RAF were fighting a hard and complex air war against the Japanese in the final months of the conflict. |
| 0:35.3 | I'm Angus Wallace and in this episode I'm joined by historian Matt Poole |
| 0:39.0 | to look at those operations through the eyes of one man, Roy Andrews, |
| 0:44.3 | a Royal Australian Air Force Wireless Operator and Air Gunner |
| 0:47.7 | flying with RAF-215 Squadron on Liberator Bombers. |
| 0:52.3 | Between late 1944 and the spring of 1945, Roy flew mission after |
| 0:57.5 | mission from Bengal, striking targets deep inside enemy territory, including repeated attacks |
| 1:04.1 | on the notorious Thai-Burma Railway. Matt is the author of Far East R.E.F. Liberators, attacking the Japanese, |
| 1:13.9 | Roy Andrews and 215 Squadron. Matt, it's nice to have you back on the show. Let's start with |
| 1:19.8 | Roy Andrews. Who was he? What was his background before the war? Where was he from? |
| 1:24.8 | Well, he was a British citizen living in Hong Kong. He went to school |
| 1:30.1 | with children of British officers and so forth. His father worked in civil service. They got a |
| 1:36.5 | free house to live in, free living accommodations. And apparently the father did okay because every |
| 1:42.7 | four to six years, he'd get nine months paid vacation, basically. |
| 1:47.7 | And Roy had one younger brother, and they'd go to England. |
| 1:51.5 | It's a family, the four of them, mother, father, and two kids. |
| 1:54.3 | They'd go to England where the roots were. |
| 1:56.9 | Then they'd come back. |
... |
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