By MEGAN OGLE
“WE were on the front twin Brownings (machine-guns) and hot shells were falling so fast they were burning our legs and we had to do a tap dance to stop the shells burning us.”
Robert (Bob) Ballingall’s eyes light up as he recounts one daring mission after another fought from the bow of the famous flying boat, the Catalina.
Flying boats provided a vital service for Australia during World War II as Australian airmen, like Bob, would carry out daring missions in Asia and the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
The Catalina missions included long-range mine-laying, dropping torpedoes, rescue, evacuation, and holding open far-distant lines of communication.
“The Coast Watchers would tell us where ships and barges were and we would fly over and drop torpedoes,” Bob recounted.
“Sometimes there were up to 20 Japanese scientists on a barge and we would kill all of them.
“We would attack incoming planes, too. The gunnery control officer would say, ‘Get ready Bob, get ready, NOW! And we would strike just before they wanted to fire.
“And we would rescue prisoners of war in the amphibian.”
Born 26 July 1922, Bob enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force’s 3rd Division Militia on 30 August 1940 in South Melbourne at just 18 years old. Bob said he was shipped up to Sale to learn gunnery and after topping his grade chose the Catalina.
Bob is currently one of five airmen of his division to complete 160 missions and was awarded a Mentioned in Despatches in 1945 by the Governor-General for services rendered in the First Tactical Air Force.
However Bob didn’t leave service without a scar or two.
“My mate Bill Hasty was shot through the stomach, right through, and I got hit in the scrotum with shrapnel,” Bob said.
“I could never have kids but Edna didn’t mind, she went straight out and got a hysterectomy.
“That’s true love. We ended up adopting two boys,” Bob said with pride as he points to photos of a smiling son.
Edna May Felton is Bob’s beloved wife. The childhood sweethearts married at 18-years-old after Bob saved for three years to buy the love of his life a wedding ring.
“Edna made all the clothes for the wedding,” Bob beamed.
Edna passed away 10 years ago but Bob talks fondly of his wife, showing pictures of their wedding day and one picture of a smiling Edna which sits beside Bob’s bed.
“I look at this picture every night,” Bob said with a sad smile.
“I always say to her that tonight might be the night I join you, but then I wake up and it’s another day.”
Bob’s eyes filled with tears as he recalls the hardships and heartbreaks he endured during his service, but his face turns to a smile when he talks about a group of friends who he said saved his life.
“I wanted to commit suicide,” Bob said while looking at a photo of himself surrounded by friends at his 80th birthday party.
“I was going to hire a second car and was going to hook up the exhaust and everything, I didn’t want my son to inherit a car that I did it in,” Bob said.
“But I didn’t do it, these people saved my life.”
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