In 1963 the Indonesian Army that threatened Borneo numbered 330,000 men, plus three thousand
Commandos. Of these, six thousand were within 20 miles of the Borneo frontier. This grew to thirteen thousand in early
1965. From mid-way through 1964, British troops and their allies who were
defending the border started to make offensive incursions into Indonesian Borneo
- these operations were codenamed "Claret".
Taken into account the confrontational nature of the campaign,
casualties sustained in Borneo were
surprisingly light. That in the whole of the Borneo campaign there were no fatalities among the RAF
supply-dropping transports was extraordinary. The border area between the
Indonesian and Malaysian parts of Borneo was
one of the most inaccessible areas of mountainous jungle anywhere in the
world - an entire army was kept supplied in the field for the complete
campaign. This is the exciting account from a pilot who flew the dangerous
flying missions and relates the tenseness and stresses of Jungle life in those
dangerous days.
Annett Flew with 215 Squadron, co-piloting Argosy transport aircraft
deep over jungle terrain from 1963 to 65. He served with the RAF from 1962 to
1967 before joining the computer industry. He lives in Buckinghamshire and has
various articles published in industrial and local
magazines.
