Free Republic

Squadron Leader Terry O’Brien, who has died aged 91, was a brave and outspoken pilot who served with the Chindits and later flew many clandestine sorties in south-east Asia, experiences which he later recounted in a widely-acclaimed trilogy of memoirs.O’Brien had completed a tour of operations flying bombers in England and survived the Japanese advance on Singapore and Java when he volunteered to join the 4/9th Gurkha Rifles assigned to General Orde Wingate’s Long Range Penetration Group, better known as the Chindits.He was appointed the battalion’s air liaison officer and, after an arduous six-month training period, landed by glider with...