This RAAF box of maps has a ‘premium provenance’: HRH The Duke of Gloucester, the son of King George V.
Each map, and the box itself bears a stamp:
” OFFICE OF H.R.H. THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER / 28 MAR 1945″
So what is the Duke of Gloucester doing with a full map coverage of Australia and Papua New Guinea?
The clue is in the dating: January, 1945 was the date of change-over for the Governor General of Australia, and the Duke flew from war-time England to fill the post. He is the only Royal to do so.
He arrived on January 30th, 1945. An article published the same day outlines his ‘fleet’ of three planes:
Their plane was an ‘Avro York’, the latest ‘civilian’ version based on the workhorse of the RAF, the Lancaster bomber – but with a new body design and 3 tails. This aircraft, MW140, was was named the ‘Endeavour’ and decked out as a luxury VIP carrier. The Governor General and his wife used it often while in Australia, as they covered 63,000 miles in their two years here, visiting all states and New Guinea. The plane used for these long distant trips was the Avro York, and as a course to Port Moresby has been plotted on one of the charts in this box, these were indeed the ‘Royal Maps’ the Duke & his crew used.
This image from 1945 shows the ‘Endeavour’ in PNG, shortly before the war ended.
There was great interest in the Duke’s travels, and multible photographs exist of the plane – some even taken inside the cabin. One shows the cockpit from the perspective of the navigator- the person who would have handled these actual maps while in flight. The chart table can be seen in the lower right of the photo; several of these aircraft are preserved in museums, with their navigators positions shown in the photos below.
This map box is designed to be taken on board for the navigator to use. It would have fitted to the side of the navigator’s table, on one side of the entry to the cockpit, where the navigator had a good view ahead over the pilot’s shoulder, and to his right through an oval viewing blister.
When the war ended on 2nd September that year, it was announced the Duke’s plane was to be stripped of its fittings and flown to Singapore full of supplies for the POW’s – and return with a full cabin of recently released POW’s.
The Duke’s time as Governor General came to an end in 1947, when he was recalled to Britain to stand in for his elder brother, King George VI, while he was away in Africa on tour.
As a parting gift, he left his magnificent plane ‘to be used by the People of Australia’. However, his wishes were not honoured – on 17 January 1947 ‘Endeavour’ left for the United Kingdom and was returned to the British Air Ministry.
