November 2018 FLYPAST 107While we endeavour to include as many
contributions as we can, we apologise to all those
readers who have taken the time to write in but
didn’t get into print. Jottings...
Sunderland rescue
I was delighted to see Andy Hay’s artwork depicting Sunderland
Mk.l L2163 in your August issue. At 1320hrs on December 11, 1940,
my uncle, Ernest ‘Bill’ Green, had the misfortune to be attacked by a
U-boat, which sank his merchantman vessel, the SS Rotorua within 15
minutes. Thankfully, Fg Off Baggott and P/O Gooch were on convoy
patrol in L2163 in the area later on, and they spotted six lifeboats
containing 128 survivors. I was later given a personal account of what
it was like to see a Sunderland arrive overhead on a cold and wet
December afternoon in the mid-Atlantic. They were later picked up by
a minesweeper, but sadly 21 crewmen were lost. Due to the vigilance
of the crew of L2163 I subsequently had the pleasure and honour of
my Uncle Bill’s company until he reached his 99th birthday in 2007.
ROGER GREEN
VIA EMAILPreserve Scampton’s heritage
While the proposed closure of RAF Scampton is indeed sad news for
aviation historians and enthusiasts, we may have little choice but to
stand aside and let progress have its way. However, what concerns
me most is the prospective loss of the historic fabric and artefacts at
Scampton, namely Guy Gibson’s office and the grave of his dog. Are
we to presume these will be bulldozed along with the rest of the site?
I hope this is not the case, and that some contingency plan has been
proposed. It would surely be wrong to deny this small piece of RAF
history to future generations.
JOHN MAW
HORSFORTH, LEEDSTiger Moth history revealed
I was interested to read the letter from Philip Hayes in the August
edition about the Tiger Moth wings he’d spotted at Croydon many
years ago. I’m familiar with Tiger Moth T7230 and it is not, and to my
knowledge never has been, a Queen Bee. It is owned by Jacek Mainka,
the Polish pilot mentioned in the article about Hurricane G-HURI back
in 2015. T7230’s home base is now Konstancin, just south of Warsaw.
It’s the only Tiger Moth that flies frequently at air shows in Poland.
Apparently, T7230 was sold by the RAF to a private owner in 1953. It
was later refurbished, and the upper left wing was among the things
that were rebuilt. Maybe it was the original wing that Philip saw
in Croydon?
ŁUKASZ SZNUK
WARSAW, POLANDMystery of the ‘buried’ Merlins
Reading about the problems acquiring Rolls-Royce Merlin engines
for the Canadian Lancaster (September issue) triggered a memory. I
wonder if any readers can shed light on this mystery?
In the late 1970s I was driving home listening to Radio 2, and
heard talk about a group that was going to look around the Castle
Vale housing estate in Castle Bromwich (West Midlands). They had
paperwork suggesting that numerous Merlin and other engines were
buried in land once belonging to the Castle Bromwich Spitfire factory.
The units were said to be well protected in rubber bags or cloth
within crates.
I never did find out what happened. Given the need for Merlins now, I
wonder if anyone found anything?
TOM PARKINSON
ASHBOURNE, DERBYSHIREI read your excellent articles on
Sunderland flying boats in the
August issue and thought readers
might be interested in some
additional history. From early in
World War Two, the Cromarty Firth
(RAF Invergordon and Alness)
was a major operating base for
a variety of flying boats such
as the Supermarine Stranraer,
Saro London, Short Singapore
and Saro Lerwick. By 1942 the
station strength had risen to
17 Sunderlands, 21 Catalinas, 7
Lerwicks, 2 Stranraers and one
Singapore. Invergordon was
the original operational base
while Alness was built later for a
maintenance unit.
It was a Sunderland from
Invergordon that crashed near
Berriedale on August 25, 1942
killing most of the crew and
HRH Prince George, the Duke of
Kent. The crash was regarded
as the result of an inexplicable
pilot error, but in recent
years research has suggested
Sunderland pilots heading for
Iceland often took a short cut
across the flat area of Caithness
known as the flow country –
it seems likely the pilot was
attempting to do just that, but in
poor weather turned west a few
minutes too early.
On a personal note, my mother-
in-law, who lived on the Black
Isle to the east of the Cromarty
Firth, remembers Hugh Watson, a
15-year-old school friend, who was
killed when a Sunderland crashed
into his family’s farmhouse. At
02:00hrs on July 28, 1944 a
Sunderland on a training flight
came down on the Black Isle
after hitting power cables in bad
weather. The aircraft skidded down
the hill for a considerable distance
before hitting Allerton farm house.
The crew all escaped but the
ensuing fire destroyed the house.
Invergordon / Alness continued
to be used for training until late
1946 when operations moved to
Pembroke Dock, Wales, and it finally
closed as a flying boat base in 1957.
Many of the ancillary buildings
still exist and the hangars, large
enough to accommodate three
Sunderlands, were not taken down
until the mid-90s. The Alness site is
now a business estate, but you don’t
have to look too hard to find the
concrete bases of the old hangars
and ramps.
DAVID McLAUGHLIN
TAIN, ROSS-SHIREI read Tony Clay’s piece on 74
Squadron in the January 2018
issue with great interest and
excitement. This is partly because
I have written a documentary on
the life of Adolph ‘Sailor’ Malan, a
key figure not only in 74 Squadron,
but in the history of World War
Two aviation as well as British and
South African history.
The documentary spans his life
from his birth in Wellington, South
Africa in 1910 to his premature
death from Parkinson’s disease
in Kimberley in 1963. I spent
two years researching the work
and interviewed many people
including family members, former
staff members and colleagues
- Johnny Freeborn, Doug Tidy
and Bob Cossey among others. I
have also obtained rare archival
footage from both the Imperial
War Museum and the South
African Film Archives, as well
as documents and numerous
newspaper articles.
I have optioned it to a number of
television channels, with History
UK coming closest to taking it
on. Unfortunately after many
years trying to find a partner, the
documentary still remains unmade.
I wanted to reach out and ask if
anyone might be interested in
partnering on this project. This
could be to co-write, produce,
create etc – I’m completely open to
any form of collaboration. Any help
to make the documentary about
this truly remarkable life would be
much appreciated.
I am originally from South Africa
(now living in Canada) and Sailor
Malan always loomed large as a
legendary, divisive figure – because
he was seen as such a hero in
Britain but a traitor in South Africa
by the apartheid government.
Whilst building my career as a
creative director, I’ve always kept
this alive and dedicated many
years to researching and finding
a way to make it a reality. Please
contact: malandocumentary@
gmail.com
CLIFF THOMPSON
VIA EMAILSeeking fi lm partner for new Sailor
Malan documentary
A tale of two Sunderlands