Sqns picking up men from the coasts. The
roomy flying boats were often packed to
overflowing, such as on one flight that brought
out 83 passengers. It was a 230 Sunderland
that evacuated King Peter of Yugoslavia on
April 17, whilst a few days later, Flt Lt Alan
Lywood flew out the Greek monarch King
George II, his family and the Prime Minister
Emmanouil Tsouderos. The evacuation
was not without loss though, as Stukas later
destroyed L2161/Y Negri Sembilan which
was at anchor at Scaramanga on the 23rd.
The Squadron then re-established itself
back in Egypt, settling at Aboukir in June and
soon after the move 230 helped gain another
scalp. On the 15th, during the Allied invasion
of Syria, Fg Off R S Bohm’s crew located the
Vichy French destroyer Chevalier Paul off the
coast and its sighting report enabled Swordfish
from 815 Sqn to sink it with torpedoes.
Six weeks later when Flt Lt E Brand’s
crew in Sunderland L2166/NM-U attacked
the Italian submarine Delfino in the Gulf
of Sollum they were shot down by its fire,
though the four survivors were picked
up. They had damaged the submarine
sufficiently for it to be unable to dive.
However, Convoy patrols remained the
staple diet, though on October 22 Sqn Ldr
Ken Garside in 230’s sole Mk II Sunderland
(W3987/NM-X) attacked a surfaced
submarine but it crash-dived. Marauding
Luftwaffe fighters were a constant threat, as
proved a few days before Christmas when
Flt Lt S W R Hughes’ crew in T9071/M were
en route to Malta. About 50 miles (80km)
northeast of Benghazi two Bf 110s of III/ZG
26, one of which was flown by Ofw Helmut
Haugh attacked the flying boat, wounding
two of the crew. However, Sgt Jacques
Dupont is believed to have shot down one
of the attackers. The Sunderland was
badly damaged and force landed off the
coast where it struck a reef. The 20 crew
and passengers struggled ashore and the
survivors made it back to British lines, having
captured 130 Italians en route. Dupont was
later awarded a DFM.
There was a successful start to 1942when on January 9 Sqn Ldr Ken Garside,
once again in W3987 – now coded DX-X,
attacked a surfaced submarine that went
down followed by a maelstrom of huge
bubbles, oil and debris. His crew was
credited with sinking the U-577 that went
down with all hands.
Maritime patrols continued through the
year, with Garside attacking another surfaced
submarine on June 27 but without result.
Two days later it was different, their bombs
straddling the conning tower of a submarine
before the stern rose vertically and it slid
out of sight followed by a huge oil patch
measuring over 400 yards wide; they claimed
another sub destroyed. Then on the 31st
Garside’s crew once more in W3987/DX-X
located a fourth submarine on its air-to-
surface vessel (ASV) radar and approaching
they again dropped a pattern of eight 250lb
bombs, though four failed to release. The
front gunner strafed the vessel that returned
fire; Garside was later awarded a DFC for
this action. Although 230 carried out a lot
more patrols, particularly in support of Malta
convoys, this was its last success in the Med.INDIAN OCEAN
In January 1943, now fully equipped with
Sunderland Mk IIIs, 230 Sqn moved to Dar
es Salaam in Tanzania for shipping protection
in the Indian Ocean against any threat fromJapanese or German submarines. Around
this time it was decided that an all-white
scheme for the Sunderlands would be more
effective during maritime operations than
having the underside sky blue and the brown/
green camouflage for the rest of the aircraft.
There was little chance of finding a
submarine over these vast areas but the
monotonous work protecting convoys off the
coast of East Africa was vital – such was
the Axis threat in the Mediterranean Sea
that all shipping from India and Australasia
had to use the Cape of Good Hope route.
Detachments were soon established on
islands in the area to extend the patrol
coverage. Also during the summer, 230
returned to its Mediterranean haunts to
support the invasion of Sicily, six aircraft
were detached to Bizerte in Tunisia. At this
time Wg Cdr Dundas Bednall, a 230 ‘old
boy’, returned as OC, and in February 1944
he led the Squadron back to Koggala for
convoy and anti-submarine ops in the eastern
Indian Ocean and off Burma to counter the
Japanese. Sorties were also flown from
island bases, but no action came their way.
In the hope of masking the white
Sunderlands better for night anti-shipping
work Bednall had ‘his’ aircraft, JM673/P
painted black overall. It was the only
example painted in this colour by the
squadron as a trial.http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 65Sunderland Mk V SZ581/B-Y in Greenland supporting the British North Greenland expedition
in 1952. 230 Squadron recordsSunderland Mk III JM673/P was dubbed Black Peter and
painted this colour for night anti-shipping work. Pete West63-67_sunderlandsDC.mfDC.mfDC.mfDC.mfDC.indd 65 07/01/2016 10:48