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VICKERS VILDEBEEST 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

BOMBERS RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION 29

VICKERS VILDEBEESTVICKERS VILDEBEESTVICKERS VILDEBEESTVICKERS VILDEBEESTVICKERS VILDEBEESTVICKERS VILDEBEESTVICKERS VILDEBEESTVICKERS VILDEBEESTVICKERS VILDEBEESTVICKERS VILDEBEESTVICKERS VILDEBEEST 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

Above left

Vildebeest III K4176

of 36 Squadron at

Seletar 1935. During

the Battle of Endau,

this machine was

hit by anti-aircraft

fi re from a Japanese

warship and was shot

down by a Nakajima

Ki 27, crashing

into the sea.

© ANDY HAY

http://www.fl yingart.co.uk

Left

Vildebeest I K2814

of ‘B’ Flight of the

Torpedo Development

Section at Gosport

unleashes a ‘tin fi sh’

into the Solent, in

1933. This example
      served from Gosport
      on trials work from
      January 1933 to May
      1936 when it was
      retired.

10 minutes after war was declared...
“As soon as the aerodrome was
cleared, the pilots opened their sealed
envelopes and then told their crews
that their destination was Kepala
Batas, north of Alor Star. [On the
western coast of the Malay Peninsula,
20 miles from the border with Siam,
today’s Thailand.] The aircraft set
course for the northwest tip of Malaya
and a loose formation was adopted.
The flight took 4 hours 30 minutes
and proved to be uneventful.”
After ‘tiffin’ at the government rest
house at Kepala Batas, around 16:00,
the nine men: “All got busy unpacking
and ‘hunking’ around bombs, 112-
and 250-pounders, both general
purpose and armour piercing, which
were stored there for emergency use.
There were no trolleys nor any means

of moving these bombs – only brute

strength and sweat!

“Each bomb was in its own wooden

crate which was screwed, not nailed,

together. The bombs were man-

handled to rows some distance from

the aircraft and covered with tarpaulin

sheets. They were completely safe

• they hoped – and the fuzes were
  locked up well away from both the
  bombs and the machines, in the rest
  house. There were no torpedoes.
  “Fifteen days later those nine men,
  with their Vildebeests, saw Seletar
  again.” The men of 36 and 100
  Squadrons were thrown into the front
  line from December 1941 fighting
  rear guard action before Singapore fell
  to the Japanese.
  The three aircraft that deployed to
  Kepala Batas on September 5, 1939

illustrate the fate of the Vildebeest

force. While attacking a Japanese ship

during the intense naval engagement

off Endau up the eastern Malayan

coast from Singapore, on January 26,

1942, K6379 was seen to dive into the

sea. It was one of 13 of the torpedo-

bombers lost that day.

Further up the eastern coast on

February 9, the Vildebeests were

flying from a strip at Kuantan and

K6385 was destroyed on the ground

by Japanese aircraft. By late February

1942 surviving British forces had

regrouped in central Java, including

two serviceable Vildebeests. On the

29th K6384 failed to return from a

recce and it is believed to have been

shot down near Semerang, east of

Jakarta. With that the big biplane’s last

stand was over.

“While attacking a Japanese ship during the intense naval

engagement off Endau... K6379 was seen to dive into the sea. It

was one of 13 of the torpedo-bombers lost that day.”