FlyPast 06.2018

AIRCREW PATH F I N D E R

Admiralty believed the German raiders

would head west for the convoy routes

and 10 (BR) Squadron was ordered to

extend its patrols as far as possible to

the east on May 26 and 27.

The combination of the pace of

operations and the weather eventually

took its toll on crews and aircraft. On

July 21, Flt Lt R A Ashman had to

ditch Digby 752 off the coast of Cape

Race, the crew being rescued by a

passing schooner.

Five days later 742 was returning

from a long-range patrol in bad

weather. It crashed 3 miles short of

Gander, killing all six on board.

On September 11, Butts was

assigned to 750 to practise circuits.

Unfortunately, he attempted to take

off without checking if the rudder and

elevator chocks – to keep the control

surfaces immobile when the aircraft

was parked – had not been properly

removed by the ground crew.

Unsurprisingly the Digby failed to

get airborne and ran off the end of

the runway into a drainage ditch.

The crew escaped injury, but the

bomber’s landing gear was driven

up through the wing spar and

the aircraft had to be sent back to

Dartmouth for extensive repairs. It

didn’t return to operations for more

than a year.

The cause of the accident was

recorded as inattention on the part of

both the ground crew and the pilot in

command. Butts apparently got the

‘benefit of the doubt’ however, and

remained on operations.

TWO, THEN THREE

He was assigned to fly 748 for an early

morning patrol on October 3, 1941.

squadron’s senior staff insisted on at

least some hangar time so that it could

remain operational.

Even when the Wright engines

could be started after being frozen,

the runways were routinely covered

with ice and snow, making take-offs

and landings challenging. The weather

was so bad in January 1941 that the

Gander detachment was grounded for

22 days. Only able to attempt nine

patrols, it completed just four.

POOR PRE-FLIGHT

Coincident with the arrival of Fg Off

Butts, all 17 of the squadron’s Digbys

were based at Gander, flying extensive

patrols throughout the summer of

1941 which were largely uneventful

and boring, as German U-boats had

not yet fully extended operations

across the Atlantic.

On May 18, however, the battleship

Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prince

Eugen left the Baltic and six days later

sank the Royal Navy battlecruiser

Hood in the Denmark Strait,

between Iceland and Greenland. The

Right

Digby 738 of 10 (BR)

Squadron after it had

force-landed in Locker’s

Bay, Newfoundland,

January 2, 1942. VIA

ANDY THOMAS

Below right

Lancaster III ND750 of

582 Squadron having

been hit by a Mosquito

of 464 Squadron RAAF,

June 28, 1944. VIA ANDY

THOMAS

120 FLYPAST June 2018