471001 - Unaccounted Airwoman & Airmen - 01-10-1947

[Alex Smart]

Hello,

471001 - Unaccounted Airwoman & Airmen - 01-10-1947

From Henk's List -

WAAF
SOUTH AFRICA
KERR, H. - Air Sergeant (Miss) - F.263781 - WAAF(SAAF).
Durban ( Stellawood ) Cremation Memorial, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa.

EGYPT
BLOCK, Michael Lewrance - Sqdn/Ldr - 75927 - RAF.
BERTRAM, Douglas - LAC - 2262669 - RAFVR.
GRUBB, Eric George Wlliam - Navigator II - 1605294 - RAFVR.
SEXTON, Michael Francis - Cpl - 578718 - RAF.
SYDENHAM, Percy Thomas - P/O - 58519 - RAF.
WATSON, Alan - LAC - 3080263 - RAFVR.
WHITE, Ronald Frank - Pilot II - 1316962 - RAFTC - 575 Sqn.
And two civilians,
LONG, Philip George - Mr. Civilian.
St. Georges Chapel in Westminster Abbey, London.
McLEOD, D. - Mr. - Civilian.
Could find nothing in CWGC.
All nine are remembered on the Alamein Memorial, Egypt.
All were on Wellington C.10 - Aden CF - NC565.
http://www.baaa-acro.com/aircraft/vi...ngton-x?page=4

MALTA
CALLAGHAN, Frank William - Signaller II - 1866296 - RAFVR.
Malta Memorial, Malta.
Was also aboard Wellington C.10 Aden CF - NC565.

UK
ARMOUR, James Austin - Cpl - 573750 - RAF.
Foulsham ( Holy Innocents ) Churchyard, Norfolk.

From CWGC -

INDIA
REDDIAR, Tholurpatti, Krishnaswami, Venugopal - Sgt - 11130 - RIAF.
Delhi/Karachi 1939-1945 War Memorials, India.

Alex

[Resmoroh]

Probably him? If so, it looks likely we now know what he was doing?

Marriages Q1 1910
Long, Arthur* to Philips, Jane** (Reg Pembroke 11a 1791).

Births Q1 1911
Long, Philip G (Reg Llanelly 11a 1289).

1939 Census Philip G Long 25 Mar 1911 Male Manager N A A F I Single.

Philip George Long, Birth year 1911, Age 36, Death year 1947, Death date 01 Oct 1947, Rank Civilian, Civilian War Dead, Air Crashes At Sea, https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-war-dead

* b. 1882 Pembroke. Wesley Terrace, Kidwelly, Carmarthen. Asst Pickler
** b. 1888 Pembroke. Wesley Terrace, Kidwelly, Carmarthen. Wife.

HTH
Peter Davies

[wwrsimon]

Hello

The UK Foreign and Overseas Register of British Subjects has the following for the two civilians on NC565:

Return of Death of Civilian Personnel in Royal Air Force Aircraft
Name: LONG Philip George
Date of death: October 1st 1947
Age: 36
Rank: Civilian
Last place of abode: 22 Nelson Street, Pennar, Pembroke Dock.
Place of death: Presumed at sea approximately half mile south of Bal Hal Bluff on coast of Aden Protectorate.
Cause of death: Aircraft lost en route from Khormaksar, Aden, to Riyan, Saudi Arabia.

and

Return of Death of Civilian Personnel in Royal Air Force Aircraft
Name: MacLEOD Donald John
Date of death: October 1st 1947
Age: 47
Occupation: Clerk of Works
Last place of abode: Aden
Place of death: Place of death presumed to be off Cape Asida where aircraft (Wellington NC 565) on a routine flight from Aden to Masirah via Riyan seen by native to dive into sea.
Cause of death: Death presumtion on evidence. Aircraft in which he was travelling lost at sea..

UK
ARMOUR, James Austin - Cpl - 573750 - the National Probate Calendar records that he died at Kings Lynn General Hospital.

Regards

Simon

[Resmoroh]

Hello All,
Has anybody actually located (GE grid?) (a) Bal Hal Bluff, and (b) Cape Asida? I'm going to "fly" the route, just to see if anything transpires.
"Asida" on Google comes up with a sort of porage eaten in those parts. The connection - if any - to a headland/cliff in the area would seem remote?
TIA
Peter Davies

[wwrsimon]

Peter

Could 'Bal Hal" possibly be Balhaf in Yemen? It's on the the coast, on the line from Aden to Riyan (now in Yemen), more or less.

Regards

Simon

[Resmoroh]

Simon,

I think you’re probably right. That Balhaf LNG terminal (GE 13.974760 48.179538) is at the start of a Yemen coastline volcanic intrusion, and the only place where there could be a ‘bluff’ (cliff?). NC565 was, probably, on a routine ‘commuter run’. The War was over. Places were shutting down. A Regional(?) NAAFI Manager (remember, he’d been an RAF Station NAAFI Manager at Pembroke Dock in 1939), and an AMWD Works&Bricks Clerk of Works amongst the pax says it all!

I “flew” the route at FL070 (avoids daytime turbulence, and the need for oxygen). I arrived Masirah at 1201Local (or 1301Local, if 1 hr is spent at Riyan). This would allow Masirah VASF personnel to be on their charpoys during the heat of the afternoon - as was the custom in them parts!!. NC565 would night-stop, and return to Aden the next morning (possibly including Salalah on the way?). I then re-“flew” much of the route at low-level (1500ft AMSL) following the coast to see what could be seen. Not a lot! The FSX conventionally averaged ‘scenery’ shows the sand-dunes bordering the sea.

It is my current theory that NC565 had (or was about to) commenced his descent into Riyan. He might have been in VHF contact with ATC? The distance/(depending)height looks good. Riyan Ops/ATC would have had an INTEMPLANE from Khormaksar the day before. When it didn’t pitch up there might have been an entry in the ORB? Don’t know the weather. But something happened on board. Is there an RAF Riyan ORB? Too difficult!

HTH
Peter Davies

[Resmoroh]

Hello All,
Just to tidy this one up by using the most dangerous part of this research profession – making assumptions!!! There is a lot of circumstantial evidence.

A colleague on another forum tells me that he has a “Ras al Asida” at GE 13.96667 48.183333. This is almost (only 190yds/175m difference!) the same loc as the volcanic intrusion into the Gulf of Aden south of the LNG terminal at what is titled Balhaf on the current GE image of the area. “Ras” is Arabic for “head” (‘Headland of Asida’, or ‘Cape Asida’?). NC565 is said to have impacted the sea “half a mile South of Cape Asida”. This makes the Impact Location GE 13.960749 48.184396. And - using the advertised cruising speed of the Wimpy - they'd been airborne for 1hr 7mins!

This loc is 200nm east of Khormaksar – and, probably, well beyond VHF range. It is also 80nm west of RAF Riyan (GE 14.652110 49.322060) and, possibly, within VHF range (except for the high ground at GE 14.216451 48.536590 which might interfere with true ‘line of sight’ from, say FL050, or FL070?). Whether they were working an air/ground H/F W/T circuit is unlikely – there is no NCO W/OP amongst the casualties (unless they were using a Cpl W/Op from the COMCEN?).

NC565 must have been routed Khormaksar>Riyan by following the coastline (RAF Riyan is only 3nm from the coast!). The track of the direct route Khormaksar>Riyan is 22nm northwest of the impact location! There are thousands of square miles of sand-dunes on the direct track which could have been used for a forced landing. Why fly 22nm off-track before crashing into the sea?

It is not my purpose simply to pile assumed minutiae on to possibilities, but to demonstrate what (under suitable circumstances) can be forensically wrung from, initially, unpromising material.

HTH
Peter Davies

[wwrsimon]

That's some great work Peter, well done indeed.

Regards

Simon

[norfolkjohn]

Regarding 573750 Corporal James Arthur Armour, the Lynn Advertiser of 3rd Oct 1947 reports that he was involved in a motorcycle accident on Wednesday (1st Oct) near Modney Bridge, Hilgay. The motorcycle he was riding collided with a car driven by a Mr Underwood of Crown Lane Littleport. Having been attended by a Dr. W. J. Tavendale of Downham, Cpl Armour was taken to Kings Lynn Hospital by an ambulance from Downham but died of his injuries. The report states he was based at Oakington but as he was with 4242 Servicing Echelon I think he may actually have been at Waterbeach by the time of his death.