Churchill and his staff trip to Yalta Jan-Feb 1945

[CZ_RAF]

Hi all,
I would like to ask if there is known which squadrons took part in transporting of Primer Minister Churchill and his staff to Yalta in January-February 1945?
I have found he was flying on EW999 and that there were casualties in his staff after 511 Sq York MW116 ditching. But I am unable to find anything more in 511 Sq ORB and also I have found nothing in 24, 246 and Metropolitan Communication Sq ORBs.
So am I blind or those records has been simply omitted for security reasons?

TIA

Pavel

[alieneyes]

Hi Pavel,

https://winstonchurchill.org/publica...time-journeys/

On Christmas Eve 1944, Churchill boarded the Skymaster for Athens, where he mediated the Greek civil war. His pilot was now RAF Wing Commander “Bill” Fraser.His next important wartime trip was to the Big Three conference at Yalta in February 1945. The Skymaster flew first to Malta, and then, adding fighter escort, across Turkey and the Black Sea for the Saki airport serving Yalta. Fraser parked her next to the Sacred Cow, and both planes were guarded by the Red Army; even their crews had difficulty gaining access.

Regards,

Dave

[Don Clark]

Not omitted for security.

See my account for W/O William Wright, ex 211 Sqn, and one of the 511 Sqn wireless ops who lost his life in York MW116.
In part quoting 511 Sqn Ops Record Book.

http://www.211squadron.org/w_wright.html#511Sqn
Sources as noted in text & Sources block

I've now re-checked for the TNA online 511 Sqn set today.
Missed it, somehow, Pavel. See Form 540 image 1 here
https://discovery.nationalarchives.g...ils/r/D8413770
and Form 541 image 1 here
https://discovery.nationalarchives.g...ils/r/D8413771
Couldn't spot an Appendix set though.
I used this thread/post #3 to the TNA spreadsheet here - quick way into the TNA holdings via RH col TNA links, hover and click on the link pop-up.



A very sad event...but one of so many such.

[CZ_RAF]

Hi Don, thank you for your reply. I am sorry but it seems to me I have lay down my question incorrectly.
Yes I have found details about York MW116 tragedy in 511 Sq ORB but I was expecting there would be more aircraft not only one with his staff and other supporting personnel? So I am looking for those others - if there were any?
Also I have not find any record about the EW999 flight in any ORB...

Pavel

[Don Clark]

Thanks Pavel, yes I see. Cannot help further there.

Now EW299...that's a Liberator, 547 Squadron, a/s duties.
EW299 lost with all aboard on 28 October 44 - F/O Lewcock & co

That date doesn't seem to line up with Yalta (4 to 11 Feb 45) nor any other Big Three meeting in 1944. Serial no error, apparently?

The 547 Sqn Ops Record book, tracked though the EW299 & 547 Sqn entries in the db here, records the EW299 loss on the last page of the Oct Form 540
(summarising) as FTR from op sortie Bergen Skagerrak on an antisubmarine patrol.
AIR 27/2034 Image at
http://discovery.nationalarchives.go...ils/r/D8414923

Not sighted as an entry in the AIR 27/2034 Form 541 daily record here.
http://discovery.nationalarchives.go...ils/r/D8414924

[CZ_RAF]

Sorry Don that I have wasted your time. I have not my day today:-(
Another mistake - Churchill's C-54 had serial EW999. (I have corrected also my previous posts to prevent any further misundestandings).

Pavel

[Don Clark]

Quite OK, Pavel - some days, eh!

EW999 Douglas Skymaster I (ie, aka C54) del Jun 44, Lyneham, ex 43-17126, for use of Prime Minister
(Halley RAF Aircraft EA100 EZ999 (AB 1988))

To VIP Flight 246 Sqn
http://www.rafcommands.com/database/...php?uniq=EW999

Here, by the same chain of links noted my #3 above, is the 246 Sqn ORB for Feb 45 though I think you've already looked.
Poor Quality, only skimmed, there are entries for returns from Special Service but could not see EW999 in the murk. Wider time span check maybe?
https://discovery.nationalarchives.g...ils/r/D8396807
https://discovery.nationalarchives.g...ils/r/D8396808

Besides, in a massive oversight of my own, failed to see under AlienEyes #2 brief quote, the link to ICS/Getting There
The summary narrative, had I looked, clearly id'd EW999!

Also, potentially more useful, includes this source:
Lavery: Churchill Goes to War: Winston's Wartime Journeys

Looks to be very substantial at 300+ pages & blurbed as
"meticulously researched in terms of its historical and technical reference"
Looks likely the Notes and Bibliography might be a real help - the snippet view doesn't get that far, of course.

Someone here may have it, or if you've got Kindle, the price at Amazon is more reasonable...
https://www.amazon.com.au/Churchill-...0412707&sr=8-1

Good luck with this Pavel, feel I should have read yr & AEs posts more attentively.
Tak zatím mějte se...

[Don Clark]

Pavel,
Long story short, in fixing a technical hitch here, I've ended up with a working eReader and now an ePub of
Lavery Churchill Goes to War: Winston's Wartime Journeys

Blackboxery being what it is, I can't link or c+p text but I can t/s some relevant detail and refs at least.

The Chapters, as you might expect are in more or less narrative style and focussed much on WSC & the senior staff etc.

However, in the Yalta ch I did spot some more detail arising in the section on the loss of York MW116.

"Ch XVII The Ways to Yalta

...Two Yorks were ready at Northolt in the morning of the 31st to take passengers to Malta.
EW623 took off on time but EW617 had engine trouble and could not go.
However there was another aircraft, MW116, which was getting ready at Lyneham..."

EW623: Liberator, 232 Squadron
EW617: Liberator, 246 Sqn then 232 Sqn (no dates)
Squadrons are not listed in the text or Index - I checked Halley RAF Aircraft EA100-EZ999 re the Liberators.

I regret to add that (quite apart from the complex relationship between 232 and 246 Sqn late 44- early 45)
the 232 Sqn Summary (Form 540) at AIR 27/1428/73 is, to my eyes, effectively illegible for the period of interest, if probably entirely irrelevant anyway.
Finally, on 246 Sqn I checked the Appendices set: AIR 27/1486 again near illegible assessment of Halifax development and irrelevant.

Notes & Bibliography
Refs to the following TNA AIR files for this Ch
AIR 8/841 Accident to York Lampedusa
AIR 20/313 Operation ARGONAUT
AIR 29/475 Airfield at Saki
among other refs
These files I take it remain inaccessible under current pandemic restrictions

That's about all I can find, in agreeing with Pavel that the records re other Yalta flights remain elusive for whatever reason.
Still, just perhaps some of the above of some little assistance...

[CZ_RAF]

Don thank you very much!
I was able to find both EW617 and EW623 in 246 Sq ORB even it is really poor scan! And also two more Liberators!

Thank you also for TNA references, unfortunately due to the term of my research + actual closure I will be not able to check them.

Anyway what I have found so far is enough for me so thank you once more for pointing me into the right direction!

Pavel

[COL BRUGGY]

Hello,

The following will give you some idea of the effort required to get the team to and from Yalta:

From Brian Lavery's, Churchill goes to war.

p.332.

Aircraft began to converge on the field (Saki), from Malta, Naples and Athens. For security reasons each had to fly over the control tower, make a 90 degree turn to identify himself to the Soviet anti-aircraft gunners, then land. Twenty four engine planes landed in a space of five hours, all within seconds of their estimated time of arrival. Over the course of the day there were 13 British transport aircraft carrying 139 passengers and 70 crew, and ten American with 120 passengers and 80 crew. Among them was Churchill's Skymaster EW299. Jack Payne (flight engineer), struggled with the block and tackle arrangement used to lower the aircraft's steps, and the party disembarked.

p.345 (14 Feb, 1945).

Churchill inspected a large guard of honour of 200 NKVD troops, using his usual method of looking each man straight in the eye. At midday they were in the air, heading for Athens.
With the departure of EW 999 [sic], Staging Post 150 could begin to wind up its operations, even though there were still a dozen American Dakotas and Skymasters waiting to leave. They calculated that in all they handled 120 British and 152 American aircraft movements, including 20 dispatch-carrying Mosquitoes, three dozen Skymasters, 52 Dakotas and 20 Yorks.

See:
Churchill goes to war Winston's Wartime Journeys
Lavery,Brian.
London:Conway,2007.
pp.332 & 345.

And from, Churchill's Navigator:

The call we expected we expected surely came when we learned that another 'Big Three' conference was in the offing, code-named Operation Argonaut. Stalin would not leave Russian soil whilst there were still Germans on his land, and so once again we would be going to him. At our preliminary planning meeting in Westminster, we discovered that as well as our Skymaster, the four aircraft that now comprised the York Flight would also be used, including Ascalon which was now under the command of Squadron Leader Ozzie Morris* and his 511 Squadron crew our out of Lyneham.

* https://www.theguardian.com/film/201.../oswald-morris

See:
Churchill's Navigator.
Mitchell,John Air Commodore, LVO, DFC, AFC, with Sean Feast.
London:Grub Street,2010.
p.124.

Incidentally, the correct TNA reference for the Operation ARGONAUT file is AIR 20/2313, not AIR 20/313.

Col.