F/O Duncan Whiteley Balden baleout Sept 20, 1937 800 Sqn

[paulmcmillan]

Can anyone suggest a loss for the following incident:

A/C.1 John Beresford Murfin lost his life in an accident which occurred in Moray Firth, on September 20, to an aircraft of No. 800 (Fleet Fighter) Squadron. He was a passenger of the aircraft. The pilot, F / O . Duncan Whiteley Balden, was rescued


Balden baled out and was rescued from the sea by HMS Rodney

Many thanks

Paul

[davew]

Paul,

Osprey K5756 (FAA A/c, Units and Ships 1920-39)

DaveW

[paulmcmillan]

DaveW

Thanks for that!

Paul

[brian]

Hi Paul

Out of interest, Duncan Balden transferred to the RAF, retrained as fighter pilot, joined 266 Squadron and was one of those who flew to Malta on the first Hurricane reinforcement from a carrier, and eventually commanded 261 Squadron during the 1940 defence of the island.

See ' Hurricanes over Malta'

Cheers
Brian

[AL90]

Hi Paul,
Glasgow Herald and The Scotsman of 21st Sept has the full story, F/O Balden was actually rescued unconscious from the sea near the shore by Harvesters at Navity on the Black Isle, given EAR and later transferred to HMS Rodney suffering from shock and exposure. Aircraftsman Murfin's body was found behind the shore with an unopened parachute.

The Glasgow Herald of 7th May 1938 has an article where F/O Balden's engagment to Miss Molly Morison of Navity is announced. Molly Morison administered EAR when he was pull from the sea. A bit of an extreme way to find a bride !

PM me if you would like copies of the articles.

Alan.

[Lyffe]

Er, I know I'm going to regret this Alan, but what is 'EAR'?

Brian

[ian94avenge]

Possibly Emergency Artificial Respiration such as the Heimlich manoeuvre on drowning victims. Mouth-to-mouth ventilation is ineffective until the water is removed.

I am not a real Doctor you know....

Ian

[paulmcmillan]

Alan

Thanks for aditional info I have added it to my notes

Paul

[AL90]

EAR- Expired Air Resusitation, modern name for the kiss of life.
There are two types of drowning, wet and dry. Wet is where the lungs fill with water and dry is where the epiglotus goes into spasm and shuts off the airway, usually caused by inhaling a very cold wave. Dry is more survivable and is probably what happen to F/O Balden. Incidentally drowning in sea water is more survivable than in fresh water, can't remember why, something to do with the salt........

Alan.

[Lyffe]

Thanks Alan. I'd not heard of it previously and Google didn't help.

Brian

[Alex Perks]

Can anyone suggest a loss for the following incident:

A/C.1 John Beresford Murfin lost his life in an accident which occurred in Moray Firth, on September 20, to an aircraft of No. 800 (Fleet Fighter) Squadron. He was a passenger of the aircraft. The pilot, F / O . Duncan Whiteley Balden, was rescued


Balden baled out and was rescued from the sea by HMS Rodney

Many thanks

Paul

As I understand it, this is from family history, Duncan Balden was my uncle, this was in the very early days of parachutes and the other guy was too scared to jump using his chute but Duncan thought he jump and hope it worked, this is purely what I heard as a child, but if you have any info about my uncle I'd love to see it.

[paulmcmillan]

Alex

Thanks for your note. I am afraid all of the information on this incident I have is already on this thread

Though you could find newspaper reports of incidents here

http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

First one is 'free'

Initial reports were both crew were dead this is of course not true!

Paul

[David Duxbury]

I don't think the "kiss of life" technique became widespread until the late 1950s; prior to that a less-effective sytem known as the Holger Nielsen method was the norm. This was the one where the victim was lain on his/her back and the "rescuer" manipulated the victims' arms in a particular motion that caused the chest to rise and fall to a certain extent. I am pretty certain this was the main method used around the world until the mid-1950s, and remember when we were introduced to the new "rescue breathing" in the late 1950s; it was supposed to be remarkably more effective, and is of course still the basic method in concert with heart "massage". However there may have been other methods used in different partd of the world at different periods, but I think the most effective quickly took over from the lesser types.
David D