ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 312045
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| Date: | Sunday 23 May 1943 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Vickers Wellington Mk 1c 'KX-Q' |
| Owner/operator: | 311 (Free Czech) Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | Z1147 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 6 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Location: | Penlan Uchaf Farm. Kidwelly. -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | RAF Talbenny |
| Luton |
Details:
This Wellington had a chequered service life and survived disaster twice. As for her crew they were not so lucky!
Sadly, the production list of this mainstay of the bomber force during the early stages of the war, has gone unrecorded, compared to the Spitfire and aircraft produced by Bristol and De-Havilland. But Z1147 was produced at one of these four factories. 1,400 - Vickers, Weybridge 1,603 - Vickers, Chester 50 - Vickers, Blackpool. The second production variant Wellington was the Mk IA. This version had its Vickers turrets replaced with Nash and Thompson ones. The Mk IC followed, and this had its ventral turret removed in favour of either a Vickers 'K' or Browning machine-gun firing from the beam position on either side. The bomb bay was also strengthened to allow the use of a 4,000lb bomb. Just under one hundred and fifty Mk ICs would be used as torpedo bombers.
Z1147 came to No.311 squadron and allocated the radio codes ‘EX-G’, during the end of January 1942. Z1147 took part in her first operation bombing Essen on the 31st of the month flown by Sgt Naxera and his regular crew. Z1147 took part in four more raids, flown by different crews each time. Then on the 4th of March the crew of Sgt V Para were to fly her on a night raid over Emden.
Squadron records.
‘3rd 1147 G Sgt Para Night attack on Emden 18:52 00:07 Bombs jettisoned during combat
Sgt Soukup With Me.110 over Emden. Results
F/O Gabiel not seen owing to evasive action
P/O Matejicek taken. Rear gunner (Sgt Binder )
Sgt Simko killed.’
Sgt Binder
The Messerschmitt Bf.110G night fighter of 5/1NJG (5 Staffel, II Gruppe, Nachtjagdgerschwader 1). Was flown by OberLeutnant Paul Gildne, who claimed a Wellington shot down North-West of Terschelling at 21: 20hrs.Sgt Para managed through skilful airmanship to evade, eventually escaping the night fighter after entering cloud, but his rear gunner received injuries from the encounter. Sadly, Sgt Binder died in the station hospital a few hours later. Z1147 was repaired on the base and back on Op’s a couple of weeks later.
The next noteworthy date took place on the 27th of September 1942. Piloted by F/O Student and his crew took off to commence a patrol over the Bay of Biscay at 1413 hours. During the patrol a fully surfaced U-Boat, the U-165 (under the command of Frg.Kpt Eberhard Hoffman, was sighted and attacked west of Lorient. The aircraft dived on the submarine from 1,200 feet and six depth charges were dropped from 70 feet, straddling the conning tower. The submarine opened fire with its onboard armament, the Wellington being twice damaged by shrapnel with nearly all the crew being wounded. The rear gunner fired 400 rounds and hit the conning tower many times. The explosions of the depth charges appeared to lift the U-165 bodily, but it still managed to dive slowly, only submerging completely one minute after the DP attack. Owing to their injuries the crew decided to leave the scene of the attack immediately, climbing to 500 feet and setting course for St Eval in Cornwall. Due to the damage from the AA fire the hydraulic system was out of action and the aircraft unable to lower its undercarriage, made a forced landing at St Eval at 1958 hours. The crew had the following injuries: second pilot (F/Sgt Svec), splinter wounds to right leg; navigator (F/O Kadane), splinter wounds to both legs; W/Op (P/O Bunzl), splinter wounds to right arm; front gunner (Sgt Karas), small finger of left hand shot away. Both Kadane and Karas were hospitalised. The U-Boat sank at position 47.00N 05.30W and there were no survivors from the 51-man crew. Another squadron Wellington DV738 ‘KX-C’ and her crew were also successful on the 9th, and in October both crews were invited to London for a de-brief.
On the 18th of October the two crews took off from Talbenny in a single Wellington headed for Northolt. Plt Off Bulis and his crew flew the aircraft, and Flt Lt Študent's crew flew as passengers. Two of Študent's crew were unable to come as they were still in hospital. 18th of October is Czechoslovak Independence Day, so a few other members of 311 Squadron came with them to enjoy the day in London. There was a total of nine passengers, including one Belgian, Plt Off Georges Strauss-Leemans, who was 311 Squadron's transport officer. The aircraft was Wellington T2564 ‘KX-T’.
Wellington T2564 approached RAF Northolt from the west at about 1600 hrs at an altitude of 500–600 ft (150–180 m) and with its undercarriage lowered. Bulis turned the plane steeply to port to approach Northolt's east-west runway from the east. The Wellington stalled, then dived toward the ground near South Ruislip station.
At 16:08 hrs its wingtip clipped a main road, flipping the plane over onto a piece of waste ground where dozens of children were playing. The Wellington burst into flames. This detonated the ammunition which started firing in all directions.
All the crew and passengers were killed, making the crash 311 Squadron's largest loss of life in a single incident. Six civilians on the ground were also killed: two adult sisters, each with two young daughters.
All but one of the crew are buried in the Czechoslovak section of Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey. The women and children are buried in St Nicholas' parish churchyard, Brockenhurst in Hampshire.
The inquest was held at Uxbridge, Middlesex into the deaths of the two sisters and their four children. The aircraft was deemed to have been serviceable and not overloaded. A witness at Northolt said it was flying quite normally: "It made a quarter circle, gradually losing height. Then it appeared to lose height rather more quickly and disappeared behind some houses". The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.
During April 1943, 311 squadron was partly re-equipped with five Wellington MkX aircraft. They could carry two torpedoes or 3,999 lb (1,814 kg) of bombs, but it was primarily a Bomber Command variant, not designed for maritime patrol work. After some convincing, the Air Ministry decided to equip the squadron with the Consolidated B-24 Liberator GR.V bomber. They started patrolling with the new B-24’s on the 21st of August 1943. This left the old Wellingtons without a job at the squadron and were gradually ferried out to OTU’s and other jobs. It was on the 23rd of May 1943, that Z1147 had her marching orders, and she was due to be flown to Luton for further tasking. F/O Radina and his crew took off for Luton but as she was flying over the vicinity of Carmarthen, both motors just stopped, leaving the only option open for Radina, an emergency landing at RAF Pembrey. But as he was passing over the high ground to the Northwest of Kidwelly he lost forward airspeed. Without height to gain speed in the glide he had to opt for a forced landing immediately. He successfully landed in a large field belonging to Penlan Uchaf Farm. He was able to get out before the ruptured fuel met the hot exhausts which caught fire and engulfing the stricken bomber. When emergency crews arrived, all they could do was extinguish what was left of the completely burnt-out wreck.
Crew:
F/O Radina. Pilot. Safe.
F/Sgt Sapak. Engr. Safe.
P/O Hairauek. W/Op. Safe.
Sgt Hartis. Nav. Safe.
Sgt Halada. A/Gnr. Safe.
F/Sgt Pukbucik. A/Gnr. Safe.
Wreckage:
With air crashes on high ground, any destroyed by fire aircraft, leave a large area where nothing will grow due to the contaminates of fuel, oils and Moulton Aluminium. This one occurred on an active farm, which remains to be active, all traces have been ploughed into the ground. The mark I have given for the site is in fact only an educated guess, the actual spot still needs to be discovered, a task made a lot harder with the current farmer being new to the farm after the original family having retired from the business.
Additional Information:
Born on 1 February 1914, in Nimptsch (Silesia), Gildner was already serving as a Oberfeldwebel pilot with Zerstoregeschwader 1 (ZG 1) when war began in September 1939, flying the Messerschmitt Bf-110. Gildner flew intensively during the European campaign in May–June 1940, and also flew missions during early stages of the Barrle of Britain.
In August 1940, Gildner, after training in night flying, was transferred to 4. /Nachtiagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1). After his first claim on 3 September 1940, he would score regularly and on 9th of July 1941, after his 14th claim, Oberfeldwebel Gildner was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Through 1942, Gildner (now commissioned to Leutnant), continued his series of claims, making him one of the highest scoring Luftwaffe night fighter pilots at the time. Gildner died in the crash of Messerschmitt Bf-110 G-4 (Werknumber 4846) following engine failure and fire near Gilze en Rijen in the Netherlands in the night of 24/25 February 1943. His radio operator Unteroffizier Huhn managed to escape and bailed out with his parachute.
On the 26th of February 1943, Gildner was awarded posthumously, with the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross. Gildner claimed 48 victories, 46 of them at night, 8 of which were four engine heavy bombers.
Sources:
www.fcafa.com
www.rafcommands.com
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
www.britishaircraft.co.uk
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 04-May-2023 05:12 | Davies 62 | Added |
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