ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 205690
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| Date: | Saturday 9 October 1937 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Miles M.11A Whitney Straight |
| Owner/operator: | Brigadier Gen Arthur C Lewin |
| Registration: | G-AEZO |
| MSN: | 347 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | White Nile Valley, near Malakal, Eastern Nile State -
 Sudan
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Khartoum Airport, Khartoum, Sudan (KRT/HSSS) |
| Nairobi-Wilson Airport, Nairobi, Kenya (WIL/HKNW) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
First registered [C of R 7979] on 12.7.37 to Brigadier General Arthur C Lewin, CB, GMD, DSO, ADC, Upton-on-Severn, Worcestershire (aircraft based at Heston Aerodrome, Heston, Middlesex). C of A 5980 issued July 1937.
Written off (damaged beyond repair) 9.10.37 when wrecked in a forced landing in the White Nile Valley near Malakal, Eastern Nile State, Sudan, whilst en route between Khartoum, Sudan and Nairobi, Kenya. According to the following newspaper article ("The Journal.ie" January 2017, see link #4):
"In October 1937, there was a collective gulp throughout the world of aviation when it was reported that Brigadier General Arthur Corrie Lewin, DSO, and his wife, had gone missing in north-east Africa.
The couple were last seen flying down the valley of the White Nile in their Miles Whitney two-seater. Less than four weeks earlier, the 63-year-old Irish aviator had astonished his contemporaries when, on his debut attempt, he came second in the prestigious King’s Cup Air Race.
General Lewin was 57 years old when he discovered his true passion in life. “Flying is full of surprises,” he remarked. “It keeps you young. It is the finest game in the world.” He was astonishingly good at it. At the end of 1931, the same year that he learned how to fly, he covered the 6,300-mile journey from England to Kenya in a solo run that took over 50 hours. He was to repeat the journey many times.
It was thus no surprise when newspapers around the world began to panic when the Lewins and their monoplane disappeared over the Nile on their return from the 1937 King’s Cup. But fortune smiled on the couple when a flying boat pilot on the London to Cape Town route spotted them waving frantically from a Sudanese swamp.
The General and his wife had been compelled to force-land and were subsequently marooned. The flying boat dropped food supplies and led an RAF convoy out to find them. Ten days after their plane went down, the Lewins were rescued, scathed, bruised and hungry but very much alive.
Fifteen years later, the irrepressible Galway man cemented his reputation as an icon of aviation when he piloted a Tiger Moth to victory in the East African Aerial Derby in March 1953. He died of heart failure six months later at the age of 78."
Registration G-AEZO cancelled by the Air Ministry 2.12.37 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawl from use of aircraft".
Sources:
1. http://afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/79-register-gb-g-ae
2. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AEZO.pdf
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A10.html
4. http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/the-glorious-madness-book-extract-3151205-Jan2017/
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malakal
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 05-Feb-2018 19:48 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 19-Oct-2023 04:25 | Ron Averes | Updated |
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