ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 312092
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| Date: | Saturday 29 May 1943 |
| Time: | 20:22 |
| Type: | Short Sunderland Mk II |
| Owner/operator: | 461 Sqn RAAF |
| Registration: | T9114 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 11 |
| Aircraft damage: | Minor |
| Location: | RAF Angle, Pembrokeshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Pembroke Dock |
| RAF Pembroke Dock |
Mission: Air-Sea Rescue.
Details:
T9114 was the 6th of seven MkII aircraft manufactured under licence by the Blackburn Aircraft Co’ at Barge Park, Dumbarton in Scotland to contract No. B37753/39 covering the aircraft serials between T9109 to T9115.
She went to the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at RAF Helensburgh for airworthiness checks before delivery to the RAF. Next, she was delivered to the RAF for official acceptance tests and checks during May 1942. June, she came to RAF Pembroke Dock. She was allocated to 461 squadron who were at the time at RAF Mountbatten. On the 5th of July W/Co Halliday and crew arrived from Mountbatten with the crew for T9114. 7th of July, P/O Buls and crew departed Pembroke Dock in T9114 for RAF Mountbatten. She was the 7th Sunderland taken on charge with the squadron and allocated the radio codes ‘EM-E’. From her on she was known as E-Emu. Her first operational patrol took place the following day on an ASR to find a crew of a downed Whitley (Z6876) in the Bay of Biscay. T9114 landed successfully and recovered her first rescued crewmen.
Fast forward to the 29th of May 1943 and she was detailed on another ASR mission, again for a Whitley crew and again, in the Bay of Biscay.
F/O Singleton and crew departed ‘PD’ at 03:41hrs originally on a normal anti-submarine patrol, soon they were diverted to look for survivors of another 461 squadron Sunderland (JM675) which had originally been tasked to rescue the crew of Whitley BD282. JM675 (UT-O) were on an operational patrol when they informed base that they had just flown over a dingy with survivors aboard on the 28th of May at 17:30hrs. After gaining permission to land they began to touch down onto the moderate sea. The Sunderland bounced off three swells but stalled and dived vertically into the fourth. The bow of the aircraft was torn off to the cockpit killing the captain, F/Lt W.S.E. Dods. The 1st pilot was seriously injured and the ‘J’ type dingy in the starboard mainplane was released but neither of the other two survived the impact. The Sunderland survivors joined up with the Whitley crew and lashed their dinghies together. The next day T9114 arrived overhead.
At 06:33hrs they located the survivors of both aircraft and dropped smoke floats and marine markers (Green DYE) to determine the sea state and wind. Singleton the orbited the area for some time assessing if conditions were favourable for a landing in the open seas. Conditions were considered as borderline acceptable and at 07:30hrs and alighted. The rescue of the sixteen men then began. However, take off proved to be impossible with the weight of 11 crewmen, 16 survivors, eight depth charges and 1500 gallons of fuel aboard.
As all this took place, another Sunderland and a Wellington arrived overhead and were asked to locate the Royal Navy Destroyer that was known to be in the area. The Wimpy located it and it turned out to be a Free French Destroyer with the RN. ‘La Combattante’ soon arrived at the scene of the rescue and took off all the survivors and five of the crew of T9114 who were
non-essential for the next stage.
At 12:55hrs T9114 was taken under tow, and they headed back for the UK. During the next four hours the tow line parted twice and on one occasion a floating mine was seen heading toward the aircraft but fortunately did not make contact. The strain from the towing and the sea swell, the mooring post of the Sunderland snapped, making any further towing impossible.
At this time the swell abated giving Singleton the chance of taking off. All the depth charges were rolled out and jettisoned. T9114 turned into wind and began the run. It was bumpy but manageable. Take off speed was reached, and Singleton hauled back on the controls but at the same instant, a particularly large wave smashed into the Sunderland. Singleton still had speed and continued the climb with full control. One of the crew was tasked to inspect the hull for damage. He soon returned to the cockpit and informed Singleton that a hole, about seven feet wide had opened below the waterline making any further water landings out of question. An unfortunate aspect of the Sunderland was no parachutes were carried. This left Singleton the only option open. This was to land a very large flying boat on land at a conventional airfield, the only one near their parent base of PD was RAF Angle.
F/Sgt Church messaged PD of their intentions. At 20:00hrs they arrived over St Annes Head. The crew were instructed to jettison all excess equipment and anything flammable. Sgt Hall began dumping fuel. When all was completed, the crew adopted their crash positions. Singleton lined up on his finals to bring in the first ever landing by a seaplane on soil. At 20:40hrs the huge aircraft glided over the airfield boundary close to the sea wall and touched down on its keel and slid on without any means of stopping for several hundred yards before coming to rest with the port wingtip on the ground after tearing off the port float. All the crew exited uninjured, even without any cuts or bruises.
As for T9114, she was eventually recovered but never flew again.
Crew:
F/O George Singleton 400842 RAAF. Pilot (Captain).
P/O Howe 401956 RAAF. 2nd Pilot.
F/Sgt Taplin 415195 RAAF. Engr.
F/Sgt Hules 405705 RAAF. Bdr.
F/O Harry Winstanley DFC 401356 RAAF. Nav.
Sgt H Hall 9429 RAAF. W/Op.
Sgt Hammond 6612 RAAF. A/Gnr.
F/Sgt Ronald Church 645414 RAF. A/Gnr.
F/Sgt John ‘Johnny’ Lewis 405228 RAAF. A/Gnr.
F/Sgt Stevens 405098 RAAF. A/Gnr.
P/O George Viner 407210 RAAF. A/Gnr.
Additional Information:
At the end of the Second World War, a number of new Sunderland’s built at Belfast were simply taken out to sea and scuttled as there was nothing else to do with them. In Europe the type was removed from service relatively quickly but in the Far East, where well developed runways were less common and large land based maritime patrol aircraft like the new Avro Shackleton could not be used so easily, there was still a need for it, and it remained in service with the RAF Far East Air Force at Singapore until 1959, and with the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s No.5 Squadron RNZAF until 1967.
Sources:
www.aircrewremembered.com
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
www.rafcommands.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Angle
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 05-May-2023 05:24 | Davies 62 | Added |
| 03-Dec-2023 12:42 | Aerossurance | Updated [Operator, Location, Nature, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 10-Jan-2024 22:39 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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