ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 349090
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| Date: | Friday 31 December 1943 |
| Time: | 12:20 |
| Type: |  Vickers Wellington Mk 1c |
| Owner/operator: | 21 OTU |
| Registration: | X9666 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 5 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Location: | Aberdovey -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Moreton-in-Marsh |
| Return. |
Details:
Wellington X9666.
She was issued to the RAF at 45MU on the 12th of June 1941. Her first squadron was to be 301, arriving August 1941, but it appears she suffered a flying accident on the 15th of that month and had to go off for repair and returned on the 13th of September. Then she came to 301 squadron, arriving on the 7th of December 1941. Here she flew on quite a number of Op’s:
103 Sqn’.
28-Dec-41 - Wilhelmshaven – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
06-Jan-42 – Brest – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck - Hit by flak
10-Jan-42 – Wilhelmshaven – Wellington- X9666 – F/O DW Peck - Landed at Swanton Morley
15-Jan-42 – Hamburg – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck - Bombed search light and railway track north of target
21-Jan-42 – Bremen – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
25-Jan-42 – Brest – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
28-Jan-42 – Munster – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
14-Feb-42 – Mannheim – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
21-Feb-42 - Mannheim and others – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck - Wireless transmitter and heating system Unserviceable
03-Mar-42 – Paris – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
08-Mar-42 – Essen – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
09-Mar-42 – Essen – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
13-Mar-42 – Cologne – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
2-Apr–42 – Poissy – Wellington – X9666 – F/L CK Saxelby
5-Apr–42 – Cologne – Wellington – X9666 – F/L CK Saxelby
She was taken off Op’s for maintenance (which was cut short) and came to 20 OTU on the 8th of November 1942, but she suffered again at the hands of a trainee crew on the 27th of that month. Again, she went off for repair and this time coming to 21 OTU.
Before we go into the crash of the Wellington concerned, we will have to look at two other aircraft to get the background picture.
Wellington DV808 on Fixby, Huddersfield.
Pilot - W/O Goronwy Wyn Roberts RAFVR.
Navigator - Sgt Trevor James Freeman RAFVR.
Bomb Aimer - Sgt Peter North RAF.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Thomas Briggs RAFVR.
Air Gunner - Sgt Arthur Francis Mundell RAFVR.
Edward Doylerush detailed this incident in his "No Landing Place, Volume 2" book having interviewed two of the crew. On the 18th of December 1943 the crew of this 21 Operational Training Unit aircraft took off from Moreton in Marsh at 12.07hrs to undertake a cross country training flight.
“The visibility was poor from soon after taking off, which then became poorer and while they were roughly in the York area a recall to base signal appears to have been missed by the wireless operator who was busy sending signals to request their position. From this point they appear to have got hopelessly lost and it appears that whatever could go wrong in the flight then did go wrong. For whatever reason the bomb aimer then appears to have taken himself off to the front turret and rotated it, but it over rotated and he nearly fell out of the aircraft.
The crew roughly located their turning point of Flamborough Head and then part of the route took them over the North Sea and south, in the area between Flamborough Head and The Wash. While over the North Sea guns of a ship in a convoy began to fire at them despite firing the colours of the day flares. They managed to shake off the guns but believed that the trailing aerial was lost at that point and eventually ended up over what they thought was the Norfolk.
They picked up a recall signal for their aircraft telling them to divert to High Ercall and believing they knew a course to fly headed towards Shropshire. Soon after the IFF set began to warn them and whichever direction they turned the IFF set warnings would not go away. Seeing a gap in the cloud the pilot descended but found themselves flying up a valley towards high ground, managing to turn around and realising the fuel was running out the pilot landed the aircraft with the wheels down at 15.50hrs.
Almost certainly having no idea where they were the aircraft ran through a hedge, the undercarriage collapsed and then the starboard wing broke off. Remarkably there were no injuries.
It transpired they had crashed onto a golf course at Fixby, near Huddersfield. The pilot was blamed for this incident and was withdrawn from the 21 OTU training course and the crew were assigned a new pilot.”
F/O Amos.
Cyril was born in 1917 to Elsie and Harry Amos, his father being a British merchant who lived in Argentina between the wars.
B-24 Liberator AL577, crashed on the 16th of March 1942 Slievenaglogh Mountain, near Glough, Jenkinstown, Co. Louth. An aircraft of 108 Squadron RAF was on a ferry flight from North Africa to the UK when it crashed on hill side. There was 19 on board with only five surviving the crash but one succumbed to his injuries, Stephens dying of his wounds on March the 19th, in Dundalk Hospital. Amos (a Sergeant at the time), Anderson and Hayden were dangerously wounded in this crash.
Cyril remained in Hospital in Dundalk until the 19th of March and was then sent across the border with Sgt Hayden. Having survived the crash of AL577, Sgt Amos was commissioned as an officer in the RAF during the winter of 1942 and returned to flying duties.
December the 31st 1943
X9666 took off at 10.05hrs from Moreton in Marsh on a cross country navigation exercise, followed by bombing practice in the Dovey Estuary where they flew in a ‘Clover Leaf’ pattern and releasing practice bombs.
They then flew West. It was a typical December day with the ground below a greenish blue and merging with the clouds which were 10/10ths Stratocumulus and lay at 8,000 feet and getting lower. While over the Welsh mountains F/O Amos called over the intercom’ that he was going to try to get over the clouds, but the engines were lacking in power (they haven’t had an overhaul since the aircraft came off Op’s in 1941). After what seemed like an age, they got to 10,000 feet, but the Port engine began to miss, she was beginning to ice up. Amos had to drop down below the cloud for an hour or so. Then they encountered cloud and had to drop again, this time levelling out at 5,000 feet. Still the clouds surrounded them and the Wellington and began to ice over again.
They couldn’t climb because of the faulty engine and dare not drop because they were over the Welsh mountains (the safety height at the briefing was to be 4,000 feet). Sgt Briggs called over the intercom’ that he had managed to get two radio bearings, with which Sgt Freeman, the navigator gave slight aterations to the pilot.
Soon after, Amos called that he had sighted water through a gap in the cloud, F/O Amos dived in order to try and establish a position. Unfortunately, what he saw was the Dovey Estuary at high tide, what he failed to realise that high ground, shrouded in mist lay ahead. The time now was 12.20hrs. The Wellington, now descending at high speed, sliced into Ffrith Caenewydd, above Aberdovey.
The Starboard wing hit first, and the aircraft slewed round in a violent ground loop. Sgt Mundell trapped in his rear turret, who had been viewing the world around him (limited through the cloud). He heard the pilot announcing that he was going to dive down to escape the icing. Thinking nothing of this, until, he began to see the ground suddenly rushing past, then, without warning they hit. He described later of how he had hit every part of the turret with different parts of his body until there was stillness. When he escaped from his turret, he saw that the tail assembly (with him in it) had broken free. Sgt North was catapulted through the hole in the cockpit roof where the escape hatch should be, but he didn’t go all the way through, but jammed mid-thigh. The rest of his body went downwards. He can’t remember anything else, but when he awoke, he could smell burning. The Wellington stopped after its loop and bursting into flames. Sgt North found he was hanging upside down over the pilot’s side of the cockpit. He just about managed to free himself from that position through enormous amounts of pain, he passed out again. This time when he woke, he found he had dropped to the ground and was laying in front of the Port wing leading edge. Knowing the fuel tanks there could still go up he hauled himself on his elbows and crawled. It was then Sgt Mundell came rushing up and helped North clear. When they were well away, they turned to see the Wellington in the middle of Dante’s Inferno with the unused .303 ammunition ‘cooking off’. It was obvious that Sgt’s Freeman and Briggs hadn’t got out and were killed instantly.
Mundell scouted around and came across F/O Amos, who lay some distance in front of the cockpit. He was almost unrecognisable and still alive at that point. Mundell covered him over with a parachute to keep him warm. Amos was thrown through the windscreen.
David Hughes, a King's Scout, was sitting on his bicycle with his brother Llew on a road just east of the town when he heard an aircraft approaching from the direction of the estuary. It then flew overhead at an extremely low height, and onwards towards the mountains. It was obvious to David that this aircraft was going to crash and headed up towards the area. When he came into sight of the area, he could see that the plane had burst into flames. But as he got closer, he could see at least two survivors, one of which was waving and beckoning to him for help.
When he arrived, he was able to help Mundell pull North over into the leeward side of a stone wall and out of the wind, and from the exploding ammunition. Llew arrived soon behind, they stayed with the crew survivors, then brothers Alun and Lewis Jones from the nearby Esgair Gefeiliau farm, along with Emrys Jones had arrived at the scene and rendered invaluable aid. Emrys ran off to raise the alarm.
He returned with the local doctor, Dr Wright, who gave the pilot a Morphine injection and told Llew that no other medication was to be given until they got to a hospital. The brothers went off, soon to return with a horse and cart, the survivors were then taken to the road nearby. An Ambulance arrived and they were off to the local hospital.
Crew:
F/O Cyril Rowland Amos 28yo 138881 RAFVR. Pilot. Survived/Died soon after. 1
Son of Harry and Elsie Maud Victoria Amos, of Delta Tigre, Buenos Aires. Argentina.
Sgt Trevor James Freeman 20yo 1394987 RAFVR. Nav’. Killed. 2
Son of James and Amy Gertrude Freeman, of Belvedere.
Sgt Thomas Briggs 24yo 1227721 RAFVR. W/Op’. Killed. 3
Son of Charles and Florence Briggs, of Worcester.
Sgt Peter North RAF. Bdr’. Injured.
Sgt Arthur Mundell 1355257 RAFVR. A/Gnr. Injured.
Buried:
1 Tywyn Cemetery. Class 2. Row 6. Grave 282.
2 Erith (Brook Street) Cemetery. Section L. Grave 66.
3 Worcester (Astwood) Cemetery. Grave 34865.
Wreckage:
The larger pieces were easily removed, and only tiny fragments and mouton aluminium remain but not easily seen.
Additional Information:
F/O Amos.
His parents were of Delta Tigre, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Sgt Briggs.
Born Circa 1919 in Worcester. Enlisted for service with RAF Volunteer Reserve at Cardington in 1940.
Sgt Mundell.
Mundell escaped serious injury and would go on to fly with 70 Squadron and 37 Squadron.
Sgt North.
He was medically discharged from the service and still has to walk with the aid of walking sticks.
David Owen Hughes
He was a member of the 1st Dovey Scout Group and later received the Scouts bronze Medal for his part in the rescue and in tending the injured.
Sources:
www.rafcommands.com
www.gwgc.org
Edward Dolyrush 'No Landing Place.
https;//air-britain.com
www.lancasterbombers.net
www.discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 26-Dec-2023 08:14 | Davies 62 | Added |
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