Crash of Flying Fortress at Shuweihat, 1944

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In 2004 we described a number of accidents to civil and military aircraft in the Trucial States during the Second World War. (1) Among these we referred to an accident involving a Flying Fortress (B-17) that made a forced landing on the mainland opposite Yas Island in May 1944. Recently a number of relevant records has been released by the British Library from the India Office archives in London which provide more details of this incident. (2)

New evidence

British Library/India Office archives

Of interest to us was File No. 7/11 “Flights of unidentified aircraft” containing 108 pages of notes, letters and telegrams. (3)

Document 27/108 is an unsigned, hand written note to the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi dated 22 May 1944:

“This is to inform you that an aeroplane has force landed on the mainland near Yas Island. Before it landed four of the crew descended by parachute about half way between Abu Dhabi & Yas Island on the mainland near the coast. They have no water. Please send your men out immediately & search for them.” There is also another hand written note (29/108) on headed notepaper of The Agency, Bahrain, in English and Arabic, requesting all concerned to help the four airmen get to Abu Dhabi, and promising a reward.

Still dated 22 May 1944 (document 33/108), the Political Agent at Bahrain wrote to the Residency Agent at Sharjah, with copies to Royal Air Force (RAF) Sharjah and the Bahrain Air Liaison Officer to confirm the accident “this afternoon” (which corrects the date we originally noted as 2 May 1944). The aircraft was based in Bahrain, and according to Document 102/108, dated 25 May 1944, it had taken off “at 1000 hrs local time and crashed at 1200 hrs”. After four of the crew parachuted, some 50 to 60 miles east of Yas Island, the remaining two made a forced landing opposite the island. The Political Agent asks the Residency Agent to organise a search for the four lost crew members, by land, sea or air (the RAF had been asked to provide air transport if needed, with the cooperation of Squadron Leader Crossley). Happily, on 24 May he informed Sharjah that the four men had been rescued.

Much of file 7/11 is devoted to trying to identify various aircraft that had been observed overflying unauthorised territory, particularly Saudi Arabia, and document 45/108 is a report of aircraft movements compiled by 43 Staging Post at Bahrain for the Officer Commanding the RAF station there. It deals with 22 May and records, among others, “Fortress 26129” on a “Photo Flight to Persian Gulf”. This enables us to identify it as US Army Air Force (USAAF) serial 42-6129 (ie dating from 1942). This aircraft, built by Lockheed-Vega at Burbank, started life as a B-17F bomber delivered in 1943, but was later modified for photographic reconnaissance and redesignated F-9B, with its bombing equipment and most of its armament removed and replaced by cameras. (4) It was indeed involved in a photo reconnaissance mission from Bahrain, apparently part of the Min Map Asia project. (5)

That same day two sister ships, 26135 and 26185, are reported as “Search (for missing B.17)”. Two Dakota transports (one from the RAF, serial KG510, the other USAAF 694) are also reported as in the “Search”.

Document 53/108, dated 30 May 1944, is a letter from Wing Commander HC Parker, the Bahrain Air Liaison Officer, to the Political Agent there. It transpires that two of the crew who parachuted, Lieutenants Simmons and Yarock, had handed over cash, watches and rings to someone on the ground when they landed. In addition we learn (because he also paid some Arabs who helped him) that Wing Commander Anderson crashed a “D.H.89” some three miles from the F-9B. Presumably he had flown this RAF Dominie to help in the rescue of the American aviators and been caught out himself. There is copious subsequent correspondence, including some from Sheikh Shakbut, Ruler of Abu Dhabi, about the return of the money, watches and rings, and even pistols and a sub-machine gun.

Document 73/108 is a translation of a letter dated 28 August 1944 from Sheikh Said, Ruler of Dubai, concerning a boatman who was anchoring at Shuweihat when he saw an aircraft coming down over him. He and his brother and servant followed it and found two people, whom they assisted. They then “found the plane” from which emerged two other people, who told them to bring the first two to the aircraft, for which they promised a payment. Then the aircraft took off. Later they found a gun and a watch. This account is difficult to understand, as the four crew members who had parachuted were many miles away from the site of the crash near Shuweihat and the aircraft was written off (6) and never flew again, as we shall see later.

USAAF accident report

Fortunately we were able to obtain the official records of the accident with formal reports by the crew and photographs of the wreck which clarify what happened that day. (7)

F-9B 42-6129 was attached to Deversoir Air Base near Ismailia in Egypt. It was in service with the 19^th Photo Squadron of the 11^th Photo Group, operating from Bahrain. The accident date is recorded as 22 May 1944 in some of the documents, and as the 23^rd in others, but the date of the 22^nd emerges clearly from the British documents, cited above, and this seems to be the correct one.

The crew of six consisted of:

1^st Lt Bruce L Miller, pilot

1^st Lt John G Simmons, co-pilot

2^nd Lt Edward Yarock, navigator

S/Sgt Paul M Beaulieu, radio operator

T/Sgt John L Paulsen, crew chief

T/Sgt Kenneth G Penney, photographer

At about 1040 local time the aircraft was heading east from Bahrain to Masirah at some 20,000 feet, close to Yas Island, and the photographer was taking pictures. The pilot noticed fluctuations in number 4 engine (the outer engine on the starboard wing). He tried to feather the propeller (ie to rotate the blades to a position aligned with the flight path to reduce drag and stop rotation). However, this failed, even after several attempts. The crew saw oil spilling from the engine, developing into smoke and then fire, and efforts to extinguish it failed. The pilot asked the navigator for a heading to Sharjah, about 165 miles away, which he took up. They were losing height and feared that the aircraft might explode. He ordered the crew to bail out: the co-pilot opened the exit hatch and jumped from about 12,000 feet, followed by the navigator.

The radio operator contacted another F-9B, 42-6135 flown by 1st Lt William F Moncrieff, that had taken off from Bahrain to assist its sister ship, to report that they were heading for Sharjah, and sent a mayday (distress) message. He then jumped from the tail exit, together with the crew chief. All four who used their parachutes were saved by a rescue party the next day, and saw the wrecked aircraft from the air as they flew over.

The pilot, after ordering the crew to jump, went to the hatch himself, believing he was alone aboard. But the photographer, Sgt Penney, was still in the nose and was due to jump next. He saw Lt Miller at the hatch, and they both noticed that the fire was less obvious, perhaps due to the high speed Miller had set up to try to control it. Miller took the controls again and told Penney to stay in the nose and direct them toward Yas Island where there was an emergency landing strip. They turned back west and Penney went to the waist hatch to throw out heavy equipment, after which he took the co-pilot’s seat. He lowered the flaps, but not the undercarriage, and they landed smoothly on the beach. Number 4 propeller flew off, but apart from the other propellers bending there was little damage (Figs. 1-3). They left through the pilots’ windows, checked for fire, and then radioed their situation. They destroyed the sensitive IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) equipment and various papers, keeping their small arms and ammunition with them. They were rescued by Royal Navy launch on the afternoon of 24 May together with some salvaged equipment.

In the end, the only serious injury was that Lt Simmons broke his ankle. Although the aircraft was not badly damaged, the remoteness of the site and lack of facilities precluded its salvage, and arrangements were made for personnel to destroy the wreck. Lt Miller noted that at high tide the aircraft was in four feet of water.

Looking at the photograph of the tail (Fig. 4), we are struck by the damage to the fabric covering the control surfaces, the rudder and elevators. Assuming that the pictures were taken within a short time of the landing, it is difficult to understand why they are shredded.

(1) Hellyer, P. & Garey, L. 2004 World War Two plane crashes in the UAE. Tribulus 14.1: 9-11.

(2) http://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100023055424.0x00004a).

(3) File 7/11 Flights of unidentified aircraft’ [‎15r] (29/108), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/276, in Qatar Digital Library

<http://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100023055424.0x00001e> [accessed 24 October 2014]

(4) http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_1.html

(5) http://www.91stbombardmentgroup.com/Aircraft%20ID/FORTLOG.pdf

(6) http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/dblist.php?AcType=B17&page=9

(7) http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/AARmonthly/May1944O.htm

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