lgarey - Wellington crash: Results from Kew, 2011

Report on research by Laurence Garey at the National Archives, Kew, UK

(14 to 17 September, 2011, sponsored by ENHG)

Background

A new Wellington Mark 1C bomber, serial HX748, was on the strength of the RAF Aircraft Delivery Unit, Middle East. On 13 February 1943, it landed at RAF Sharjah en route from England to India (via Gibraltar and Alexandria according to recollection by the family of one of the crew). The next day it took off, with four crew and a passenger. Some 30 minutes later, over the sea, the pilot noticed an oil leak from the port engine and decided to return to Sharjah. Soon after, the propeller flew off the engine. The pilot was forced to land on the coast at Rul Dhadnah. Four of those aboard survived but the navigator, Sgt WH Donnelly, was killed. He was buried by the crew near the aircraft. The crash site was inaccessible by land or air and the Royal Navy rescued the survivors. On 22 February three were landed at Sharjah, the fourth, the passenger Lt Col De Watteville, remaining on the cruiser HMS Capetown to continue his journey to Karachi. We published these details in Tribulus (Hellyer and Garey: 2004, 2006), and tried to identify the precise location of the crash site and the grave of Sgt Donnelly, who was the only known British and Commonwealth World War Two fatality buried in the United Arab Emirates. In 2009 Sgt Donnelly’s great-niece, Lesley Botten, provided some photographs of “Billy” and his gravesite. Brien Holmes (ENHG, Al Ain) was able to find villagers at Rul Dhadnah who remembered the crash and so locate the crash site. Regrettably, the grave was washed away several years after the crash. In January 2010 local political and diplomatic officials arranged for Billy’s niece and great niece to travel to Rul Dhadnah and unveil a memorial to him.

A number of questions remain. What happened after the crash? The pilot was able to force land soon after crossing the Fujairah coast and four survived. So why, then, did Billy die? He was the navigator, and his seat was well protected by the wing and its main spar.

Why was Billy buried on the spot, rather than being returned to Sharjah?

What was the mission of this aircraft? Was it simply being delivered, as a new aircraft, to an operational unit? Why was the passenger, Lt Col De Watteville, aboard and what was his mission?

Potential sources of information

Several lines of research seemed of potential value. The archives of the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon contained a copy of the accident record document, which we obtained, but it merely gave technical details of aircraft and crew. Further, the Air Historical Branch (AHB) of the RAF had details of the Court of Enquiry which took place soon after the accident (see comments at the end of this report).

But most importantly the National Archives at Kew house a number of documents which might throw light on the fatal flight. Even “Top secret” documents of the period of interest to us are now in the public domain, and open to examination at Kew. I divided my search into several lines of investigation: War Office records, Foreign Office records, Operations Records Books (ORBs) of the unit operating the Wellington and of RAF Sharjah, personnel records, and the records of HMS Capetown. Overall there was disappointingly little new that we did not already have.

War Office and Foreign Office records. I found nothing of importance to us. Many letters and official documents concerning the Middle East in 1943 dealt with the urgent need to reinforce the Indian subcontinent to stem the advances of the Japanese through Burma and into India itself. Their main concerns at that time were to do with not enough aircraft available for the Burma front. I found no evidence of why an officer of the Intelligence Service might be on board the aircraft. I could find no reference to clandestine operations around Sharjah or Karachi at that time.

Operations Records Books for our period (ORBs).

First the unit that operated the Wellington, the Aircraft Delivery Unit (ADU): I found all the relevant records. ADUs were divided into several sub-units and, surprisingly, there was nothing in the ORBs of any of them: no reference to any Wellington loss in February 1943, either in the daily reports or the accident summaries. A complicating factor was the renaming of ADU sub-units. However, careful examination of all potentially relevant ADUs revealed nothing of interest to our case. Number 4 Ferry Control Unit, at 44 Staging Unit, RAF Sharjah, reported on 17 August 1943 that “F/LT EVANS … left by air … after investigating causes of recent crashes”, but there is no report available and we cannot determine which crashes were investigated.

In the ORB of 44 Staging Unit, Sharjah the only reference was a hand written note about our Wellington crashing: “Wellington HX.748 force landed 60 mls, East of Sharjah 14^th Feb. Navigator Sgt. Donnelly lost his life.”

Otherwise, there was no official record. There was no mention of a search and rescue operation to retrieve the missing crew or aircraft. However, as we knew already that Blenheims of 244 squadron, RAF, had been sent to search and drop supplies to the marooned aircrew, I checked the 244 squadron ORB for the days following the crash, and found nothing.

I also read the ORBs of the two squadrons operating Wellingtons in India at that time: 36 Squadron at Tanjore, and 215 at Chaklala. I found no reference to any expected deliveries which had crashed en route (although there were reports of new arriving aircraft, including new Mark X Wellingtons).

Personnel records of the crew: the only National Archive records of personnel in World War Two are those who were concerned in particularly noteworthy events during service, and there was nothing on our crew.

I found several mentions of Lt Col Hermann Gaston de Watteville, but nothing on his participation in the events we are studying or why he was there then, although we might speculate on the basis of his career.

He was an interesting man, and worthy of a short description. Born in 1875, he died in 1963. He was the son of Armand de Watteville (1846-1925), whose family was originally from Switzerland, but had settled in Great Britain. Armand was a neurologist at St Mary’s Hospital, London, and became its director as well as being Editor of Brain, and was well known for his mountaineering skills, including an ascent of the Eiger.

According to the London Gazette, Hermann was Second Lieutenant in 1900, Major in 1916 and Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Artillery in 1918. He was an Instructor at the Staff College, Camberley and a renowned military historian and prolific author on military and social affairs. He wrote articles for the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) and his works also include The military administration of occupied territory in time of war (1922), Waziristan, 1919-1920 (1939), Lord Kitchener (1939), and The British Soldier: His Daily Life from Tudor to Modern Times (1954). He was awarded the CBE.

According to the RAF Museum de Watteville may have worked for the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office in 1943 and 1944, but no documentary evidence has been located. In relation to our research, it may be relevant to consider his book on the so-called Waziristan Revolt of 1919–1920, published in 1939. This area, now in Pakistan but part of India until 1947, was invaded by Afghan forces in 1919 and heavy fighting took place between the Indian army and the invaders. The revolt was finally put down after bombing by the RAF. So, one might surmise that de Watteville had expert knowledge of the North-West Frontier region and just may have been on his way to northern India.

We knew that a Royal Navy cruiser was involved in the rescue of the crash survivors. I therefore searched naval records in Kew and found the log book of HMS Capetown.

De Watteville and the three crew were picked up by an Indian minesweeper (Local Naval Defence Vessel), HMIS Hiravati, from the beach, then transferred to Capetown. The hand-written entry for 18 February 1943, at Khor Kuwai (at the northern extremity of Musandam), records (sic): “Lt. Col Waterville & 3 R.A.F. ratings came on board (survivors picked up by Hiravati)”.

On 20 February Capetown sailed from Khor Kuwai to Sharjah where “3 R.A.F. sergeants left ship.”

On 22 February at 0630 Capetown left Sharjah. At 1645 the same day the Dutch ship “SS “Valentijn” came alongside” and at 1715 “Lt. Col. de Watville left ship.”

I could find no trace of where the Valentijn took him.

As to why Billy was killed and buried on the beach, I had information from the Air Historical Branch of the RAF according to which, he was killed when he fell through the floor of the aircraft, which broke in the impact. Another member of the crew was trapped under the front of the aircraft but rescued by other crew members. As no communication was received from the Wellington after it left Sharjah, a search was request by Karachi. A search by Blenheims of 244 Squadron from Sharjah found nothing. On 16 February a message was received from the Political Agent at Sharjah that the aircraft and surviving crew had been located at Saih Dhadnah, an area inaccessible by land or air. On February supplies were dropped to the survivors by a 244 Squadron aircraft, which reported that the Wellington was badly damaged. Sgt Donnelly was buried by his crewmates, due to the length of time before they were rescued. There is no record of any wreckage being transported to Sharjah.

Summary

Strangely, the ORB of RAF Sharjah only gives a very brief account of the accident. Those of the various ADUs give none.

I found no records in Foreign or War Office papers relating to the events.

Lt Col de Watteville was an expert on northern India, and military affairs and history in general. One might surmise that his journey to Karachi took advantage of a new Wellington on delivery to the RAF in India, but this remains supposition.

The reason for Sgt Donnelly being killed by the floor breaking in so strong an aircraft as a Wellington, in a crash sparing the other persons on board, remains a mystery.

Laurence Garey, 6 October 2011

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