Sunderland Flying Boats
If you look across the Cattewater from the Barbican you can see the huge hangars that used to be part of R.A.F. Mountbatten.The whole site was handed back to the Council some years ago, and now thriving marine businesses occupy the hangars and yuppie housing occupies the land where the air base used to be. R.A.F. Mountbatten has virtually disappeared, its task completed and the past bravery and sacrifice of its various aircrews are now just fading memories.
There are several articles . The first one is about the salvage of a wrecked Sunderland and the re-uniting of it, and the crew.
The second is the extraordinary tale of Capt. Frederick Thornton Peters who died in the above aircrash.
The third is a gallery of photos from a relative, Flight Sgt W. Granger, who served at Mountbatten in aircraft maintenance.
The fourth is about Lawrence of Arabia's time at Mountbatten and his involvement in the development of the RAF rescue boats.
It would be nice to know what the Naval Captain was awarded the VC for ?
I served my time in the RAF at Mountbatten and Calshot (5 Years)
Capt. Frederic Thornton Peters was awarded the VC in May 1943 for heroism in leading the Allied invasion of the port of Oran, Algeria in the early morning of Nov. 8, 1942 in Operation Torch. For the same action, Peters also posthumously received the U.S. Distinguished Service Cross. Peters was a Canadian who joined the Royal Navy in 1905 at age 15 and retired in 13, then rejoined the navy as a destroyer officer at the outbreak of WW1. He won the Distinguished Service Order for heroism in the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915 and the Distinguished Service Cross in 1917 for anti-submarine action. He retired after WW1 in 1919, and then re-enlisted in September 1939 at the outbreak of WW2. He won a bar to his Distinguished Service Cross for sinking two German subs and was then assigned as an instructor in Naval Intelligence before taking charge of Operation Reservist in the Anglo-American invasion of North Africa of November 1942.
My father, Sydney Rogers, was a Lieutenant in the RAF meteorology service, Mountbatten, during this period. He is still alive (92 years of age) but has little recollection of events during that period – he has dementure and is in a nursing home. I am fairly sure he would not have got a weather forecast so badly wrong as described above. Does anyone remember him?
My father flew with No.10 Squadron from 39-45 from Mountbatten. I know his Sunderland crashed not far from Plymouth. He almost drowned and injured his back. Don’t know much more regrettably.
My dad flew with the No.10 Squadron as was a Squadron Leader on the Sunderlander Flying Boats looking for the submarines.
He has told me many stories of landing in the icy waters at Plymouth and limping into port with all the crew on one of the wings to keep it upright and floating into port. Unfortunately he passed away in 2006 aged 83 and never made it back to England to visit again but I will be doing that trip in 2012.
I am looking for a full size colour print of a Sunderland flying boat in its wartime colours.Any advise would be appreciated.Regards Ray Jones.
Raymond, I will ask my mother. My Dad was an engineer with 10th Squadron and I marched with him in Melbourne this Anzac Day. He was the only remember to march that day. My parents have a lot of information and books from the Sunderland Association. They may be your best contact. Black and white is probably about the only option. There was an article in the GW magazine in Saturday’s age featuring a picture of a boat with crew in front, this was used in an menswear store advertisement a few years ago. My Dad has a large copy of it on the wall.
My Dad was a navigator on Sunderland Seaplanes during the war. He was flying along the coast of Africa, protecting the merchant shipping lanes from U-boat attack as far as I can remember. He mentioned being in Freetown I think. I wonder if there are any other crew members who knew him there.
An interesting narration concerning a very interesting aircraft, thank you for sharing this.
Dennis Tweed has a new book about his experiences on Sunderland Flying Boats during the Korean War based at Seletar, Iwakuni etc…
There is a googlemap link from his website to some of the locations.
The book can be previewed at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1661557
I just love the cover photo of him, Health & Safety?
Thank you for this fascinating account. My father was also a member of 10 Squadron. His plane, Sunderland DV969, was shot down over the Bay of Biscay in September 1943. No survivors or wreckage was ever found, as far as I know.
I too have several photographs of the crew and books about the Squadron, where my father is mentioned. He was posted os when I was 3 weeks old, so I never had the chance to know him. The older I get the sadder this makes me feel.
My Grandfather was a navigator and member of the 10 Squadronon Sunderland Seaplanes during the war. His plane, Sunderland W4020, was shot down over the Bay of Biscay on the 1st of August 1943 after engaging a U-boat. I wonder if there are any other crew members who knew him there.
Additional details
At 14.40 hours, the outbound boat was attacked by the Sunderland in the Bay of Biscay. AA fire hit the aircraft repeatedly, but the depth charges were right on target and broke U-454 in two. The flying boat tried to ditch due to the damages sustained and crashed, killing the pilot and five crewmen. Six survivors were picked up by HMS Wren of the 2nd Escort Group, while HMS Kite picked up the commander and 13 survivors from the boat.
I read, many years ago, a book by a former U-boat commander whose boat was attacked by a Sunderland in the Bay of Biscay. He described how the aircraft, which he said was flown by an Australian sergeant-pilot, kept attacking despite heavy and accurate anti-aircraft fire until the Sunderland was heavily ablaze. It crashed into the sea with no survivors.
I, sadly, loaned the book to a colleague and lost it long ago.
Anyone know anything about that episode or who the Aussie pilot may have been?
Regards
Brendan Nicholson
Defence Editor
The Australian newspaper
nicholsonb@theaustralian.com.au
I know that my greatuncle, Capt. Frederic Thornton Peters, VC, DSO, DSC and bar, DSC (U.S.), RN died in the Nov. 13, 1942 Sunderland crash near Plymouth, along with British Brigadier Frank Vogel (who worked in Eisenhower’s staff), but I have never seen the names of the other three passengers who died from the crash. It is remarkable that the 11 crew members all survived. The pilot, Wynton Thorpe, found Capt. Peters still alive in the water and tried to drag him to safety but gave up in exhaustion after about an hour because it was obvious Peters was dead from exposure (combined with injuries he suffered at Oran and in the plane crash). Thorpe died in 2008 at age 88. His family had donated his life jacket from the crash to the Australian War Memorial. I contacted his son, Brooke Thorpe, in Australia and had an interesting discussion. The Australians did not know the name of the “Naval Captain” until I confirmed with them that it was Capt. Peters.
I read with interest the comment posted by Dean Lance on Nov 4 2010 where he explains that his grandfather was on the Sunderland W4020 which was in action against U454 in Bay of Biscay and subsequently lost after sinking the u-boat on 1 Aug 1943.
My uncle, Flt Officer Hamilton Budd was on that flight, he may have been the pilot, but sadly was lost as result of this action with this u-boat.
Dean, I would love to make contact with you!!
Ken Harris.
Ken Harris. Did you know that your uncle Flying Officer Hamilton Roland Dacre ‘Bob’ Budd was a brilliant pianist and a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium? He was the 2nd Pilot on Sunderland W4020 and Flight Lieutenant K G Fry was Captain. There were three pilots on board, all lost on that fatal flight. There is more info in the book “Maritime is Number Ten” by Flt Lt K C Baff, with the crew names etc. It would be interesting to know who Dean Lance’s grandfather was. Presumably on his maternal side as there was no Lance on W4020. The names of the six crew who lost their lives are commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing, Runnymede, UK. There were six survivors. You can contact me by email rmgibbons at hotmail.com using the subject heading Sunderland W4020 so I know its not junk mail. Richard Gibbons
My Grandfather FH Clarke registered number 7104 was alo a member of the 10 Sqd and also a Filight Engineer on DV969. He was not on th eplane (due to illness) the day it was shot down
I was the wireless operator on the RAF launch which stood by as the Royal Navy divers went down the day after the crash to recover the bodies. We brought back to Mountbatten the bodies, which the divers had handed over to us. The skipper of the launch was Corporal Boston.
Peter Mitchell’s information is thus very interesting to me because we were never told the identities of the crew or the passengers. The story I was given at the time was that the Sunderland had actually flown over the landing area, but could not get into the right landing position and therefore flew out to make another circuit.
On another aspect of life at RAF Mountbatten in 1942-1943, which has always fascinated me was the night flare path . It consisted solely of three whalers, each with an airman, an anchor, an accumulator and a pair of electric bulbs (perhaps about 12 watts apiece) at the top of a 6 or 8ft mast.
Bearing in mind the present night landing facilities, I marvel at the skills of the pilots who brought Sunderlands into Mountbatten at that time.
My Grandfather also served with with 10 Squadron RAAF & sadly went down with his crew on DP179 (M for Monkey) on the night of 2nd October 1943.
If anyone is interested I have some original letters & correspondence from various 10 Squadron personnel at that time, including some mentioned here (F.H Clarke)
Greg
Bought a dvd recently. watched it to-night and thought id investigate on the net-what a find. always been fasinated with Sunderlands And Catalinas. Great information.
It would be only be right to list all the fatally injured passengers that were aboard the W6054. One of the passengers was my Fathers Uncle reporting back to the Admiralty from Malta.
Royal Army Brigadier F W Vogel
RN Captain G W Wadham
RN Captain R N Peters
RN Commander R R Devlin
RAF Sgt R E Cordrey (Ait Gunner)
Nice article and very informative.
http://www.military-art.com/mall/more.php?ProdID=4057
If Helen Craig is still looking for a print of a Sunderland taking off during the war can I suggest that she goes to the above web-site as they seel this for £13 sterling.
My father, Reggie Baker (callsign ‘LOCHINVAR’) flew Sunderlands from both Oban (Scotland) and Pembroke Dock (SW Wales). He then transferred to fighters and was eventually shot down and killed whilst flying as Wing Commander of two TYPHOON Squadrons in June 1944.
My father was killed when his Sunderland W3986 exploded 12 minutes after take-off from Mt Batten May 20, 1943, approximately 4 miles NW from the Eddystone Light. Only two of the bodies of the crew were recovered. The RAAF records are very vague about this. Is there anyone who knows about this incident.
my great uncle was a rear gunner in a sunderland that crashed after take off on its way to gibalter in the lee on solent. all i have about the crash is that all 8 died and the sea was on fire for about 4 hours and they never found all the 8 men.I have 2 news paper clippings from that time so if anyone can shed more light on this it would be welcome my great uncles name was harry o keefe
harry okeefe died 13 feb 1946 aged 19 sorry forgot to add that