Warrant officer Ben Lee – help wanted (Zombie from 2004)

Just to say that this Ben lee was my father’s friend and neighbour, he taught my mum to drive. Lived in Farnborough Hants then moved to Scotland. Amazing man RIP

Dear Bill Lane and other readers,

Further to your posting of 15 June 2012, my late father F/Lt Jack Bull was the Pilot of RAF 262 Squadron “G” and knew the crew of RAF 262 Squadron “H”, and most likely your Uncle Teston Lane.

The crew photograph which I posted on 20 January 2009 of the crew of H of 262 Squadron should include your uncle. If it doesn’t, I am in possession of copies of all the official photos of 262 Squadron that were taken in early 1943in South Africa (Durban or St Lucia). I have found the crews often shared aircraft and became mixed up due their rosters, illnesses, aircraft maintenance, etc, so it may mean that if Teston is not in the referenced photo, that he appears in another photo that I have in my collection from my late father’s memoirs.

An extract from my father’s War Diary dated 30 March 1943, confirms that this is most likely the case, where he writes “Freddie White in “H” of 262 Squadron crashed on Friday evening 25/06/43 on night take off. Sgt Lee was only one of crew saved – injured and burned. Sgt Lane was Navigator. as Mitch Greenlaw was in hospital with sinus trouble. Sgt Lane’s body floated out of the wreck today, 30/06/43. Remainder of crew still not found”.

To assist you in this important family matter, I suggest that you contact me personally on [email]david@bullhead.com.au[/email] .

Regards David Bull, Cherrybrook, NSW, Australia.

RAF Squadron 262 – CATALINA H

Dear all,
I have stumbled upon this thread a number of years after it commenced – so obviously many of the initial authors may no longer be accessing these pages. My uncle Teston Lane was the navigator of the Catalina H which crashed on June 25, 1943. As I have now come to discover and I don’t believe my family was privy to this information – one crew member Benjamin Lee survived – while all other crew including my uncle lost their lives. I was born 13 years later in Tasmania (Australia) and grew up in Teston’s family home ‘Malunnah’ in Devonport. My father Patrick Lane was Teston’s brother – he was serving at the time with the Australian forces in New Guinea. He survived the war and I was one of his four children. Teston’s passing caused enormous sadness for his family. He was the eldest of my grandfather and grandmother’s five children. He was remembered as a brilliant scholar – having graduated in Law from the University of Melbourne in the late 1930s. As I once recall reading, he was one of the first Tasmanians admitted to the Bar and his name on that registry is surrounding by practitioners who went onto become Judges and high ranking politicians. Teston’s father had been a member of the Tasmanian Parliament. Obviously Teston was taken too early but now in the middle stages of my own life, I look back at my youth and realise that my own father was extended significant respect because of what our family had endured during WW2. Regards Bill Lane

BEN LEE

I worked with Ben Lee at McMichaels in Slough from 1979 to 1986 when the unit closed. It is now nearly thirty years since I last saw Ben I hope that both he and his family are keeping well. As with the previous contributor Ben said he had attacked a submarine, the retun fire from the submarine had denonated the depths charges. The plane crashed and Ben was burnt. I attach the photograph of Ben taken at McMichaels in Slough in 1981 at the time of the clebrations of the 100th Stingray delivery. I leave the photograph as a tribute to Ben who was a very brave man who at a very young age fought for his country, paid a very high price and to my knowledge never complained once.

Good on you Ben

Roy

Warrant Officer Ben Lee

Dear skypilot62,

My father, F/Lt Jack Bull was the Pilot of RAF 262 Squadron “G” and knew W/O Ben Lee and all the crew of RAF 262 Squadron “H”, of which Ben Lee was the sole survivor. 2 Photos are attached.

Thanks dbull, Sydney.

[ATTACH]168685[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]168686[/ATTACH]

who nose?

From the UK Info disc, from memory, you get name address and telephone number. My copy is not working for some reason – but you can search nationwide with it if it does.

Dean – try the UK Info disc. Your library may have a copy. It has electoral and telephone details for the UK. I also suggest an sae with mail outs. I found a distant (and unknown about) relative of mine and the brother of a 609 casualty in this way.

Good luck, and keep your noise to the ground!

Mark

Mark, nose or noise? Either way it’s probably apropriate! 🙂

Does the info disc provide any more info than the 192.com facility? That’s how I found the Benjamin H Lee that I wrote to – the only Ben Lee in an apropriate location in the UK according to their electoral role search, although that was 2003.

Dean

Dean – try the UK Info disc. Your library may have a copy. It has electoral and telephone details for the UK. I also suggest an sae with mail outs. I found a distant (and unknown about) relative of mine and the brother of a 609 casualty in this way.

Good luck, and keep your noise to the ground!

Mark

A further update…..

Just to update on Ben Lee. I posted a letter as I mentioned but to date have had no reply whatsoever. It would appear the trail has gone cold again, but when I think about what I started out with, I can’t really complain! Once more may I thank you all for your input, all of which has been valuable and most welcome. If nothing else, at least we’ve ensured that one more of those to whom we owe so much is not forgotten.

Dean

Well, I got a phone call from Benjamin H Lee this afternoon in response to my letter sent in October. That’s the good news.

The bad news its not the right Benjamin H Lee! It was quite a young chap who called and he’d only received the letter a couple of days ago due to a postal delay. He kindly phoned to “rule himself out” as it were which was most decent of him. I think I may have to resign myself to the fact that Ben Lee is no longer with us.

That said, I’m not giving up on the story though and will now pursue some of the leads you guys have been kind enough to point out to me.

The quest continues…..

Dean

Thanks Dean. Fingers crossed!

Dean,

Just a thought, now that you have details of the crash you should be able to get a record of the incident that has his service number. With that and other details, plus the fact you knowapproximately the area where he used to live, perhaps the British Legion can help trace him if he’s alive, or tell you when he passed away if he’s not. I don’t know if they have a central office with all members’ records – probably do if they have a national magazine that goes to all members. I don’t know if this is a good idea but I know the NZ equivalent, the Returned Services Association, has helped me in tracking down people for my project.

Cheers
Dave

Hi Dean, can you let me know how you got hold of Judy please? ie what number / email? It’s quite important. Many thanks,

mark

Most certainly. I’d intended posting the numbers but forgort!

Judy’s number (Irvin Caterpillar Club Enquiries) – 01462 480433

GQ Gold Club archives – 01656 727000

Hope this helps – any chance you could let us know the outcome?

Just to update on Ben Lee. I posted a letter as I mentioned but to date have had no reply whatsoever. It would appear the trail has gone cold again, but when I think about what I started out with, I can’t really complain! Once more may I thank you all for your input, all of which has been valuable and most welcome. If nothing else, at least we’ve ensured that one more of those to whom we owe so much is not forgotten.

Dean

Hi Dean, can you let me know how you got hold of Judy please? ie what number / email? It’s quite important. Many thanks,

mark

Further confusion?

Just got this superb reply to a new appeal for help on the RAF Commands forum – you must check it out, a real mine of information and Ross McNeill rightly deserves all the plaudits he gets.

The “postee” was a chap called SteveB and I owe him a huge “Thank You”! and all the credit is his.

“There is book about the history of 262Sqdn/35SAAF Sqdn called “Flying Boat” by Ivan Spring self-published by Spring Air in 1995 ISBN 0-9583977-2-4. On pages 30 and 31 it provides the following lenghty report of the incident on 25 June 1943:
Fg.Off. F N C White and crew took off from St. Lucia in Catalina FP265/H at 19 10 hours on 25 June to fly anti-submarine shipping escort, but the aircraft plunged into the lake immediately after becoming airborne and exploded. Eight of the crew were killed, the severely injured Engineer being the sole survivor.

During the morning Fg.Off. White and crew had been detailed and briefed by Flt.Lt. Hoey, the Operations Controller at St. Lucia, to carry out an operational flight from Lake St. Lucia in Catalina FP265/H. The night was moonless, calm and clear with glassy water and take-off at Lake St. Lucia commenced at 1910 hours on 25 June.

In conditions of no wind with an unruffled surface, it is difficult to get a flying boat to break the water and rise on to the step. At the request of the captain that he create a wash and break the surface, the Officer in Charge of the Flarepath – Plt.Off. N L Keeble – therefore disturbed the water by circling the centre flare in his motor dinghy en route to take up his position at the end of the flarepath. During the take-off run the aircraft approach and passed him, still waterborne but on the step. He saw it lift from the water between 100 and 200 yards beyond the third flare and saw the exhaust flames and tail light rise as it entered the climb. He then took his eyes from the aircraft but moments later there was a “terrific flash of reddish colour and a muffled explosion”. A large patch of water seemed to be on fire.

He immediately signalled the shore for assistance and had the coxwain head for the flames, which were some four hundred yards away to the south, at full throttle. A large part of the water was still aflame and they circled the edge of the flame searching for survivors. One man was located floundering in the water. As they approached him they saw him sink out of sight twice, but were able to haul him in as he was going down for the third time. He was not wearing a life jacket, his face was burned and he had lost his trousers, shoes and socks. He was semi conscious and complained of the cold. As there was no sight of any other survivors in the light of the flames, the Flarepath Officer had the cox turn for the jetty to get the survivor back to dry land and medical attention as soon as possible.

On the way to the jetty, Keeble passed the bomb scow which was en route to the crash site and instructed its crew to move the south flare to mark the crash site and to continue the search for survivors.

There was no SAAF Medical Officer or Orderly at the camp at Eastern Shores but a SA Army Orderly attended to the survivor, Sgt. Benjamin Lee, who was suffering from severe shock. The Squadron Medical Officer, who was at St. Lucia town some twelve miles away, had been contacted. Lee was given first aid, and wrapped up to keep his body warm. Despite his severe shock, the man was fit enough to be taken to Congella and to the hospital the following day.

Other witnesses stated that the Catalina had been pulled from the water and had risen sharply to a height of about fifty feet and had then descended rapidly, nose down, until it had struck the water, bursting into flames on impact.

In evidence it was stated by the Officer Commanding that Fg.Off. White was a Catalina pilot of more than average experience and that he was perfectly satisfied with his competence as a captain of aircraft.

It was practice in conditions of dead calm to pull the aircraft cleanly from the water and to climb clear steeply before levelling off to let the speed build up for a normal climb away. Fg.Off. White had flown the aircraft from Congella that morning and, as his own second pilot had been at St. Lucia, Sgt. L T Allen had flown as second pilot on the transit. Once at Congella, Sgt. R F Jenkins, the regular second pilot, had rejoined Fg.Off White’s crew and Sgt. Allen had joined another crew. Allen testified that White’s take-off from Congella in conditions of very light wind and the landing at St. Lucia had been good. Although White had done the take-off and touchdown he had let Sgt. Allen fly the aircraft during the ninety-minute transit. The Catalina had handled normally and the engines had performed satisfactorily.

At Congelia Fg.Off. White had pulled the aircraft off at 75 knots and had climbed to 150 feet before lowering the nose to accelerate, as was safe and normal practice in conditions of calm.

A party of two naval rating divers from HMS “Revenge” under Lt. A G MacLachlan RN, had been taken to the camp at Eastern Shores to salvage parts of the aircraft and to recover bodies. The divers found that in only ten foot of coffee-coloured muddy water the underwater visibility was nil. Any salvage attempts would have had to be made by touch alone. The team had only shallow water diving equipment and, owing to the coldness of the water, the maximum period that could be spent in the water was fifteen minutes. After that it was necessary to thaw out and it was some time before a man could go back into the water again. The aircraft wreckage was badly torn and disintegrated so that any salvage or recovery operation with only shallow water diving equipment was quite impracticable. It would also be necessary to recover the six depth charges before progressing with general salvage which would entail feeling, cutting away and pulling up wreckage piece by piece. This would take several weeks. For these reasons the salvage attempts were abandoned.

In his statement the Engineer said that the aircraft had been serviceable and that he had been standing below his position in the pylon during take-off. The captain and second pilot had occupied their respective seats in the cockpit and the navigator and the W/T operator had been in their seats. There had been no-one at the blisters, the rest of the crew having been forward in either the navigator’s or Engineer’s compartments where the captain liked them to be during take-off.

Lee had not been wearing his life jacket and three life jackets had been found in the area of the crash. They were Navy lifejackets of a new type with which the crew were unfamiliar. They needed to be inflated by mouth and, unlike the RAF pattern kapok-filled lifejackets, were unable to keep the wearer afloat unless this was done.

The bodies of the rest of the Catalina crew were recovered between 2 July and 9 July. Four of the deceased, Fg.Off. F N C White, Flt.Sgt. T H T Lane, Sgt. A F Soady and Sgt. R F Jenkins were Australians, and the remaining four, Sgts A J Mills, R T Cork, T J Burrington and R P Kay, were Royal Air Force NCO aircrew.

Steve”

This is great but adds a bit of further confusion into the melting pot – the Ben Lee I have a picture of is a pilot not a Flight Engineer, and in the German report it refers to him as a 3rd pilot/Engineer (if my schoolboy German is correct). Whilst retraining cannot be ruled out, one would think after such injuries he would not have flown much more before wars end. Futher throws into cinfusion about the caterpillar badge which, if we are talking about the same 2 people (Badge & Catalina crash) must have been awarded after he returned back to ops! Yet……

So much of the other information fits it seems to be too much of a coincidence.

Hmmmm! Any more input?

Here’s the extra crew members we didn’t know of:

Name: CORK, RICHARD THOMAS
Initials: R T
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Sergeant (W.Op./Air Gunner)
Regiment: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Unit Text: 262 Sqdn.
Age: 23
Date of Death: 25/06/1943
Service No: 1293579
Additional information: Son of Mr and Mrs R.Cork, of Dagenham, Essex, England.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Block F. Grave 384.
Cemetery: DURBAN (STELLAWOOD) CEMETERY

Name: BURRINGTON, TREVOR JOHN
Initials: T J
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Sergeant (W.Op./Air Gnr.)
Regiment: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Unit Text: 262 Sqdn.
Age: 18
Date of Death: 25/06/1943
Service No: 1293709
Additional information: Son of Lt.Col. Rupert Burrington M.B.E. and Gladys Burrington, of Bitterne Park, Southampton, England.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Block F. Grave 386.
Cemetery: DURBAN (STELLAWOOD) CEMETERY

Name: KAY, ROBERT PENMON
Initials: R P
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Sergeant (F.M.Airf./Air Gnr.)
Regiment: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Unit Text: 262 Sqdn.
Age: 21
Date of Death: 25/06/1943
Service No: 1554944
Additional information: Son of John and Mary Helen Kay, of Denny, Stirlingshire, Scotland; husband of Margaret Lynn Kay, of Denny.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Block F. Grave 397.
Cemetery: DURBAN (STELLAWOOD) CEMETERY

May they all rest in peace.

I can find no Sody listed at all. Perhaps it is a typing error.

Found this while working on a hunch….I think that is the whole crew accounted for.

Name: SOADY, ALBERT FRANCIS
Initials: A F
Nationality: Australian
Rank: Sergeant
Regiment: Royal Australian Air Force
Age: 30
Date of Death: 25/06/1943
Service No: 14635
Additional information: Son of John Francis and Matilda Agnes Soady, of Balmain, New South Wales, Australia.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Block F. Grave 382.
Cemetery: DURBAN (STELLAWOOD) CEMETERY

The following photo of Durban-Congella, the base of 262 Squadron, comes from this website: http://www.mil.za/CSANDF/CAirForce/afbyplt/35sqn/35SQN.HTM I thought you might find the photo of interest.

Blinkin’ ‘eck Ian, give me a chance! 😀

That’s great, many thanks – saves me alot of leg-work (or rather keyboard work). It’s kiddie birthday party day today & tomorrow so I’ve not got so much spare time for fun stuff! 😉

This will be one of 262’s a/c then?

The following photo of Durban-Congella, the base of 262 Squadron, comes from this website: http://www.mil.za/CSANDF/CAirForce/afbyplt/35sqn/35SQN.HTM I thought you might find the photo of interest.

I can find no Sody listed at all. Perhaps it is a typing error. However, the other member of the crew is as follows:

Name: LANE, THOMAS HENRY TESTON
Initials: T H T
Nationality: Australian
Rank: Flight Sergeant
Regiment: Royal Australian Air Force
Age: 29
Date of Death: 25/06/1943
Service No: 408285
Additional information: Son of Henry Thomas Lane and Vida Daphne Lane, of Devonport, Tasmania, Australia. LL. B. (Melbourne University)
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Block F. Grave 401.
Cemetery: DURBAN (STELLAWOOD) CEMETERY

I hope all this is helpful.

Another check with the CWGC provides this:

Name: MILLS, ARTHUR JOHN
Initials: A J
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Sergeant
Regiment: Royal Air Force
Unit Text: 262 Sqdn.
Age: 20
Date of Death: 25/06/1943
Service No: 575076
Additional information: Son of Gilbert John and Nellie Mills, of Hinckley, Leicestershire, England.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Block F. Grave 399.
Cemetery: DURBAN (STELLAWOOD) CEMETERY

This gives the unit as 262 Squadron, which operated Catalinas. It seems to be tying together?

A quick search of CWGC reveals the following:

Name: JENKINS, RONALD FRANK
Initials: R F
Nationality: Australian
Rank: Flight Sergeant
Regiment: Royal Australian Air Force
Age: 26
Date of Death: 25/06/1943
Service No: 416122
Additional information: Son of James Frank and Florence Ada Jenkins, of Marryatville, South Australia. A..F. T. A.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Column 278.
Cemetery: ALAMEIN MEMORIAL

With the full name and service number, someone may be able to provide further details of the circumstances of R F Jenkins’ death?