Catalina FP154 of 210 Sqn

This is fascinating stuff. My grandfather joined 210 in 1942 and in November went to Gib.
Coincidentally, I am up to this part of his memoirs. Just after they got down there, his friend Ted Sleigh died in a porpoising accident (swell related).

This was Catalina I AH559/N lost on take off in appalling sea conditions on November 4th, 1942

Cheers Ross,
here is an excerpt from my grandad’s memoirs on Ted’s aircraft:-

Ted Sleigh and I shared a room and he was off first at about 0430 in the dark, with our crew due to go two hours or so later. However, our take-off was postponed for Jack Fish’s aircraft crashed on take-off and only he and his second pilot survived. Ted was lost. The swell coming in from the Atlantic could throw an aircraft into the air before it was fully airborne and it would fall back, burying its nose into the next swell with damage to the front end of the aircraft or destruction as on this occasion when the nose broke right off and the pilots were thrown clear.

Hi Tony,

Aha the crash of AH559 N/201 on 4/11/42.

F/Sgt Fish
W/O Smith
P/O H Bardsley
Sgt R Leese
P/O E J Sleigh
Sgt J B Ritchie
Sgt T McL Millar
W/O J L R Keough
Sgt E T Jones
F/Sgt G Green

Op: Escort, Gibraltar, 05:40 hrs

Detailed to escort KMFI but crashed on take off. Sgt Leese and W/O Keough are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial while the rest of the crew are listed on the Malta Memorial.

Fish and Smith survived the crash.

Hi Dave,

No problems all ranks/names are as per period documents for my Med losses, they still need to be cross referenced to other primary documents to wring out the transcription errors.

Regards
Ross

Losses of Coastal were fewer but also the numbers of aircraft employed were less.

I suspect that loss rate would still be a significant percentage but agree nowhere near those of Bomber Command in the 1943/44 period.

What is significantly different is how few Coastal Aircrew ended up as PoW and how many more than Bomber Command have no known graves.

Even PoW for a coastal man had it’s risks

10/09/42
202 Sqn
Catalina I
AJ162
Coded F

Op: Patrol, Gibraltar, Time Up 12:11 hrs

F/Sgt J W Pilling
P/O J G Pope
F/Sgt R S Rice RCAF
Sgt R Ainsworth
Sgt T Kirkham
Sgt W Law
Sgt J MacN Sloan
Sgt A D Smith (PoW)
LAC H W Long (PoW)

Failed to return. All those killed are commemorated on the Malta Memorial.

1835 MTBI VM GMRS 0530-235-10
1900 MTB2 VM previously reported has sighted a/c and opened fire
1915 MFB1 CPP Lat & Long (received by a/c)
1900 MFB2 Ask m/v to identify. If unsatifactory attack with D/Cs (received by a/c)
1932 MFB3 Your 1900 FKF (received by a/c)
2000 MFB4 After attack shadow to PLE Report change of course and speed.
2015 MFB5 My 1900 Reply at once

A/c last heard at 2040 when asking for repeat of 4th message. A/C has not returned.
AIR27/1183

Catalina F/202 was airborne at 12:11 hrs on A/S patrol. Aircraft sighted and reported a suspicious M/V. The position given was thought to be 4205N 1530W but the signal was corrupt. Aircraft was ordered to attack and to afterwards shadow to prudent limit of endurance. Nothing has since been heard of F/202, the latest time being 20:40 hrs when the aircraft was in communication with base.
AIR24/715

Although I have listed Smith and Long as PoW they appear on no lists for Germany or Italy.

The ship was a blockade runner who shot down the Cat when she closed to investigate. Smith and Long were busy throwing out burning ammo when the aircraft blew up in mid-air. Both awoke in the water, one with his leg blown off. The steamer stopped to pick them up then continued its voyage.

The german doctor on board saved the lives of the injured aircrew by transferring blood from ships crew to airmen by means of a syringe.

The vessel did not stop until it reached it’s destination of Java where the two men were handed over the the Japanese.

They were seperated and passed through a number of camps on the Death Railway, always being treated as informant/spies by other PoWs because of their lack of knowledge of Far East Command/Operations.

Eventually they were transferred to Japan and knew that they would be put to death if the Allies landed on Japan but were released alive after the bombs were dropped. (one of them was actually down a mine in Nagasaki when the bomb was dropped).

Finally returned to the UK it was the first time that their parents were told that their sons were alive.

Regards
Ross

Well worth another outing, even if you have posted it before.

What a different war they fought compared to the crews flying nightly raids over the continent. Different, but not a lot safer as the losses attest.

Moggy

On the subject of Catalinas, I love this image….

I may have posted it here before, not sure. But anyway…its a nice image!

Just so you know, my interest was sparked by this on another forum referring to the graves in Portugal of the two crew members recovered.

Thanks for that. My Dad (Ex WW2 Nav later Instructor) told me the story of the grave they happened on quite by chance while out walking on the headland by the lighthouse sometime in the 80s.

They were quite shocked at how dilapidated the grave was and made enquiries of the locals who they had got to know quite well having had a place there for 15 years.

They told my folks of the crash and with a number of locals/silvertops they fixed for the grave to be weeded and cleaned up and held a little unofficial ceremony when the job was done.

They visited it every time they were over there (my Dad was quite keen as he had lost countless buddies on bombing raids in WW2- he was one of the lucky ones to finish a tour and end up as Nav instructor at Finningly) and it was well up kept.

Moggy

This is fascinating stuff. My grandfather joined 210 in 1942 and in November went to Gib.
Coincidentally, I am up to this part of his memoirs. Just after they got down there, his friend Ted Sleigh died in a porpoising accident (swell related).

Hi Moggy,

The crew casualties were:

F/O M J French
Sgt E McKim
P/O G E McNaughton RAAF
Sgt C Field
Sgt G J Orton
Sgt G T W Gibson
Sgt E J Smith
F/Sgt R J G Campbell
Sgt E H S Marsh
Sgt I L MacLean

Regards
Ross

Ross – although I do not know which details are correct, I merely point out that the book I mentioned states that the crew members as recorded on the Air Force Memorial to the Missing at Malta differs slightly to your list above, namely that Sgt E McKim was Sgt E Makin and that Sgt I L Maclean was Sgt I L McLean

David, DA-D was tasked with escort to convoy SV8 rather than an A/S patrol but all the other details give are correct.

Regards
Ross

Ross – many thanks for the additional info. The direct quote from the book I mentioned was “FP154/D left for A/S patrol SV8…” which can be interpreted as an A/S patrol with convoy SV8 and not that the A/S patrol was named SV8. That was my thinking anyway

Hi Moggy,

(CWGC denotes rank on notification of death, ORBS etc denote the rank known on squadron at time of loss. Promotions etc were often in the pipeline but not official at unit level..RCAF delays seem to be common with NCO aircrew being commissioned between loss and death recording)

That’s the tasking in the Group ORB.

S was not exclusive for Sydney it depends on the list and time period. Also denotes Sydney Cape Breton, Suez, Iceland, Singapore, Calcutta, Sierra Leone etc. V also stood for Valletta, Sydney and Townsville etc.

Below is a partial list of confirmed convoy codes

Convoys
BB Belfast to Bristol Channel
CE St.Helens IOW to Southend
CW Southend to St.Helens IOW
DS Clyde to Reykjavik (Military)
EC Southend to Clyde, Loch Ewe or Oban (Non Stop)
EN Methil to Oban
FM Southend to Methil
HG Gibraltar to UK
HX Halifax to UK
HM Holyhead to Milford Haven
MH Milford Haven to Holyhead
*OG UK to Gibraltar
*ON UK to North America (North of and including Jacksonville, Florida, Panama, West Indies and Gulf Ports)
*OS UK to West Africa including sections to West Indies and South Atlantic Ports

• OG, ON, OS also indicate Liverpool sections before r/v with other sections ( C) (M) (O) (U) after O convoys indicate Clyde, Milford Haven, Oban, Loch Ewe sections.

PQ Iceland to North Russia
PW Portsmouth to Bristol Channel calling Falmouth and Dartmouth
QP North Russia to Iceland
RU Reykjavik to Lock Ewe
SC Sydney, Cape Breton to UK
SD Reykjavik to Clyde (Military)
SL Sierra Leone to UK
UR Loch Ewe to Reykjavik
WN Oban to Methil
WP Bristol Channel to Portsmouth
CT UK to Canada (Military)
TC Canada to UK
NA Canada to UK (Intermediate TC Convoys, Military)
AT10 American Troops to Northern Ireland
AB Aden to Bombay
AC Alexandria to Crete (obsolete)
AN Alexandria to Piraeus (obsolete)
AS Piraeus to Alexandria (obsolete)
AT Alexandria to Torbruk
BA Bombay to Red Sea Ports (military)
BM1 India to Malaya (military)
BN Bombay to Suez (not running)
BP Bombay to Basra (military)
BS Suez to Straits of Jubal (not running, military)
CF Cape to West Africa
CM Cape, Durban or Mombasa to Red Sea ports (military)
DM Durban to Malaya (military)
JS Colombo to Singapore (Combined military and trade)
LE Port Said or Alexandria to Famagusta, Haifa or Bierut
LY Port Said or Alexandria to Cyprus or Palestine
MA Mombasa to Aden (military)
ME Malta to Alexandria (suspended pro tem)
MG Malta to Gibraltar
MS Melbourne to Singapore (Combined Military and Trade)
MW Alexandria to Malta
MX India to Port Blair (military)
NA Canada to UK (Intermediate TC convoys, military)
SJ Singapore to Colombo (Combined military and trade)
SM Singapore to Melbourne (combined military and trade)
SR Calcutta to Rangoon (military)
SS Calcutta to Singapore (military)
ST Sierra Leone to Takoradi
SU Suez to Australia (returning ex W.S. Troopers
SW Suex to Durban (military)
TA Torbruk to Alexandria
US Australia to Suez
VK Sydney (NSW) to Wellington
WS UK to Suez (military)

Regards
Ross

They http://landinportugal.org/air_pages/a01_copy(9).htm mention that the two recovered bodies were Sgt Gilbert Joseph Orton and F/Sgt George Tod Wright Gibson

David, DA-D was tasked with escort to convoy SV8 rather than an A/S patrol but all the other details give are correct.

Ross, are you confident of this? My research indicates that an SV convoy would travel from Sydney to Townsville (Both in Australia) so unlikely to impinge on the waters around Portugal greatly

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref/ConvoyCodes.html

Moggy

Thank you both so much for that information. It is what was required.

The only fact (?) I can bring is that the CWGC have G T W Gibson listed as F/Sgt.

Moggy

Hi Moggy,

The crew casualties were:

F/O M J French
Sgt E McKim
P/O G E McNaughton RAAF
Sgt C Field
Sgt G J Orton
Sgt G T W Gibson
Sgt E J Smith
F/Sgt R J G Campbell
Sgt E H S Marsh
Sgt I L MacLean

David, DA-D was tasked with escort to convoy SV8 rather than an A/S patrol but all the other details give are correct.

Regards
Ross

Moggy – FP154 was a Catalina IB built by Consolidated Aircraft Corporation at San Diego. It initially served with 212 Squadron before passing on to 210 Squadron. The excellent book To the Ends of the Earth – 210 Squadron’s Catalina Years by Mike Seymour and Bill Balderson confirms that FP154 got airborne from Gibraltar at 08:12 on 22nd March (1943) on A/S patrol SV8. At 14:45, base recalled the aircraft to base by 19:15 and received R for this signal at 15:23. The Catalina had to take avoiding action to miss high ground and houses near the town of Sagres in misty conditions. The aircraft stalled and crashed into the sea very close to the town. Of the ten man crew, all died but only two bodies were recovered.

If you need more information such as delivery details to the UK prior to service and more details of the deceased, let me know.