Where & When Sea Fury.

I’m assuming it is WE804
If you squint, you can make out what appears to be ‘LT AA’ and what can be likely be read as ‘Knight’ on the forward fuselage

I’m glad my cuppa tea getting cold wasn’t in vain 😉

Rob

Thanks everyone, but I believe I have Nearly solved it.
It is either WE794 802 Sqdn HMS Ocean, “engine failed after a strafing sortie, made a wheels up landing on beach Paengyong-do, Korea, after fuel loss. Let H M McEnery rescued by ships helicopter. Struck off charge 31/5/52”
Or WE804 “oil cooler hit by small arms fire over Korea, wheels up landing on mud flats Paengyong-do. LT A A Knight rescued by ships helicopter. SOC 1/3/52”.
I googled Paengyong-do, Korea and sure enough that mountain range in the background is very easy to identify.
ATB Duggy

Edited as I did not see WE804 :very_drunk:

Definitely not VX.728.
The photo of 728’s crash site I have shows no black & white stripes on it and
some fairly extensive damage to the engine cowl which the above aircraft doesnt have.

There is a further image of what is almost certainly this Sea Fury on this thread http://www.witnesstowar.org/detail_photos/39 including a further image which appears to show
the aircraft after destruction by demolition charges, I guess the remains may still be there buried in the mud! The code is clearly 103 but no clue on the serial and I am still not convinced it is VX728 as unfortunately the pilot (Sinclair) was killed in that crash and this one does look like a survivable forced landing. The pilots name appears to start with initials J N but again it’s not very clear and I can’t tie up any RAN or FAA losses with pilots names beginning with initials J N. I guess it could be a different pilot was flying the aircraft on the day of the crash though. One possibility is that it is the aircraft of S/LT Swanson (RN) which landed on a beach of an off shore island in the yellow sea 28th April 1952 but I don’t have a serial for that one.

There is a photo (via Australia’s Museum of Flight) on the excellent ADF serials website of the crashed VX728. It doesn’t look like the same crash to me so I am not convinced this is VX728 but can’t identify the likely candidate yet. http://www.adf-serials.com.au/seafury.htm

Fair point, I see what you mean.

Looks like 123 to me, there are simply not enough vertical lines to fit an 0 in.

Thank you sir.

The numbering on the rear of the fuselage looks like 103 to me

Thanks Lee I was sure I could see an 03 in the aircraft code behind the stripes.

I would suggest VX728 ‘103/K’ of 805 RANAS 26.10.51. The aircraft has been robbed of bits, which links in with HMS Amethyst retrieving parts.

Welcome. Funny thing is there was apparently two on the same day, the second one is not listed as ‘overturned’!

Rob

Thanks Wyvernfan
But I guess we can rule out the last one, as this photo shows she bellied in without overturning?

And finally, “UNIDENTIFIED, 805 or 808 Sidney HMAS Sydney, flak damaged, force landed Paengyong beach, overturned, S/L J R Howard. Aircraft salvaged some weeks later.
Another, same day but didn’t overturn, also salvaged”.

Phew. So now you can take your pick 🙂

Rob

Could be WE794 802 Sqdn HMS Ocean, “engine failed after a strafing sortie, made a wheels up landing on beach Paengyong-do, Korea, after fuel loss. Let H M McEnery rescued by ships helicopter. Struck off charge 31/5/52” (info from the book FAAFWA).

Edit.. just to confuse things, WE804 “oil cooler hit by small arms fire over Korea, wheels up landing on mud flats Paengyong-do. LT A A Knight rescued by ships helicopter. SOC 1/3/52”.

Oh boy… WF622 “hit by flak, engine seized over Korea, ditched in the Taedong-Gang estuary. S/L M L Hayes rescued within 2 mins by SAR S-51 from Chodo. SOC 10/2/53”.

WH582 “engine seized following flak hot over Korea, ditched Taedong-do estuary. S/L M L Hayes (again) rescued by USAF H19B SAR helicopter from 13854 from Chodo. SOC 14/3/53”.

Rob

Korea is a pretty good bet, from the terrain and uniform of the servicemen. It looks very ’50’s.