BTW
FLIGHT, FEBRUARY 15, 1934 indicates it is a Gordon – But that had a Armstrong Siddeley Panther engine – not a Lion -However, it does give an indication of date of the loss!
No- 47 (Bomber) Squadron in the Sudan
COL. B. T. WILSON, D.S.O., read a very interesting
paper on ” The Sudan of To-day ” before the Royal United
Service Institution on Wednesday, February 7. Speaking
of the work of No. 47 (Bomber) Squadron, he said that its
” Gordons ” were so useful that it would be exceedingly
awkward for the administration to do without them. He
said, however, that experience had shown that air action
was more certain and more humane when used in conjunction
with ground troops than when used independently.
Since the appointment of Marshal Balbo as
Governor of Tripoli, the Italians had raised the question of
the boundary between Tripoli and the Sudan, and had
laid claim to Merga oasis, which the lecturer said was
about 200 miles on the Sudanese side of the frontier. The
landing ground at the oasis was a very bad one, and he
showed a slide of an unfortunate ” Gordon ” which had
tried to level it out while landing, and had stood on its
nose. It had to be burnt, and if the Italians ever get
there they will find its remains. He thought that possibly
the Italians want to fly from Tripoli to their colony of
Eritrea (Somaliland) without landing on Sudanese territory.
The lecturer also mentioned the growth of civil flying
in the Sudan and believed that last year some 400 civil
aeroplanes had landed at Wadi Haifa.
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