Hello HMS BUFFALO, a mooring vessel, departed Singapore Roads 5 April 1941 to salvage an RAF Blenheim which had crashed in the sea south of Siglap Obelisk. On the way, the British ship entered a defensive minefield, striking a mine, and sinking. Two RAF officers and six RAF ordinary ratings, in addition to naval and dockyard personnel were killed. Does anyone have a list of the casualties, RAF, in particular? Many thanks in advance. don
There were four Blenheim squadrons in the Far East at that time. 60 Squadron was based in Burma, and No 27, 34 and 62 in Malaya. I can't find anything, yet, about any of these losing a Blenheim at this time - but I'll keep checking.
L6667 Blenheim Mk I. 04/04/41 with 27 Squadron at Kallang as a Mk If and spun into the sea 4 miles east of Singapore during aerobatics, killing the crew: cause not known. S/L C.D.Hackett is commemorated on the Singapore Memorial, F/L J.Mansel-Lewis is buried in Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore and Sgt D.Beaman is commemorated on the Singapore Memorial. Blenheim
In fact there were three planes involved, but the other two landed safely. I seem to have a different code than the post above. I've attached a page from Bloody Shambles: Volume One by C Shores, that describes the accident
Hello Great stuff. It is always sad to see amongst all the carnage of war, lives lost through misadventure. The books you quoted, Kyt, have an error. Not all were lost on BUFFALO and she was a commissioned RN ship. [FONT="]One RAF officer, one RN rating, 10 RAF ordinary ratings, and thirteen Asiatic crewmen were wounded. Farnhill fills a gap in the death column. If anyone can come up with any more names, I would be most greatful. All best don [/FONT]
The following is from the London Times dated 8 Apr 41 and the CWGC website: ADMIRALTY VESSEL LOST AT SINGAPORE EIGHT BRITISH CASUALTIES An official inquiry has been opened by the naval authorities into the loss of the Admiralty mooring vessel Buffalo which fouled a mine, blew up, and sank while proceeding to salvage an aircraft on Friday, says Reuters. An official list issued yesterday states that eight of the British personnel of the naval base, including Commander R.R. Airey, R.N., and Lieutenant-Commander M. Beach-Thomas, R.N., as well as 12 Asiatic members of the crew, are missing and presumed to be dead. Two others died of injuries and 20 others, including a British signalman, have been injured and taken to hospital. The Times dated 8 Apr 41 CWGC states that Airey is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial and Beach-Thomas on the Plymouth Naval Memorial. N.B. The paper article and info on another website suggest that the accident occurred on 4 Apr 41. A casualty list in the Times 12 November 1941 includes the following six RAF pers that "died on active service". All died 5 April 1941 and are commemorated on Singapore Memorial: W/C Farnhill G. Sgt Bryant G.P.F. Cpl Davis A.P. AC1 Martlew L. Cpl McKie J. Sgt Wiggin W.A. 4/Apr/1941 L6667, Bristol Blenheim I, 27 Sqn RAF. 33165. S/Ldr C.D. Hackett, RAF. Pilot + 42248. F/O J. Mansel-Lewis, RAF. Obs + 542557. Sgt Dennis Beaman, RAF. WOp/AG + T/o Kallang, Singapore. On air tactics. Spun into the sea 0230 GMT 5 km east of Singapore town. Cause unknown. A witness stated that the aircraft pulled out of a dive and appeared to be doing engine stall turns and went over on its back. Two of the crew are commemorated on the Singapore memorial and the Obs is buried in Kraji War Cemetery, Singapore (37.B.12). The loss of this Blenheim is fully documented in Graham Warners book "The Bristol Blenheim A Complete History" Page 532. F/O J. Mansel-Lewis managed to bail out but was struck a propeller and killed. The crash was witnessed by an RAF tug called the Buffalo which subsequently ran into a mine and all on board were killed.
Hello Peter Clare Thank you very much. A few more names and I'll have this one cleared. The official enquiry lists one more RAF officer and one more RAF ordinary rating killed and an RAF officer wounded. For your information, about noon on 4 April, the Air Headquarters, Far East, contacted the Captain of the Dockyard to arrange to salvage the Blenheim. BUFFALO departed Singapore Roads at 0600 on 5 April for the scene of the crash. All best don
Hello A point of clarification on the RAF deaths in BUFFALO. Farnhill is listed in some sources as Wing Commander and others as Squadron Leader in others. What is the distinction? Sorry, if this is a dumb question; my expertise is strictly afloat. Thank you in advance. All best don
Farnhill was CO of 62 Squadron before its transfer to the Far East, and then I think he may have been given overall command of all the Blenheim squadrons based in Malaya. I've yet to be able to confirm in the books as to when his promotion was awarded . EDIT - just checked in the London Gazette - Squadron Leaders to be Wing Commanders (temporary) - Geoffrey FARNHILL (28039) (10th Dec 1940). On the 24th April 1940 he had been transferred to the RAF Technical Branch. Information on the Technical Branch can be found here: Branches_U Sorry, forgot to add that Wing Commander is the next rank up from Squadron Leader - why he should be referred to as Sqd Leader in the above books, even if WC was temporary, is a mystery, as his promotion had been gazetted 6 months earlier.
A little more on the above airmen. W/C George Farnhill, 28039 Aircraft Depot FE * Sgt George P. F. Bryant, 650529 Aircraft Depot Cpl Arnold P. Davis, 521814 Aircraft Depot AC1 Leslie Martlew, 642867 ? Cpl James McKie, 564889 ? F/Sgt William A. Wiggin 364753 Aircraft Depot *W/Cdr - Wing Commander (War Deaths RAF 1939-1948) Squadron Leader, 1 June 1938 Wing Commander (Temporary), 1 December 1940
I've just finished reading "Life's Too Short To Cry" by Tim Vigors DFC. In it he describes the above incident, but slightly differently to the above pages that I scanned. It seems that the Buffalo squadron had a great rivalry with the local Swordfish squadron. The day before the above incident the 6 Swordfish had buzzed the Buffs airfield and dropped an "insulting" poem. In return Vigors and Mansel-Lewis (who was not an observer but was the "B Flight" Commander of 243 Squadron - Vigors was "A Flight" Commander) buzzed the Swordfish base upside down! And on their way home they carried out their simultaneous attack on a returning Swordfis - not a Blenheim. Later on in the bar Vigors and Hackett were laughing about the upside flight and the simultaneous attack, and Hackett claimed that they could it in the Blenheims. The rest of the story is as described above. Makes the whole thing even more tragic. Especially as all three (inc. Vigors) were great friends, and Vigors had a lot of experience. But it also sounds like the period before the war was very frustrating for the pilots, especially the 6 BoB volunteers who had gone over to train the new (mainly NZ) pilots. So such antics were all too common.
