New to ww2talk so hope I’ve posted in the right place. The diaries of RAF 135 Squadron refer to troopship HMT A6. Anyone know how I find out which ship this refers to? Thanks.
Can you scan and upload the piece that refers, or provide the ports of departure or arrival and its corresponding date - thanks TD
The diary doesn’t state the port of departure, only that they entrained at Berkswell on 10.11.41 but I believe it was convoy WS 12Z sailing from Liverpool. They arrived in Durban on 19.12.41 then left on 24.12.41 to become convoy WS 12ZB arriving in Bombay on 6.1.42. Thanks
Convoy 12ZB - arrived Bombay 6 Jan 1942 Adastrus Capetown Castle Deucalion Duchess of Bedford Empire Star Empress of Japan Indrapoera (Dutch) So I guess its one of those TD WS Convoys
So it seems all you need to do now is find out which ship Cpl Baldwin was 'lost at sea' on TD Casualty Details | CWGC Peter C Baldwin 1922–1941 BIRTH OCT 1922 • Ecclesall Bierlow, Yorkshire West Riding DEATH 26/12/1941 Global, Find a Grave Index for Burials at Sea and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current Name: Cpl Peter Charles Baldwin Death Date: 26 Dec 1941 Cemetery: Singapore Memorial Burial or Cremation Place: Kranji, North West, Singapore Has Bio?: N Cpl Peter Charles Baldwin (Unknown-1941) - Find A...
From "The Winston Specials" in chapter about WS12Z. Duchess of Bedford reported the loss of an RAF fitter overboard in the early hours of Boxing Day 1941 when the convoy was abreast of Inhambane in Southern Mozambique. A search conducted by 3 other vessels in the convoy proved unsuccessful. {PRO ADM 199/1138 Report of Royal Sovereign, WS 12Z} After Durban the convoy had several elements, WS12ZB was the Bombay bound element. Other ships were bound for Suez and Singapore. Edit:- Duchess of Bedford did load at Liverpool. Some other ships in the convoy loaded in Glasgow. It was common that these convoys were made up of vessels that loaded in different west coast ports, with the various elements coming together off Northern Ireland.
I had already scanned the pages for WS 12Z for another forum posting. Here they are in case they throw up something extra of you to add to Ewen Scott's post:
Would a whole squadron, Sqn 135, have been aboard the same ship or could they have been aboard different ships in the convoy?
I would have expected the whole squadron to be on the one ship. But there is that comment in the ORB about the 20 pilots “who are to fly out”. But what does that mean? It can’t mean flying overseas as the intention was for the issue of new aircraft to them on arrival (see below). There is however that gap in the ORB from 10 Nov to 19 Dec. The squadron would need to dispose of its existing aircraft probably to a Maintenance Unit. So probably the aircrew flew them out of their base to an MU and rejoined the squadron (and their kit) on board ship. But their original destination was Iraq not Bombay. Following the German invasion of the USSR on 22nd June 1941, Britain sent a Hurricane wing (151 Wing) of two squadrons to Murmansk to protect the port. That much is well known. Last year however I turned up a plan for Operation Clawhammer, a 1941 plan to deploy British Empire troops and 20 RAF squadrons into the Caucasus region of Russia to protect the Soviet oilfields if the German invasion threatened them. Events in the Far East meant that plan came to nothing. In late 1941 plans progressed to send 267 Wing comprising 4 Hurricane squadrons from the U.K. to Iraq to be part of that Operation. The squadrons were 17, 135, 136 and 232. All were embarked in WS convoys around this time. The only people that were supposed to know the eventual destination were the squadron COs and Intelligence officers. Brand new Hurricanes were being shipped out to equip them. The Far East war broke out while the Wing was at sea. The 232 squadron (aircrew only) disembarked at Freetown and were transported to Takoradi on the Gold Coast where they joined aircrew from 258 squadron, picked up new Hurricanes to fly across Africa, then swapped them for other Hurricanes in Port Sudan and went aboard HMS Indomitable to be ferried to Java in Jan 1941. Meanwhile everyone else continued the journey round the Cape but with new destinations in India and the Dutch East Indies.
Thanks to everyone for the information. Trying to trace my Dad’s journey with 135 then 34 squadrons so appreciate all the help.
Here are pages from ADM199/1138 Report. Image P100356 states Duchess of Bedford is the ship. Image P1000367 refers to HMT A6.
Hi, my grandfather's unit travelled by sea to the Far East in 1943 while the aircrew were ferried by B24s via the Middle East so the reference to ''flying out'' could well mean that.
Which makes sense for a B-24 general recce or bomber unit able to fly the length of the Med with minimal interim stops in 1943, but not for a short range single engined fighter unit like 135 squadron in late 1941 when it would have been impossible to make the trip from Gibraltar to Malta without a carrier to transport them part way.
Indeed; my train of thought was the aircraft (for example 605 Squadron's Hurricanes) went by sea, the pilots flew via Transport Command UK > North Africa > Arabia > India; the groundcrew travelled by sea with the aircraft on troop/cargo ships, and assembled the aircraft ready for the arrival of the pilots. I have heard of twin-engined Blenheims flying from the UK > Far East, but have never read of single-engined fighters so doing.
Not the way it worked out unfortunately. 242, 258 and 605 squadrons were all originally schedued to go to the Middle East via the Cape when they embarked in Britain. That was pilots and groundcrew with their aircraft in crates. Instead the pilots and aircraft were landed at Gibraltar while the groundcrews continued their journey south. Now for the confusing bit. The aircraft and pilots of 242 and most of 605 were then embarked on Ark Royal and Argus from which they flew to Malta. The 605 Malta detachment then became operational on Malta on 10 Jan 1942 until the end of Feb when the detachment ceased to exist with the survivors being absorbed by other squadrons on the island. The pilots from 242 were absorbed by 126 squadron on the island. The pilots from 258 squadron and 4 or 5 remaining pilots from 605 squadron still at Gibraltar then formed a fighter defence flight in the short term. They later re-embarked, this time on the aircraft transport HMS Athene, and were shipped to Takoradi in the Gold Coast (West Africa) where the Hurricanes were unloaded and assembled before joining those of 232 squadron (see below) and being flown across Africa. At Port Sudan the squadrons drew new aircraft (the old aircraft requiring much work after their trans Africa flight) and embarked on the carrier HMS Indomitable in early Jan 1942 for transport to Java.They were flown off to Batavia on 27 Jan 1942. The groundcrews of 242, 258 and 605 meanwhile travelled via Cape Town to Singapore where they arrived in January 1942 and formed a composite servicing unit, first on Sumatra and then on Java. With the fall of the Dutch East Indies in February / March 1942 242 and 605 squadron personnel were dispersed while those of 232 and 258 were evacuated to Ceylon. The story of 135 squadron and your initial query is even more curious. Along with 17, 136 and 232 squadrons they embarked in Britain in mid Nov 1941 headed for the Middle East officially. The plan, which was kept secret from everyone, was that they were destined for Iraq to be held there. Their eventual destination was to be the Caucasus region of the USSR to protect the Soviet oilfields in the event of a German breakthrough in the region following Operation Barbarossa. While in transit, the war with Japan broke out. The aircraft and aircrew for 232 were put ashore at Takoradi. See above for the next stage of their transit. The other squadrons then continued east winding up in Burma and India at the beginning of Feb 1942. Later in the war single engined fighters were flown from Africa and the Middle East to India. This happened from late 1943 with Spitfires assembled at MUs in Morocco and Algeria. 81 squadron also redeployed to India from Southern Italy in Nov 1943 picking up new Spitfire VIII aircraft en route. Later in 1944/45 PR Spitfires were flown direct from the UK across France and the Med and the Middle East to join units in India. Later still, between Feb and Aug 1945 161+ Hellcat II and Corsair IV aircraft were flown from the UK to India
Hi Ewen, Revisiting this in connection with some other research. Do you have any info that 605 groundcrew were in Singapore? Evidence would suggest that they were on board Convoy DM2 and were diverted to Batavia. From The Singapore-convoys DM-2 ( which departed Durban on January 13 ) was originally WS 14B, but the name was changed off Mombasa on January 19. It made rendez-vous with BM-12, after which the convoys merged at 01.05 N, 91.28 E. The ships of this convoy were rerouted to Batavia with one exception, the City of Canterbury joined BM-12 and arrived in Singapore. Aboard the ships were the Wing Headquarters and groundstaff for 3 fightersquadrons, the 77th heavy and 21st light AA regiments with their equipment, vehicles and stores for the 48th Light AA-regiment. The rerouted ships arrived in Batavia on February 3. From Operations Carried Out by No. 226 (F) Group. Kind regards, Tim
