Im sure most of you are familiar with this accident. I recently came across the following paperwork relating to one of the crew, a F/O R W Smith. It includes letters to and from his family and really brings home the personal tragedy. On Friday 6th February 1942 Sunderland W3977 of 201 Squadron Castle Archdale went down ten miles of the west coast of Donegal. There were no survivors. The crew; Fl. Lt. Smith, P/O Barlett, P/O Smith, F/O Kitchen, Fl. Serg. Mason, Fl. Serg. Clare, Serg. Jones, Serg. Nutt, Serg. Jacobson and Aircraftsman Hopkinson This aircraft came down offshore and only wreckage was found. Had been flying a patrol from Lough Erne. Irish Military observed the incident it appears, 15 Group signal dated March record 'Eire' authorities as having reported the only reliable information relating to the loss of an aircraft. None of the crew were recovered, all are remembered on the Runnymede Memorial.
That is good stuff A few years ago his son called with me , referred via Breege McCusker - unfortunately I could not add anything to what he already knew - the aircraft has been returning and had crashed into Donegal bay - the irish LOP's reported quite a bit of searching in the day following the crash but apart from some wreckage beign washed ashore none of the crew were recovered and all are still listed as being "missing". Unable to find what I was looking for will get it on tomorrow or Sat. at the latest. I should have a copy of the pilots logbook entery / the last entery signed by his F/lt. will post later. From memory "Strike" was standby if a crew was needed it was you , a "ladder" system was used everyuone got their turn at it. They were just about to enter Donegal Bay when they went missing , as a part of the world it is really beautiful even when its "angry" .
Logbook enteries from one of the pilots (F/lt Smith) , the last entry from the Flight Commander would have been in red ink. The formation flight mentioned , this is a photo taken of the aircraft about to fly over the roof of Castle Archdale , the taking of the photograph is mentioned in 201 ORB. The same names come through again , Sgt Layne , later promoted - he attacked and damaged U-518 in June 43 , Raban , Spink and always someone will have met them or one of their crew - it was a small and close brotherhood.
My uncle was Harold Mason he was on board the plane w3977 as an observer. I have found out using the internet that on the day of 5/2/1942 the convoy ON-63 were attacked and the HMS Arbutus was attacked around 10:36 pm and sunk 340 miles west-northwest of Erris Head, Ireland. The W3977 was in radio contact 10:50 pm and gave ETA of midnight. Convoy ON-63 - Convoy Battles - German U-boat Operations - uboat.net The plane was heard around 2am on 6/2/1942 by Irish lookouts and an explosion was seen in the distance soon after. I do wonder if W3977 flew back to the position of HMS Arbutus' attack to see if it could help or search for U-boats. The convoy had been attacked by U-Boat Wolfpack Schlei: Wolfpack Schlei - Wolfpacks - German U-boat Operations - uboat.net The link is quite an interesting site because it has a map with details of the position and dates of u-boats. I also found some information about the Enigma codes and problems decoding them around February 1942: U-boat - Wikipedia "This was demonstrated when the Naval Enigma machines were altered in February 1942 and wolf-pack effectiveness greatly increased until the new code was broken." Harold was only 21 and was greatly missed by my father who was 15 at the time. His mother never really came to terms with his death as he was officially missing - she lived in hope that he was a POW. I think they thought he was lost in the North Sea instead of on the West side of Ireland. Apparently the Donegal Corridor was a big secret even after the war. I found a photo of my uncle on this website, my father only had a colour tinted and rather blurry photo of his brother: Shorts Sunderland W3977, off Donegal, February 1942 If anyone has any further information, I'm very happy to hear from them. Regards from Australia, Louise
Hi if this thread is still active I like to get in contact with relatives of F/O R W Smith as I understand that he was an Australian, My Uncle Harold Mason was English as was my father who came to live in Australia after meeting my mother. Regards, Louise
Hi, well, it's over 10 years since this thread was active, so some people may no longer be responding. But we have an active Australian member, spidge, who has dedicated time and effort recording as many Australians in the RAF as he can find. As regards SMITH, RODNEY WYBEN. Flying Officer. Service Number 402409. Died 06/02/1942. Aged 23 Royal Australian Air Force Son of Vivian Wyben Smith and Meta Victoria Smith, of "Ulindah", Binnaway, New South Wales, Australia and also Mrs Gordon-Craig, "The Cabin" Palm Beach, Sydney, NSW. you will be able to access his Personnel Records on your National Archives of Australia website, and his file has been digitised so you can readily access it for details. Unfortunately, it has no information regarding the loss of the Sunderland. He was 6ft 2 inches tall, a pastoralist (?) and had only been posted to 201 Squadron on 7th January 1942. Others may be able to provide better details.
I feel that I have exhausted most available resources on this incident and presented them on my webpage presented above. I did mention to Louise via email that an AIR81 file should be available next year but by the nature of the aircrafts loss, at sea, without nearby witnesses, there is little else sadly to be learned. Perhaps the AIR81 might have more. The one useful page from R W Smiths files is presented on the webpage. ww2irishaviation.com/w3977.htm
Hi Louise, if you haven't already gotten in touch with someone, RW Smith (Rodney) is my great uncle. I don't have a lot of info but I'm happy to chat! Thank you all for your resources as well. Interestingly Louise- my grandparents also believed that they went down in the North Sea and not near Ireland. I wonder if the families were all given some incorrect information?
Hello Sheridan2, have we been in contact over the past few months, I was sent a photo of Rodney be a relative of yours. I got that AIR81 file I mentioned and shared it to the familiy members I'd contacted. Regards Dennis
Hi Dennis, Thanks for responding. I believe you may have been in contact with one of my cousins from another line of the family (Rodney had three siblings). We are not in regular touch, but I will try to reach out to them. I know we have a few of Rodney's heirlooms, so they must as well. If you wouldn't mind, I would love a copy of the AIR81 file if there is a way for you to send it to me.
Hi there, I was curious on some info into RW Smith, if there are any sources to do with him and if Smith received any medals. Kind Regards, Ports
Hello there you might have found these from googling already, but I have a page on Sunderland W3977: Shorts Sunderland W3977, off Donegal, February 1942 and there is Mike Curtiss's page also Francis Smith