Crash of Sunderland W4029 - One crew Missing

SEE POST #3 FOR HIS CORRECT DETAILS

This aircraft crashed into the sea attempting to land at Gibraltar and sunk causing their depth charges to explode.

Apparently all the crew were killed.

RAF Sgt C.J.Leess (Wireless Air Gunner) does not appear on the CWGC website.

Any information anybody?

400821 Flying Officer RIMMINGTON, Colin Arthur
Source:
AWM 237 (65) NAA : A705, 163/55/206 Commonwealth War Graves records
Aircraft Type: Sunderland
Serial number: W 4029
Radio call sign:
Unit: ATTD 202 SQN RAF
Summary:
Sunderland W4029 was returning from operations on 22nd August 1942, and on the
approach to land at Gibraltar it crashed into the sea and sank at 0023Z hours and the
depth charges on board exploded. All the crew were killed.
Crew:
RAAF 400821 FO Rimmington, C A (Pilot)
RCAF Flt Sgt F D Scott (Pilot)
RAF Sgt J M Corcoran (Pilot)
RAF Sgt E F Chaplin, (Flight Engineer)
RAF PO Gray K G (Observer) (Seriously injured)
RAF Sgt C J R Orr, (Wireless Air Gunner)
RAF Sgt G Form, (Wireless Air Gunner)
RAF Sgt J S Hay, (Wireless Air Gunner)
RAF Sgt A Morgan, (Wireless Air Gunner)
RAF Sgt C J Leess, (Wireless Air Gunner) Spelling should be Lee C.J.
RAF Sgt H Wallis, (FME Air Gunner)
RAF PO Adams, N K (
FO Rimmington, Flt Sgt Scott, Sgt Corcoran, Sgt Chaplin, Sgt’s Orr, Hay and Wallis and
PO Adams are buried in the Gibraltar (North Front) Cemetery, Gibraltar.
Sgt Form, Sgt Morgan have no known grave and their names are commemorated on the
Malta Memorial, Malta. Sgt Lee (not Leess) is listed on the Malta Memorial
Commonwealth War Graves does not record where Sgt Leess is buried.

Cheers

Geoff

 

Spidge,
He is on CWGC, but with the proper spelling of his surname "Lee"

 

Thanks Alan,

I did not look at plain old "Lee" just thought it was a spelling error on the S's but could not find a thing.

Will amend my details at least.

Name: LEE, CECIL JAMES Initials: C J
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Sergeant
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force
Unit Text: 202 Sqdn.
Age: 22
Date of Death: 22/08/1942
Service No: 643724
Additional information: Son of A. J. P. and Rebecca May Lee, of Bootle, Liverpool. Awarded the King's Medal.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 4, Column 1. Memorial: MALTA MEMORIAL

Cheers

Geoff

 

Alan,

You may be able to assist with two other queries here if you would:

This lad is not mentioned on CWGC:
RAF PO Gray K G (Observer) (Seriously injured)

Saying that all crew were killed, was PO Gray a passenger as an Observer?

Also what is an FME Air Gunner? (Sgt Wallis)

Flight Mechanical Engineer?

Cheers

Geoff

 

FME... Flight Mechanic (Engines)
It looks to me as though K.G.Gray seems to have survived his injuries, as i've tried all my little ways to find him. There is a Kenneth Gordon Gray mentioned in the LG who may be your man, commissioned as PO in Jan 42, finished the war as F/lt!
I have also contacted the Australian Nominal Roll team to advise that they have C.A. Rimmington's details wrong, as they have him with 21 SFTS at time of death.

 

Thanks Alan,

Seems feasible however they usually had (12) crew didn't they?

Cheers

Geoff

 

Hi Spidge,
There are 12 in the crew you've named!

 

Hi Spidge,
There are 12 in the crew you've named!

Sorry Alan. Badly put.

I meant if he was a passenger there would not have been the full crew.

I just think the report was never updated.


Cheers

Geoff

 

Hi Spidge,
Now i know where you're coming from, i can hopefully see the mix up. He was not an observer in the way you are thinking, an Observer was the original name given to someone, which later became Navigator. Some where a long time in changing over, i've just got a 1943 crew photo which still shows the "Nav" wearing an "O" brevet instead of the "Nav" brevet.

 

Ooops

 

I have been looking into this recently. I would be interested in your source for this. I have the diary but don't see this mentioned. It may be that there is an error in the National Archive downloads.There are two parts for August 1942 but both give same diary. Is this information from the missing diary?

Thanks in advance Mike

 

ASN Aircraft accident Short Sunderland W4029 Gibraltar-North Front RAF Station (GIB) and
Malta Strikes Back

... but states "one of the two pilots survived"?

 

Thanks very much for that. Very few details on this accident. Not sure if they were shot down or whether it was an accident. If find any more will post here.

Mike

 

Short S.25 Sunderland | Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives states:
The plane was returning to its base in Gibraltar following a convoy mission. During a night approach, the seaplane hit the water surface, exploded and disintegrated some 1,000 yards off shore. A crew member was seriously injured while all 11 other occupants were killed. Two bodies were found on 3rd and 9th of September only.
Crew (202nd Squadron):
P/O Colin Arthur Rimmington, pilot, †
Sgt Frederick d'Arcy Scott, pilot, †
F7Sgt James Michael Corcoran, pilot, †
Sgt Ernest Frederick Chaplain, flight engineer, †
P/O Kenneth Gordon Gray, observer,
Sgt George Form, wireless operator and air gunner, †
Sgt Cecil John Barrington, wireless operator and air gunner, †
Sgt John Simpson Hay, wireless operator and air gunner, †
Sgt Alan Morgan, wireless operator and air gunner, †
Sgt Cecil James Lee, wireless operator and air gunner, †
Sgt Harold Wallis, air gunner, †
Sgt Keith Adams. †

pages (7&8) refer http://www.202-sqn-assoc.co.uk/Spring 2009.pdf

 

Again, that is excellent, thank you very much. Do I recognize your name from the GWF?

Regrding the photograph of the funeral. Would it be possible to use that on a local history Facebook page ? No problem if not possible.

Thanks very much for your help. I was really struggling to find what happened to this aircraft.

Mike

 

alieneyes. Thank you very much indeed. I am researching Alan Morgan from Aberfeldy. Where do you folks find all this stuff. Wonderful details.

Mike

 

Hi Mike,

That came out of the ancestry version of R77860 Sgt Frederick D'Arcy Scott's RCAF service file. Unfortunately, they didn't scan the entire file(s) of all 44,000 + killed Canadians so that is what's there.

In his complete file, in Ottawa, it's possible that the result of the Court of Inquiry sits.

No one has digitized the A705 of RAAF pilot Rimmington. The CoI may be there also. It's expensive now but according to the NAA they will be digitizing, for free, the files of all who served in WWII in the next 3-4 years

Regards,

Dave

 

Many thanks Dave. I am used to researching WW1 and am slowly beginning to look at the Second World War and seeing that quite a few records are becoming available. I will look further into the other men.
Thanks again Mike

 

I found this on Youtube and it's really very interesting. A video in two parts.

Mike