RAF Aircrew buried on Bioko Island (formerly Fernando Po) in West Africa

Discussion in 'The War In The Air' started by Researcher1941, Sep 11, 2010.

  1. Oggie2620

    Oggie2620 Senior Member

    Might be worth seeing if someone can check the 270 Sqn ORB for the dates shown on the CWGC site for their deaths. If you go onto RafCommands Forums - Powered by vBulletin there may be a thread as they like esoterica and if not create one as they are terriers where that sort of thing is concerned..
    Thanks to Researcher for all the work hes done and StoneDigital for doing what he is for these lads. :D
    Dee
     
  2. drailton

    drailton Senior Member

    I will be obtaining a copy of 270 Squadron ORB soon. If there is anything about this aircraft in it I will share with this forum.
     
  3. martin14

    martin14 Senior Member

    a Grand effort to the gents cleaning up the Graves, and taking care of the site !


    :salut:
     
  4. Matt Poole

    Matt Poole Member

    I just know the story of this Sunderland was written up in the Washington Post maybe ten years ago. At the time I contacted the writer. I'm at work at the moment, but late tonight (east coast, US, time zone) I'll see what I have in my files on this story. There may have a photo in the Post story, as well, and I'm hoping there's more substantial details to share, too.

    A lot of good this does until I produce details...
     
  5. Matt Poole

    Matt Poole Member

    I'm home now, and I found a copy of the Washington Post story. Quite interesting...though the details on the loss of the Sunderland are sketchy. The full Wash. Post story follows. There is one photo of the graves, but the above photos are far superior, so I'll not scan the newspaper one.

    My saved notes don't include my e-mail correspondence with the author. There's a chance I can dig that up on an old computer hard drive. If I succeed, I'll post a summary if there is anything worthwhile to add.

    I see that the posting by Drailton at the RAF Commands Forum has met with success. Looks like it's a certainty: the Sunderland was ML811. A poster named Richard (user name sunderlandnut) added these details:

    ‘Short Sunderland in World War II’ p.72 also notes that “On 3 June W/O Wall in Sunderland K/270 searched for ML811, a Sunderland in transit from the United Kingdom to SE Asia which had left Apapa for Libreville. ML811 crashed near Lakka where the aircraft burned out. There was one survivor, Sgt W. Best, who died later in hospital.”

    Regards to all.

    Matt
    +++++++++++++++++++++
    A Matter of 'Honor' In a Jungle Graveyard
    Douglas Farah
    Washington Post Foreign Service
    May 14, 2001

    MALABO, Equatorial Guinea

    In the middle of a tropical jungle on the outskirts of this town sits a cemetery with a crumbling gate, overgrown tombs and an extraordinary sight: a neatly roped-off area where 10 clean, erect headstones mark the graves of British airmen who were killed when their plane crashed here during World War II. No one knows why a Royal Air Force Sunderland Flying Boat crashed on this isolated island June 3, 1944, en route from Lagos, Nigeria, to Libreville, Gabon, or who recovered the bodies. There are several competing accounts, but none seems supported by much evidence.

    What is clear, however, is that the fliers’ graves have been tended for 57 years by a succession of British officials, U.S. diplomats and oil company workers who viewed their care as a matter of respect. The caretakers’ efforts, in turn, played a role in one of the more bizarre and obscure chapters in modern U.S. diplomatic history, one that is still having repercussions.

    The United States has not posted an ambassador to Equatorial Guinea since 1994, a year after the last one, John E. Bennett, was accused of practicing witchcraft at the graves. Officials charged that Bennett was trying to harm President Teodoro Obiang, who seized power in 1979 and rules still.

    Bennett was an outspoken critic of Obiang’s human rights record and had an icy relationship with the government. He was not alone. Foreign governments put heavy pressure on Obiang to democratize his dictatorship, and he eventually complied, calling the nation’s first legislative elections on Nov. 21, 1993. But the vote was boycotted by the major opposition parties and dubbed a sham by Washington.

    In a recent telephone interview from Karachi, Pakistan, where he is consul general, Bennett said he spent that election day observing the voting. At one point, he found himself near the cemetery, so he went to visit, something he did monthly.

    Bennett said he noticed that he was being tailed by security agents, including Armengol Ondo, the feared chief of police who is also the president’s brother. When he got to the cemetery, Bennett said, “I noticed my escorts also dismounted and were flitting from gravestone monument to the next, including Armengol, but their efforts were a camp version of Peter Sellers.”

    Bennett said that when he got back into his car, “I could see in the rearview mirror the gaggle [of agents] burst out of the cemetery gates, jump into their respective vehicles and take off after me once again,” until he reached his residence.

    Ondo then called the only foreign correspondent in Malabo, a reporter with the Spanish government news agency EFE, and accused Bennett of engaging in witchcraft. The story went out over the wire service.

    The next day, Internal Security Minister Manuel Mba Ndong said police had surprised Bennett at the cemetery as he was “taking traditional [magical] medicine given to him by election-boycotting opposition parties in order that the vote would turn out badly,” according to press reports from the time.

    Relations between the two countries, already strained, worsened after the accusation. After Bennett departed in 1994, naming the government’s most notorious torturers in his farewell address, no new ambassador was appointed. The U.S. Embassy was closed in 1996, leaving relations to be handled by the embassy in Yaounde, Cameroon.

    A month after the embassy closed, large offshore oil deposits were discovered, and since then $5 billion in American investment has poured into Equatorial Guinea. Obiang, during a March trip to the United States, asked the State Department to reopen the embassy he had helped to close, saying the “lack of a U.S. diplomatic presence is definitely holding back economic growth.” The U.S. government says it is studying the proposal.

    Bennett, who has a son in the Army and is a veteran himself, said it was “an honor” when he was asked soon after his arrival here in 1991 to tend the graves of the British airmen. Britain had closed its embassy not long before, and the British ambassador based in Yaounde asked Bennett to assume the responsibility because the plots had fallen into disrepair.

    The Commonwealth War Graves Commission was able to pay only a small amount for their upkeep, so Bennett paid the gardeners at his residence to work weekends to keep the site up. He had the headstones, sent years before by the British government, cleaned and had grass from the embassy lawn laid there for a commemorative ceremony with an honor guard when a U.S. warship visited Malabo in November 1991.

    But when Bennett left Malabo, the graves again fell into disrepair. Then, three years ago, Simon Slater, a British civil engineer, and Ron Mann, a Scotsman who is managing construction of a methanol plant here, visited the cemetery and found beer bottles and other signs of neglect.

    Appalled, they cleaned the headstones again and persuaded oil companies to give them metal casing that has been fashioned into a fence around the area.

    They also traced the official record of the crash of the British seaplane, which indicated that the plane encountered a typhoon and crashed into Lake Fernando. Although the island where Malabo is located was known at the time as Fernando Po, there is no Lake Fernando.

    Slater, hearing rumors that the plane had instead crashed near the beach hamlet of Baney, visited the village and found an old man who claimed to remember an airplane crash nearby when he was in school. But Slater could find no wreckage, and the old man said it had been quickly hauled away by the Spanish, who ruled the island at the time.

    But, while the mystery surrounding the airplane remains, Slater and Mann have arranged for the graves to be cared for by resident British, even after they leave. “It is a matter of respect,” said Mann. “The tradition will continue.”
     
  6. drailton

    drailton Senior Member

    Now that the aircraft is known, ML811, so is the unit, 302 Flying Training Unit. The confusion about this incident has arisen mainly because published reports state that this aircraft came down in the Congo. Also, there are 2 different reports as to the reson for the loss; weather or shot down. I think weather the most likely even though the shooting down report does come from someone who was in West Africa with one of the Sunderland squadrons at the time. I will try to find what the unit's ORB says about it but iy may be a few weeks bewfore I come back to the forum with the result.
     
  7. stonedigital

    stonedigital Junior Member

    I believe the aircraft came down at Laka Baney, 10 miles east from Malabo.
     
  8. drailton

    drailton Senior Member

    I have not had the opportunity to look at 302 FTU ORBs but I have now seen those for 270 Squadron which do refer to the crash. They state:

    "03.06.44
    Sunderland ML811 in transit from United Kingdom to South East Asia Air Command left Royal Air Force Station Apapa for Royal Air Force Advanced Base Libreville ETA at RAF Libreville being 1140hrs. Nothing more was heard from the aircraft and later a message was received from Fernando Po via Meteorological Broadcast from a Mr Reynolds addressed to Air Officer Commanding Ikeja – Aircraft 811 crashed June 3rd approximately 1100hrs in Tornado, neighbourhood of Lakka. Crew killed except Sgt. who died in hospital. Nominal roll of crew as follows:
    F/O R H Graham 160673 Pilot
    F/O J P Gondola 102345 Nav
    1319843 F/Sgt Pilot Chaplin G E
    932491 Sgt F/Eng Elliot T D
    531590 Sgt FME/AG Lindsay R G
    1336696 Sgt WOP/AIR Rolph S W
    1312519 Sgt WOP/AIT Duffy J J
    1383075 Sgt WOM/AG Munns M
    1897063 Sgt ACH/AG James M
    1594574 Sgt ACH/AG Best W

    04.06.44
    Sunderland “G” F/O J I Thompson and crew took off on search for missing Sunderland but was recalled after 12 minutes on information Sunderland found."

    I do not believe that 302 ORBs will provide any more detail. From this it seems that Tornado refers to the weather and not a place.
     
  9. Alaniow

    Alaniow Junior Member

    I am so Delighted and Happy to have found this thread.
    SGT William Best (My Uncle Bill) was my mothers twin brother.
    Born 23rd March 1918 and lived in Sheffield.
    Although his wife Ida is now deceased his only child 'Maureen' was born after his death, whomI am trying to contact and should be able to talk to shortly.
    Although the original notification of Bill's loss has been lost it was always presumed he died in North Africa. My mother always said he his plane was struck by lightening in Tunisia and had longed to visit his grave for many years right up to her death. I would add the the Best family were simple folk and probably had no concept as 'Africa' as a continent in its self.
    My heartfelt thanks to all you wonderful people who have worked so hard and given our family great comfort with your efforts to explain what happened and taken such care of our beloved Uncle and his comrades final resting place.
     
  10. Oggie2620

    Oggie2620 Senior Member

    Welcome to the site Alaniow. I am sure that the locals would love you to come visit Bill and that they would look after you very well!
    Dee
     
  11. jspurg

    jspurg Junior Member

    Greetings all.
    Wow, I am amazed at what i have just found & read on this forum. My uncle was Flt Sgt Stanley William Rolph & although i never knew him i have always had a great connection to him. As i sit typing this i have beside me the official letter sent by The Air Ministry to my grandparents. it confims that ' during a transit flight from Lagoa to Libreville the Sunderland flew into a tornado & crashed in Lake Fernando, Fernando Po'. I also have some pictures of my uncle Stan & the crew (i have most of his letters sent home), there are also some of the burial service. To say these young men were buried with honour is an understatement. I would be happy to scan any photos if anyone requests but for now a very very big thanks to the guys out there tending the graves. My personal goal is to visit myself sometime.
     
    Doodle1979 likes this.
  12. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Hello and welcome. Thanks for sharing your information.

    Of course we'd like to see the photos!

    Regards
    Diane
     
  13. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    Hello and welcome to the forum. Please post your photos, we will be most pleased to see them.

    Regards
    Peter
     
  14. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    We've had this email sent to the Admin email account.

    Your member who is now part resident in Bioko (was Fernando Po).
    I was Consul to Equatorial Guinea based in Douala (now closed as a UK based post). I visited the graves and it was agreed that the then US resident Ambassador would look after them during his tenure. They were very badly overgrown. During a subsequent visit we held a Rememberance ceremony with the crew of the USS Barnstable County that was visiting. My understanding is that the graves are those belonging to a Lancaster crew that crashed on the island whilst heading south.
     
  15. jspurg

    jspurg Junior Member

    As promised here are some pictures of my uncle Stan & the crew.

    Jim
     

    Attached Files:

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  16. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Thanks for showing these
     
  17. AkBlack10

    AkBlack10 Junior Member

    My name is Andrew, I'm a Yank working on the Island of Bioko, Equatorial Guinea, Africa. I was made aware of British Aircrew Graves at a Cemetary here on Bioko Island. The crew crashed on the Island during WW II. Last week I visited the graves and was saddened by their state of being (the grass was over grown). I will go back today and clean them up, it's the least a fellow-former Military Man can do! I will post pictures of the clean up!
    -Andrew
     
  18. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    Hi Andrew,

    Thanks in advance for your offer of tending the graves.

    Below are the details of each from the CWGC website.


    Cheers

    Geoff


    Robert Hartley Graham
    Remembered with Honour
    Malabo Cemetery, Bioko
    In Memory of
    Flying Officer Pilot
    160673, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who died on 03 June 1944 Age 23
    Son of Robert and Elizabeth Mildred Graham, of North Shields, Tyne and Wear.

    John Peter Gondola
    Remembered with Honour
    Malabo Cemetery, Bioko
    In Memory of
    Flight Lieutenant Nav.
    120345, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who died on 03 June 1944 Age 20
    Son of John and Florence Gondola; husband of Edna Nancy Gondola, of Kingsbury, London.

    George Ernest Chaplin
    Remembered with Honour
    Malabo Cemetery, Bioko
    In Memory of
    Flight Sergeant Pilot
    1319843, Royal Air Force who died on 03 June 1944 Age 22
    Son of James William and Lily Eliza Chaplin, of Grays, Essex.

    Thomas Douglas Elliott
    Remembered with Honour
    Malabo Cemetery, Bioko
    In Memory of
    Sergeant Flt. Engr.
    938481, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who died on 03 June 1944 Age 25
    Son of Anthony and Margaret Elliott; husband of Mary Ellen Elliott, of Millerston, S'clyde.

    Roland George Lindsay
    Remembered with Honour
    Malabo Cemetery, Bioko
    In Memory of
    Sergeant W.Op.[Air]
    531950, Royal Air Force who died on 03 June 1944 Age 26
    Son of John Gordon and Helen Ann Lindsay, of Pitcaple, Grampian.

    Stanley William Rolph
    Remembered with Honour
    Malabo Cemetery, Bioko
    In Memory of
    Flight Sergeant W.Op.[Air]
    1336696, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who died on 03 June 1944 Age 21
    Son of Albert Thomas and Pretoria Clara May Rolph, of Marks Tey, Essex.

    J J Duffy
    Remembered with Honour
    Malabo Cemetery, Bioko
    In Memory of
    Flight Sergeant W.Op./Air Gnr.
    1312519, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who died on 03 June 1944 Age 27
    Son of James and Bridget Duffy; husband of Dorothy Lily Duffy, of Wortwell, Norfolk.

    Maurice Munns
    Remembered with Honour
    Malabo Cemetery, Bioko
    In Memory of
    Sergeant Air Gnr.
    1383075, Royal Air Force who died on 03 June 1944 Age 22
    Son of Arthur George and Anne Rosalind Munns, of South Norwood, London.

    Harold Henry Thomas James
    Remembered with Honour
    Malabo Cemetery, Bioko
    In Memory of
    Sergeant Air Gnr.
    1897063, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who died on 03 June 1944
    Son of Thomas and Gladys Hilda James, of Wallingford, Oxon.

    William Best
    Remembered with Honour
    Malabo Cemetery, Bioko
    In Memory of
    Sergeant Air Gnr.
    1594574, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who died on 04 June 1944 Age 26
    Son of James and Elizabeth Best; husband of Ida Vera Best, of Sheffield.
     
  19. HonCon

    HonCon New Member

    To all those who have posted above - I am pleased to say that the gravesite has recently (last week) been renovated by the CWGC with the installation of a concrete slab over the graves and repairs to the surrounds of the gravesite. This will mean that the gravesite will be easier to maintain and keep clean. I conduct a memorial ceremony at the gravesite every year, on or around the 11th November, in honour of these young men, which is usually attended by representatives of the United States and French Embassies and other expats present on the island. David Shaw, Honorary British Consul, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea
     
  20. HonCon

    HonCon New Member

    As promised here is a photograph of the recently restored gravesite. David Shaw SAM_0956 email.jpg
     
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