Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

On 1 August 1943 while Flight Lieutenant Fry (No. 10) was cooperating with 2nd Escort Group in this same area he saw a U-boat travelling surfaced at ten knots in a very rough sea only six miles from the sloops. He swung immediately towards the enemy and flew overhead, then made a tight turn to port to attack from the U-boat’s starboard quarter against very accurate fire. His starboard-inner engine was hit, and when the Sunderland closed to 400 yards a shell exploded in the starboard main fuel tank and petrol flooded the bridge. All three pilots were probably seriously wounded at this point but Fry with supreme determination pressed home the attack. The tail gunner saw the U-boat enveloped in the explosion plumes and then sink bows first. The Sunderland maintained course for about six miles, turned towards the ships and plunged into the sea, bouncing twice before settling heavily into the 15-foot swell. Meanwhile HMS Wren turned immediately to help the crashed aircraft. When it arrived ten minutes later all that remained was a stump of the mainplane with five of the crew clinging to it while a sixth man was seen swimming a quarter of a mile away. It was too rough to launch a boat even after oil had been pumped into the sea, but five men were hauled aboard by lifebelt and a seaman dived overboard and supported the other who was near exhaustion. Fry himself, whose indomitable spirit and skill combined to make this attack under conditions which might well have daunted the bravest heart, did not survive; but those members of his crew rescued soon learned that U454 had been broken in two and had sunk within thirty seconds.

Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Page 443

In 1977 a RAAF officer named Kevin Baff was researching a book that was later published (1982) as "Maritime is Number 10", a wartime history of No. 10 Squadron RAAF.

In the course of his research he came upon the story of a most remarkable clandestine operation with which No. 10 Squadron had been tasked in the northern summer of 1940, just as France was falling to the Germans. He pieced together the circumstances around the ill-fated mission which had been a mystery since the Supermarine Walrus left on its clandestine mission from the slipway at Mount Batten at 0255 hours on the morning of the 18th June 1940.

The background to the operation was the task of extracting the family of French Under Secretary of War General Charles de Gaulle, from Carantec in Brittany in the face of the German advance. The details were not known by other than a very few people.

"In common with other squadrons of Coastal Command, No. 10 Squadron was tasked to conduct various 'special flights' during this period of tension when attempts were being made to dissuade France from surrendering. At 2100 hours (9.00pm) on the 17th, the Mount Batten Duty Controller was contacted by a staff officer working for the Commander in Chief Western Approaches, Admiral Sir Martin Dunbar-Naismit, VC, Commander Pinset requested that a "float plane be made available' to fly a Captain Hope of the British Army to a place on the north coast of Brittany."

As it happened a Supermarine Walrus seaplane of No.15 Communications flight was loaned to No.10 Squadron for this task because one of its (No 10 Squadron) pilots was a very experienced pilot in the type (Flight Lieutenant John "Dinger" Bell).

"Even the Commanding Officer of No.10 Squadron was not privy to the purpose of the mission. "I understand 'Winnie C' (the Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill) had something to do with it ", Charles Pearce, (the then CO) recalled years later."

Ted Cocks, Duty NCO, recalled to Kevin Baff that they made some hasty modifications to the Walrus fitting it with a defensive machine gun in accordance with the orders.

"Chas Harris, "Dinger" Bell and the RAF airman boarded the aircraft and I was standing with Des Douglas as the aircraft taxied to the head of the slipway. At this time the fourth person appeared. This chap, in civvies, was well dressed in a brown suit, brown shoes (possibly brogues) and carrying a small tan attache case. I think he carried a hat. He climbed on board the aircraft and as they ran down the slip I noticed the open exhaust ports flaming and said to Des "Nice target!"

"At the time I thought they were putting in an agent. For reason which I cannot recall, we believed they were landing in a river or an estuary near Brest".

What happened over the next few hours will probably never be known conclusively.

"At approximately 0400 hours, a Frenchwoman living in a small farming village at Keranou near Ploudaniel noticed a loud noise overhead as she went about her morning chores. Further investigation revealed an aircraft on fire and flying very low over the village. Madame Marie Yvonne Pengani recalled that the Walrus was 'coming from Ploudier and we heard that at a place called Valeury someone had shot at them.'"

There was a thick enveloping fog lying over the countryside that morning and Flight Lieutenant Bell was obviously experiencing some difficulty selecting a field in which to carry out a forced landing. He overflew a few fields before crashing at Kebiquet less than a mile from from Keranou. Unfortunately although the field Bell touched down on was cultivated and fairly level, the Walrus hit a small embankment, nosed over and broke apart".

"Robert Kerbrat, 13 years old at the time, recalled that 'the crashed airplane was broken in two. Certain parts were still burning and, when I first saw the wreckage, the four aviators' bodies had been taken out of the cockpit by close-by neighbours."

Bell and Harris were the RAAF's first war time casualties since its formation in 1921.

Compiled by Steve Larkins, January 2017

Reference

"Maritime is Number Ten" Flight Lieutenant K.C. Baff RAAF, Griffin Press Netley SA 1983 ISBN 0 9 5923960