British losses 23 June 1941

[Adam]

Hi all,

A long shot, but perhaps someone can help. According to the logbook of a German pilot, he rescued five British survivors in the Atlantic, one of whom was apparently a general. Does anyone have any hints as to who these men were or how they came to be stranded? If it helps any, the flight originated in Brest.

thanks in advance

Adam

[Laurent Rizzotti]

The five men were the survivors of the Short S.26/M 'G' Class X8274 of 119 Sqn, RAF Coastal Command. According to the book Coastal Commands Losses, it ditched on 19 or 20 June 1941 (book says 19 June 1941 but this is the take off date, as is the norm in this book: some sources speak of 20 june as the date of loss. No time is given for take-off so it could have been late on the 19th and so the crash occured on the 20th) off Cape Finisterre during a transit flight and sank.

Crew list:
Flt Sgt D F Meyrick died
Sgt H R Mason died
Sgt A H S Waller died
Plt Off G H Bowes died
Sgt W F Alexander died
Flt Sgt C E Fowler died
Plt Off J Barry RAAF died
Capt P Michal FAFL died
LAC W T R Crago RAAF died
Brig Gen Tavener POW
Plt Off S G Long POW
Sgt J E Hill POW
Cpl L G Corcoran RAAF POW
AC1 J Anderson POW

X8274 was a former British civilian aircraft (ex-G-AFCJ) that had been impressed into military service. It was named "Golden Fleece".

The casualty file of Leonard George Corcoran is availablable online on the Australian Archives website (http://naa12.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetri...1065952&isAv=N). It is listed on the date of 29 April 1941, when he was involved in another crash, but also had some data on the above loss:
_ the five survivors were rescued by a German seaplane from a dinghy, and told the nine lost men sank with the aircraft.

The FAFL casualty was actually the capitaine Amédée Michel (not Michal), a member of the headquartes of FAFL (Free French Air Force). According to the book "Aviateurs de la liberté", the floatplane was flying from Great Britain to Egypt (probably via Gibraltar, I guess) and fell off Cape Finistere, "probably shot down by a German fighter" (certainly not so, even if it could have been shot down by a German bomber or patrol aircraft). The book also says that "survivors were rescued by a U-boat", that is also wrong according to you and the RAAF casualty file.

There is another typo in the crew list, the british general was the Brigadier Roger Lewin Taverner (not Tavener).
http://www.generals.dk/general/Taver...t_Britain.html
According to the book "The Politics and Strategy of Clandestine War: Special Operations Executive, 1940-1946", Taverner was a member of the SOE and was going to Egypt to replace the commander of SO2 (the Middle East Branch of SOE) and "sort the situation out", as SO2 results were so bad that General Wavell was planing to take it under his direct control, something the SOE did not want.

From the above I would guess that the Short ditched at night of 19-20 June 1941, that would explain the date difference between the sources and the fact that nine men were lost and believed to have sunk with the aircraft (night did not help).

I wonder if the Germans discovered they had captured a high-level spy ?

By the way I guess that your pilot is a member of Seenotstaffel 1. Could you share with this forum his name and what is written in his logbook about this rescue ?

[Chris Goss]

...and by the German pilot was named of Oblt Gaul. I have loads on this (as does Tim Oliver who now owns the logbook)

[Adam]

Hi Laurent

Thank you for the information. It is very helpful. As far as info for the German crew goes, it was Willi Gaul (B), who was flying in He 115 M2+[white]AH, with the pilot listed as "Osterkamp" who was the rescuing party. This is 1./106 and not the Seenotdienst and is confirmed by his FB. The flight left Brest at 05:40 and returned at 12:44 and his notes from his FB say that they "Landed on Atlantic to pick up 5 English survivors (1 general)".

I had presumed the loss location was the Bay of Biscay but the note about a |general| tweaked my interest. Your info raises certain other questions - most notably about the ditching of X/8274. I've since found a post by Tim. O. on the other board about Blenheim losses in August 1940 that include Gaul's name and I have PM\d him and I hope he answers, but in the mean time lets hope we can put more pieces together on this one

regards

Adam

[Chris Goss]

Adam

There is very little else to report about the loss of the 'Golden Fleece' which was not shot down. I know that Gaul was in touch with Taverner after the war

Chris

[Adam]

Thanks Chris