The Royal Air Force Search

 

The following report from Air Commodore Sydney Smith, Royal Air Force, Far East to the Australian Department of Defence describes the significant search effort by the RAF from their base in Singapore. (The Air Commodore was consistently reported in the Australian press as Sidney Smith which is demonstrably incorrect.)

 

(Source: NSW State Archives, Probate Packet for Sir Charles Kingsford Smith)

 

Personnel of No. 205 Squadron, Royal Air Force at Seletar, Singapore with Short Singapore III K3593 in November 1935. Two of these aircraft were used on the search but it is not known if this particular aeroplane was involved. (Picture: NLA, E.A. Crome Collection, PIC/3394/943 LOC ALBUM 1090/11)

 

Personnel of No. 100 (TB) Squadron, Royal Air Force with Vickers Vildebeest aircraft in their hangar at Seletar in 1935. The squadron was deployed to defend Singapore in January 1934. Four of their aircraft were used on the search. The squadron was still operating the type at the outbreak of hostilities in 1941.
(Picture: NLA, E.A. Crome Collection, PIC/3394/944 LOC ALBUM 1090/11)

 

On 15 November 1935, nine Vildebeest from No. 36 (TB) Squadron joined the search. The squadron had re-equipped with Vildebeests in July 1935 and was still operating the type when WWII began. It is presumed that this photo depicts personnel from 36 Squadron.
(Picture: NLA, E.A. Crome Collection, PIC/3394/945 LOC ALBUM 1090/11)

 

MESSAGE TO SINGAPORE. OFFICIAL THANKS TO R.A.F.

 

The Sydney Morning Herald of 20 November 1935 reported that the Prime Minister (Mr. Lyons) announced in the House of Representatives today that the following message was sent today to Air Commodore Smith, at Singapore:

 

On behalf of the people of Australia, the Commonwealth Government desire to express grateful thanks for the magnificent work carried out under difficult conditions by members of the Royal Air Force under your command in the search for Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Mr. Pethybrldge, and for the sympathetic interest you, personally, have shown In meeting the Government's wishes, and in organising the comprehensive air and ground searches that have been undertaken in the past 10 days. As all likely areas and possible courses have now been covered so thoroughly, the Commonwealth Government, with great regret, agree with your view that further searches by Royal Air Force aircraft would serve no useful purpose. They are grateful, however, that you propose continuing the ground search organisation for a further period, and trust that your efforts will meet with success. The Qantas reserve aircraft will be available to you for any special duty on which it could usefully be employed.

 

The Jimmy Melrose Search

 

Jimmy Melrose in Gull VH-UVH over his mother's home in the Adelaide suburb of Glenelg on 30 November 1935. He was departing Adelaide for Melbourne, only hours after reaching Adelaide from England. (Picture: John Hopton Collection)

 

Suitably attired in a pith helmet, Jimmy Melrose attends to his Gull VH-UVH at Seletar, Singapore.
Picture: Collection of the National Museum of Singapore, National Heritage Board,
Accession Number 2007-00808
https://www.roots.gov.sg/Collection-Landing/listing/1156622

 

A seemingly exhausted Jimmy Melrose with his Gull VH-UVH at Seletar, Singapore in November 1935. The exact date is not recorded but it would have been sometime between 8 November when he arrived in Singapore and 26 November when he signed this fuel docket prior to resuming his flight to Australia. (Picture: RAFSA Collection, courtesy of National Archives of Singapore, via Tim Kalina Collection)

 

BEGINNING OF SEARCH. ALOR STAR, Nov. 21. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, Mr. H. F. Broadbent, and myself were all at Croydon towards the end of October awaiting favourable weather to commence our flights to Australia. I intended taking it in easy stages with my new Gull (VH-UVH). Broadbent was after the solo record, also in a Gull, and Kingsford Smith, with Pethybridge, flying the Altair, hoped to beat Scott and Black's record of the Comet. The story to Allahabad is of no importance now. Broadbent left Allahabad on Thursday, November 7, at 2am (Sydney time), myself four hours later, and Kingsford Smith about sunset that same day. Since then the only definite reports are from Akyab at midnight and Rangoon at 1.30am on Friday, the 8th. He was expected at Singapore at dawn. When I landed there the same day, the Altair was reported missing, and so I decided to return and search the route back to a position 200 miles south of Rangoon, where I am sure I saw the exhaust flame of the Altair go past at 2.30am on that fateful Friday. From Rangoon I was chasing Broadbent, and had left there at midnight, flying to Victoria Point, where he was held up by the northeast monsoon. I caught him up at Alor Star, from where I am now writing this. The RAF at Singapore sent off two flying boats at dawn on Saturday for the Bay of Bengal, whilst I flew 800 miles along the coast to Victoria Point. The next day I went inland, and did the jungle from coast to coast north of latitude 10, finishing at Mergui on Armistice Day. I searched the Tenasserim Valley, but saw nothing except smoke from tin mines, and returned to the base at Victoria Point. If Kingsford Smith kept a direct course for Singapore, he must have struck some very bad weather about 4am about the mountainous jungle along the border of Burma and Siam. The only other course was to have followed the west coast, as Broadbent and myself did in the Gulls. The RAF had by this time four land 'planes, as well as the two flying boats, searching the sea and islands. At daylight on November 12, I left Victoria Point, and followed the Pakchun River right up into the mountains, thence over to the railway which runs from Bangkok to Penang. At 8am exactly my engine packed up, and from 1,000 feet I just reached the sea and was forced to land on a beach 100 yards by 10. PLANE IN SURF. Unfortunately, she swerved in the soft sand, and went over on her nose into the surf. I thought that was good-bye to the Gull, and made for the shore with my camera. It was not until I had taken a picture of my 'plane with the waves breaking over her that I saw a chance of saving the whole show, and within five minutes, with the help of two fishermen, and some rope, we had the VH-UVH up on the beach. When we returned from the telegraph station ten miles up the river, the tide had fallen, leaving an excellent beach. So, with the help of 50 natives, I pushed the 'plane along to the fishing village of Tako. That night I had some rice with the chief fisherman, and he promised to look after my big "robin" until I could get back with spares for the engine. It was very difficult to explain, as the only language understood was Siamese. Still, I managed to impress on the natives that the Gull wanted a rest. Later, I found two holes through a piston, and a valve in the exhaust pipe. Since the north-east monsoon might break any day, it was essential that I should get in the air again without delay, and so the next day I went up the river by boat in torrential rain, carrying my bent propeller through swampy jungle to the railway, and 30 hours later reached Penang. With the help of the Flying Club I left next morning with Pilot Greenwood and spares for Tako. Kingsford Smith had now been missing a week. The RAF had sent out another nine land 'planes and the Qantas 'plane under Captain Allan was continuing the search southward. On the 15th we found the Gull as I had left It, but we could not land on the beach because of bad weather. We returned to Victoria Point, and landed successfully at 7 o'clock the next morning in a Leopard Moth on the beach. The next two days were spent in repairing the Gull's engine. The heat was terrific, and so we built a shelter. We had nothing to eat except rice and Australian raisins, and condensed milk. On the fifth day we sighted a coastal steamer in the bay, and I felt like Robinson Crusoe when a boat came ashore with a white man. Finally, on the 18th, I took off successfully, and reached Singora with one gallon of fuel, and on to Alor Star and Penang for overhaul. Meanwhile, the search was going on, but with little hope. The 16 RAF 'planes had done all they could and were returning to Singapore. The country is impossible for a successful forced landing except on the few tiny beaches, and if a 'plane came down in the jungle, it would be hidden from others searching by air. The only hope would be to light a fire. That is almost impossible if the ground is soaked. Kingsford Smith and Pethybridge may have made a safe landing miles from civilisation, and would take weeks to return. There is plenty of food and water in the jungle. The past three days I have been flying with Captain Hussey in the Qantas 'plane over extremely rugged country, covered by impenetrable vegetation. At all the native villages we dropped messages, asking of any news of Kingsford Smith. Low clouds have hampered the search, and generally it is only possible to search until 3pm each day. Nevertheless, the greater part of Burma, Siam, und Malaya has been covered by the air search and it would seem now that Kingsford Smith came down on Friday, November 8, about 4am or 5am, in the sea east or west of Victoria Point. The peninsula is less than 50 miles across at this latitude, and the Altair would only take 15 minutes to cross from sea to sea. Consequently, it will be realised that, now all the islands off the coast have been searched, the possibility of Kingsford Smith being found if he was forced down in the sea is very slight. The Altair would not float for more than one week unless he had run out of petrol - and he had enough to reach Singapore. So it would seem that he was forced down with engine trouble near the spot where I was, but in his case it was at night and in bad weather. PRAISE FOR RAF. The RAF answered without delay, and everything that could be done was done to rescue the airmen. Yesterday the Qantas 86 was the only 'plane left in the search. We went up north of here into country which made us shudder to look down, with rivers disappearing into the mountains, wild elephants in the jungle, and drifting cloud over the trees. Today we searched the last islands of the east coast on the line of squalls. Tomorrow the search will be concluded, when the VH-USE returns to her normal Singapore-Darwin service. My own VH-UVH will be ready by Saturday, when I hope to continue to Darwin, unless some definite news comes through of Kingsford Smith being seen over this part of the country in the past fortnight. I shall not forget the experience I have had this month, and if we had only found Kingsford Smith and Pethybrldge I should have enjoyed it all.

 

The dates and times in the following table are derived from the Engine Log Book of the Gipsy Major engine fitted to Melrose's Percival Gull VH-UVH. The remarks are derived from other sources on this page. The original log book is held by St Peter's College, South Australia.

 

DATE	ENGINE TIME IN AIR	REMARKS
08NOV35	3:25	Arrived Singapore from Rangoon, Burma.
09NOV35	3:40	Searching inland coast to coast.
09NOV35	3:45	Searching inland coast to coast.
10NOV35	3:10	Searching inland coast to coast.
11NOV35	2:30	Arrived Mergui, Burma.
12NOV35	0:50	Forced landing after engine failure.
18NOV35	3:15	Arrived Singora. Preceded by 15 mins ground running after repairs.
18NOV35	1:00	Arrived Alor Star.
18NOV35	0:50	Arrived Penang.
22NOV35	0:10	Test flight at Penang after further repairs.
24NOV35	3:50	Penang to Singapore.
26NOV35	0:10	Test flight at Singapore.
26NOV35	5:35	Departed Singapore for Darwin.

 

Melrose resumed his flight to Australia on 26 November when the above fuel docket was issued. Broadbent went on to break the record, arriving in Darwin on 9 November. Broadbent was delivering Gull VH-UVA to P.G. Taylor who was the Australian agent for Percival aircraft.

Sadly, Jimmy Melrose had less than a year to live. He was killed when his Heston Phoenix VH-AJM broke up in flight on 5 July 1936 soon after departing Melbourne for Adelaide. He was just 23 years-old.

 

SOURCES
Geoff Goodall	https://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/percival-gull/percivalgull.html
South Aust.Aviation Museum	https://www.saam.org.au/history_group_docs/SAAM%20Biography%20-%20MELROSE%20Charles%20James%20(Jimmy).pdf
James Melrose	Sydney Morning Herald, 22 November 1935.
Log Books of Gull VH-UVH	St Peter's College, St Peters, South Australia

 

The P.G. Taylor Search

 

 

A stern looking John Stannage (left) and P.G. Taylor photographed with Bill Taylor's Gull VH-UVA at Mascot on 15 November 1935, the day of departure of their search expedition. In the bottom left corner is what appears to be part of the cockpit canopy of the Gull which may have been detached to facilitate removal of the Gull's ferry fuel tank which was then fitted to the Gannet. (Picture: Sydney Morning Herald)

 

As news reached Australia that Smithy was missing, it is not surprising that Australians would want to join the search. The Sydney Morning Herald of Thursday 14 November 1935 reported:

 

Captain P G Taylor and Mr J Stannage submitted a proposal to the Federal Government yesterday that they should join in the search with a 'plane to be obtained in Sydney. The Federal Government promised £1000 towards the expenses and the State Government £500, and Sir Frederick Stewart gave a guarantee of another £500. Messages were sent to Air Commodore Sidney (sic) Smith at Singapore as to the utility of a 'plane being sent from Sydney at the present time, and replies were received that the whole of the area it was possible to explore would have been explored by this evening. The unexplored portion was jungle country, where observations from the air were viitually impossible. Last night Captain Taylor intimated to the Federal Government that in view of the information he had received he would relinquish the hope of taking part in the flight. He suggested that the Commonwealth £1000 should be devoted to the 'planes searching from Singapore

 

The Labor Daily of 14 November reported that P.G. Taylor had announced "late last night" that the flight had been abandoned in favour of contributing the funds towards the RAF search. The paper also reported that Taylor had phoned the Minister for Defence, Mr. Parkhill, to advise that it would be five days before they could reach Singapore and that he was "considering the wisdom of going at all."

Despite P.G. Taylor's apparent misgivings, the Australian Minister for Defence approved the search on the evening of 14 November and requested the RAF in Singapore to extend their search.

The crew of the search aircraft would comprise P.G. Taylor as pilot, Harry Purvis as engineer and relief pilot and John Stannage as radio operator. Fittingly, all had flown with Smithy on some of his pioneering flights. The chosen aircraft was the Australian-designed and built Tugan Gannet VH-UUZ which had been issued with its Certificates of Registration and Airworthiness on 14 November, the same day that the search was announced. The aircraft was to be delivered to Western and Southern Provincial Airlines (WASP) but they agreed to make the aircraft available on charter. Curiously, the aeroplane derived its name, not from the bird, but from a combination of the surnames of Frank Gannon (an aircraft woodworker at the Cockatoo Island Dockyard) and Lawrence Wackett who had designed the aeroplane. This name had been suggested by none other than Smithy himself as he hoped that the aircraft might prove suitable for his proposed trans-Tasman airline.

The Gannet was hurriedly prepared for the search with the removal of its passenger seats and the fitment of an 80-gallon fuel tank from P. G. Taylor's Percival Gull VH-UVA installed in cabin along with another fuel tank provided by Wasp Airlines. Dual controls were transferred from the RAAF Gannet A14-1 and Amalgamated Wireless Australasia (AWA) provided their latest wireless transceiver free of charge.

November 1935 was just six months after Taylor's heroic feat of transferring oil in flight during the aborted Jubilee Mail flight to New Zealand with Smithy in the Southern Cross and even closer to the publication of his first book Pacific Flight so he probably didn't need this rushed trip but like everyone who knew Smithy he was determined to help. On the night after the aborted Tasman flight, Taylor was understandably exhausted and he had left strict instructions that he was not to be woken for any reason. Nevertheless, an unscrupulous newspaper reporter, through lies and deception, had convinced Taylor's mother to wake him. It transpired that the sole purpose of the intrusion was to secure a "scoop" and so it was to be on the eve of the departure of the flight to search for Smithy. Having left similar instructions not to be woken, he was to suffer another rude intrusion using the same technique. Consequently he was probably not in the best frame of mind to face the long flight ahead.

After engineers had worked on the Gannet throughout the night and into the next day, it departed Mascot on Friday 15 November at 2.30pm into a strong westerly heading for Bathurst and Bourke although Taylor anticipated that they might only get as far as Narromine because of the winds. A "controlled and courageous" Lady Mary Kingsford Smith was at the airport to farewell the aircraft as was Mrs Beris Stannage (Smithy's neice). Not present was Smithy's mother who was reported to have suffered a nervous breakdown over the apparent loss of her son. It was hoped that the aircraft would reach Darwin by Sunday morning and Singapore on Tuesday. As anticipated by Taylor, the aircraft overnighted at Narromine and departed at 5.35am on Saturday for Charleville and Longreach. The Gannet arrived at Longreach at 12.30pm and departed for Cloncurry at 2.00pm. Taylor retired early in the hope of a good night's sleep far removed from Sydney, only to be woken after thirty minutes by yet another press intrusion. In Taylor's own words:

 

I don’t know who it was who came with that message, but he didn't stay long. I was blind mad with rage. It was no good now. No escape from all this madness surrounding the one thing that mattered — that Smithy was lost and I had to go there. All inclination to sleep had left me. I lay on the bed, trying everything. Got up and went outside. Even the stillness and the deep tranquillity of the Australian night had no effect. Back to bed again, determined to empty my mind of everything. ‘Think of nothing. Think of nothing. There is only blackness. Nothing. Relax. Nothing. Let Go.’ I tried all the mental suggestions. Then I began to feel queer, to break out into a sweat, and then to feel that I was passing out. I got up off the bed, stood up, walked about the room to beat it. I felt sick, lay down again, and eventually dozed off fitfully, waking each time with a ghastly feeling of dread and fear of nothing in particular. And so the night passed, the worst I can ever remember. In the morning I was drained of all life; but tightly strung and unable to relax. I must get to the aircraft. I would be all right in the air. Then I thought of the D.C.A. doctor(1) at Cloncurry whom everybody knew and liked so much in this far place. Perhaps I could ask him to give me something to get me on the way. The air would do the rest. I called the doctor and he was able to see me immediately. I told him my story; noticed he was looking at me and thinking beyond what I was saying. Then I asked him just to let me have something to start me off on the flight. He looked at me in a kindly way and said, ‘You won’t be flying today.’ ‘But why? I must be in Darwin this evening.’ ‘No, you won’t be flying for some time.’ A dreadful feeling came over me: a horrible realization that I was at the end of the road. ‘I don't want to ground you officially, but you are not fit for flying. You must have a complete rest.’ Rest. Rest, when my aircraft was fuelled at the airport and ready to go. It seemed ridiculous; impossible. But he was quite insistent. I had to face it. I was medically unfit for flying and if necessary would be formally grounded. There was something utterly beastly about this. I felt unclean. Something abnormal and horrible, condemned to the earth. I told him more, about the oil episode in the Southern Cross, how I had been completely unaffected afterwards, but had noticed myself being irritable lately. This only confirmed his opinion, that there was some delayed effect from this, as well as other things. He eased me into acceptance of his opinion with great kindness and wisdom and soon had me thinking of going out to stay at a homestead at one of the stations near Cloncurry. This I felt I could do. Anything but return to Sydney where everything would be raked over and blown up into some hideous nightmare. But one thing I knew I had to do: before I went to rest I had to fly this aircraft again. If I let it beat me I was sunk. I might never fly again. The doctor surprised me by agreeing to this. So I went out with Harry and ]ohn, left them on the airport and took off. I had to have this situation out alone with the aircraft. I felt that at least part of my failure had been due to the fact that I had found no peace in the air coming from Sydney, and perhaps that was because I had not mastered this unresponsive aircraft(2). The aeroplane seemed somehow to sense my thoughts, for she did not oppose me. I threw her around over the airport; did far more with her than I would normally have done; then slid her in to land, and stopped at the hangar. That was all right. I would fly again. I could look this aeroplane in the face with a friendly smile. I went back to the hotel, got my things, and went out to the property in the car which had been sent for me. There I knew for a fortnight the most wonderful hospitality. In spite of the disgrace which I still felt within me, I was happy. Nobody there ever referred to my reason for being with them. The Sky Beyond, Cassell, Melbourne 1963, Chapter 8.   NOTES 1 The Courier-Mail (Brisbane) of 19 November 1935, reporting on Taylor's illness, named the doctor as Doctor Joyce. 2 It is noteworthy that at no point does Taylor name the aircraft, probably out of respect for its designer.

On Sunday 17 November, John Stannage sent a telegram to the Minister for Defence:

 

Taylor advises me regret inability proceed and recommends machine return at once to stay further expenses. With your permission Purvis and self desire proceed with search. Reply urgently.

 

The Minister responded that he would need to consult with Cabinet. The Minister later advised the press that; "His Department would be reluctantly compelled to accept Captain Taylor's recommendation that the machine should return to Sydney unless the trust which was controlling the arrangements for the flight could indicate how the flight could be continued without Captain Taylor."

It is ironic that the search expedition should conclude prematurely at Cloncurry for it was here in September the previous year that Smithy and Taylor's bid to compete in the Centenary Air Race had ended when Harry Purvis discovered cracks in the engine cowling of the Altair.

Following the news of Taylor's illness, offers were received from H.F. 'Jim' Broadbent and J. Chapman to take his place.

As indicated in Air Commodore Smith's letter at the top of the page, the aerial search by the RAF was terminated on 18 November although the Qantas DH.86 continued searching until 23 November. On 19 November, the Australian Prime Minister (Mr.J.A. Lyons) advised the House of Representatives; "It is with reluctance and regret that the Commonwealth has been forced to agree with Air Commodore Smith that further air search for Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Pethybridge is not likely to be of value." Mr. Lyons said that the Government also agreed with Air Commodore Smith that there would now be no object in sending any special aircraft from Australia to take part in the search. This effectively formalised a conclusion that P.G. Taylor had reached five days earlier.

The Courier-Mail (Brisbane) of 19 November reported that "Kingsford Smith Search Ltd." (elsewhere reported as "Kingsford Smith Search Trust") would ask John Stannage to travel to Singapore by Qantas to join the crew of the DH.86 search aircraft. The directors of the trust decided to abandon the flight and that any residual funds after the charter of the Gannet and payment of Stannage's air fare should be applied to continuing the search.

The Sun (Sydney) of 21 November reported that John Stannage had consulted with Qantas Captain Crowther at Cloncurry and he had concluded that the ground search was more likely to yield a result and accordingly he had decided not travel to Singapore but return to Sydney. The Gannet departed Cloncurry for Charleville on 22 November flown by Harry Purvis and John Stannage. Approximately twenty-five minutes after departing from Cloncurry while still at low level, Purvis found that all aileron control had been lost. He was able to land straight ahead on a claypan where he found that a cable had slipped off its pulley. Purvis, who was also an engineer, was able to effect repairs and resume the flight to Charleville where they overnighted. The aircraft continued to Sydney the next day. This incident later prompted P.G. Taylor to speculate on the likely outcome had they continued on to Darwin.

Subsequently, Eric Kingsford Smith (Smithy's brother) proposed establishing a private fund to resume the charter of the Gannet but this evidently came to nothing. A proposal by the Australian Flying Corps Association to utilise an RAAF Dragon Rapide on the search was rejected by the Minister for Defence as the RAF had already discontinued its aerial search.

P.G. Taylor returned to Sydney from Cloncurry on 30 November in his Percival Gull VH-UVA accompanied by pilot J. Chapman who had flown the aeroplane from Sydney to Cloncurry via Longreach on 28 November. On arrival in Sydney, Taylor told the press that he was fully recovered from his illness.

On 1 December, the Australian Minister for Defence received a telegram from Air Commodore Sydney Smith who was directing the RAF search from Singapore. He advised that while the aerial search had concluded, a ground search was continuing in the Setui district of Siam. That same day, as a direct result of the disappearance of the Altair, the Director of Civil Aviation in Singapore, in conjunction with the RAF, announced that aircraft flying from India to Singapore must in future be fitted with wireless and that pilots must declare their precise route before departure.

On 7 December, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that, with the conclusion of official searches, the Australian Flying Corps Association had "decided to devote its entire funds, running into some thousands of pounds, to continue the search for the missing airmen. They invoked the aid of the Australian Geographical Society, and were using large scale maps. The Association was offering rewards to the finders of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Mr. Pethybridge." This would appear to have been the last gasp of search efforts with there being no further developments until a wheel from the Altair was discovered in May 1937.

From his perspective of twenty-eight years later, Sir Gordon Taylor provided this telling insight into Smithy's final flight.

 

That he should never have undertaken this flight is a popular and general opinion. The circumstances that led him to the flight forced him to do it. As it was, there was no other way for Smithy. To have dragged out his life in some physically secure but drab situation would have been death for him anyhow. He was completely right in setting out upon this flight. It was necessary, for the freedom of spirit upon which he lived. The Sky Beyond, Cassell, Melbourne 1963, Chapter 8.

 

 

SOURCES
Geoff Goodall	https://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/tugan-gannet/tugan-gannet.htm
Sir Gordon Taylor G.C.	The Sky Beyond, Cassell, Melbourne 1963, Chapter 8.
TROVE	Various newspapers during the period 01NOV35-30DEC35.
Ted Wixted	The Life and Times of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith.

 

The QANTAS Search

The Ted Wixted Searches