Missing Hermes 1959
My Uncle told me of the time he was in the RAF here in Cyprus in the late 1950s. He was posted here as an armorer in 1958. In July(?) 1959 he flew in an Air sea rescue Hastings from Nicosia to Diyarbakir to join in the search for a missing Hermes operated by Airwork which went down in the region of Mt Ararat. The Turkish authorities had failed to locate the aeroplane so the Hastings was sent to look for it. After 3 days searching the aircraft was located. Food and supplies were dropped in case there were any survivours. Once the aircraft had been pinpointed my Uncle along with others proceeded on foot to the crash site. When they reached the site the bodies of the 3 crew were nowhere to be found. Also the cargo of the aircraft had disappeared! It was thought that the aircraft was enroute from the UK to Woomera in Oz with an A bomb on board! It is believed the Russians had created false DME signals to lure the aircraft into Soviet Armenia. The search team returned to Cyprus in a Lancaster which was based in Malta. My uncle also heard of a US B47 which also disappeared in this area. Does anyone know any more details?