Danny has to do without the Harvard.
On 5th December, W/Cdr Edmondes took off solo in his Harvard FE965 to do a reconnaissance round the Porkal area. I'm not clear as to the purpose, perhaps to look for additional areas which might be suitable for the CDRE. He went off about 8.30, and we expected him back in two hours at the outside. (Of course, he would be out of R/T range as soon as he was out of sight). Two hours passed, then three, then four, with no sign of him. By this time he must be out of fuel. Things were looking serious.
We signalled Porkal: they had neither seen nor heard him. I signalled Group to report what had happened, asking them to stand by until I'd decided what help I might need from Yelahanka (200 miles away). Curiously enough, I can still remember the little place we thought might be a good spot to start looking - it was called Golitattu. A search had now to be mounted, and by good fortune I still had with me the F/O navigator I've mentioned before. Now he could make himself useful.
Searches are a Navigator's business, and part of his training, and now he could put it to good use. I put him in charge of the search planning. We had to make some assumptions. There was no reason to suppose that the W/Cdr would have flown out to sea, but he might have force-landed on a beach or in the shallows. In which case he would be easy to find, the Harvard was still in its all-yellow training plumage.
We planned a "Creeping Line Ahead" search based on a line along the coast 20 miles North and South of Porkal. Roughly this would be 340/160, but we had to allow a few degrees to take account the onshore breeze, which ran at 15 mph at that time of day.
I took the first search aircraft off at about 1300, with W/O Thompsett (pilot) as a second pair of eyes. Flt. Lt. Alex Bury would come out after 1½ hours to relieve me (our third VV was u/s). We flew at 120 mph, which was about as slow as was comfortable in a VV. We followed the shoreline up to the northern point of search, but there was no sign of him, so I turned Rate 1 onto the reciprocal for the first leg inshore.
That should put me about 1½ miles inland, from 1500 ft we could spot a yellow wheelbarrow, never mind an aircraft. Nothing on the first stretch (southbound). Turn left, northbound, nothing again. Turn right, still nothing - I'd be about five miles in from he coast now. Alex appeared on the horizon, closed up into R/T range.
The W/Cdr had been found, his engine had failed, he was unhurt after a successful forced landing about 10 miles inland. The local Police had picked him up and driven him back to Porkal: he'd simply walked in there. Porkal had signalled the CDRE, they rushed over to tell us just as Alex was climbing in. Search cancelled, all go home. I signalled Group to stand down.
The W/Cdr came back by road, rather quiet and a bit cagey about the affair. As far as I know, there was no investigation of the cause of the failure. The S.O.P. was that the aircraft was immediately struck off my charge and transferred to the Repair and Salvage Unit for the area.
Although it was not seriously damaged, they would have to dismantle it to get it out, and it was simpler to scrap it. The war was over, the Harvard had never been essential to CDRE's operations even while it was still on. Needless to say, they didn't give us another one !
I thought it a bit strange. The Wasp was renowned as an extremely reliable engine. In my time on them at Advanced School in the US, I don't think I ever heard of one failing. One possibility was fuel contamination. Our supplies came in 40-gallon drums, but of course it was all filtered before decanting into the bowser or directly into the aircraft. The filter was a big square open metal box with what looked like a bit of blanket across the bottom.
Rough and ready it looked, but it was sobering to see the amount of rust, grit and (condensed ?) water which collected in the blanket. If by mischance some of that had got through...? As I've said, that aircraft was little used, but the tanks were never left part full to avoid the risk of condensation in the empty spaces.
Perish the thought, could he have mismanaged the fuel system and run a tank dry ? I cannot remember the fuel layout of the Harvard - anybody help ?
What the incident pointed up was a deficiency which (in hindsight) McInnis or I should have recognised and done something about. We had no R/T contact with the people on the ground at Porkal or Kumbla. Our (US) R/T sets were not compatible with anything the Army had.
But surely it was not beyond the wit of man (ie my wit) to get hold of a spare a/c set for the Army; they could have coupled MT batteries up to provide the 24V DC. We had the same problem at Cannanore, of course, but that one was easy. A chap with headset in the cockpit of anything on the line was "Cannanore Tower" for the moment.
Of course, for safety, there must have been some sort of "signals square" at Porkal and Kumbla to tell the newly arriving gas/dropper/sprayer: "Start/Stop/Wait/Carry on/ Go home", but I have completely forgotten it (the "Carlstrom Field Syndrome" again !) Aldis lamp ? - don't be silly. (It had been a long time since ITW).
Next time: "How Danny used to find his way about".
Evenin' all,
Danny42C.
Man is not lost (much).