As the sole survivor of the flight it was a relief to establish the two aircraft had been lost as a result of corrosion in the generators on what was still a new frontline combat aircraft and then in full production.
I've never seen any previous account on these events and present my recollection of our interesting conversation as the 'bare bones' of these events.
While there may well have been generator problems as he said, a different point of view was stated at page 34 of Sniffing and Bottling. Quote: "Engine problems were experienced in RAF Canberra WH 881 during the journey with two high-altitude flame-outs of the starboard engine; one during the Ceylon-Changi leg, 400 miles out from Changi and the other on the Townsville-Momote leg.
In both cases relights were successfully achieved on the first attempts at 17-18000 feet. Both flame-outs occurred at high altitude with high engine RPM and a low temperature and may have been the result of n/Root T surges: as the air temperature (t) drops and the RPM (n) increases the likelihood of an engine compressor surge increases and an engine surge at high altitude can result in a flame-out.
There was a dearth of Canberra engine performance data at the abnormally cold temperatures to be found at great height in the tropics. With our early Rolls Royce Avon engines if conditions were right, at cruise settings an engine without warning would surge and flame-out. It could not be relit at height and one had to come down to lower altitudes and warmer temperatures.
The loss of WH738. The Hastings and both Canberra's departed Momote at 1010 the next morning for the 1400nm crossing to Kwajalein. A number of tropical storms were forecast along the route but these were not thought to pose a serious danger as they were widespread enough for the aircraft to fly around them (providing the aircraft was not in cloud and could see the storms visually).
The primary navigation aid on the Canberra was the radio compass. Official reports indicate that about the half way point in the vicinity of the Caroline Islands (Ponape) the pilot of WH 738 reported radio compass failure and that he intended to formate on WH 881. This was the last message received from the crew. No VHF or visual contact was subsequently made with WH 881 and the aircraft never arrived at Kwajalein.
The crew of Canberra WH 881 also experienced problems but managed to complete their journey. According to Flying Officer Peters who occupied the occasional seat in WH 881, the temperatures that day was critical and our aircraft suffered from engine surges...we had our hands full on that sortie; what with engine problems, navigation equipment failures, aircraft electrical faults and massive thunderstorms well over 50,000 feet high...we couldn't locate Kwajalein or any other beacon on the radio compass until very close to our destination.
The crew of WH 881 thought the most likely explanation for the loss of WH738 was that it suffered a double engine flame-out at altitude, had been forced down into one of the violent thunderstorms that had straddled the Canberra's track and then broken up in turbulent conditions.
A few days later on 11 March 1954, a replacement Canberra departed Momote for Kwajalein. It ran into an inter-tropical weather front with rain, cloud and attendant severe turbulence. An attempt was made to climb over the front but the aircraft was still in cloud at 50,000 ft. The radio compass failed depriving the crew of their primary navigation aid. Shortly afterwards the pilot noticed the No 2 Inverter (providing AC power to the blind flying instruments) had stopped, the No 3 Inverter taking over as designed. The No 2 Inverter was successfully restarted but it was then noticed that the AC voltmeter monitoring the supply to the flight instruments was showing a low reading.
The pilot was concerned that a loss of AC power to his flight instruments would be catastrophic in the existing turbulent flying conditions and was also concerned about overshooting Kwajalein: he thus decided to descend ahead of ETA into visual contact with the sea. the aircraft finally broke through the cloud base at about 500 feet above the sea where the crew found themselves in heavy rain and poor visibility. Eventually they were running out of fuel and elected to land wheels down on a beach of an atoll they spotted. Islanders saw them land successfully and several days later the crew were rescued by a boat from Kwajalein.
Later it was discovered that the radio compass loop housing contained fresh water, suggesting a condensation problem. the HF receiver was found set to "CW" and "local" which would have prevented operation by the navigator and would have disabled the HF R/T operation.
Although a joint RAF/RAAF investigation had started looking at the electrical problems in the Canberras and suspected high humidity, no firm conclusions had been reached. Later the radio compass problems were narrowed down to condensation, resulting from high humidity forming inside the loop aerial housing and then freezing as the aircraft climbed to cruising altitude. The fix was to drill drain holes.
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If corrosion of the Canberra generators was a factor in the loss of both Canberra bombers on their leg Momote to Kwajalein, this was never mentioned in the book Sniffing and Bottling by David Forster published in 2011. Multiple flame-outs at high altitude caused by engine surges were documented as were radio compass failures. Severe weather was certainly a factor.