RAF Changi 205 sq Shackletons
 

Hi I am attempting to get information and photos of Shacklestons of 205 sq mid to late 60's.


My father in law was stationed there and had trips to Australia. he was an aircraft technician and his name is Kenneth Wade and he said his main aircraft was 'golf' Shackleton.


He laughs as he said one tried to kill him as it took off from Australia to Changi. It got to the point of no return when it had an engine fire and had to turn back.


Any information or old contact appreciated as it is his birthday in the new year an I would like to surprise him with a few things.


thanks


gary

205 Shacks
 

Hi Gary,

A quick look and this is the only photo I can find of 'G' in flight (bit of formation over the Malaysian jungle) but send me a PM and I can send you more of 205 aircraft (also look on the 'Maritime Monday' thread on the Military thread and you should find others).

[]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5634/...35647a04_c.jpg

WG530 was the initial Mk 2 and it was on 205. WL786 was the aircraft lost off Gan on 4 Nov 67.

O-D

Does anyone remember Kenneth Wade?

Unfortunately he is very very ill and is in Portsmouth hospital

Please get in touch if you know him

Thanks

Gary

Unfortunately Ken died at 22.40 on 22nd March 2019

Gary,
Search back through the archives on this forum for posts about 205 Sqdn, however the photos will probably not be visible anymore.
My website www.davidtaylorimages.co.uk
has a vast gallery of photos taken 1961 to 1964 in Singapore with a couple of hundred from Changi. Lots of 205 Shacks there!
David

VPI Book of Remembrance site here: https://www.thegrowler.org.uk/register.htm
lists the following fatalities from WL786 of 205 Squadron lost in the Indian Ocean 5th November 1967

Adams R N Ft Sgt AEOp
Blake H Ft Lt Pilot
Bungay R K Fg Off Pilot
Greatorex K M Ft Lt Navigator
Love D Plt Off Navigator
Morgan D H Sgt Air Signaller
Rees R G Ft Sgt AEOp
Stanley I B Ft Lt AEO

Presumably the Sqn ORB for November 1967 available at the National Archives will list all who were on board.

The survivors were the Flight Engineer, an AEOp, and a Flt. Sgt. Medic from Gan who had hitched a lift, I believe to attend his son's wedding in Singapore. Can't recall the names.

WL 786
 

The flight engineer was Keith Wordsworth, who went on to fly on Britannias at Lyneham. When he left the RAF he flew with Cathay Pacific and later Virgin Atlantic. I was a navigator on the crew that dropped Lindholme gear to the survivors.

And I was co-pilot on the crew that took over from you.

To confirm, the survivors were: Flt Sgt K R WORDSWORTH F/E, Sgt B E SAUNDERS Air Sig and Flt Sgt C W GAZE a Medic of some sort. They spent 16 hours in a dinghy before HMS Ajax picked them up, along with two bodies. The other six crew were not found.

Old Duffer

BSD,

Perhaps you are thinking of another 205 loss? National Service had long finished and the last NS airman discharged from Kinloss at the beginning of '63. There were any number of losses of Valettas and other aircraft in the late '50s early 60s so possibly something else.

O-D

I flew with Keith Woodsworth (a nice man btw) in Cathay. I asked him one day about his badly scarred/burnt arm and he told how he acquired it. He said that he had no recollection of the accident, his memory re-started with him floating in the sea.