Supermarine Seafire's MB362 & MB369, 880 Sq 3/2/1943                                             

                                              (Motto: To seek and to destroy)

 

           

 (Seafire 1b) Picture CMR Models       http://www.cmrmodels.co.uk/

On 3/2/1943 MB362 being flown by Sub.Lt (A) Lloyd H Johnson RNZVR and MB369 being flown by Sub.Lt (A) Anthony Charles Armstrong Smalley RNVR, both of 880 Sqdn (It seems MB369 may well have been an 801 Sqn aircraft) were engaged on camera gun attack training when they collided at 6000 feet, near the Woodwick range, causing both the aircraft to crash, one in a field near Rendall and the other into the sea near Tingwall. Both the pilots were killed. 

              

 Sub/Lt L.H.Johnson.Photo: NZ Weekly News.        Sub/Lt A.C.A.Smalley. Photo: Jonathan Smalley   

The bodies of the two Royal Navy pilots were recovered and following a service they were laid to rest in St.Olaf`s Cemetery, Kirkwall with full military honours.  

Above:  Headstones of the two Navy pilots in St.Olaf`s.   Photo:   Kit Johnson.

Relatives of both airmen have been contacted by ARGOS and it was learned that Sub/Lt Lloyd Johnson`s brother and Great Niece visited the cemetery to pay their respects on a trip to Orkney in 2008, all the way from New Zealand.  We are most grateful for all the information supplied by both families and hopefully some form of memorial can be erected on or near the crash site of the Seafire in Evie.

    

Above:  Kit Johnson and Daughter Charlotte at St.Olaf`s.   Photo:  Kit Johnson.     

Enquiries into the accident actually started in 2004 when Dave Earl and Dave Ramsey were visiting the area on 24th May, he spoke with local men Irvine Wood and John Firth who both recalled sparse details of the event, Mr Wood recalled how one of the aircraft had dived in at some height and crashed in a field, and Mr Firth said he knew the owner of the land if we wanted to have a look for it.

A search was made of a field but despite finding numerous metal objects, this was in the main farm waste and no remains of the aircraft were found.

Some 5 years later on 16 June 2009 with our newly formed aviation group and fresh information from another local man Jim Nicholson, a new search was conducted, with group members Kevin Heath,Dave Earl, William Shearer,Dave Ramsey and Geoff Bland, this time using a mini geo detector, good signals were found and we were almost sure we had the site, but rumour was that an Army base was in that area and that got us thinking that what we found were remains of the camp.

It was later established that this was Hackland Camp, home to the 9th Batalion South Lancashire Regiment, and so William Shearer ordered the camp diary for the date of the accident, it would appear we had indeed found just the camp remains, but an entry in the diary stated that the Seafire had crashed near to the camp area and that wireless equipment and other misc parts from the aircraft had been salvaged.

Above:  The crash site in the centre shows up as a bright green grassy area.  Photo: Kevin Heath. 

So armed with this new knowledge along with fresh information from another witness Ivy Ballantyne of Sunnybrae Farm,  a new search was conducted  on 27 July 2009 by Kevin Heath and William Shearer and this time one small piece of  stainless steel was found on the surface of the field in a disturbed area, this piece fortunately contained a set of numbers confirming the aircraft type and with further detector readings and what were almost certain to be the two 20mm Hispano canon protuding out of the ground,at last the aircraft had been found and an MoD licence could be applied for, though due to the aircraft being on an exercise over a bombing range which was actually out to sea, this took a year to obtain.   

 

 Above:   Stainless steel part bearing the `300` part prefix for Spitfire.  Photo: Kevin Heath.

Mini Geo survey of the Seafire in a field near Rendall & below in 3D

The Dig.  23/24 July 2010

Trenches 2 & 3 showing (A) the port side 20mm Hispano cannon, (B) the starboard Hispano cannon, (C) the top of the engine casing and (D) the internal parts of the engine with three of the twelve cylinders.

(L.Heath)

Magnus Ritch & Dave Earl cleaning items 

 (L.Heath)

Merlin Engine

(L.Heath)

Dave Earl looking at the shattered remains of the wooden propellor.

 (L.Heath)

William Shearer observing trench (2) being dug while standing next to the Hispano cannon

(L.Heath)

Magnus Ritch, David Earl Kevin Heath and William Shearer, with one of the 20mm Hispano cannon

From the dig the team was able to establish that the aircraft crashed 30deg beyond the vertical. Most of the wreckage from behind the fuel tank which is located just forward of the cockpit appears to be missing and was most likely taken away by the recovery team in 1943. The main items of interest recovered were the two Hispano cannon, the shattered remains of the aircrafts Merlin engine, the aircrafts compass & the pitot tube, a speed indicator located under the port wing. It was to position of this find, together with the angle of the cannon which told us the way the aircraft crashed.

                    

 

 Mk VIIIC Pitot tube                   

                  

 

  A video showing the use of camera guns in Spitfires can be found on our Video Page and in an article in `The Orcadian` on our Media Page via ARGOS News. 

 

Click on the player below to hear the RADIO ORKNEY interview with William Shearer regarding the excavation of this aircraft, recorded on the morning of first day of the dig Friday 23rd July 2010.

 

More photos and information on the excavation can be found on the ARGOS Media page, find this in the drop down menu from ARGOS News.

 

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