Liberator II AL504 Commando, which disappeared on 27 March 1945. The picture shows the aircraft in its later single-fin and rudder configuration and lack of camouflage paint
January 1943. AL504 Commando, VIP taxying at Lyneham, Wiltshire, with Winston Churchill on board returning from Casablanca
Background
Volunteer pilot
William Vanderkloot, a US citizen serving with
RAF Ferry Command since June 1941, delivered a specially modified long-range
Consolidated Liberator II in July 1942. Vanderkloot was ordered to RAF headquarters, where he was asked by Sir
Charles Portal,
Chief of the Air Staff, if there was a safe, direct route from
England to
Cairo, by air in the Liberator which he had just delivered to
Prestwick Airport. Vanderkloot informed Portal that the flight was possible with one stop in
Gibraltar. Initially heading eastwards from Gibraltar, staying over the sea in the afternoon, and then turning sharply south after dusk, flying over
Spanish and
Vichy French territory in Africa in darkness, before turning east again for the
Nile, approaching Cairo from the south. Thus the danger from land-based enemy aircraft in North Africa and
Sicily would be largely avoided without having to fly halfway around Africa.
The Prime Minister, Winston Churchill in RAF uniform, accompanied by Air Chief Marshal Sir
Charles Portal, Chief of the Air Staff, leaving Commando at
RAF Lyneham,
Wiltshire, on their return from the
Casablanca Conference. The picture shows Commando in its initial dark earth and dark green with night black undersides standard
RAF Bomber Command night bomber colour scheme in which it was delivered from the factory.
Portal told Vanderkloot to "stay handy to the telephone". The next day Vanderkloot was taken to
Winston Churchill's office,
No.10 Downing Street. Churchill, clad in robe and slippers, offered him a drink, beginning a relationship that had Vanderkloot flying the Prime Minister on sensitive diplomatic trips across war-torn
Europe,
Russia,
North Africa and the
Middle-East.[1][2] "He took calculated risks," said his son, William III. "There was a lot more risk in flying back then. It was a frontier, and I think all the old pilots will say it, secretly to themselves, that they enjoyed being on their own. It was the wild blue yonder." As Churchill's pilot, Vanderkloot flew
Lord Mountbatten to England in June 1942, conveyed the Prime Minister and
Chief of the Imperial General StaffAlan Brooke to Egypt in August 1942 to replace
Claude Auchinleck commander of the British Army in North Africa with
Bernard Montgomery and also took Churchill to high-level talks in Moscow with Joseph Stalin, to Turkey to determine that country's wartime intentions, and to the Casablanca Conference in 1943.[3][4]
interior of AL504 Commando
On delivery Commando had a regular Liberator nose and tail configuration despite the internal modifications but was later converted to have a covered nose and also the same single tail fin used on the
Consolidated PB4Y-2. The
VIP ("Very Important Person[s]") interior had comfortable seating, an electric galley and even a bed, installed for Churchill.[5][6]
After the second extended trip,[2] Churchill never again flew in Commando, instead switching to Ascalon, an Avro York (a transport aircraft based on the
Lancaster bomber, with a larger fuselage) with an all-British crew. Vanderkloot and his mixed US/Canadian civilian crew were all recommended for British awards for their service, he and one other receiving honorary
OBEs.[7]
Interior of AL504 Commando
In September 1943 Liberator AL504 was withdrawn from VIP service and flown to a
Tucson, ArizonaUSAAF base, where it underwent major modifications and emerged as a one-off transport, lengthened by seven feet, with single tail fin, extended fuselage, and upgraded engines. AL504 flew again in March 1944 as the trial version of the
US Navy’s
Consolidated RY Liberator Express transport.[8] Vanderkloot and the crew continued to fly it for a time, one crew member's last logbook entry for AL504 is 24 November 1944.[4]
Commando had served as Churchill's official aircraft during a critical period and later in the war was also used on occasion by other VIP's for their business in connection with the war effort. She also served with
No. 45 Group Communications Flight (45 Gp Comms Flt), based at Dorval, near Montreal.[9] It was well maintained and proved extremely reliable and had been flown from
Montreal to
Sydney, Australia, on 5 November 1944 by
Air Commodore C J Powell CBE,
RAF (Senior Air Staff Officer)
RAF Transport Command.[10]
Commando was the second of 139 VLR (Very Long Range) Liberator II aircraft delivered to the RAF mostly to be used by
RAF Coastal Command on maritime patrol duty and anti-submarine warfare, escorting the supply convoys of merchant vessels and attacking and sinking German
U-boats.
Flown by
Wing Commander William Biddell OBE DFC, the aircraft took off from
RAF Northolt at 23:00 hours GMT on Monday 26 March 1945 to fly to
Ottawa,
Canada, with a refueling stop at
Lajes Field in the
Azores.
Routine contact was established between the aircraft and its base at 05:22 hours GMT in the morning with the flight proceeding as scheduled.
The flight was proceeding routinely when the last contact was made with
RAF Transport Command at
RAF Prestwick at 07:16 hours GMT on the morning of 27 March 1945 in position 40°30'N 20°17'W by civilian Radio Officer Frederick Williams aboard the aircraft, to advise an estimated time of arrival of 08:10 hours at
Lajes Field. There were no further signals.
Loss and searches
When Commando failed to arrive at
Lajes Field, emergency calls were made by radio and air-sea searches initiated once the aircraft was classified as overdue.
RAF Coastal Command, assisted by the
Royal Navy, commenced a series of searches which were described by
Prime MinisterWinston Churchill in his announcement in the
House of Commons on 28 March 1945.
Close to the flight path which Commando would have been following over the ocean in towards
Lajes Field, aircrew of the searching
RAF Coastal Command aircraft spotted some yellow dinghies, a small amount of wreckage and an oil patch on the surface. It was 150–200 mi (130–170 nmi; 240–320 km) north-west of the Azores; there were no traces of any survivors.[11] Little could be done and it was considered probable that Commando had crashed at sea while approaching the Azores.[12]
Possible causes
Radio or radio navigational aid failure was not considered an issue as the aircraft was flying in daylight and the Azores would probably have been located without difficulty.
Engine failure was considered. The No. 2 engine had been changed during maintenance on 15 November 1944 and had 517 flying hours, the other three engines had each accumulated 466 flying hours and had been serviced on 16 November 1944. The aircraft carried its own
flight engineer. Its previous civilian flight engineer, John Affleck, testified at the court of enquiry and reported that mention was made in a radio signal of an oil leak in the No. 2 engine which he believed might have resulted in a fire beside a fuel tank.[4]
Fuel shortage was considered unlikely, excepting a catastrophic leak, as the aircraft carried considerably more than sufficient for its flight to the Azores.
Pilot error was considered unlikely as the aircraft was flown by a highly experienced
RAF Transport Command transatlantic pilot who had 635 flying hours on Liberators and 3,780 flying hours in total.
Navigational error was discounted as the traces of wreckage were found close to the expected flight path.
Structural failure was considered, but was not confirmed due to lack of evidence from crash debris.
Flight Lieutenant David Buchanan RCAF aged 29, a married man from
Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was a highly experienced Navigator with
RAF Ferry Command who had flown on many trans-atlantic flights.[22]
Mr. Frederick Walter Williams, a civilian, employed by RAF Transport Command aged 32 from
Gloucester,
Gloucestershire.[27]
Flight Engineer
Warrant Officer Douglas James Spence (RCAF) aged 33 from
Vancouver, a regular service
RCAF flight engineer with 17 years service who had flown the trans-atlantic route many times. He was posthumously commissioned.[28][29]
Flight Steward & Clerk
Mr. Victor Ian Claud James Bannister, a civilian employed by RAF Transport Command aged 29, a married man from London.[30][31]
Air Marshal Sir Peter Drummond
The VIPs
Commander Rupert Arnold Brabner DSO DSC
Royal Navy
Mr. Henry Albert Jones CMG MC Croix de Guerre with Palm
(Air Delegation (Washington) and United Kingdom Air Liaison Mission (Ottawa)) A 51-year-old married man from
Chingford.[45] Jones had served in
World War I with the
Wiltshire Regiment and as an observer with the
Royal Flying Corps being awarded a
Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry in France, and also a
Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 with Palm.[46][47][48] After military service he was Gazetted to the
Department of Overseas Trade as an "Intelligence Officer".[49] Jones was British government official air historian and author of 31 published works documenting the official story of the war in the air 1914–18.[50] He was seconded to the Cabinet Office in the 1930s and then to the Air Staff Secretariat in 1939, becoming Director of Public Relations (Air Ministry) in 1944.[51] He was appointed a Companion of the Most Distinguished
Order of St Michael and St George on 1 January 1943.[52][53]
(UK Air Liaison Mission) A 47-year-old married man resident in
Chelsea, London, and
Rumson, New Jersey,[58] a US citizen working with the United Kingdom Air Liaison Mission. Gaddis Plum joined the
RAFVR and was commissioned on 1 June 1940 as a
Pilot Officer in the "Equipment Branch",[59] he was promoted Flight Lieutenant on 11 June 1943 and acting
Squadron Leader[60]
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^Lake, Alan (1999). Flying Units of the RAF. Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing.
ISBN978-1-84037-086-7.
^Livingstone, Bob (1998). Under the Southern Cross : the B-24 Liberator in the South Pacific (Limited ed.). Paducah, KY: Turner Pub. p. 122.
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^"Mr John Bradley Abraham, CB". gettyimages.co.uk. No.CH.4705 (Air Ministry Photograph – Crown Copyright Reserved). Archived from
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