Handley-Page Halifax LK704, 518 Squadron, Donegal 1944

On the 23rd of January 1944, eight young airmen took off on an early morning flight out over the Atlantic Ocean to undertake a Meteorological reconnaisance mission. Twelve and a half hours later, the flight would end on the sea cliffs near Bundoran in County Donegal, Ireland.

The Irish Army Archives in Dublin hold a file on the aftermath of the crash. These contain reports from the locally stationed members of the Irish Army who were required to attend the crash site and report back to headquarters in Dublin. The nearest Army post was the base at Finner Camp only about two miles away. These describe how two ladies out walking were startled by the appearance of a low flying aircraft that afternoon. The description indicates that the aircraft passed low over the coast at this point, turned and flew back out to sea. It turned again and flew back towards the coast this time smashing into the cliffs at about 18:40 hrs.

The crew onboard this aircraft, a large Handley Page Halifax Mark V, powered by four Rolls Royce Merlin engines were eight men from England and Canada. They were serving with the Royal Air Force's 518 Squadron based at Tiree in Scotland. 518 Squadron was one of the hard working Meteorological reconnaisance units tasked with flying out over the Atlantic to take weather readings to aid the Allied war effort. This particular mission was codenamed MERCER, a regular flight involving a triangular pattern flight out over the Atlantic, turning twice and returning to Tiree. Peter Davies, avid researcher of RAF Meteorological operations plotted the basic map of a standard MERCER flight in the image at left. It was noted by researchers that the aircraft off track already on it last reported position only two hours after take off. This assumes it was a standard MERCER flight and that the old records are not in error. A standard MERCER flight woudl take between 9 and 10 hours but there is no mention in the reports of any concern about the aircraft being late returning. Meteorological records available record that the air was extremely unstable on 23 January with thunderstorms and snow/sleet showers reported over coastal areas of Ireland and Scotland.

And who were these young men, the crew of Halifax LK704?

W/O Lloyd Joyce UPSHALL R/127754 + RCAF, 1st Pilot; Aged 24
Son of Neil McLean Upshall and Hilda May Joyce Upshall, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada		 F/O Clarence Loree SCOTT J/20119 + RCAF 2nd Pilot, Aged 21
Son of William Clarence and Sue Loree Scott, of Nanton, Alberta, Canada; husband of Mary Scott (nee Mitchell).		 F/O Norman Glyn GZOWSKI J/25335 + RCAF, Navigator, Aged 24
Son of Norman G. and Marguerite Gzowski, of Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.		 F/O Vladimir ADAMIC J/25181 + RCAF, Wireless Operator/Air Gunner (WOp/AG), Aged 27
Son of Paul S. Adamic and Christina Adamic, of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Seeking a photo Seeking a photo
F/O Frederick Edward DAWSON J/25182 + RCAF , Wireless Operator/Air Gunner; Aged 19
Son of Charles Edward and Alyce Brock Dawson; husband of Marion Aileen Dawson, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada		 W/O Frank ASH 1375269 +, Wireless Operator/Air Gunner (WOp/AG), Aged 28
Son of Arthur and Agnes Ash, of Streatham, London.		 Sgt Frederick Lewarne Eric HUSSEY 1800648 +, Flight Engineer; Aged 20
Son of Frederick Guy and Dorothy Kathleen Hussey, of St. Albans, Hertfordshire.		 Sgt Donald Parr HEWITSON 1867399 +, Meteorological Observer, Aged 19
Son of Charles Frederick and Elsie Catherine Hewitson, of Sutton Coldfield.

The bodies of only six of the men were recovered after the crash. The 2nd pilot F/O Scott and Navigator F/O Gzowski were never recovered and their names are engraved on the walls of the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey. The other three Canadians remains were recovered they are buried in the Irvinestown Church of Ireland Cemetery in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. They were buried there on January 27th, 1944. The youngest member of the crew, Hewitson, was returned to his native Sutton Coldfield and lies buried in Boldmere. Finally, Sgt Hussey and W/O Ash were laid to rest in the Miltary Cemetery at Brookwood, England.

Files found among the records of the five Canadians contain offical Air Force documents reporting the service's investigations and recommendations following the terrible crash. The outcome of the investigations were that no one person was blamed for the crash. Recomendations were however made regarding equipment whihc needed to be fitted to aircraft undertaking these missions. Indeed, we see in these reports that this was not the first time some of these issues were raised. The Group, Station and Coastal Command officers who sat on the enquiry were paticularly perturbed by the fact that a young non commishioned officer on only his first sortie with the unit should have been made Captain of the mission over an officer with more flying hours. The records show that W/O Upshall had more hours on the Halifax having been posted to 58 Squadron in July 1943. F/O Scott had more time overall on all aircraft types but less on the Halifax. The records state it was W/O Upshall's first operational sortie with the unit.

The bodies that were recovered were sent across the border in an RAF ambulance on January 24th. What remained of the aircraft that could be reached was salvaged by Army personnel on the 27th and 29th of January.

The memorial stone raised by the Adamic and Scott families with the aid of Breege McCusker and Joe O'Loughlan in 2002. Joe dedicates a full chapter of his book, "Voices of the Donegal Corridor", published in 2005 to his contact with relatives of the Adamic and Dawson families and the raising of the memorial stone pictured below. Joe can be found via his website, www.joeoloughlin.co.uk.

Sources Irish Army Archives Files, Cahal Brugha Barracks.; The RCAF Service files of Gzowski, Upshall, Adamic, Dawson and Scott, received from the Library and Archives Canada (LAC).; Voices of the Donegal Corridor, Joe O'Loughlin; Gzowski and Hussey families.; Mr D Champion for wonderful assistance in the Canadian LAC; Commonwealth War Graves Commishion database www.cwgc.org

Compiled by DENNIS BURKE from sources listed above, March 2012