Arthur - The murder of colonel Cyril Wild
Colonel Wild was the officer carrying the white flag at the surrender, After the war he became the chief British war crimes investigator, he was about to arrest Horohito against the wishes of MacArthur and was disposed of in the usual American manner.
The knowledge is there but proof is required
Ron - A detailed report on the Camps in Thailand is at Major Wild Report
Enclosed email as recieved:
That was an unusual message about Cyril Wild, is the source that sent it expressing an opinion, and are they to be trusted?
The reason I ask is that Americans read your pages, and I feel they may be less than impressed. MacArthur would have had cover his tracks very well if he was involved, but I get the feeling Hirohito would not have been made to stand trial by the British even if Wild had wanted him to, all that had been agreed between the powers that be before the war ended. Don't get me wrong, I have no love for General MacArthur due to his poor performance in the Phillippines, but he saw service in the trenches in the First World War, and served bravely. However the fact that he was relieved of command in Korea by President Truman, and the reason why speaks volumes about the man!
Curiosity on my part, nothing more.
Ron - If an accusation is made others should have the chance in open dabate to reply, that is why it is included as above, no other reason applies.
Arthur - I wonder if any of your members and associates would be able to assist in a long time project which I have been researching for some considerable time. the attached letters will be self explanatory. Any assist anyone can give would be appreciated.
All research has so far been authenticated
National Ex Services Association
CHAIRMAN ARTHUR LANE
61 CHARLES STREET STOCKPORT SK1 3JR
Tel 0161-480-0114. Fax 0161-477-2681 Mobile 07950 315 083
arthurlane@nesanews.freeserve.co.uk
web http:/nesanews.cjb.net
2nd June 2001.
Dear Bob
In answer to your letter re colonel Wild which I have only just received due to the postal strike in our area.
The whole scandal of the Far East is only just begining to emerge.
Regarding colonel Wild, I was only an ordinary soldier of twenty years when I met him. In the later years as a prisoner of war, I got to know a great deal about his work in the prisoner of war camps and his team of collators who recorded every detail concerning the mis-treatment of prisoners and also other matters relating to the prisoners themselves. Believe it or not there were some very nasty incidents which occured between the prisoners themselves.
Colonel Wild worked prior to the war as an English teacher in Japan. he became fluent in at least four Japanese dialects. He became useful to the British intelligence service and immediately before the outbreak of war was induced to join the British army with the immediate rank of major. In Singapore he was the main interpreter involved in the interrogation of Japanese service men taken prisoner,among other things.
He was the one who was responsible for reading the messages which were dropped by aircraft requesting general Percival to surrender
When General Percival had reached the decision to capitulate, he ordered the then major Wild to accompany him. The surrender party included Brigadiers and a general, Wild being the lowest ranker was instructed to carry the white flag. You will see on the newsreels Percival carrying the Union flag and Wild carrying the white flag. What the news reels did not show or record, was major Wild throwing the white flag down and saying to Percival “This is stupid,let’s go back” and Percival saying “I want none of this” meaning Wild’s remarks, on which major Wild threw the white flag down and hesitated. upon which a Japanese colonel who was acting as escort, picked up the white flag and marched on at the side of Wild and the others.
During our incarceration Wild and others set up an office for recording all information which might be of use. Included in the team was Padre Duckworth, who was a great friend of Wild, both having come from religious backgrounds and families.
Duckworth who was the padre for the 18th division was allowed by the Japanese to keep his clerical vestments. These he kept in a small attache case. Unknown to the Japanese the padre had two similar cases, one for the vestments and one in which to keep important notes and information. (Any prisoner found with writing material of any kind would be executed) I had joined the army as a boy bugler and had carried my bugle with me. I attended many funerals from being taken POW up to the end of the war. The Japanese allowed me to keep the bugle for this purpose and issued me with an arm band which stated that I was a musician to the dead, This allowed me to wander between various camps. In Thailand I was assgined to work during the building of the railway with Kaiyoki Tanaka and his assistant Hashimoto. two of the most evil men, both civilians. Working for them also allowed me certain privilages which allowed me more freedom than most.
After the war, major Wild held a small party in Rangoon at which he solemnly promised all those who had been part of his news gathering team, that he would persue to the ends of the earth those Japanese responsible for the ill treatment of Allied prisoners.
After only a brief leave he was assigned to the British team investigating Japanese war criminals. It was he who located the bodies of Z force the men responible for destroying the Japanese ships in Singapore who the Japanese executed by decapitation just prior to the end of the war. Wild had so much information that it was necessary for him to liaise with the Australian and New Zealand investigators.
He had also uncovered information which would lead to the arrest of the Emperor himself who was the founder of the Japanese unit 731 (Bacteriological experimentation unit0 which had been responsible for the mutilation and murder of so many Chinese and allied prisoners of war in the name of science colonel Wild was on the point of aresting Hirohito the Emperor just prior to receiving a message from MacArthurs office, directing him to proceed to Singapore.
Wild had only just touched down in Hong Kong when he got the message.
When he died, a close companion, captain James Godwin of the Royal New Zealand navy, who was also a war crimes investigator, went to colonel Wilds office in order to secure the information Wild had accumulated on the Emperor, unfortunately someone else had beat him to it. Very few of Wilds cases were ever recovered. The follwoing week saw captain Godwin being instructed to stop all further investigations. At this time I also received a letter informing me that the cases I was involved in would cost too much money and therefore the matters had been taken out of circulation. At the same time hundreds of Japanese being held pending trial for war crimes, were released and given varying sums of money to enable them to return to Japan.
kaiyoki Tanaka and Hashimoto escaped to the jungles of Malaya where they worked alongside the Chinese terrorist until 1992, when they were troo ill to continue without medical treatment. In 1979 and 1981, I had personally asked the British Embassy in Thaiand to investigate Tanaka and Hashimoto without success.
In 1949 I received a letter from the war office asking for details concerning my relationship with colonel Wild, the following is a copy of the letter which I sent .
Dear Colin,
Thank you very much for your “E” and interest in Colonel Wild, who was the most honest and Christian man I ever met.
Cyril Wild was the youngest of four sons, his father was and tree brothers were each men of the cloth, and each had his own parish. Cyril however became an English teacher after studying in Japan. Prior to Japans entry into the war he had been enlisted into the British forces while on leave in the UK. rising rapidly in promotion from Lt to major within several months. He spoke Japanese fluently in various dialects. He moved to Singapore in 1940 as an advisor and interpreter. And was responsible for translating most of the material comiong from Japan.
At the capitulation, he was ordered to accompany General Percival to act as interpreter. He was also the officer carrying the white flag which many people saw on their cinema screens. But what they did not see on the screens was major Wild, throwing the white flag down and shouting to Percival, “This is stupid and I want no part in it, let’s go back”. Nor did they show Percival shouting back and ordering Wild to pick the damned flag up. Wild refused and the flag was picked up and carried by a Japanese officer.
For his insubordination, Wild was given the job of administrator to the thousands of men being sent into Changi. This meant that Percival and his entourage were imprisoned comfortably in Formosa, while Wild became just another prisoner of war.
I first met him the day after arriving in Changi when with a couple of mates we went scavenging for food and other materials on Changi beach. We witnessed the Mass killings of hundreds of civilians, and when the Japs had vacated the scene, we extracted two wounded Chinese youths from among the bodies. We took tham back to the admin office and handed them opver to Wild, who immediately swore them into the British army for their own protection.
Wild remained in Singapore admin until April/May 1943, when the Japanese high command ordered that 1500 prisoners from Singapore should be sent to Thailand to assist in the railway project. Wild was placed in charge. They travelled from Singapore to the Thai border by train, taking seven days. From there they were force marched all the way to Niki Niki on the Burma border where they arrived in June 1943. En route they had lost twenty percent of the original 1500. by the end of August just five hundred remained alive, By November and the completion of the railway there were two hundred. Of these, six came home.
The Japanese officer responsible for most of their deaths was Captain Horoshi Abe.
After the war, Wild charged Horoshi with war crimes, His trial was about to commence when Wild was killed. In Wilds absence Horoshi received just ten years. When interviewed some time later Horoshi stated that had Wild lived to give evidence, he would most certainly have been hung.
Wild now a colonel, had collated enough information on the Emperor and several others in his close vicinity to enable him to bring cross war criminal charges. Being an honest man, he made MacArthur aware of his intentions. MacArthur and his co general, Willoughby gave Wild emphatic orders that he must not make any attempt to arrest the Emperor. One week later Wild met his death.
In 1992 when I was in the Far East conducting enquiries, I was put in touch with a Hong Kong Chinese man, who was a witness to the accident. In his statement which was copied down but never produced at the inquest, he stated that there was an explosion just prior to the plane commencing to turn.
There are a number of unanswered questions, why when there was three competent and qualified pilots on board the Dakota, each trained on such matters as turbulence, and when the occurrence of cross winds on this particular airdrome was a well known hazard. Was it not possible to correct the fault.
I could write a book about Wild , and his endeavours, but none of it would assist on my efforts to have the truth revealed that the American generals MacArthur and Willoughby were responsible for his death.
The story of Tsujii was told in the book by Ian Ward “The Killer They Called God”
Any information you can obtain would be appreciated.
Sincerely
Arthur Lane.
Arthur - >Ron
I have the original acident report concerning the so called accident. The pilot flying the plane had at least 200 hrs, and he was being assisted by a pilot with three times that amount of flying time. also on board were two other highly qualified pilots.
Re axmined by today's accident bureau I am informed that a novice pilot could have maneuvered the cross winds of less that 30 mph.
A further question is, Why was it that some time later, the remains of the RAF personell who died. were exhumed and re-interred in Hong Kong military cemetery, While Colonel Wilds were left in a Chinese civil cemetery.
There are many unanswered questions. like Why did the Japanese government return £3million pounds to the UK government in 1959/60
The money had previously been sent to Japan by the British government to buy medications for prisoners of war. Instead The money had been used by Japan to purchase war materials??
Tony - >Ron,
Could you tell me the date of the loss of that Dakota? I'd like to follow up from this end.
Ron - >Tony, I have asked Arthur will email it out when I have it.
Arthur is now a member of the Fepow group so you cane direct questions to him.
His answer about the crash is below.
Arthur - Colonel Wild died on the 25th September 1946 all occupants of the plane were killed when the plane stalled at 700 feet crashed and burst into flames. the only Dakota to have burst into flames after crashing during the whole of the second world war and since.
Peggy Seagrave - There is perhaps an interesting connection here in the way in which Wild died and what happened to KMT Intelligence Chief Tai Li -- who was also becoming a liability to certain factions in Chiang Kai-shek's circles and other cliques in the US government. Wild was not making himself very popular in pursuing
the war crimes investigations of Colonel Tsuji Masanobu according to James Mackay, BETRAYAL IN HIGH PLACES. For a take on high-altitude bombs, see Yu Maochun, OOS IN CHINA: PRELUDE TO COLD WAR, 1996. Yu describes the kind of altitude-bombs developed by US intelligence at this time, though he does not make any connection to the Wild plane accident there are pretty obvious parallels. Mackay, on the other hand, seems pretty sure that Wild was the target of an assassination plot.
Arthur Lane - >Peggy, I was one of the publishers of Mackey's books. Which although it contains some very factual meterial, it does not publish all of the forty odd files which captain John Godwin had managed to take out of Tokyo .
Re the reason for Wild's demise, This was due to his demands to Generals MacArthur and Willoughby that for justice to be seen to be done it would be necessary for him to arrest the emperor Hirohito. The Americans has called upon the British MOD to take Wild out of the situation. but they knew that Colonel Wild was a man of his word and that once he returned to Tokyo, he would make demands for Hirohito's arrest.
On the 24th September Wild was resting in Hong Kong his companion that night was Jack Edwards (Banzai you Bastards) he will confirm that Wild received a message telling him to fly to Singapore. Wild made enqiries ans was informed that there was no planes available the following day. He was later informed that a plane would be standing by the next morning
On board were five qualified aitmen four of whom were highly experienced pilots. also on board a number of local Chinese who had apparently hitched a ride.
After Wild's death , none of his paper work was found.I served with Colonel Wild and know for fact that he always duplicated his work. the duplicate work being placed in a seperate compartment from the original. No one has yet admitted to finding the originals let alone the duplicates.
Anne - What precisely does Mao say on the death of Tai Li and what sources does he quote ?
Arthur Lane - >Anne Ozorio, So sorry Anne I have no idea."
Stuart - >Arthur, Can I just check, do you mean NO other Dakotas caught fire after crashing? I'd have thought a fire on crashing was extremely high probability...
Arthur Lane - >Stuart, According to records, many Dakota plane's crached , apart from being shot down, none ever caught fire.
According to witnesses there was an explosion as the lane started to bank.
The plane set on fire before hitting the ground.
Tony - >Arthur/Ron, The history of Kai Tak doesn't add anything useful, simply stating that the Dakota fell into Kowloon Tong and that as a result passenger flights from then on were required to take off in a southerly direction.
Ian - those in the know feel that this 'accident' wasn't, and that Wild (on board) was in fact murdered by a bomb. Have you ever come across details that make this crash seem suspicious?
Arthur Lane - >Tony, The whole context of my argument is that Wild was given orders to fly down to Singapore. On the 24th September there were no planes available On the morning of the 25th the fatal Dakota was brought out of repair Hence the reason for four pilots, It is my opinion that a small bomb or inflamatory device was put on the plane. MacArthur was insane as was his cohort in the whole mess General Willoughby, who was a former German army officer?
Janet Uhr - >Tony: In his book on Wild,(1991) James Bradley has the Dakota taking off from Kai Tek at 09.39 25 September 1946;" the wreckage was found on the lower slopes ofa hill between Lion Rock and beacon Hill",(p.166); his grave is in Happy Valley Cemetery . Bradley himself was one of the eight who had
escaped from Sonkurai no 2 on 5 July 1943.
Arthur lane - >Janet Ure mentions Jim Bradley's book and history.
I can confirm that Jim arrived in Thailand with F and H Force from Singapore around July/Aug 1943. Wild was the British camp commander of Sankrai. Thus the interest .
Peggy - Anne/Arthur, We have guests here until tomorrow. I will give you full citations about what Wu says about the high-altitude bombs used to kill Tai Li. If I get overloaded with emails and don't get a message back to you -- please remind
me. I am VERY INTERESTED in what we are discussing.
Thank you and very best for 2003
Peggy - This is quoted from Maochun Yu (last name YU) OSS IN CHINA Yale University Press, 1996. When this book was published Yu was an assistant professor of history at the US NAVAL ACADEMY at Annapolis. Therefore, his revelations can be regarded as informed. Whether other people agree or not, is up to them to decide. I only present what I have read.
"Top OSS officials claim that Wild Bill Donovan's organization had much to do with Tai Li's death. Stanley Lovell, chief of OSS Research and Development and Donovan's 'scientific thug' in his revealing memoir OF SPIES AND STRATEGEMS, described a bomb of his own design called an anerometer, which could easily be attached to the tail of an airplane and would explode once the plane carrying the device rose five thousand feet above the ground. Lovell states that most of the anerometers were shipped into the China theater and that Tai Li's plane was blown up in the air by such a bomb. Edwin Putzell, Donovan'smost trusted aide and the OSS agent most knowledgeable -- second only to Donovan himself, perhaps -- about the innermost secrets of OSS, claimed that the agency was involved in Tai Li's
death." -- page 256.
The parallels of the description of the way in which Col. Wild's plane exploded and that of Stanley Lovell's explanation of the theory of such a bomb are interesting. To me the technical side of the history is important, but also important is what went up in flames with Wild in the way of historical evidence that I believe was part of an overall coverup between SCAP and other allied authorities to disguise and protect war criminals who had become American allies in the Cold War.
Best to everyone of FEPOW with wishes that 2003 brings us a measure of happiness, health
Stuart - >ArthurUmm, are all your facts correct Arthur. "German Army Officer?" Whatever his rights and wrongs, it seems Willoughby while born in Prussia moved to the US at the age of 18 (so did loads of other folks of course.....), and served on the AMERICAN side in WW1, and never the German then or later.
And I must confess that I am surprised to hear that Dakotas could crash with impunity to the aviator's nightmare, fire. Aviation fuel, sparks and hot metal rarely mix with such impunity.
Arthur Lane - >Peggy, Thank you very much for your information re air bomb. However as you remarked, the real reason for the murder of colonel Wild was not only to silence him, but also to destroy the evidence which he had accumulated.
I served with colonel Wild, then a major, and I know for fact that he always duplicated copies of any of his important work. In the POW camps the duplicate copies were carried by the padre Rev Noel Duckworth in a vestment attache case.The Americans must have done a good job, because none of Wilds investigation files were ever found.
I know for certain that one file related to the manner in which cholera was introduced to the northern camps around Thanabzayat. The medics had located cholera contaminated dead rats and chickens which had been dropped by planes This was one of Wilds main subjects
The information re MacArthur and Willoughby and various other similar items were part of the manuscript which I published on behalf of James Mackay, Betrayal In High Places" the information re Dakota's not exploding comes from information which came from the RAF accident investigation department set up at the time of the investigation.
Arthur Lane -
LANE PUBLISHERS
Arthur Lane Writer, researcher,publisher,editor NESA news.
61 Charles Street
Stockport
SK1 3JR
The following information was provided by Mr J Bamford, ex RAF accident investigator 1965-1980 in reply to information I had sent concerning the crash of the Dakota in which Colonel Wild lost his life.
Date October 2001
Dear Arthur,
Re your enquiry, I will try to make sense of it for you.
The accident involved a 110 Squadron Dakota Serial number KN414 , which was fitted with two Pratt Witney Wasp engines (Serial numbers given ) The ‘E’ indicates that the engines , similar to the rest of the air frame was damaged to category ‘E’ = Total write off.
The pilot Warrant Officer Christie was an experienced pilot with 489 hours flying time and 389 hours on Dakota’s The other pilot Warrant Officer Blackmore had 1,352 hours flying time including 427 on Dakota’s. In terms of experience they were not exacrly ‘novices’ . Blackmore was acting as screening captain and checking Christie out . This means that he Blackmore should have been monitering everything and ensuring that Christie followed the correct proceedures.
We can see that the accident happened just two minutes into the flight at 0931 hrs, after a take of on runway 31. Runway numbers indicate the direction of the runway in degrees, rounded up to the nearest degree and with the last digit above or below 5 dropped . For instance a bearing of 316 degrees would be designated runway 32, while a runway with a heading of 314 would be 31.
After take off it is claimed that the aircraft climbed to 700 or 800 feet then dropped out of control. It was claimed that this happened because the plane met turbulance from the foothills casued by a 20 to 30 degree cross wind of 15 to 25 knots as it became airborne.
It was also claimed that the pilot failed to realise the dangers of turbulance over the foot hills and crashed in stall. (Please note that a typhooon warning had been posted earlier in the morning which should have alerted the pilot)
(A stall is when an aircraft stops flying because of a lack of air flow over the wings)
The Comments at the bottom of the accident report second page, refers to form 417 which is an accident report.. and goes on.
The AOC agrees with the above and recommends that in future mett officers stress the dangers of turbulance on lightly loaded aircraft . KN414 was not lightly loaded as it had 19 people on board . The plane was designed to carry 21 passengers and we know that 5 of KN414’s load were crew. A dakota in passenger service would normally carry a crew of 3 so that would indicate that KN414 was carrying 16 passengers .
It is not possible to conceive how a cross wind could get the better of two expereinced pilots and the only topical explanation might be that the Dakota suffered an engine failure .
If the aircraft was in a climbing turn to port for instance , and it suddenly lost the port engine the power from the starboard engine would spin it into the ground . An explosion on one side or the other would have a similar effect. My suspicions are that a small explosive had been attached to one of the engines.
There is no recorded information concerning the state of the engines when recovered.
Peggy - This article sheds a good light on Willoughby and his Background.
There isn’t anything much more comprehensive.
Stuart - >Arthur. You aren't a pilot? Now I don't claim to be an expert, but this sounds not like a crosswind issue but of LEE CURLOVER. This, like Lee Wave, is a phenomenon which was ill understood at that time. The RAF lost quite a few bombers on takeoff from this during WW2.
Of course, the conspiracy theory could be right, but a wind blowing over hills creates what can be catastrophic turbulence in its lee, with powerful sink and sudden shifts in wind speed and direction. Pilots call it 'the clutching hand' and I know of more experienced pilots than these who have been forced into emergency landings by Lee Curlover. The fact that it was also crosswind would aggravate the situation for a heavily loaded aircraft which would be operating at this point at the extremes of its flight envelope. Stall/spin could easily result, but with a slight change in wind speed or direction the previous/subsequent aircraft may find completely benign conditions.
And a typhoon warning could just confuse the pilot, who might be distracted from more immediate issues.
What is the evidence re explosion Arthur?
David - Some information re-Captain Noel Duckworth.
He was Chaplain to 2nd Battalion Cambridgeshire Regiment, he stayed behind after the withdrawal from Batu Pahat, to care for the sick and wounded. I have written about this on The FEPOW Web-Site - Cambridgeshires.
I must say I have never heard of his involvement with Colonel Wild. My father never spoke of anyone, or anything of his "War", but he often spoke of Captain Duckworth. His grand Niece is, or was a member of this list, I will contact her to see if she can enlighten us.
Happy New Year Everyone.
Arthur Lane - >David, I knew Noal Duckworth as well as any other POW, I also knew that the Japanese allowed the padre to carry what is known as a vestment case containing his clerical garb and chattels. Noel had two such cases, One contained his vestments and the other contained Major Wilds working documents. Anything which was important but which was to be kept from the eyes of the Japanese, was kept in vestment number 2. Noel was always called John Duckworth never Noel by any of the fepows. He along with several of us, I was abe to wander through the jungle from camp to camp carrying an arm band which described me as a musician to the dead. I was a bugler and sounded the last post at more then 3000 funerals. Anything and everything which concerned prisoners of war was passed via this type of chain to major Wild who kept a dossier. When Jim Bradley and the others escaped it was Wild and Duckworth who provided cover for them for ten days.
I knew them both.
Anne - anne.ozorio@ntlworld.com
"The medics had located cholera contaminated dead rats and chickens which had been dropped by planes This was one of Wilds main subjects"
Wouldn't it have been easier and less dangerous for the Japanese to just leave dead rats around in the normal way ? A rat, dropped from an aircraft, might not be intact by the time it hit the ground. Easier way to achieve the purpose might just be to drop a can of bugs in the water supply. If this was one of Wild's "main subjects"...
Arthur Lane - >Anne, The Rats and Chickens were already dead when injected with the cholera virus. Read the history of Force 731 the Japanese germ warfare biological division.
Arthur Lane - My knowledge about aircraft could be published on a penny stamp, but my experience regarding the dirty tricks played by our American cousins is another matter. The typhoon note I would have thought would have prepared experienced pilots to be aware The plane wasnot overloaded with just sixteen passengers with a maximum load of 21. Had you known the thouroughness of colonel Wild, you would also know that he always left a duplicate of all his work placed in a safe place. Why has none of his reports apart from the one on captain Abe Horishi never been found. As I remarked, I knew Wild and I know he would never depart leaving a mystery.
He was too thourough.
Arthur - >David, Sorry for delay, The NESA web site you have been viewing is now m inus a web master, John Weedon who was also the designer pased on last Tuesday, so we are now looking for someone to take over.
Regarding my books, I dont have anything to do with the sales, most of them have been sent on to distributors . The two books you mentioned are out of print and I will be reproducing them this year. I would suggest you borrow them from the library.
I am afraid I never knowingly met your dad, but is more than probable that we at some time worked together. I was a loaned out maching gunner at Batu Pahat assisting the Leicesters who were part of the British battalion coming down from Segamat. I knew one or two of the Cambs lads . When they arrived in Singapore I was given the task of trying to acclimatise them with the Island. One man in particular I knew.was Lt Darley, I met him at Batu and later when stepped between me and a very irate Japanese engineer at Chungkai Poor Darley died of Quinzies in 1943.
Duckworth I met when I was with a party going up to Three Pagoda and stopped at Thanbazayat. It is a pity that the Government and many of the POWs never knew the risks he took on their behalf. He became the bag man for colonel Wild
I must admit though thet the padre could be a little overwhelming when it came to his religion. I met him on occasions in the cemetery whenever their was a funeral. I was one of only three who carried their bugle and attended funerals. If that's what they can be called.
The evidence which your father gave to the war crimes Tribunal was a waste of time. I prepared eleven pages of evidence and was told afterwards that it would be too costly for me to attend. and the slugs I was giving evidence against walked free.
Such is life.
David - >Arthur, I have been trying to find his evidence, to no avail - NO wonder!
Sorry to hear of the demise of your Web Master, please pass on my condolences.
Please put my name on the first two books off the print run.
I would like to say, you have added a new dimension to this list, I for one, look forward to your input!
Arthur - >Thanks David I hope to be able to put at least a further 99% into it.
Ralph - >There is a very recent Australian Publication "The Bridge at Parit Sulong" by Lynette Silver which deals with the massacre of Australian troops in Malaya.
Meticulously researched it also covers the Australian war Crimes trials and the investigations. Colonel Wild receives considerable acclaim and what a tragedy to die in those circumstances.
On the subject of the loss of the C47 I can offer a few comments. As an ex C47 driver with considerable experience I must comment that the Pilots were experienced for the times but still limited in their overall experience. The C47 is a very forgiving aircraft and unless it is very badly handled will respond properly to recovery action. I do not think that crosswinds at Hongkong would be of significance once in the air ... on the ground they can be. (The C47 manual gives a limit of 17 kts crosswind for T/O and Landing). I do not know the weight the C47 was at but they were often loaded to 28000 lbs which is pretty high. You can still control the aircraft at this weight but single engine wojld be interesting to say the least. (Civil C47/DC3 aircraft had a max. weight of 26900 lbs). If an engine was lost prompt feathering and other drills should have kept them in the air. It sounds like a stall to me and may have been associated with engine failure ... if not a failure then it was very poor flying indeed. High winds in the area should not have been a factor excepting if the Pilots had extreme turbulence and lost control which sounds a bit thin. If it was sabotage then that is altogether different.
The Accident Report details look a bit sketchy to me but it was a time when the RAF were still losing a lot of aircraft and perhaps the investigators may not have had the time to consider all the factors.
A very sad end for such a brilliant man. Regards
