On 16th February 1932, N240, the unique Saunders-Roe A.7 Severn flying boat arrived at RAF Mount Batten for service trials with No 209 (Flying Boat) Squadron. It had made its maiden flight at East Cowes, Isle of Wight in 1930. In 1931, when at the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at RAF Felixstowe, it had made a long-distance flight to Port Sudan and back, a distance of 8320 miles, in 12 days. On the homeward voyage, it flew non-stop the 1230 miles from Gibraltar to Plymouth, making the last two hours of that stage with one engine out of action.
The Times’ Aeronautical Correspondent described the Severn:
A biplane with a span of 88 feet and a duralumin hull 61 feet long. Three Bristol Jupiter (485 hp) engines are mounted immediately below the upper wing. From the lower wing, much smaller in span than the upper, giving the aircraft a sesquiplane configuration. A big wing float is suspended on either side. The boat is designed for reconnaissance and coastal patrol duties and has been submitted to the Air Ministry as a possible intermediate type between the twin-engined Supermarine Southampton and the three-engined Blackburn Iris of heavier design.
A few months after joining 209 Squadron, it set off in company with Blackburn Iris V, S1253, to take part in the AOC’s Cruise of Inspection of West Coast flying boat anchorages. The plan was to visit RAF Felixstowe, Port Edgar on the Firth of Forth, Oban, Lough Neagh, Stranraer and Holyhead.
The Iris, S1253, had visited Northern Ireland on a previous occasion, in May 1930, alighting at Donaghadee on the Ards Peninsula and at Cultra in Belfast Lough.
Very bad weather was encountered during the course of the trip. On July 13th 1932, N240 took off from Tarbet on Loch Lomond, possibly for Lough Neagh, en-route to RAF Wig Bay near Stranraer. Eight officers and men were on board, the normal crew of five plus three maintainers. It developed engine trouble, forcing the crew to make an emergency landing on heavy seas off The Maidens near the mouth of Larne Lough. The Maidens lighthouses, dated from 1829. Lighthouses were built on both rocky outcrops; the West Maiden was abandoned in 1903 and the East Maiden was automated in 1977.
Two of the eight men took to the aircraft’s dinghy, but it broke away before the others could join them.
The Belfast Weekly Telegraph covered the dramatic events in some depth:
Wireless played an important part in making plans for the rescue of the crew. The new Donaghadee lifeboat [Civil Service No 5 (ON 753) a 45ft 6in Watson-class], the modern LMS Larne-Stranraer steamer, TS Princess Margaret, which was on a cruise round Rathlin Island, the patrol vessel HMS Spey and a ferry boat from Larne rushed to the scene.
The Greek steamer Nicos, which was on a passage from Londonderry to Cardiff, was the first to arrive and picked up six crew members from the rapidly sinking flying boat. They were: Flight Lieutenant DC Prance, Flight Lieutenant GE Nicholetts AFC, Flying Officer GIL Saye, Flight Sergeant Howse, Corporal Jones and Aircraftman Warren. Saye had been with the Squadron since it was reformed in January 1930, joined by Prance in July and followed by Nicholetts and Howse in 1931.
On the following day it was reported in The Times:
The others, a corporal and a leading aircraftman, got away in a collapsible rubber dinghy and landed at Ballygally Head, a distance of about five miles from the scene of the accident.
The Belfast Weekly Telegraph interviewed the two men, Corporal W Lawry and Aircraftman A Goode:
In a very calm, matter-of-fact fashion, the airmen spoke of their experiences. Lightly, almost casually, they mentioned that they had drifted in their small, collapsible boat for about five and a half hours. It might have been of a pleasure cruise that these two fine specimens of young manhood were talking. But a glimpse from the cheery fireside [of Ballygally Castle] to the rough seas of Ballygally Bay and the rather terrifying line of breakers at the mouth of the bay effectively dispelled any illusion that might have been entertained by the listener as to the absence of danger. Five and a half hours at the mercy of a raging sea and without any means of directing the frail craft must have been a nerve-wracking experience. It says much for the stuff of which the men are made that their first thoughts on landing were as to the fate of their companions and the news conveyed to them by our representative, that they had been picked up by a steamer, was received with gladness.
In the course of a chat, it was ascertained that all went well until The Maidens, when engine trouble developed. The aircraft was flying low but an enforced landing with a raging sea is difficult and dangerous. Though handled as expertly as possible, the nose of the flying boat buckled on striking the water and it became evident that it would soon sink.
The two airmen were working at the collapsible boat at the tail and almost as it was launched, it drifted away.
The occupants with two short paddles tried to regain the aircraft but failed and, after a time, their energies were directed to keeping their own flimsy craft afloat. In the distance, for visibility was poor, a lighthouse at the Maidens seemed to them to be a warship. After a time, they saw what they believed to be a steamer circling around where the flying boat had come down and hoped that its arrival was in time to rescue their companions.
Hoisting a makeshift sail with a spare paddle, Lawry and Goode drifted on for what seemed to be an interminable time, and occasionally bailed out their boat with a shoe, until at last, believing and hoping that they were near land, they came to a line of breakers at the entrance to Ballygally Bay. Partially capsized and submerged, they were caught in the turmoil but in a short time after, willing and capable hands brought them to safety.
Aldergrove Airport was communicated with and the Larne police soon arrived on the scene. The hospitality of Mrs Agnes Moore of Ballygally Castle put an end to all their immediate troubles. When the news arrived that their companions had also been rescued, the cup of rejoicing was full. They were billeted at Ballygally Castle for the night.
The article was illustrated by three photographs of the Donaghadee lifeboat returning to harbour, the remains of the collapsible boat, which was swamped 50 yards from the shore and of the two airmen enjoying a cup of tea with Mrs Moore.
The Times of 16th July reported on the outcome for the other six crew members:
The Nicos arrived at Barry Docks yesterday about midnight with the six officers and men of the RAF flying boat which sank off the coast of County Antrim on Wednesday. Most of them suffered from minor cuts and bruises, and three were removed to the Barry Accident Hospital for attention. Flight Lieutenant Prance said that the flying boat had actually sunk beneath them five minutes before the Nicos’s boat reached them. He rather despaired of the fate of Saye, Howse, Jones, and Warren, as they had been washed off the tail of the boat some time before, and were clinging to a lifebelt and a portion of a cushion. Captain A Costarpulos, master of the Nicos, said when he first sighted the wrecked flying boat seven miles away, he thought it was a fishing smack, but on getting closer he could see what proved to be the wings and propellers with two men perched on the wreckage. A boat was immediately prepared and launched in charge of the chief mate, and when they were yet 500 yards from the wrecked flying-boat they picked up four men, who were in the last stages of exhaustion.
So, what could have been a tragedy reached a much happier conclusion than had seemed likely when N240 impacted on the cold and turbulent waters of the North Channel. Two members of N240’s crew would subsequently attain air rank: Air Marshal Sir Gilbert Nicholetts KBE, CB, AFC and Air Vice Marshal Geoffrey Saye CB, OBE, AFC.
209 (FB) Squadron returned to Northern Ireland in August 1933, operating on Lough Neagh from Stranraer during its annual Bombing Practice Camp. No further A.7s were constructed, however Saro developed from it the more successful A.27 London which was in frontline service between 1936 and 1941.
209 Squadron was based for several months at Castle Archdale on Lower Lough Erne in Northern Ireland in 1941. The most famous occurrence of its time there came on Monday 26th May, when the Consolidated Catalina AH545/Z, captained by Flying Officer Denis Briggs, with co-pilot Ensign Leonard B ‘Tuck’ Smith of the US Navy, sighted the German battleship Bismarck, drawing down the pursuers to gain revenge for the destruction of HMS Hood.
Ballygally Castle, built in 1625 and one of the oldest inhabited houses in Ireland, became a hotel in the 1950s and remains so to this day.
The invaluable assistance of Frances James at Larne Library and Matt McRoberts of Hastings Hotels is gratefully acknowledged.
