At 11:25 hours nine Beaufighters of 272 Squadron took off to escort nine Beauforts of 39 Squadron on a shipping strike off Punto Stelo. At 11:38 hours Beaufighter T5174/N, with Sgt Donald Frazee RCAF, at the controls and Sgt Sandery as observer, began to vibrate violently and lost speed rapidly. There was no option but to ditch the aircraft and this was accomplished at 100 mph in a slight swell about 1,000 yards off Dragonara Point, Sliema. As all this took place close to shore, persons watching informed Fighter Control but Maltese dghajsas reached the crew some five minutes before HSL166 arrived on the spot. The aircrew was transferred to the launch.
Frazee reported:
“I took off and the aircraft responded normally to the controls, and I climbed to 1,500 feet turning left in search of two aircraft I was to formate on. I located them after one circuit; let down to 1,000 feet and the whole aircraft began to vibrate violently. My observer had reported smoke coming through his heating pipe shortly after take-off but since all my instruments were reading correctly, I saw no cause for alarm. As soon as the vibration started, I throttled the starboard engine right back and put the pitch control in fully coarse. This had no effect; in fact the vibration seemed to be increasing. I checked the port engine in a similar manner, but it did not help. Throttling back both engines was also ineffective. By this time the vibration had increased until I found it very difficult to see my instruments. My airspeed was approximately 130 mph, and the aircraft was losing height at three or four hundred feet a minute. At 600 feet I told Sandery we would have to ditch. I held a steady course and continued to work with the engines but was quite unable to hold the aircraft aloft.
I did not use ‘flap’ but held the aircraft fairly well into wind throttling back completely, shortly before the impact. We both had the top escape hatches unlatched a few seconds before ditching. There was a slight swell running and the aircraft hit the water at approximately 100 mph. I was thrown forward and struck the corner of my right eye and the right side of my jaw on the reflector sight. It was possible that I was knocked out momentarily. I remember a flood of water through the top hatch, releasing my safety harness and a slight tug as my intercom plug broke the socket. I kept my parachute on and experienced no difficulty in climbing out of the top hatch.
As I came out, I turned and saw my observer free of the aircraft. He had been strapped in but had not braced himself in any other way. Apart from a minor bruise on the forehead he was uninjured. By the time we had both floated free, the aircraft had disappeared. I would estimate the time afloat as fifteen seconds. We both found our Mae Wests entirely satisfactory. Mine was half inflated and it supported my weight complete with flying boots and parachute easily. Both of us then inflated our K-type dinghies without difficulty. We were both seated in our dinghies at about 11:55 hours. The wing dinghy had broken loose on impact but had not inflated. Within five minutes we were both picked up by Maltese dghajsas and five minutes after that the rescue launch arrived.”
The Beaufighter is still in situ and today is a popular and easily accessible wreck-dive.
NOTE: Today, in place is Maltese legislation protecting underwater cultural heritage.
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