One ‘Blighty Thank God’ episode highlights the Bristol Blenheim V plane – or as pilots dubbed it – the ‘Grisly Bisley’.
Through research into my late father’s (Flt/Sgt. Ron Chapman) 1943 war diary I learned how it earned its macabre reputation. I discovered at least 24 Bisley crashes in the Middle East 1942-44, most during 1943.
Even more damning was that the plane’s fatal flaws were well known by senior RAF leaders. One Wing Commander described the Bisley as “an appalling aircraft”. It “barely flew” because of Its extra weight, but no additional power.
Sadly, I discovered names of men who paid with their lives for its failings.
Two crew and a passenger in BA101 perished February, 1943 after port engine failure, causing a forced landing near Sharjah. The plane flipped over.
Pilot Flt/Sgt Anthony Williams, 29, of Derby (married) and navigator Flt/Sgt William Hubbard, 22, of Essex are buried at the Alamein Memorial in Egypt. First Lt. the Hon. Alan Balzano Hailey, 42, of London is commemorated at Brookwood Memorial in the UK.
In May, 1943 21-year-old Flt/Sgt William Symons of Hove, Sussex burned to death, trapped in BA 603 after its engine failed as it landed at RAF Masirah, Oman.
Then in July, 1943 the crew of BA 500 – pilot Flt/Sgt Don Nash, 22, of Basingstoke; navigator Flt/Sgt George Keir, 33, of Montrose; and wireless operator Flt/Sgt Montrose Sublet, 28, of Maylands, W. Australia – were killed when their plane grounded at RAF Masirah, bursting into flames.
The ‘Blighty Thank God’ podcast tells stories about WW2 and aviation and is available on Apple, Spotify and other podcast platforms.