WW2 WRECKAGE: FOUND AT LENGGONG, PERAK

Reprinted from The New Straits Times
Saturday, 5 February 2000

LENGGONG, Fri. 4 Feb 2000 - For villagers of Kampung Changkat Berangan, some 80km from Ipoh, the memories of the Second World War and atrocities committed by communist terrorists subsequently has never really faded from their mind.

The discovery of a World War II bomber wreckage a few kilometres away from the village has further ensured that the hardship faced during war times would be permanently imprinted in the village's history. The presence of the wreckage, buried amidst thick foliage atop Bukit Bintang Hijau, was a well guarded secret among village folks and this was the first time that the discovery was made known to the public. Villager Lokman Jaafar, 59, said the bomber, believed to be British made, could have crashed while striking Japanese Imperial Army units in Kota Tempan Air.

Lokman showing a wing found lying several metres away from the wreckage of the bomber. Photo by kind courtesy of Sager Ahmad.    One of the two bombs found at the scene. Photo by kind courtesy of Sager Ahmad.

Lokman, and two other villagers, Abdul Rani Mohd Taib, 51, and Nordin Panjang Osman, 42, led Bemama to the scene recently, an expedition which took more than four hours from Changkat Berangan main road.

Engine of the crashed aircraft. Photo by kind courtesy of Shaharom Ahmad    View of the undercarriage of the aircraft. Photo by kind courtesy of Shaharom Ahmad

Lokman said the aircraft could have crashed about late in 1941 or 1942, when the British army was trying to stem the tide of General Yamashita's forces, which was making a sweep towards Singapore. He said there were writings in English on the bomber's body, including the mark "1941". Lokman, who had paid several visits to the scene while looking for rattan, said he found two bombs enveloped by thick rust near the wreckage. Lokman said the bomber could have crashed after being shot by Japanese anti-aircraft guns or the aircraft could have suffered technical failure. "Villagers also do not know what happened to the crew, they could have died upon impact or captured by the Japanese," said Lokman who believed the bomber carried a crew of four.

He said the Japanese army was in control of Changkat Berangan at that time while Bukit Bintang Hijau was then a communist stronghold. "Maybe for these two reasons, the British Army was reluctant to conduct a rescue operation." Besides, a rescue party, if any had been sent, might not have known the exact location of the crashed plane and may have been put off by the dense jungle and steep slopes.

Part of the bomber's propeller blades lying admist thick foliage wwhere it went down. Photo by kind courtesy of Sager Ahmad.    Tailfin of the WW2 bomber believed to be British made lying atop Bukit Bintang Hijau. Photo by kind courtesy of Sager Ahmad.

A Bemama check at the scene found several parts of the bomber, like its propeller blades and engine, still intact despite being exposed to the weather for over 50 years. Several other parts were found scattered, some several hundred metres away from the wreckage or embedded in the ground, believed to have been caused by the crash impact. Another bomb, also about 0.5m in diameter, was found 10m away from the wreckage.

Meanwhile, Abdul Rani said several villagers believed not one, but two aircraft, actually crashed atop the hill. He said villagers had found parts of another aircraft, not far from the first wreckage. Abdul Rani said parts of the second wreckage were also found among the foliage of nearby trees which had been felled by villagers. However during the visit, there were no signs of the main body of the second wreckage. According to Nordin bullets and mortar shrapnel were embedded in many of the trees in the area making them commercially worthless.

"At one time, timber from here was sent to the sawmill ... and it damaged the chainsaw blades as the wood contained many bullets," he said. Meanwhile a spokesman for the Gerik Army Camp, when contacted, said the military had no knowledge of the wreckage's existence. - Bemama

Afternote

The British High Commission is keen to follow up on this find. Read all about it in this press cutting.

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