DAKOTA: FOUND AT SERENDAH, SELANGOR
On Saturday 25 August, 2001 wreck-hunting enthusiasts, Sager Ahmad and Shaharom went into the jungles in Serendah, some 50km north of Kuala Lumpur, to look up a recent Dakota wreck found by the aborigines. Here are some photos taken at the site:
Here is the story about this ill-fated "Gooney Bird" as researched by Shaharom.
- Construction number : 16569 / 33317
- Delivered to USAAF as C-47B-35-DK 44-76985, May 24th, 1945
- Lend-Lease to RAF ( via Montreal ) as Dakota IV KN633, May 29th, 1945
- Assigned to Air Command South East Asia, June 18th, 1945 -- 52 Sqn, 353 Sqn, 48 Sqn, 110 Sqn
- Was assigned to 110 Sqn, based at Kuala Lumpur, when it crashed after hitting trees during a SAR mission, 6 miles east of Rawang, Selangor, Malaya, November 12th, 1948
Apparently, the DC-3 crashed after colliding with a Spitfire. From Shaharom's research, the following officers died on November 12, 1948. Flt Lt P.G. Ballard, Sqn Ldr D.K. Hayes, F/O P.M. Sketch, were reported to have died due to collision between Dakota and Spitfire. We are not sure which of them were Dakota or Spitfire pilots. However, the ADA of the British High Commission here, when consulted e-mailed the following message
| I have confirmation of the names of those killed on that date. Signalman II N. Tyson RAF, F. White (Nav) RAF and Major R. Q. Gaitley (Kings Regiment) all died on the same day. I wonder if they all died together in same crash. They have in common that they were killed on the same day and have no known grave. There are many more Airmen who died with no known grave (that I know of), but I suspect their remains lie somewhere in the Malaysian jungle. How recent is the Serendah find and were there any graves/remains nearby? |
We hope to visit the site again for major recoveries. The Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp R-1830-92 are worth digging up to be restored. The RMAF Museum would be interested to put this on display.
These two engines can be restored for static display since the engines still got their cowlings and undercarriage...
