The Catalina in Finisterre

The transatlantic crossings by RAF Flight Sergeant Alan Rodgers in World War II were nothing like oceanic travel today.  In a comfortable seat in a fast jet these days we can cross this ocean in 7-9 hours.

Alan Rodgers was a member of RAF Ferry Command.  He made 10 transatlantic crossings for the service during the war. West-bound they would either be by ship or air, the latter probably in an unpressurized Liberator or Lancaster bomber, wrapped for warmth against the freezing cold.  East-bound he was flying in a Consolidated PBY ‘Catalina’ flying-boat from Elizabeth City, North Carolina first to Bermuda then on the much longer leg to Scotland. 

 

 

An RAF crew in front of a PBY Catalina of No. 210 Squadron (Wikicommons).  Note the window in the nacelle area between the wing and main fuselage, the position of the Flight Engineer.

Alan was a flight engineer.  His position in the PBY was high in the nacelle between the long overhead wing and the main body of the aircraft (see photo), nursing the pair of Pratt & Whitney engines crucial for their survival, for they were on their own.  The Bermuda-Scotland flights took 25-30 hours, sometimes longer.  After departure until close to arrival the crew relied on celestial navigation and dead reckoning for their whereabouts.

It is hard to comprehend these trips – waiting daily for a favorable weather forecast to begin the journey, re-checking aircraft and equipment and, finally, taking-off from Bermuda overloaded with fuel and little else, with the prospect of a day or more en route.  Despite being a military aircraft in wartime to reduce weight they carried no armaments.  They flew at times just above the waves, seeking warmer air to de-ice or they climbed to a ceiling altitude of around 15,000 feet, trying to pass over any bad weather.

Nearly 500 PBY Catalinas were delivered across the Atlantic during World War II for Allied service, mainly by this Bermuda route.  Most arrived safely.  FP138 was one that did not make it, and it was Alan’s fifth trip. 23 hours after take-off they received a radio instruction to divert to Plymouth as their original destination on the Scottish coast, Largs, had weather problems.  However three hours later for some reason they were off the coast of France running short of fuel. To avoid an ocean ditching Captain Eddie Stafford headed for an inlet, Aber Wrac’h, on the coast of Finisterre.  There they were met by German anti-aircraft fire and, after heading along the coast, the aircraft was brought down by fighter aircraft.  Luftwaffe Pilot W. Ebert claimed the ‘kill’.

Three of the crew including Stafford managed to swim to a nearby rock and were later rescued by Breton fishermen, becoming prisoners-of-war.  Rodgers and two other crew members, Harry Abrin, the First Officer, and George Browne, the Radio Operator, did not make it.  The plane sank and their bodies subsequently washed ashore.

Alan Rodgers was first buried at Kerlouan cemetery.  In 1980 on its closure he was moved to the St. Charles de Percy War Cemetery near Caen in Normandy.  A native of St. Bees in Cumbria, he died on 7 April 1943, one month after his 21^st birthday.

George Browne is buried at the Plouguerneau Communal Cemetery in a section with other Allied casualties. Harry Abrin is buried in Bayeux War Cemetery. 

More detail about Alan Rodgers can be found at the section of the St. Bees village website dealing with its war memorial, with additional information provided by his nephew, Michael Rodgers.