I wish to thank Marcia James for giving me this week's story. It is the story of Roland Dennis James Rees, 'Jimmy', born in Pembroke, December 19, 1906, who met his untimely death in a flying boat which crashed near Messina, Italy, February 15, 1935. The tragic tale was told to Marcia by Mr. and Mrs. Ken Rees from Gosport whilst visiting St. Mary's Church and I contacted them for permission to print it. The story is related in the words of Mrs. Diana Rees.

Roland Dennis

James Rees

"My husband Kenneth James Rees was named after two of his father's brothers: Kenneth after Kenneth Gordon and James after Uncle Jimmy. Ken's father's family mostly used their second or third names, and this practice is continuing with current family members. In the late 1980s, we holidayed in Malta and decided to visit Uncle Jimmy's grave in Bighe cemetery. After a long walk of several miles, in sweltering temperatures, we arrived at the cemetery to find the imposing gates locked, we had forgotten that everywhere shut down early afternoon for the siesta! The gates were not going to block us so I instigated a climb in, having to tuck my dress into my pants to assist my climb. We photographed Jimmy's grave and the graves of the crew of the flying boat that had crashed near Messina, Italy on February 15, 1935.

St. Mary's

Church

On a visit to Ken's family home in Pembroke during the mid-1990s, we visited St. Mary's Church in Pembroke and were shown the processional cross that was given in memory of Jimmy who, along with his six brothers, had been choristers at the church. On seeing the inscription, we saw that Uncle Jimmy's name was Roland Dennis James! It was news to us. We decided to find out a bit more about Jimmy and unearthed a saga that could have been a drama. Ken's sister had all the family facts and photos and produced a local Pembroke newspaper giving many details of the tragedy along with photos of the funeral in Malta.

Leaving

Pembroke Dock

Uncle Jimmy was the leading aircraftsman on RAF flying boat K3595, one of four flying boats flying 8,000 miles to Singapore. The planes left the RAF base in Pembroke Dock on their last mission and four of the crew were local lads and local ladies, including Uncle Jimmy's fiancée were from there. The pilot was Henry Longfield 'Pat' Beatty, half-brother of Admiral Beatty, and John H. C. Forbes was the co-pilot.

The plane called in at Naples for refuelling and, during an enforced 10 days stopover in Naples, the pilot and co-pilot became very friendly with Elizabeth (23) and Jane (20) Dubois, daughters of the American Consul in Naples. These two ladies were well-known in society. They accompanied the two airmen on outings, to dances and parties during their stay and, according to the pilot's mother, sentimental attachments were made.

The

crash

Shortly after take off from Naples, the plane crashed into a mountainside near Messina, killing all on board. In an impressive ceremony, the nine coffins containing the bodies of the crew were taken on gun carriages draped with the Union flag and drawn by the Italian army through lines of about 1,000 men of the British and Italian army, navy, air force and Italian Fascist militia, to the British cruiser HMS Durban. A salvo was fired from two Italian cruisers as HMS Durban sailed for Malta. Mussolini attended with the guard of honour. The cruiser sailed to Malta and the cortege was met by hundreds of people lining the dockside, sailors with reversed arms lined the deck and dockside. The crew were interred in Bighe cemetery with full service honours, on February 18. All the graves bore identical crosses.

Jimmy's mother received many telegrams and letters of condolence, including one from the King and another from Mussolini! The family had another loss as Jimmy's niece Clara was engaged to another member of the same crew.

A tragic aftermath

This would have been the end of this sad story, but the following could have been pure Hollywood! The story unfolded when exactly six days after the flying boat crash, two ladies bought all the seats on a light aircraft to travel to France on February 21, 1935. The plane a De Havilland DH84 code name Dragon G-ASEV took off from an Essex airport. The ladies asked the pilot to close the door to the cockpit, but later, running into turbulence, the pilot opened the door to inquire if all was well and he saw that the plane was empty. Two men in Essex saw what they thought were two parcels falling from a plane. On investigation, these 'parcels' turned out to be the two sisters Elizabeth and Jane Bu Bois, still holding hands face down in the mud, having committed suicide by jumping from the plane."

Pathe News

Mrs. Rees told me that, whilst making an internet search for a project, her daughter came across a Pathe News feature of the accident showing the crash site at Messina and the arrival of the coffins aboard HMS Durban at Malta, where hundreds of people lined the dockside. I had a look myself and found it on http://www.britishpathe.com/video/raf-flying-boat-disaster">www.britishpathe.com/video/raf-flying-boat-disaster. It is very moving and amazing that so many people thronged to pay their respects.

The Sunderland Trust

I contacted John Evans, of the Sunderland Trust, about this story and he had this to add: "The aircraft that Jimmy Rees was killed in was a Singapore Mark III four engined biplane flying boat of 210 Squadron, based at Pembroke Dock. At the time of the accident, this was a new aircraft in the RAF's inventory.  

"I wrote about the accident in my history of RAF 210 Squadron, 'Sopwiths to Sunderlands', published in 1999 (available from the Sunderland Trust's Flying Boat Centre, price £13.99). It was such an unexpected happening for peacetime Pembroke Dock and had a big impact on the RAF community here and the twin towns."

John was able to send me a photograph of the ill fated K3595 from the Sunderland Trust Archive and also another Singapore Mark III in front of one of the Pembroke Dock hangars c1935/6.

Contact

If you have any stories, photographs or feedback for this column, please contact me, Linda Asman, on 01646 622428, email [email protected]">[email protected] and visit our website http://www.pembrokeandmonkonhistory.org.uk">www.pembrokeandmonkonhistory.org.uk

Society events

Tonight on Friday, September 20, at 7.30 pm, we are holding our popular bimonthly quiz night at Monkton Church Hall. This is a fundraising event and the £3.50 ticket includes a buffet. Teas and coffees are served but bring your own bottle of wine if you wish.

Our local history coffee mornings recommence on Saturday morning (10.30-12.30) October 5, but there is a change to the published programme. Due to unforeseen circumstances the family history talk has had to be postponed to the following month and instead we will be going back in time to look at 'Before the camera: Pembrokeshire portrayed by artists of the 18th and early 19th centuries'.