Adrift over the desert
Somewhere above the Sahara, a nine-man bomber crew sought desperately to find their airfield before their fuel ran out. Their story has become one of the renowned tragic tales of World War II.

The wreck of “Lady Be Good” was found nearly 16 years after it disappeared and about 700km south of its intended destination.

Inset photo from USAF Museum archives

ON APRIL 4, 1943, First Lieutenant William Hatton and his eight-man crew joined 24 other crews for what would be their first – and last – combat mission.

The target was enemy airfields and harbour facilities at Naples, 1207km away across the Mediterranean. The 25 aircraft took off at 1.30pm.

They planned to hit the targets at about dusk and return to Sulûq by midnight. Despite flak damage and engine problems caused by the Libyan sand, all aircraft returned safely to base bar one – “Lady Be Good”, B-24 Liberator No. 64.

It was constructed in early 1943 and assigned to its crew in Florida in March that year.

Captain Hatton’s crew members were Second Lieutenants Robert Toner, David Hays and John Worakva, Technical Sergeants Harold Ripslinger and Robert Lamotte, and Staff Sergeants Guy Shelley, Vernon Moore and Samuel Adams.

A few days later the ship was assigned to the 376th Bombardment Group based at Sulûq, near Benghazi Libya. On the fateful mission, shortly after midnight, Hatton contacted the control tower at Benina.

He advised he was unable to locate Sulûq because of the heavy cloud covering the North African coast.

He was growing concerned about the amount of fuel and requested a radio fix (an RDF bearing from which – with compensation for magnetic anomalies, wind speed and direction and aircraft velocity – a recovery flight course could be calculated).

Benina held the Lady on a bearing of 330 northwest (of Benina) and compatible with the aircraft’s route to and from Naples.

Armed with this information all Hatton had to do was fly roughly a course of 150 southeast to reach the base. He never arrived.

It was assumed the aircraft had crashed into the Mediterranean Sea but a sea search failed to find any signs of the doomed aircraft, and its crew were posted missing in action.

It wasn’t until November 1958 that British geologists flying over the Libyan Desert spotted an aircraft resting on the ground about 708km south of Benghazi.

They reported their find to the USAAF base at Wheelus as a large military aircraft from World War II but nothing was done until a second team reported the aircraft to Wheelus in February 1959.

This time a decision was made to send a search party. It reached the site in March, 1959, and confirmed the aircraft was indeed the missing “Lady Be Good”.

Although it had suffered major damage after crashing, the dry desert air had preserved the Liberator in an almost perfect state. There was no corrosion and the paint was barely faded. The guns and radio still worked, thermos flasks were found containing still warm coffee. Undercarriage wheels were still fully inflated. There was no sign of the crew.

 

 

 

 

The fuel was almost exhausted and three of the engines had been stopped and feathered.

The fourth had still been running at the time of the crash. It was obvious to the airmen that, with its fuel almost spent, the aircraft had been set on automatic pilot and the crew bailed out.

The investigators surmised that a number of factors had conspired to bring the aircraft down: The first factor was a change in the weather, which included a significant wind shift from the north or northwest.

This meant “Lady Be Good” was making much faster progress southwards than the crew realised and was well ahead of her dead reckoning position.

Another factor was the radio fix from Benina. Radio Direction Finding at the time relied on triangulation and was based on the strength of the received signal.

Two or three bearings would provide a true position, but Benina was only able to provide one bearing. A second search party returned from Wheeleus to look for the missing airmen.

Their first clues were found about 12km northwest of the crash site. Three flying boots were found arranged in the shape of an arrowhead, indicating the direction at least two of the crew members were heading.

It seems most likely they were searching for the aircraft and their mates or perhaps the Mediterranean coast, which they may have believed was only a short distance away.

The searchers followed the direction and found more discarded clothing, an empty pistol clip – indicating someone had fired to locate other members – and then strips of parachute which the survivors must have used as tents or covers.

The track then died out. Finally, in 1960, the remains of eight airmen were found, one near the plane and the other seven far to the north. Five of the men had trekked 125km across the tortuous sand before perishing and one had gone an amazing 175km.

Diaries kept by two of them recorded the indescribable agonies they had suffered as their lives ebbed slowly away.

They had lived eight days, far longer than the two days typically expected of men in the desert with little or no water.

They had been no more than 25km from the downed plane when they bailed out. Life rafts were found with them. The bodies were returned to the USA and buried with full military honours.

The body of the ninth crewman (Vernon Moore) was never found. Numerous parts from “Lady Be Good” were returned to the US for technical study.

One of its bent propellers became the centrepiece of a monument to the crew at Wheelus.

A memorial window to the “Lady Be Good” and its crew was also organised in the Wheelus Base chapel. Many instruments and other small pieces have been “souvenired” over the years from the original crash site. The rest of “Lady Be Good” was recovered in 1994.

Today it is on permanent display at the Air Museum in Tobruk, a poignant memorial to a story of duty and tragedy.

Information for this article was researched from various web sites, including those of the 376 Heavy Bomber Group, the US Air Force Museum, the US Quartermaster Museum, Opera Australia and a web site set up in conjunction with author Mario Martinez who wrote Lady’s Men. Research by Andrew Stackpool.

From the Saharan sands to the Sydney stage

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