Walter 'Bill' Leadley 1924-2009 (Part IV)

Memoirs of NZ429151 W/O Walter 'Bill' Leadley as told to Jenny Scott, 1992.

The loss of PBY-5 Catalina NZ4002/B

The morning of the 23rd Artie Day, the station Warrant Officer, informed me that I would be Duty Sergeant for the day. After breakfast I took some books and paper work down to the main gate where the Duty Sergeant hut was situated. Settled in and carried out Duty Sergeant chores for the remainder of the morning that was. After lunch I received the night flying detail and found that Flying Officer McGrane's crew was flying a night navigation exercise, full crew, and Squadron Leader Higgins was using a skeleton crew to do night circuits and bumps.

After reading this report I found the station Warrant Officer at headquarters and asked for a replacement Duty Sergeant as I was night flying. He promptly relieved me of duty and said I was to come down to the duty office in the morning to pick up my papers and bits and pieces. 'OK' said the SWO we will look after that. Then I promptly went to my quarters to get some shut eye.

The NATS Barge was waiting at the jetty when we arrived and also Squadron Leader Hill [JS Note: Bill means 'Higgins' here] and part of his crew. We all boarded the NATS Barge and headed out to Higgins aircraft first. It turned out his Chief Engineer had not turned up so Johnny McGrane lent him our 2nd Engineer. After warming up our own aircraft we started taxiing out to take up point when the NATS Barge approached with our 2nd Engineer. It turned out the missing Chief had turned up.

Airborne at 1800 hours, onboard we had an extra, Squadron Leader McGill who gave us a course to fly for the next three hours with many many changes of course en route. Then he climbed into a bunk and promptly went to sleep. He arose some three hours later to find a pitch black night, not a star in the sky. So away he went, we were totally lost. The WAG got a couple of fixes and we finally arrived over base at 0030 hours.

Control gave us permission to land but then cautioned us to watch out for wreckage. It wasn't until we had buoyed up and climbed into the NATS Barge that we learnt of the tragedy earlier in the evening.

The aircraft Squadron Leader Higgins was flying dived into the sea from approximately 250 feet and exploded shooting a ball of flame some 70 feet into the air, there were no survivors. Approximately an hour later we were having a meal in the Officers Mess when the C.O. came in. Told us to carry on with our meal and then came down and spoke to each one of us. He was very upset, the second PBY loss in only three months. Squadron Leader McGregor with 14 onboard disappeared on a flight back to New Zealand.

On the 24th at 0930 hours I arrived outside the duty hut. I was pleased to get away from my own hut with the two empty beds. Laughter and the joy were gone. Vic's bed was on the left of mine and Cowan's opposite. I thought of the picture of Vic's wife on the chest of drawers between our beds. Anytime now she would be getting a telegram notifying her of her husband's death. I found it hard to accept that quiet spoken friendly guy from Timaru was no more and I had a lump in my throat for the next three days.

I stepped into the doorway of the duty hut and the sun was behind me and slightly above over my right shoulder. I stood there for a moment, eyes getting used tot he gloom inside the hut. Artie Day, the station Warrant Officer was sitting at the desk in front of me writing and without looking up he said impatiently "yes". I was feeling a bit dejected so I replied in a quiet voice, "I've come for my papers Artie". He stopped his writing and looked up at me, then rose slowly to his feet, his face was white as chalk. He spoke in a husky voice, "There were no survivors". From his point of view I was silhouetted by the sun which had given me a ghostly look. I stepped inside and turned sideways and then said "There were two aircraft flying last night Artie." Artie heaved a mighty sigh of relief and said, "Don't ever do that to me again." I just stared at him, "Perhaps I had better re-phrase that" he said, then made polite but sympathetic conversation.

That was Artie Day, our Station Warrant Officer.

[JS Note: 23 September 1943. 6 Squadron PBY-5 Catalina NZ4002/B took off from Lauthala Bay on circuits and bumps night flying exercise. Climbed to 250 feet then crashed back into water killing all on board. Captain NZ1061 Sq. Ldr. Lancelot Higgins (29), 2nd Pilot NZ38108 Flt. Sgt. Vickers Cairns (28), Flight Engineer NZ401038 Sgt. William Cowan (27), Flight Engineer NZ403751 Sgt. Allan Wilson (36).

Walter 'Bill' Leadley 1924-2009 (Part III)

Memoirs of NZ429151 W/O Walter 'Bill' Leadley as told to Jenny Scott, 1992.

To Fiji aboard M.V. Matua

Now back to the grind. From this you will probably be able to get some of your questions answered.

Now the original airgunners, you asked for the names. I am not absolutely positive on this now but I think it was myself, Bob Steele, another chap named Scott which we gave the name of 'Trader Horn' actually and the fourth one was Morrie Death who had quite a job to get a crew understandably, but he did eventually. The other one I cannot recall at this stage, undoubtably someone will come up with the answer on that one.

The main contingent to make up 6 Squadron boarded the good ship Matua in Auckland bound for Fiji on or about the 8th of July 1943. Approximately 120 men on board, mostly aircrew, we arrived at Suva, Fiji, several days later. Most of the bodes on board were suffering from sea sickness. The Matua was a narrow gutted 4000 tonner built a bit like a destoryer and rolled like a son of a bitch.

I was one of the lucky ones and shared a deck cabin with three others, Larry Heath from Waimate, Vic Cairns, Timaru, Ray Freeman, Wellington. No way could you convince me tehn that I would be the only survivor of that cabin. Those three fine chaps would be dead before the end of the war.

[JS Note: 23 September 1943. 6 Squadron PBY-5 Catalina NZ4002/B took off from Lauthala Bay on circuits and bumps night flying exercise. Climbed to 250 feet then crashed back into water killing all on board. Captain NZ1061 Sq. Ldr. Lancelot Higgins (29), 2nd Pilot NZ38108 Flt. Sgt. Vickers Cairns (28), Flight Engineer NZ401038 Sgt. William Cowan (27), Flight Engineer NZ403751 Sgt. Allan Wilson (36).

[JS Note: 13 April 1945. 5 Squadron PB2B-1 Catalina NZ4013 on detached flight at Funafuti captained by Flt. Lt. A.R. Tuckett stalled on take off killing: 2nd Pilot NZ2130 Fg. Off. Raymond Wilkinson (30), 1st WOpAG NZ415531 Wt. Off. William Henry Heath (26), 2nd WOpAG NZ424231 Flt. Sgt. Clutha Ealam (21)]

[JS Note: 27 January 1945. 6 Squadron PBY-5 Catalina NZ4022 captained by NZ428759 Warrant Officer Raymond Freeman (31) took off from Lauthala Bay, deliberately stalled at 5500 feet but failed to recover and dived into the sea near Mbenga Island killing four crew and eight passengers: the Captain, Ray Freeman, 2nd Pilot NZ428101 Flt. Sgt. Walter Geary (31), WOpAG NZ42717 Wt. Off. Frank Wilson (22), Fitter NZ422106 Sgt. Walter Boss (21), Wireless Mechanic NZ425350 Cpl. Ray Allen (26), Fitter NZ402249 LAC Victor McKain (25), Fitter NZ412943 LAC Eric McLeod (25), Radar Mechanic NZ4214366 AC1 John Stafford (22), Instrument Mechanic NZ4311781 LAC John Stewart (20), Wireless Mechanic NZ43217 AC1 Brian Stone (23), Armourer NZ4216200 AC1 Arthur Thomas (21), and Fitter NZ433124 LAC Robert Wright (31).]

Walter 'Bill' Leadley 1924-2009 (Part II)

Memoirs of NZ429151 W/O Walter 'Bill' Leadley as told to Jenny Scott, 1992.

The U.S.S. Coos Bay and H.M.A.S. Hobart.

I will give you the detail on that. I was not flying with my normal crew, I was flying I think with Burgess at the time. I will check the book on the 30th and I will explain that but you have to understand they were very short of gunners and I did fly with other crews on the odd occasion.

Just filling in. There you are. But there you are.

The Treasury early one morning I was looking straight up the into the snouts of a 'Tony' and a 'Val' coming in right on the deck, up the channel, where the U.S.S. Coos Bay was anchored and 'ummm' certainly damaged the blister trying to get the port .5 out to have a crack at them when they shot passed the stern of the Coos Bay slipped up over the coconut palms and dropped their bombs on the bomber strip there. They were after the Mitchells, they weren't interested in anything else and they did a bit of damage at the strip there. I believe some Lightnings took off and caught up with them and both of them were shot down. That may have been propaganda - I don't know.

So there will be little things like that crop up. This is where confusion comes in, there were a lot of things that were probably not recorded.

There is one thing you could do for me that I would like to know. That is we were called off a patrol it was from Espiritu Santo in '43 and we were on the Nauru sector, either 10 or 12 sector, and we got a message and we diversified off that for some 20 minutes where we picked up a light cruiser who had been damaged. It was the H.M.S. [sic] Hobart, the H.M.S. Hobart. She had been attacked by a submarine, her steerage was gone I believe and she was just wallowing in the drink when we got there. We stayed with her about half an hour until the destroyers turned up on the horizon. Two destroyers I think it was and they took her in tow and they towed her back to Espiritu Santo. I would like to have known the date of that [JS Note: 20 July 1943], I just cannot find it in any books here. I would be able to coordinate that attack in my log book with that particular flight. That would be very interesting, the H.M.S. Hobart - cruiser - Australian of course.

W/O Walter 'Bill' Leadley 1924-2009 (Part I)

Memoirs of NZ429151 W/O Bill Leadley as told to Jenny Scott, 1992.

Greetings and salutations from New Zealand.
Rather than put pen to paper I thought it might be easier and quicker to put it on tape. Just a little bit about me for a start.

After the war 31 years orcharding on my own account, I had a small farm as well which I sort of semi-retired to run 50 deer and 300 breeding ewes - not very economic these days.

In 1947 I took out a private flying licence and I carried on flying for about 17 years. I let the licence elapse but did keep my hand in at flying over the years by going to veteran's day and doing a few circuits and bumps. I do have an airstrip on my property here that is being used by the Motueka Flying School at the moment. So we are still well and truely connected with the flying side of life.

You've got a lot of questions there for me to answer. i think I will tell the story as it goes . I've got a bit written down and I will read that out to you and I think that will help answer quite a few of them.

As you know the entries in the logbook were restricted. You could only put a certain amount in and regarding detail you couldn't put anything in. You can understand why, if it fell into Japanese hands. Over that first tour of course we were classified as saboteurs, all aircrew were and if they were captured we were despatched. So we did live under a death sentence there for a year or so and certainly gave us the incentive to run away and live to fight another day.

Of course the Cats role was most definitely not to engage aircraft in combat, it was to take on a defensive roll. Attack submarines by all means, and shipping, but avoid aircraft. You can imagine getting caught at 5000 feet, your belly had been ripped out by enemy fighter craft, you wouldn't be able to put down again in the sea, would you?

OK. little confusion there regarding my name, etc. You ask for name, rank and number, well I will give it to you. Late '39 early '40 I joined the 42nd Blackwatch A Company New Zealand Scottish. It was a Territorial Battalion being formed right throughout New Zealand. As my mother was Scots, to please her, I joined it, although I wanted to anyway, and I was well underage when I joined it I was 16 1/2. Soon as I became 17 1/2 I applied to get into the Air Force and I finally got my transfer through to it in early '42.

I went through Rotorua ITW [Initial Training Wing] and finally came out as an airgunner. I was trained in wireless as my father was a telegraphist in the First World War. He trained all of us and i was actually on the final leg to Canada as a wireless operator and they asked for 16 or 18 volunteers in a hurry, so I promptly did it. Went in as a straight A.G. However I did have the opportunity to remuster as a pilot at a later date. I did not take it, but I took out a private licence in '47 and flew for some 17 years afterwards. I did train on Tigers to, Tiger Moths. However had a great time and that, no great problems and I didn't bend any aeroplanes.

Now I had a twin brother, Edmund Leadley, and as you know my name is actually Walter, but we were nicknamed Bill and Jock. However the confusion arose when I went into the Scottish Regiment. No way they would have me as Bill, so they called me Jock, and when I transferred to the Air Force unfortunately there was a couple of cobbers came through with me and they kept calling me Jock and I had a devil of a job to get away from this namme and there are still members of the 6 Squadron will recall me as Jock and not as Bill Leadley. So there is the confusion.

I finished up as a 2nd year W/O1, my number was 429151 in the Air Force. In the Territorial it was 2/7/100, so it was a pretty early one.

Anyway at the end of the war of course we quietly faded back into the wood work and that was that. Although over the years I have always been involved in rescue work with yachting or tramping, shooting, etc. I have always been involved in rescue work of some description and I am still today tied up with C.D. as a radio operator.

Just before I start on the main story, regarding the story of the San Juan [JS Note see Blog Post 11 September 2009 "Sinking of the San Juan by Bill Leadley"] and the chappy on the duckboard. I would very much love to say he was the 4th man being pulled into the dinghy but I don't believe that. After 30 hours on that duckboard those last few hours he was just lying on it. He was totally exhausted and I believe he just quietly slipped into the water. That was the finish of that.

But it is not a story I put on paper really the event that happened. I cannot change the facts, I wish that was the case.

50 B 28

Fifty Baker Twenty Eight
by an anonymous American pilot
U.S.S. Coos Bay
25 March 1944,



He was over Rabaul bombing
When some flak got in his way
And his engine coughed and spluttered
and then called it a day
He was gliding down the channel
And was cursing at his fate
When suddenly he remembered
Fifty baker twenty eight.

He opened up his R.T.
And he broadcast loud and clear
This plane of mine has had it
And the water's getting near
I'm fifteen south of Cape Gazelle
So please don't make me weight
Just send me out the Dumbo
Fifty baker twenty eight.

So that PBY came quickly
And its fighter escort too
Till they saw the PVs circling
As the PVs always do
They took one look and landed
And I'm happy to relate
They got them all home safely
Fifty baker twenty eight.

Now remember this you fighters
And bombers large and small
If ever you get shot up
While bombing old Rabaul
Just head off down the channel
And get some other crate
To yell like hell for Dumbo
Fifty baker twenty eight.