Caribbean Naval Bases

You are welcome, Stinson....! I'm glad to help at shipmates as you.
This page are in my favorites, many years ago, for the reason that with his information, helps me in my investigations.




Jan.

 

Thank you Jerome, great pictures. In doing the Stinson research I found a reference to "Light Belle Vue, Pointadierre, Trinidad". Are you familiar with this place? Where is it in reference to Piarco Airfield, and do you have any record of a Reliant crash there on 29 Jan 45?

Were you with the Museum when Sian Price did his BBC Documentary about Piarco? I was fianally able to hear it and it was fascinating.

Do you have any more 752 Squadron Pictures?

 

Ask for experts: Who is this dome in the top of this Mariner?

Thanks in advance!


Jan.

 

Pointe-a-Pierre is on the SW coast of Trinidad (where the oil refinery is located) Never heard of Light belle vue, but there is a Bonne Aventure in Pointe-a-Pierre. Don't have Google Earth on my Mac but lat/long is 10.20N/61.25W and is about 17 miles SSW of Piarco.
Will check on Reliant crash of 45.
I am one of the founding members of the museum (91 to present) and there have been so many interviews over the years, I don't recall the BBC interview. We most likely did not get a copy of the documentary.
The other pics (Barracuda/Fulmar) could well be from 752, but have not attributed it to them without confirmation. I have a listing of names for the 752 group pics and when deciphered will post them.

 

Hi Jerome,
I am sure you probably have these pictures, I found them in a 1944 Flight Case group of documents. It has a series of charts for a navigation from Florida to Natal. It has the 1944 Aeronatical Chart of Trinidad with Waller and Piarco Fields, plus photos of the main, alternate, and emergency landing fields.
Hope you find them interesting .

 

I certainly do - and your copies are in better condition than what I have. Can I beg you for a high Res scan of the photos & chart? Will PM you my email.

There were about 30+ Reliants operating in Trinidad - used for Nav/Obs training at Piarco. The Jan 45 crash occured in the area of Brasso Seco - will look for a lat/long for you. The crew of 3 died - will do a search for their names on CWGC.They are believed buried in the Port of Spain Military Cemetery.

The RN did dump a load of stuff, well outside the Bocas. But we have no inventory as to what was dumped. Gaylord recalls seeing a photo of a swordfish being tipped overboard, but the Barracudas, Fulmars and Reliants may well have been among them.

 

Jerome thank you for keeping this quite interesting thread of little known operations alive, and of course to the other posters with their added tidbits of information.

keep it up. I salute thee

E ~

 

There is a Belle Vue, South of San Fernando,and which is South of Pointe-a-Pierre, but definitely NO Light Belle Vue.

Erich:Thank you for the salute - we try!

 

Lat/Long for Belle Vue, Ste Madeleine, San Fernando = 10.16.18N/61.25.50W
Brasso seco Village - 10.44.33N/ 61.15.28W.
A Museum search team visited Brasso seco in the early 90's and located the remains of a small aircraft (3 seats and engine). We were never able to confirm that it was a Reliant and I was not on that trip, hence my lack of memory.
Gaylord has just handed me the BBC Radio 4 Documentary on HMS Goshawk - will listen to it this pm and it is dated Jan 2005

 

The RN Ship that dumped the old aircraft was HMS Campania, an escort carrier after the war in 1945. Hope this helps.

 

The crew of the Reliant that crashed on 25 Jan 1945 were:

ALGAR, ROBERT HENLEY Initials: R H Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Sub-Lieutenant (A) Regiment/Service: Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Unit Text: H.M.S. Goshawk. Age: 21 Date of Death: 25/01/1945 Additional information: Son of James William and Doris Victoria Algar (nee Hillsdon), of Coulsdon, London. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: Western Portion. Grave 88. Cemetery: PORT OF SPAIN (ST. JAMES) MILITARY CEMETERY

GREGORY, MAURICE WILLIAM Initials: M W Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Leading Airman Regiment/Service: Royal Navy Unit Text: H.M.S. Goshawk. Age: 21 Date of Death: 25/01/1945 Service No: FX/582022 Additional information: Son of Albert Butterworth and Violet Louise Gregory, of South Harrow, London. A.M.J.Inst. E. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: Western Portion. Grave 90. Cemetery: PORT OF SPAIN (ST. JAMES) MILITARY CEMETERY

THOMSON, JAMES Initials: J Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Sub-Lieutenant (A) Regiment/Service: Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Unit Text: H.M.S. Goshawk. Age: 20 Date of Death: 25/01/1945 Additional information: Son of Alexander A. and Isabella B. Thomson, of Dumfermline, Fife. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: Western Portion. Grave 91. Cemetery: PORT OF SPAIN (ST. JAMES) MILITARY CEMETERY

WHITFORD, ALAN Initials: A Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Petty Officer Airman Regiment/Service: Royal Navy Unit Text: H.M.S. Goshawk. Age: 24 Date of Death: 25/01/1945 Service No: FX/77269 Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: Western Portion. Grave 89. Cemetery: PORT OF SPAIN (ST. JAMES) MILITARY CEMETERY

And of course there were 4 not 3 as I stated.

Altogether, a total of 171 personnel died from HMS Goshawk, with 102 dying when their ship, the steamer Almeda Star en-route to Trinidad, was torpedoed by U 96 on 17 Jan 1941, killing all crew and passengers, and these are commemorated on the Lee-On-Solent Memorial

 

Hi Jerome,
This is a long shot....but did they perhaps take any pictures of those seats and engine? If by slim chance they did I might be able to identify them if they were Reliant seats. The standard reliant at the time was a 3 seat airplane and they were somewhat unusual compared to others of the period.

 

Wow, very interesting. 4 people on board. I have only seen a few Reliants modified to a 4 or 5 seat variant. I know some that went to India were modified but this is the first I've seen of the Trinidad airplanes.

 

Hi,
Lots of fascinating info here about WW2 in the caribbean. Can anyone help with caribbean activity of U.S.E.D. (USED was part of US coastguard - strangly part of US Army!) tugs and their movements? Also lists of survivors from ships sunk and where they went, particularly for May - December 1942. Many thanks
Hazel

 

Hi Jerome,
Thanks for the work you are doing on this little known area (at least to me) of WW2. I note that although the post is listed as Caribbean Naval Bases, it seems mostly about the airfields! Hope you can point me in the right direction. Am researching family history and Dad, although an English seaman served on board two US ships; WELLANDOC (designated U.S. Army Tug (USAT) LT 797), which I believe did a run from South America to Canada; and DELAMAR which as far as I know towed damaged ships between Trinidad and the dry docks at Barbados. Dad was recruited by Kenneth Simpson, who worked for a US Army base as the local employment officer. Where would I find any details of ship movements, crew lists etc as I do not know for sure how Dad got to Trinidad - he may have been torpedoed and rescued, but again I do not know from what ship. The timescale would be approximately May 1942 to May 1944 and most of the time is likely to be on DELAMAR I think. He may have been amongst survivors of torpedoed ships who were temporarily accommodated at the race stand in Port Of Spain. My only other piece of information is that he was stayed at the Mariners Club at some point.

Any help or suggestions gratefully received.
Daisy1942

 

You might want to post these questions over on the information request board. Likely to get a different and perhaps bigger audiance.

I did do a little research. First in regards to the Wellandoc:
Here is a pay site that may have some info you want: http://shipindex.org/ships/wellandoc
This one has some crew lists at various ports: http://www.archives.gov/research/microfilm/m2044.pdf
Not sure any of the date of arrivals are in the time frame you are interested in though.
This page http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/merchantships/wwi/tugs.htm lists Delamar as LT-797.
Here is a Coast Guard history page: http://www.uscg.mil/history/h_militaryindex.asp
I didn't find anything but I didn't do an exaustive search.
There's a Wellandoc listed on this page but I'm not sure it's the ship you are looking for: http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/Gilmore/default.asp?ID=s021c
At some point a Wellandoc changed it's name to or from Brampton as indicated at: http://www.worldcat.org/wcidentities/nc-wellandoc%20ship
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Weller_Drydocks
There is a book titled U.S. Army Ships and Watercraft of World War II that might also be useful.
Tugs would normally carry the letters: AT, ATA, ATF, ATR, LWT, YMT, YT, YTB, YTL, YTM, YTR, or more esoteric letters.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hull_classifications#L
http://www.history.navy.mil/books/opnav20-p1000/L.htm indicates that LT - stands for Large Tug (Army) however.
This document http://www.nafts.com/Towlines/Summer09Towline.pdf lists a national association of fleet tug sailors. Might be a good place to look.

 

Daisy, I will be in the Museum this Friday and will do a check to see what, if any, info we have and get back to you

 

Hi IWD,
Wow! what a huge amount of info for me to research. Thanks very much. Dad was a bit of a mystery and did a number of weird things in WW2 (including being on one of the last successfully escaping ships from SIngapore) so any link however bizarre is worth my while investigating.

 

Daisy, sorry no joy here at the museum. As you rightly stated, survivors were housed near the Queens Park Savannah, with the Mainers Club in downtown POS for sailors. Let me have your dad's name and will see if he's in my notes

 

Jerome,
Dad's full name was Dominic Michael Stringer. He initially seemed to serve on Delamar. Certainly he was on this ship when it went from Trinidad to Barbados about Nov 1942. Later he signed off Delamar (perhaps June 1943?) and doesn't reappear until he signed off Wellandoc in May 1944 in Montreal! By the way he married in Barbados on 31 January 1943 - would he have had to list an address to do so and how would I find this?