ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 22347
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| Date: | Thursday 29 February 1940 |
| Time: | |
| Type: | Gloster Gladiator Mk II |
| Owner/operator: | 152 (Hyderabad) Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | N5646 |
| MSN: | 109 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | North Sea off Northumberland Coast -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Acklington, Northumberland |
152 Squadron RAF reformed on 1 October 1939 as a fighter squadron equipped with Gladiators based at Acklington. Most of the flying to begin with took place on Tutors and Harts. Two months later it began to receive Spitfires and these went operational on 6 January 1940, flying coastal and convoy patrols. First battle took place on 29 January, and the first victory, a He 111, on 3 February.
On 29 February the squadron’s commanding officer, Sqn Ldr Frederick William Charles Shute, took off at 14:20 hours from RAF Acklington, Northumberland, with the Gladiator II N5646 to investigate a coastguard report of a ditched Wellington aircraft in the North Sea. He subsequently reported he was ditching after his engine expired. Two Gladiators were launched from Acklington to search for him at 16:20 hours, while 13 Group asked Thornaby airfield to help search for him, but even had he managed to ditch safely his chances of survival in a cold, rough sea, were minimal.
He was never found and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. He was an experienced pilot with 1,541 flying hours and was one of the three pilots who claimed the squadron’s first victory on 3 February.
The accident record card is very illegible but it seems that the pilot should not have been sent to sea and was due to misunderstanding between sector and group controller.
In 1935 Shute had married 18 year old Sheila Marjorie Macneal, with whom he had a daughter, Lesley. The young window and his identical twin sister Moira were later known to pilots of 92 Squadron during the Battle of Britain as the "Belles of Biggin Hill".
Family lore tell that Shute was ordered up in a Gladiator in appalling weather to search for the crew of a Wellington that had ditched in the North Sea. Actually the weather on the northeast coast was not unreasonable during this afternoon with correct visibility and 9-10/10ths clouds at 2500 feet.
Several sources, including the Air Britain books, say Shute was lost flying the Spitfire I K9898. All original RAF documents show that he was flying a Gladiator, N5646. The official Air Ministry file on the incident (File AIR 81/96) states "Squadron Leader F W C Shute: missing presumed dead; Gladiator N5646 reported engine failure whilst over the North Sea, 29 February 1940"
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-N9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/96: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14141918
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1807108/shute,-frederic-william-charles/
4. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?8056-Squadron-Leader-Frederick-William-Charles-Shute
5. http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/gladiator_raf_152.htm
6. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1463104/Sheila-Wickham.html
7. http://www.152hyderabad.co.uk/html/history.html
8. http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/commonwealth_shute.htm
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 07-Aug-2008 10:16 | Anon. | Added |
| 17-Jan-2012 04:59 | Nepa | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Departure airport, Narrative] |
| 02-Oct-2012 23:38 | rvargast17 | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Phase, Narrative] |
| 04-Nov-2012 18:58 | angels one five | Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Source] |
| 13-Sep-2014 09:27 | angels one five | Updated [Operator, Narrative] |
| 01-Jun-2015 15:28 | Zeeland | Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative] |
| 24-Jan-2016 06:17 | JINX | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Narrative] |
| 21-Apr-2017 10:02 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Source, Narrative] |
| 15-Feb-2018 08:26 | Nepa | Updated [Operator] |
| 06-Jun-2019 15:30 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
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