THE DISCOVERY OF THE NAXOS BEAUFIGHTER

       The first information we received was from elderly, local inhabitants of Naxos who had first hand knowledge that two WWII aircraft had been shot down and ditched in the sea off the island of Naxos.

       We had been told that during a WWII battle over Naxos harbour in 1943 two aircraft had been shot down. One of these supposedly ditched in the area of Cape Kouroupas, which is on the west coast of Naxos, and the other one off the south coast of Naxos.

       An old sponge diver told us that he knew there was an aircraft on the sea bed at Cape Kouroupas, thus supporting other anecdotal information given to us.

       We decided to see if the stories were true and began our search for the aircraft spoken of by the locals.

       On 21st of February 2006, we began by searching the south eastern part of the cape at depths between 32 and 40 metres. In this part of the island the weather conditions are frequently quite poor therefore we are not able to dive there often. We completed a total of 14 dives in the vicinity and were able to scan an area of approximately 10,000 square metres with the help of depth gauge sonar equipment.

       Finally, on 3rd of June 2007, after more than a year of searching in the blue waters, we found the Beaufighter off the west coast of Naxos about half a mile from Cape Kouroupas. This was, indeed, the aircraft spoken of by the sponge diver.

       The plane was in almost perfect condition, and resting on a flat, sandy area at a depth of 34 metres.

       THE CONDITION OF THE BEAUFIGHTER

       As stated above the aircraft is largely intact. The nose of the aircraft is at 40 degrees; the front section of the nose has broken off and lies apart from the rest of the fuselage.

       The radar is now missing; as is the propeller of the starboard engine, possibly because it had been hit by German ground to air machine gun fire.

       There are no human remains inside the aircraft and no dog tags have been found in the vicinity. The pilot’s canopy is intact and open; the navigator’s canopy is missing, as are the compasses.

       The navigator’s machine gun remains where it was dropped, in front of his seat, and the ammunition for the gun is scattered around the seat.

       The propeller of the port side engine is twisted, indicating the probability that it was still rotating when the plane ditched.

       A few small parts of the fuselage of the aircraft were found a short distance from the main body of the Beaufighter and lie at 310 degrees.

       THE STORY OF THE NAXOS BEAUFIGHTER

       We gleaned the following information from a number of different sources:

       1. We know that on the 20th of October 1943 seven men from allied LRDG (Long Range Desert Group) under the command of a Lieutenant Aitken arrived on the island of Naxos by motor launch.

       2. A few days later the patrol reported back the enemy’s movements. There was a small concentration of enemy ships in Naxos harbour.

       3. On the 30th of October 1943, four aircraft, two B-25 Mitchell bombers from the U.S Bombardment group (USAAF), escorted by two Beaufighters from RAF 47 squadron, based in Cyprus, made an attack on the enemy shipping in Naxos harbour.

       4. The group sank two ships but at the cost of two aircraft which were shot down, one Mitchell and one Beaufighter.

       5. The Beaufighter shot down off Naxos had the serial number JM 225*.  We have established it was a TF Mk-x and it lies half a mile off Cape Kouroupas on the west coast of Naxos.

       6.  We believe the pilot was Flying Officer W. E. Hayter and the navigator was Warrant Officer T. J. Harper. We understand they were New Zealanders. These officers escaped death by bailing out safely from the aircraft. They were rescued by Naxian locals who took them to Naxos town, where their wounds were dressed by a doctor.

       7. The crew were then hidden until the LRDG patrol could smuggle them out of Naxos. They did this under the noses of a garrison of 650 Germans.

       8. The patrol took the two airmen back to the island of Leros where they arrived safely on the 6th November of that year. Eventually they made their way back to Cyprus.

       THE AIRCRAFT

       The prototype two seater Beaufighter first flew on July 17th, 1939. The name was derived from the term "Beaufort Fighter". It is said that this torpedo bomber sank 60% of the enemy’s tankers leaving them so short of fuel that they lost the war. It was probably the finest torpedo and strike aircraft of its day. The Germans named the plane the “Whispering Death”.

       Set out below are the specifications of the Beaufighter:

       Type: Bristol Beaufighter TF Mk – x

       Number produced: 2205 (this version)

       Powerplant: 2 Bristol Hercules engines XVII rated at 1770hp (1319.52 kW) each

       Role during war: fighter, night fighter, long range attack fighter, Torpedo bomber, U-boat destroyer, Anti-shipping aircraft.

       Length: 12.7m

       Height: 4.83m

       Wing span: 17.63m

       Empty weight: 7076 kg

       Operational weight: 11521 kg max

       Max speed: 512 km/h at 3048 m

       Initial climb rate: 488m / min

       Range: 2366 km to 2913 km max

       Armament: 4x Hispano 20mm cannon in nose

                            4x 303 in 7,7mm machine gun (outer starboard wing)

                            2x 303 in 7,7mm machine gun (outer port wing)

                            8x RP-3, 41kg Rockets or 2x 113kg bombs

                            1x manually operated Vickers GO or 303 Browning for

                            navigator

                            1x 18 in 457mm torpedo

       Special thanks for their information, help and support to:

John Battersby**, Chantelle Cassar, Stephen Davies, Ioannis Dimitropoulos, Antonis Fragiskos, Giorgos Fragiskos, Anthony Harris, Bob Hayter, Paul Hayter, Christiana Hayward-Kourabas, Lee Heide***, Giorgos Karelas, Andreas Kyriakouleas, Vasilis Mentogiannis, Giorgos Papadakis, Kari Papoutsis, Mihalis Roussos, Stamatis Sergis, Nikitas Sorokos, Andrea Luciano Spattuzzi, Bjorn Textor, Kostas Thoctarides.

Thanks to Robert Davies and Ed Gadsby-Peet for construction of the model.

All the members of  http://www.rafcommands.com/dcforum/DCForumID6/15256.html
and www.nzetc.org 

*AB Serials (extensive catalogue of RAF aircraft)

**Bristol aero collection

***Mr.Lee Heide, was trained in Canada as a navigator and flew overseas with Ferry Command in June, 1941. In England he was assigned to a Beaufort OTU and, with an RAF crew, trained on torpedo operations. Sent to the Middle East, the crew went by boat to Nigeria, their aircraft crated in the hold, and then flew across the heart of Africa, down the Nile River from Khartoum to Cairo, and thence to Malta. Heide survived the blitz on Malta for a year with heavy losses to his squadron. Converting to Beaufighters near Tunis, he and his pilot were shot down and forced to ditch near Elba. After five days afloat they landed on Elba, evaded German patrols and escaped to Corsica. After a rest on Cyprus, Heide returned to operations and at the battle of Leros harbour was again shot down, this time to be interned in Turkey.

Today, Mr. Lee Heide is hale and hearty, 87 years old, living on Vancuver Island near the city of Victoria. He has desribed most of his adventures in a book called "Whispering Death".

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