The late T/22772295 Cpl Duggie Livingstone was an Air Despatcher from February 1952 to August 1954 with 47 Company RASC, stationed at Watchfield. One of the operations he took part in was the re supply of the British North Greenland Expedition in 1952/53. As well as the drops from Hastings aircraft, I believed that 47 Coy also flew a sortie in a Sunderland flying boat. Sgt Baker was possibly a crew member on the Sunderland.
One day in
1952, Duggy, the late Captain Luty and two other Corporals were rushed to RAF Topcliffe in North Yorkshire, kitted in arctic
clothing, and found themselves on their way to the USAF Base at Thule. They were part of a group sent to replace the crew and the Air Despatchers
of Hastings 492 which had crashed on the ice cap on the 16th of September. These Despatchers were not from 47 Coy, but I believe were from
Old Sarum. Two Hastings had been in use dropping supplies, 490 of 24 Sqn RAF and 492 of 47 Sqn. The aircraft were based at Thule, and the
drops were made at Northice Camp. Altogether over 86 tons of supplies were dropped from Hastings aircraft in Greenland the the North
Greenland Expedition.
At the time of the crash, 492, Captained
by F/Lt. Clancy was on the second of a run of free-drops following a dozen parachute drop runs.
The drops were being made using a radio altimeter to aid maintaining the 50ft height required. An RAF officer was also on the ground visually
estimating the aircraft’s height. The second drop had left the aircraft and the Hastings was about to pull away when it was engulfed in a
‘white-out’. The port wing hit the ground (damage can be seen in the photograph) and the Hastings hit the ground and bounced along on its
belly for a considerable distance, losing both port engines in the process. Fortunately only three people were injured in the crash.
Immediate rescue was not possible and the injured were kept warm in the fuselage which remained intact. These men were later lifted off
in a USAF Albatross amphibian which landed on its keel in the snow. Two days later, the remainder were rescued by a ski equipped USAF Dakota,
which used rocket assistance to take off. I believe that this was the highest altitude ski landing made by a large aircraft. The pilot later
received a British decoration for his work which was carried out in poor weather conditions. The photograph of this Dakota was taken from
Hastings 491 in which Duggie was flying in at the time. He was later to meet 491 again. He was driving past Bicester airfield in 1972 when he saw it
again. He passed again a few days later and it had been reduced to ashes in fire-fighting practice.
In 1953 Duggie again found myself in Greenland with Captain Black and nine other Despatchers. They were met by a Sergeant Dennis Rose. Supplies dropped included 50 Gallon drums which were free-dropped from 50 feet into the snow. It had been found that jerry cans were bursting at an unacceptable rate. On their last drops, they parachuted a teddy- bear. In 1953 or 1954, they were on parade at Watchfield where the G.O.C. presented Sgt Rose with the B.E.M. Private Edward Bear was similarly decorated.
Duggie Livingstone died on 18th May 2006.