The Shoot Down of WH799

XIII Sqn History - The shoot down of WH799

In a little-known and long-forgotten sideshow to the Suez crisis of November 1956, the British government conducted secret aerial reconnaissance missions over Syria.

These missions came amid Cold War fears that the British-French-Israeli attack against Egypt would ignite a direct East-West confrontation. The fears were heightened after it emerged that the Syrian President Shukri al-Quwatli had travelled to Moscow at the behest of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, in order to win support for Egypt.

Although everyone knew it was unlikely that the Soviet leadership would risk going to war with the West over the Suez Canal, the British and French were still keen to verify reports from the U.S. Embassy in Damascus that over 100 Soviet MiG-17s were parked in the Syrian desert ready to join the battle, and that Russian arms shipments were seen moving through the port of Latakia.

The Syrians knew that the RAF was conducting sorties over its territory. They even knew the flight path, which took the aircraft over Latakia, Aleppo, Homs and then, 5 kilometres from Damascus, back over Lebanon toward Cyprus, at the time a British crown colony. But there was little they could do to intercept the Canberra bombers of XIII Squadron operating out of Akrotiri. They had to rely on spotters stationed at border posts and by the time Damascus knew anything about it, the aircraft had already gone.

But on 6th November 1956, the Syrians got lucky. The frontier post at the eastern city of Al-Bukamal, on the Euphrates, telephoned to say that a Canberra was operating at extreme range from Cyprus on a mission to photograph airfields in Syria. Three Syrian Air Force British-built Gloucester Meteors, one of which was flown by a certain Lieutenant Hafez Assad, were scrambled to intercept. The groundcontrolled interception of the Canberra was directed by Major Moukabri of the Syrian Air Force using an interception plan devised by Squadron Leader Tahir Zaki of the Egyptian Air Force who was serving as air attaché at the Egyptian embassy in Damascus at the time.

The cumbersome Canberra bomber, call sign Whisky Hotel 799, had little chance in the brief and one-sided encounter led by Lieutenant Munir al-Garudy, who claimed credit for downing the airplane. The Canberra was crippled when its starboard engine was hit and set alight by canon fire. The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Bernard Hunter, said in later interviews: "At about the same time (that he decided to climb back into cloud cover), Sam Small warned of a pair of Meteors coming from port of starboard. I can't remember which. I had to turn into their attack. So, there were 3 factors in this particular problem, none of which was helpful to the others as no matter where the Meteors were coming from, I had to turn towards them. It went on like this for a few minutes, which seemed like several hours, and during the first attack we did not get hit. Then Sam said almost immediately after the first attack, with us still climbing, that another pair were coming in, so we turned again. I turned towards them and that's when the starboard engine was hit.

I had been calling Roy, who was in the prone position to take photographs, to come back to the rumble seat (a spare seat alongside the pilot). He got the message, I think, but did not come back. Eventually, it got to the stage where I was rapidly losing control of the situation, one engine out, still burning. I told Sam to get out, to eject, and from the rear navigation position he ejected quite safely. We were still under attack and I started the desperate business of trying to get hold of Roy. I never did contact Roy on the R/T and, as far as I know, he must have gone back to the rear navigation position to try and eject. Since the ejection seat had gone, I assume he tried to bail out. I am not sure, but I think I heard a big thud on the aircraft which could have been Roy's body hitting the tail plane. I suspect it was. I then ejected. It seemed only seconds before I hit the ground and broke my left ankle. The sequence of events was very quick so I couldn't possibly estimate how low I was, but I remember thinking at the time, if I don't get out now I won't get out. I didn't know whether I got out over the Lebanon or not, my mind was revolving around the fact that if I'm in Syria they're not going to be very friendly."

In fact, Hunter's Canberra crashed just inside Syrian territory, while he and Flight Lieutenant Sam Small landed virtually on the frontier, but just on the Lebanese side. Hunter, unlike many RAF aircrew, did not carry a pistol and he believed that this saved his life. Certainly, the crowd which gathered around him after he landed assumed he was an Israeli and started to rough him up until an English-speaking local teacher told them to leave him alone. Flight Lieutenant Hunter then