Bristol Blenheim, near Calf Island, Cork, October, 1941

The coastal town of Schull in the southern extremity of County Cork were the witnesses to the sad results of war on an October day in 1941.

The Southern Star newspaper on November 3rd, 1984 published the following account of the situation that unfolded on that Thursday morning.  It is likely written based on the Irish Army's G2/X/0893 file on the events and from eye witness accounts.

A local fisherman, Jimmy O'Reilly, was walking down Pier Road that day. He had just turned off towards the pier, when quite suddenly he saw the aircraft. It was lying in the water, with its tail rising forlornly into the air, as it slowly sank to the bottom.  O'Reilly hurried down to the pier where he met another local man, Joe Newman and Garda Sergt. O'Brien. Together they boarded Newman's boat with a couple of other men, and put out to help the stricken air crew.

It was a wild day with strong easterly winds and the aircraft had drifted westwards to the south of Long Island. A row boat from the island however, picked up the crew from the aircraft before Jimmy O'Reilly and the others could reach them. But as the rowboat tried to come alongside the motorboat, it became obvious that they were unable to row against the wind.  Newman was therefore forced to bring his boat around Long Island before the airmen could be taken on board.
The boat now headed back to Schull, where a large crowd had assembled on the pier. At this however, a further problem arose.
One of the Canadians, Sgt. Woodman, had suffered severe internal injuries in addition to a broken leg and there was difficulty in getting him ashore. He was covered in blood and everyone around was both shocked and apprehensive of causing him further pain. At length an onlooker,  Michael O'Regan, overcome by compassion, jumped into the boat and helped Sgt. O'Brien and the others bring him into the pier, where he was treated by Dr. Shipsey. Soon afterwards he was rushed to Gould's Hill military hospital where he died the following day at 10.35 p.m. He was aged 23.

In the meantime, a military detachment under Sgt. Major McLoughlin had arrived from Bantry and taken the remaining two  airmen into custody. While they were waiting for transport to take them away, the two airmen were made as comfortable as possible.
Finally, at 4.30 p.m. they were taken to Bantry, before being transferred to the Curragh military camp in Co. Kildare. Arriving at approximately 11.30 p.m. they were officially interned.

Gouldshill Hospital, in the town of Mallow was about two hours drive away, perhaps longer given the roads and vehicles of the time.

In a flurry of telegrams on 24th October, 236 Squadron, when it found that the aircraft was missing, sent telegrams that the aircraft, variously noted as Y5728 or V5728 was last seen north east of the Fastnet Rock heading for Southern Ireland.  The aircraft had radioed at 1120 HRS that it had engine trouble and was heading for base. At the point it had been ascertained that they crew had made it to land in Ireland and were assumed to be interned.

By the early morning hours of October 25th, the news of Sgt Woodman's death had been received by the Air Ministry and messages sent to Canada to inform his father.  The British Attache in Dublin that day began arranging with local authorities to have him buried and it was planned provisionally then that he would be buried on the afternoon of October 28th.

Newspapers across Canada carried a news article on or after the 29th of October that Douglas had been buried in Mallow on the Monday, 27th October.
Canadian Airman Is Buried in Eire
MALLOW, Eire, Oct. 29 .- Accorded full military honors, Sgt. Douglas Albert Woodman, Royal Canadian Air Force, was buried here Monday. He was fatally injured in a crash on the west coast of County Cork.
A representative of Eire's chief of staff and other officers marched with representatives of the Canadian Government behind the coffin draped in the Union Jack. Shops were closed while the cortege passed through the streets.

The three crew members were members of the Royal Canadian Air Force and had arrived in the United Kingdom at various times in 1941.  Following their training in Canada, they undertook operational training together as a crew at 2 Operational Training Unit based at .  This allowed them to convert to the Blenheim IV fighter and to operate as a team of Pilot, navigator and wirelesss operator/Air gunner. 

The photo shown here is of all three men, from left to right, Left to Right: Woodman (Nav); Brady (Wop/AG), Webster (pilot).

They participated in their first operation patrol on the 14th of September.  The tasking was to provide air cover for a convoy codenamed Camel, but owing to the weather produced zero visibility, they never found the convoy.  The same outcome was experienced by them on the following day, September 15th.  Another crew later that day were forced to abandon their Blenheim over the same convoy due to bad weather conditions.  No more operational missions were flown that month or at least recorded in the ORB.

16th October was their first operational sortie of the month, when they were forced to return to Chivenor due to failure of the fuel feed from their port tanks.  The following day their mission saw them escort a ship which had to direct to rescue a man in a dingy next to a partially submerged aircraft.  Their next mission, was the 21st of October, where they provided escort to a Sunderland flying boat.  It is interesting to note that their take off was delayed when aircraft J, went unservicable and they had to transfer to another Blenheim coded N ()5895.  Aircraft J was likely the ill fated V5728 that failed them tradgically two days later although the letter could have been applied to a replacement aircraft during that time.  Another ship escort was flown on the 22nd of October without incident.

The 23rd of October saw them take off at 09:10 hours to provide escort to convoy SL89.  They didn't manage to meet to the convoy as they radioed at 10:51 hrs that they were returning to base.

The 236 Squadron Operations Record Book recorded for the day:

Five sorties, two aircraft each, on A/A escort to ocean convoy. Four being met, one not met. Aircraft "J" first sortie of the day landing in Eire due to engine trouble.  Aircrew being interned. Squadron notified that Sgt.Woodland (Obs) had passed away in Dublin Hospital. Aircraft X and D the 4th sortie of the day, both aircraft after being airborne for 7 hrs 5 mins landed at St. Athans =Colerne due to petrol shortage.
Aircraft X port engine cutting out while taxying from flare path owing to petrol giving out. Sgt.McCaffry Pilot and Sgt.Lamerton in aircraft V, the last sortie of the day on returning, overshot the drome  and were killed instantly.  One sortie with one aircraft escorted convoy without incident, Ianding at Chivenor due to W/T failure.

The three crew members are discussed below.

Piloting the aircraft was Sgt Paul Osbourne WEBSTER R/58435.  Paul was the son of Ethel and William Webster and was born to the couple at the start of May 1920 in Vancouver.

He gratuated from 3 SFTS at Calgary on Friday, the 2nd of May 1941.  Two months later, he had arrived in England with a large shipment of new air crew and was quoted in newspapers all over Canada as saying:  "This business of day and night trans-channel raids by the R.A.F. has pepped up the fellows a lot and we hope to get into some soon," said Sgt .- Pilot P. O. Webster, of Vancouver, a night fighter possibility.

Sgt Webster escaped from internment in April 1942.  He had been part of the attempted ladder escape on 9 Feb 1942, but was captured within the compound area.  A few weeks later, in the 15th of April 1942, in a stroke of luck, while he was out in Naas town on parole from the Curragh Internment Camp, his parole form was accidentally signed by a camp guard when another internee was returning to the camp.  Upon discovering this, the cancelled form was taken out of the camp by Brady and delivered to Webster who took off for northern Ireland.   This was the first escape by an internee since June 1941.

Paul's elation was short lived however.  He returned to his former unit, 236 Squadron, on the 19th of May  where he converted to the Beaufighter aircraft. His first operational mission was on 19th July, from the detachment at Oulton.  He flew again on the following day, but failed to return from a recon mission on July 24, 1942. He was lost along with his navigator/gunner Sgt G R Lewis of the RAF when their Beaufighter X8088 failed to return from an armed recce mission against enemy shipping routes between Texel and Borkum.  Four aircraft had departed on the mission and two returned owing to weather conditions, with a third suffering engines problems forcing it to return after an hour.

As his remains were never recovered, his name is entered on the Runnymede Memorial in the UK.  Vancouver newspapers reported on his loss as eerly as July 29th.

His name then appeared in papers across Canada stating he was part of the ladder escape attempt, the article being published. country wide around Jun 29th.  Then again, after his death, the same list of names were republished by many newspapers just after the 17th of August escape by three other internees, days after his missing in action status was published.

Sgt Douglas Albert WOODMAN R/60047 was the aircraft observer, or navigator.  Douglas was born in St. Catherines, Ontario in July 1918 to Hazel and Ezra Woodman.  The family grew up in that town where sadly his mother passed away in 1938.

Douglas served as a cadet in the St Catherines Collegiate Cadet Corps and Queens university officer Training Course during 1931-32 and 1937-39 within the engineering and signals trades.  He had studied in Queens University durign 1937-1939 but his R.C.A.F. application indicates his studies were unsuccessful during his second year.  During his summers he had worked in various underground mining activities.   His second successful Air Force application in April 1940 was made in Alberta where he was living at the time.

Douglas passed through 3 EFTS starting in June 1940, then on to 1 AOS in November of that year.  This does suggest he was first sent for pilot training, which not all candidates were successful at but many passed on to navigator or air crew trades.  he then spent a period at 1 B&GS before completing training at 1 ANS.   Woodman had arrived in the UK in June 1941.  He was posted to 2 OTU and from there to 236 Squadron on the 1st of September 1941.

Sergeant Douglas Albert Woodman, aged 23, son of Mr. E. A.Woodman, 31 Duke street, and the late Mrs. Woodman, who was attached to the Royal Air Force as a navigator, died in Mallow Hospital, County of Cork, Eire at 10:30 p.m., Friday, October 24, his father was informed by cable Sunday. The first cable, received Saturday, stated that Sergeant Woodman had been interned as the result of air operations, and while details are lacking, as yet, it is presumed that the St. Catharines youth was on a patrol and the plane crashed.
News of the tragedy was received with deep regret in this area where Sergeant Woodman and his family are well and favor-
ably known. He is survived by his father and a younger brother, Oswald Ross Woodman.
The late Sergeant Woodman was born in St. Catharines July 2, 1918. He was educated in the public schools and Collegiate Institute, and was a science student at Queen's University. He enlisted in the R.C.A.F. in May, 1940, and was trained at Manning Pool, Toronto, Malton, Jarvis, and London, completing his navigator's course at Rivers, Man. He went overseas May 11, 1941, and was transferred from the R.C.A.F. to the R.A.F.

The Standard newspaper published an article about Douglas again in February 1946 on the occasion of the receipt by his father of his wings and certificate.  The paper told again of his being on a convoy patrol and coming down off the coast of Ireland.  The paper did mistakenly assume he had been shot down in the course of his duty.  He had been a carrier boy for them for seven years.

Fast forward to 31st March 1986 and the Standard again was writing about Douglas, this time following receipt by his late brother Oswald of letters from Ireland informing him of details of a memorial planned to take place in July that yer in at Bantry House.

Douglas's name is recorded on a plaque on a wall at Bantry House, Bantry, Co. Cork next to one for the crew of Whitley Z9388.  They were unveiled at a ceremony on the 19th of July 1986 by the Warplane Research Group of Ireland.

Douglas's brother Oswald passed away in but kindly left some of his brothers memories with a family friend who shared them.

Sgt Charles Stewart BRADY R/69652 took up the rear of the aircraft and was the wireless operator / air gunner.
Chuck, as he was known to other internees was the son of Mildred and Charles Stewart Brady and had been born to them on the 17th of March 1920 in Toronto.  Charles father passed away in October of 1936 in that city.  Chuck's paternal grandparents, Michael Brady and Mary Begg had been born in Ireland.

His mother Mildred, was a head cook at the Active Service Canteen in Toronto during the war.

The Toronto Star throughout the war, published news updates on Chuck, especially through his being interned.
On the 4th of November they published the following news:

Another Glad Mother
Mrs. Isaac Ilsley, Glencairn Ave., Toronto, was beaming as she announced she had just received a cable from her son, who was reported missing last week. Sgt. Charles S. Brady, R.C.A.F., is interned in Eire, his cable said. "He'll be sorry to miss the rest of the fight," remarked his mother.
Last week she heard from Miss Barbara Hancock of Toronto that her fiance, Douglas Woodman of St. Catharines, observer on Sgt. Brady's plane, had died of injuries in a forced landing. Later Mrs. Ilsley received a cable saying her son was believed interned in Eire.
At once she telephoned the Canadian chief censor, who found what camp Sgt. Brady was in. She then cabled him. He replied, "Safe and O.K. Send £15 ($75) Love, Charles."
What Mrs. Ilsley heard from Miss Hancock was that the engine of her son's plane had failed over the Atlantic and that it barely reached land. He was wireless operator and air gunner. He left Canada in April, soon after his 21st birthday. He attended Lawrence Park collegiate.
His father, the late C. S. Brady, was a lieutenant in the last war. Last letter his mother had said he believed he had helped escort the ship which brought his cigarettes.

XXX.

Toronto Star in 23rd January 1943 carried the following newspaper article gleaned from letters sent to his mother.
Only in the romantic land of Eire could such a situation be found where inmates of an internment camp are free to go out anywhere in a 10-mile radius every day, honor bound not to attempt escape, but when in camp, may with impunity seek to make a break for freedom.
In Camp Curragh, Kildare, Eire, there is a small group of British and Canadian airmen. Forced down in that neutral country, or in the sea about it, they have been interned for the duration. Among them is Pilot Officer Charles S. Brady, 23, R.C.A.F., whose mother Is Mrs. Mildred Ilsley, Glencairn Ave.
Last August Pilot Officer Brady made his third attempt to escape. He and five others built a ladder.  At the last barrier three airmen successfully scaled it and fled to safety, but Pilot Officer Brady and two others were caught when the prison-made ladder broke. "After all. I did not enlist to have a good time. I want action." he wrote not long ago.
Pilot Officer Brady's plane crashed into the sea not far from the rocky coast of Eire. His observer was badly injured and died the next day. He and his pilot. Paul Webster, were un-harmed. Webster later escaped from camp, went back into action and was killed last year.
Live in Huts
"We get our room and board here,  but that is all," the Toronto boy wrote. "We live in huts and life is rather monotonous. We have to find our own amusement. We are allowed to go out every day, giving our word not to attempt to escape.
Once a month we are allowed to go to Dublin with an escort."
He said that all the boys of the camp have bicycles and cycle every day. They do no work, although sometimes they volunteer to help the farmers with farm work. They read the newspapers and listen to all the news over their own radio.
Charles has a dog of whom he is quite fond.
Once a wealthy landowner in the adjacent country invited the boys to his home for dinner and entertained them royally. Later, when they heard he needed help with the harvest, they all volunteered to aid him.
"The Canadian high commissioner to Eire. John D. Kearney, invited us to his home in Dublin last Christmas. We had a grand time.  Nothing seemed too good for us.  They made us right at home. For a Christmas gift they gave us a radio and a ping-pong table," the Toronto flier said.
Pilot Officer Brady attended Lawrence Park collegiate, and enlisted as a wireless air gunner in the R.C.A.F. He went overseas in March. 1940. He received his commission while in camp.

The following photo of Chuck was taken in the family home of his aunt Emily in Dublin, visiting on parole.

The Toronto Star again on the 30th of October 1943 reported on Charles but this time that his fifth 'escape attempt' had been successful and he was safe in England.  Upon his release from internment, he was interviewed and filed an escape and Evasion reports which deals with his two years of internment very briefly.

I took off from CAREW CHERITON, South Wales, on 23 Oct 41 in a Blenheim fighter, and came down the same day in the sea off SCHULL, CO. CORK.  I was sent for internment to the CURRAGH CAMP.

Following his release from internment, Chuck returned to flying duties and went on to serve with Bomber Command as a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner with 434 Squadron between July  and December 1944.  During this time he earned himself a Distinguished Fying Cross with the following citation published in the London Gazette.

Flight Lieutenant Brady has successfully completed a second tour of operations as wireless operator.  He has at all times displayed a fine offensive spirit and devotion to duty of a very high order.  On one occasion during an attack on Bochum [9 October 1944], Flight Lieutenant Brady's skilful and accurate work  enabled the crew to successfully evade through fighter attacks under harassing circumstances.  He has been recently employed as signals leader in the squadron and as such has carried out his task in a highly efficient manner.  His efficiency both in the air and on the ground has contributed greatly to the success of the unit.

He married in London in May 1944, to Olive Clive.

The Toronto Star again, on 20 July 1986 carried a half page spread of two articles relating to the demise of Blenheim V5728.

A letter had been published sometime before that from members of the Warplane Research Group of Ireland seeking information about the crew of a bomber that had crashed off Ireland, one of whom, Sgt Woodman was buried in Mallow. 

Compiled by Dennis Burke, 2025.  Sources: Irish Military Archives File: G2/X/0893, Newspapers mentioned in text from Newspapers.com, Records sourced via ancestry.com and archives.gov.