Reduction gear case from a Bristol Pegasus Mk VI radial aircraft engine from Supermarine Walrus L2312

Dome like reduction gear case from a Bristol Pegasus Mk VI radial aircraft engine. The housing is made from cast aluminium and has 9 holes at the front, with two small holes in the inner rim. It has a relatively cylindrical form at the side, and has a projecting flange at the base where it bolts to the engine crankcase. The bolt holes at the base are separated from each other by a distinctive scalloped edge. Most of the flange has broken away and only a small section with four and a half holes is present.

This is from the engine of an amphibious aircraft known as a Supermarine Walrus that crashed in France in June 1940.

At 2.55am on 18 June 1940, Walrus L2312 took off from Mount Batten, near Plymouth, England on a secret mission to collect the family of General Charles De Gaulle, which was at a French coastal town called Carantec, before the Germans occupied the area.

The aircraft had a crew of three, including two Australians from 10 Squadron RAAF; the pilot, Flight Lieutenant John Napier Bell and observer Sergeant Charles William Harris, who was the crew's air gunner for the mission. The third crew member was a British wireless electrical mechanic, Corporal Bernard Nowell. In addition to the crew was a special passenger, British intelligence officer Captain Norman Hope, who knew the destination and purpose of the mission.

Unfortunately the morning of 18 June was very foggy and at 4.30 that morning locals at the village of Ploudaniel, about 30 kilometres south west of Carantec (as the crow flies) were woken to the sound of a low flying aircraft. The fog was thick and it seemed that the aircraft flew back and forth a few times, as if looking for somewhere to land. One eye witness account stated the aircraft was on fire as it descended, which has led to the belief it may have been shot at. However, this was generally discounted and it is thought the aircraft was just lost. Eventually the plane crashed after trying to land in a field, hitting a small embankment, breaking in two and catching fire.

All four in the plane were killed. Their bodies were recovered within a few hours of the crash and later buried at the cemetery at Ploudaniel, where they remain today. A few days after they left England, their families were sent telegrams to advise that they were missing. In early 1941 the four men were all presumed killed and their families notified. Later some French refugees, Henry and John Castagna escape to England and reported the fates of the crew to the British Red Cross, who passed it on to the military. They named Bell, Nowell and a man called 'Sergeant Bennett' as victims of the crash. The fourth man was unidentifiable but was believed to be Harris. As he was with British intelligence there was some speculation that 'Bennett' may have been Captain Hope, using a different name for the mission, as there was not a fifth crew member. The families were told where their graves were believed to be located but as the country was still occupied, it was not until 1946 when this was confirmed.

Nothing was heard from the aircraft after it left England and as it did not return, a boat, Motor Transport 29 was sent to rescue the family on 19 June, with a French interpreter on board. He was to find the family and try to discover what happened to the Walrus and its crew. However, when they arrived they discovered Carantec was already occupied by the Germans, so they returned to England empty handed.

Luckily Madame De Gaulle and her family, who were not aware of these rescue attempts, had left Carantec, on 17 or 18 of June, and had driven down to Brest to try and get a ferry to England. On the way there the car broke down and they missed the boat they planned to catch. Although this would have seemed unlucky at the time, this was actually fortuitous as that boat was sunk by the Germans on its way to England with all lives lost. The De Gaulles managed to get space on the last boat to leave Brest before the Germans arrived and upon arrival in England, set up home in England for the duration of the war.

The aircraft wreck remained on the edge of the field for months, until the Germans removed it. In the meantime the locals souvenired pieces of it. This reduction gear case is one of the objects recovered from the aircraft.