"1943 THE ISLANDS OF BERMUDA (The Somers... " a Bermuda Travel Page by Simonneeddy

One of many that was ferried to Prestwik Scotland during 1943

The recent photo ( on the right) was sent to me by a resident of Bermuda VT member "AODHDUBH " One of the only two remaining Luscombe aircraft. Wing Commander Mo. Ware OBE. DFC.deceased. had the Luscombe shown in the picture at his disposal during the war years and often used it to fly around the island and go to Kindly Field ( Recently he owned one of the two remaining planes but it was damaged in a hard landing see more below)
I flew around Bermuda shore line in this plane in early 1944 with Flight Lieutenant Casgrain R.C.A.F. (HE later made many flights in Coronado's to Newfoundland and Iceland then to Scotland, He also made 10 day return trips on the southern route to Lagos Nigeria via Trinidad, Belem Brazil. Natal Brazil , Freetown in Sierra Leone, finally Lagos Africa carrying freight and passengers( FERRY CREWS RETURNING TO PICK UP ANOTHER PLANE)..

It was Beautiful at 300 ft. in the Luscombe. Everyone would wave at us Wing Commander Mo. Ware .OBE. DFC had flown the plane there from Darrell's Island to Kindley Field (our land plane base)but decided to return by ground transport with some VIP's who had arrived from Montreal. He ordered Flight Lieutenant Casgrain to fly his Luscombe back to Darrell's Island and to take me with him. We departed from Kindley Field and landed at Darrell's Island. When we left Kindley Field in the lagoon there were no waves or wind but when we arrived at Darrell's Island the water was very rough and the pilot was use to flying big two and four motor planes such as PBY's and Coronado's. I looked at him after he hit the first big wave and bounced high and the plane shook and he was white as a sheet. I guess I was Also. WE hit the second big wave just at the right angle and made a safe but rough landing. We were a little shook up but Ok.
I heard today Nov. 22nd, 2002 that two of these planes still exist neither in flying condition though.One owned by "COLIN PLANT" of Bermuda and the other one though badly damaged by a hard landing and while waiting for repairs hurricane Emily in 1987. It belongs to the deceased Wing Commander E.M."Mo". Ware ( ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS) He was Officer Commanding Station Bermuda He was attached (after the war) to the Government of Bermuda as Director Of Civil Aviation. His mandate to convert Kindley Field into a civilian airport . He also owned an airlines with two PBY's for a while.

The following is a link to a friends page (He lives in Bermuda) which gives a lot of information about Darrell's island

RAF DARRELL'S ISLAND by gpvillain

This was our Base ( see travelogue for island as it is today)
Flying over I took a picture of it and the Pan AM, BOAC BASE, from the Coronado flying boat which was piloted by Wing Commander Mo Ware .OBE. DFC. on a test flight.( see it in the following picture). Only 1 PBM at anchor and one on the ramp.WE were flying in CORONADO JX 740 (WHICH WAS A 4 MOTOR FLYING BOAT, OUR FIRST ONE) (Received on Apr. 4th, 1943) This was a training and test flight . They were new to us..They had to have 40 hours test flight and inspections done in Bermuda and it was used for local training for a while as well. It departed for Halifax ( Dartmouth) on Apr. 16th. 1943) and from there to Gander Lake, Iceland and Scotland or Gibraltar.. These were used for transport of goods and passenger were unarmed.