The story of "Sunethra Devi" - Part 1

Brush with death over S'pore

By Roger Thiedeman

Sri Lanka's first national airline, Air Ceylon, began life in December 1947 with a small fleet comprising three Douglas DC-3 Dakota aircraft. When Air Ceylon was disbanded 32 years later, it boasted a fatality-free record, a distinction few airlines could claim then or now. But one of Air Ceylon's original trio of DC-3s came close to ruining that record - not once but twice - by the time the fledgling airline was scarcely two years old.

This is the story of that airplane, a Dakota named Sunethra Devi. Manufactured at the Douglas Aircraft Company's Oklahoma plant as a C-47A in wartime 1943, it was commissioned by the United States Air Force. After just three months with the Americans, the C-47 was assigned to a Middle East squadron of Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) in December 1943. It acquired the RAF serial number FL566 and the type-name 'Dakota', as British-owned Douglas C-47s were called.

By April 1944, Dakota FL566 had moved to another RAF squadron, this time in India. When the war ended just over a year later, like thousands of other Douglas C-47/Dakotas scattered across the world, it was placed on the surplus list. True enough, these were war-weary airplanes, but they had demonstrated their ruggedness and reliability in the cut-and-thrust of military operations. With not much required in the way of repair and renovation, the C-47s were ripe for picking by the multitude of new airlines taking wing in a global, post-war, commercial aviation boom.

And Air Ceylon was no exception. In early 1947, the former RAF Dakota identified as FL566 joined two other Douglas Dakotas, also sourced from surplus stocks in India, to form the nucleus of Ceylon's new national carrier. Re-designated as a DC-3 Dakota ('DC' stands for 'Douglas Commercial'), the airplane received the Ceylonese civil registration VP-CAT and was given the fleet name Sunethra Devi. For the record, the other two Air Ceylon Dakotas were named Sita Devi (VP-CAR) and Viharamaha Devi (VP-CAS). Later, in 1948, a DC-3 from Scotland boosted the fleet to four, and became Sri Lanka Devi (VP-CBA).

After Air Ceylon's inaugural flight by Sita Devi on December 10, 1947, its three DC-3s commenced duty on the new domestic and regional network. On December 26, making a change from scheduled services, Sunethra Devi left Ratmalana on a charter flight to the Indian subcontinent commanded by Capt. Peter Fernando and with Olga de Silva as stewardess. On board were Ceylon's Prime Minster-elect, D.S. Senanayake and the Minister for Transport and Works, John Kotelawala. Spanning several days, the flight called in at Madras (now Chennai), Bombay (now Mumbai), Bhopal, Delhi and Karachi (in the newly-created Pakistan), for talks between Mr. Senanayake and Mr. Kotelawala and their Indian and Pakistani counterparts concerning air traffic rights between the respective countries.

Soon, 1947 gave way to 1948. On February 4 of the new year, just two months after giving birth to a new national airline, Ceylon was itself reborn as an independent nation. Prosperity and progress were uppermost in the nation's consciousness. In early 1948, the Fisheries Department purchased a 75-foot, 55-ton fishing trawler, the M.V. Halpha, from a company in Australia. But how would they get the boat from Australia to Ceylon?

Lanka's new-found confidence and optimism provided the answer. The country now had a small but growing naval force, the Ceylon Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (CRNVR), derived from men who had served during the war with Britain's Royal Navy, the Fleet Air Arm and the Ceylon Naval Volunteer Force. And didn't Ceylon also possess its own national airline? So why not use Air Ceylon to fly out a group of Ceylonese naval officers and other ranks to Sydney, where they would take over the trawler and sail it back on an 8,000-mile voyage to Colombo?

The prospect seemed daunting at first. For its part, Air Ceylon was just a small domestic and regional carrier. The airline was still at least nine months away from commencing long-haul international services using larger DC-4 Skymasters in collaboration with Australian National Airways (ANA). The naval personnel too had little experience of navigating vessels over vast expanses of ocean. But typical Ceylonese guts and determination won the day, and a decision to proceed was taken by the parties concerned.

The complement of naval passengers comprised Lt. Cmdr. Carl Ohlmus (in overall command of the team), Lt. Raja Proctor, Lt. Alan Caldera, Petty Officer (P/O) A.J. Fernando, P/O A.H. Poulier, Leading Seaman (L/S) A.A. Wise, Leading Telegraphist (L/Tel) H.P. Paulusz, Able Bodied Seaman (A/B) V.A.C. Fernando, Signalman (S/M) R.M.P.A. Ratnayake, and Cook Jinoris. A few civilians, euphemistically described as 'guests', would also go along for the ride.

Sunethra Devi was chosen for the Australian flight, its aircrew some of Air Ceylon's most experienced flyers of that time. oThe crew compsised captain Peter Fernando; First Officer (co-pilot) P.B. Mawalagedera; Radio Officer John Vethavanam; Flight Engineer W.A.E "Bunny" Molamure and relief Radio Officer/ Purser D.L Srimanne

And so, the morning of Sunday May 30, 1948 saw Sunethra Devi being readied for departure on a flight that would prove longer, more adventurous and infinitely more arduous than anything it or its crew had previously undertaken. The Air Ceylon DC-3 would create history by becoming the first flight to land in Australia with an all-Asian crew in charge. Also, the first non-scheduled flight of any overseas airline to land at an Australian airport other than Darwin. However, that flight by Sunethra Devi nearly created history for the wrong reasons. But for the grace of God, it would have ended in disaster with the loss of all lives on board.

At 0745 hours on that historic May morning Sunethra Devi lifted off from Ratmalana and headed for her first stop, Madras. Reaching Madras at 1030, the DC-3 took on fuel and departed at 1115 on its next sector, a five-hour-plus flight to Calcutta. Here, aircraft, crew and passengers rested overnight ahead of an early take-off scheduled for 3.10 a.m. the next day. When Sunethra Devi left Calcutta's Dum Dum airport at that ungodly hour, its passengers and crew were probably none too thrilled at being roused from comfortable beds for a pre-dawn departure. But at least the passengers could curl up in their seats and go back to sleep, lulled by the drone of the DC-3's twin engines. There was no such respite, however, for the Air Ceylon flight crew.

Sunethra Devi flew on to Rangoon (now Yangon) in Burma (now Myanmar). Arriving there at 0725 on May 31, the passengers and crew had their breakfast, while the DC-3 was refuelled and prepared for what would be the longest sector of the trip. It was also the sector that almost ended in disaster for Sunethra Devi and her human cargo.

At 0910 the DC-3 departed Rangoon, her fourth take-off for the trip so far. The next destination was Singapore, with an estimated arrival time of 1730 hours. But as the airplane flew on, conditions began deteriorating unexpectedly. Rangoon authorities had not forewarned Capt. Fernando of what he later described as "real dirty weather". With dense clouds and rain reducing visibility to zero, Fernando and Mawalagedera could now rely only on their instrument flying skills to keep the DC-3 on course. Strong headwinds and air currents, alternating between updrafts and downdrafts, made that task even harder as Sunethra Devi was buffeted and tossed around like a leaf.

Then, lightning-induced static began interfering with radio communications to and from the aircraft. Worse still, it played havoc with the plane's navigation (direction-finding) equipment. Lacking reliable information, the pilots could no longer determine whether Singapore still lay ahead, or whether they had in fact overflown the 'Lion City'. To put it bluntly, they were hopelessly lost.

As the DC-3 floundered around in the stormy skies, tension mounted in the cockpit and filtered through to the passengers too. The prospect of death loomed large. Sunethra Devi was in imminent danger of flying into a rain-shrouded hill, or crashing to earth after running out of fuel.

But at least one person on board could see a lighter side to the situation. Radio Officer Sirimanne, who was resting in the passenger cabin while Vethavanam manned the radio on the flight deck, takes up the story: Raja Proctor began handing out meals to the passengers, telling them: "This is your last supper. Enjoy it!" Then, at Vethavanam's request, I too entered the cockpit to lend assistance. We tried tuning various radio stations without success. Meanwhile, Peter Fernando was calling up Calcutta and Singapore, but their signals were very weak. Finally, he made contact with Singapore stating that our position was unknown. Occasionally, through a break in the clouds, we could glimpse the sea below, and hills to the left of the aircraft. Singapore air traffic control asked us to tune into a certain frequency and await instructions.

Then, like a godsend, they heard the voice of another pilot over the radio. Singapore had sent up an RAF aircraft to find and help the hapless DC-3. The unseen 'angel of mercy' told the Air Ceylon crew to tune their radio compass to another frequency. Guided by their instruments, and carefully following their invisible saviour's instructions, the pilots finally brought Sunethra Devi to a safe landing at Singapore's Changi airport in the gathering dusk and gloom. The time was 6.25 p.m., signifying that the plane had been airborne for a staggering 9 hours and 15 minutes. To further compound everyone's sense of relief, it was discovered that Sunethra Devi's gasoline tanks held sufficient fuel for only another 30 minutes of flying time.

Two days later, a chastened crew resumed their journey to Australia. They staged through Batavia (now Jakarta), Surabaya and Koepang, finally touching down on Australian soil, in Darwin, on Thursday, June 3. Onwards again the following morning, across the harsh, endless Australian landscape, stopping at the Northern Territory outpost of Daly Waters. Then to Cloncurry and Charleville in Queensland before an overnight stop at Brisbane. Their final destination, Sydney, was reached on June 5 at 1240 hours.

No doubt the navy men disembarked with great relief. They were probably looking forward to returning to the sea, an element that was, to them, far more familiar and reassuring than the dangerous skies they had flown through over the past six days.

As for the intrepid crew of Sunethra Devi, they commenced their return journey on the night of June 10. The homeward route more or less mirrored the outbound one, except for a 36-hour pause (for rest and recreation?) on the idyllic island of Bali, and a night-stop at Bangkok instead of Rangoon. There was only one noteworthy event on the return flight. Sunethra Devi was compelled to circle Dum Dum airport, Calcutta for over an hour while an unserviceable aircraft was cleared off the runway. The delay extended their sector time (from Bangkok) to nearly 8 hours.

When Sunethra Devi landed back at Ratmalana on the wet and windy afternoon of Thursday, June 17, her crew were hailed as heroes. Their brush with death in the stormy skies over Singapore was now little more than a dim memory. For the ill-fated DC-3, however, another appointment with danger was not all that far away.

(To be concluded next week)

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