New book on Duke of Kent wartime crash points to ‘travesty of justice’
A new book has ruled out the conspiracy theories surrounding the Caithness air crash that killed the Duke of Kent and 13 others during World War II.
Former detective Michael Morgan carried out his own investigation into the disaster that occurred on August 25, 1942, when a Sunderland flying boat lost its way in thick mist just over half an hour after taking off from Invergordon.
The 39-year-old Duke of Kent, the youngest brother of King George VI, held the rank of air commodore and was being transported to Iceland for a welfare visit to RAF stations when Sunderland W4026 came down at Eagle’s Rock, inland from Dunbeath and Berriedale.
In his newly published book – The Death of Prince George, Duke of Kent, 1942 – Mr Morgan raises questions over who was in ultimate command of the flight and points towards a possible “travesty of justice”.
Some researchers have claimed that Rudolf Hess, Germany’s Deputy Fuhrer, was a passenger on Sunderland W4026 as part of secret plans to negotiate a peace deal in neutral Sweden. There have been suggestions that an unidentified woman may have been on board and even speculation that the duke and his colleagues were murdered.
“There was no Rudolf Hess or an unknown female on board the aircraft when it crashed into Eagle’s Rock,” Mr Morgan writes. “The conspiracy claims have sprouted from snippets of evidence and confusion surrounding the initial number of dead at the scene, and the finding of female clothing and perfume.
“In many ways, I believe the authorities may have been only too happy for the conspiracy theories to develop and flourish; acting as a form of disinformation, they have diverted attention away from the real issues.”
Those “real issues”, according to Mr Morgan’s research, centre on compass equipment and navigation.
According to most accounts, the captain was Flight Lieutenant Frank Goyen, a 25-year-old Australian who was an experienced flying boat pilot. The sole survivor of the crash, Flight Sergeant Andrew Jack, was said to have felt that court of inquiry findings blaming Goyen for a “serious mistake in airmanship” were grossly unfair.
Mr Morgan’s research has led him to ask whether Goyen had been “relegated” to the second pilot position for the ill-fated flight, with a wing commander taking over as first pilot and captain.
If correct, he says, “the blaming of Flight Lieutenant Frank Goyen is a travesty of justice”.
The author wonders whether another official inquiry could be held to reinvestigate the crash, “perhaps removing the blame from Goyen’s shoulders”. However, he adds, “with papers missing and witnesses no longer alive, that is unlikely to ever happen”.
Mr Morgan points out that conspiracy theories have been fuelled by the fact that the original court of inquiry report and witness statements, along with other key documents, have “gone missing or allegedly been destroyed”.
He notes that the Sunderland crew had been “chopped and changed”, that there was “an inexperienced navigator” and, with a royal guest on board, “probably an overly excited crew”.
There have also been suggestions that some of the crew had been drinking: “There is the possibility, no matter how unpalatable it may be to some, that there may have been the consumption of alcohol both before and after take-off.”
The Death of Prince George, Duke of Kent, 1942 is published by an imprint of Pen and Sword Books, which specialises in military history.
Mr Morgan (59) is a retired senior police detective and a trained senior investigating officer for murder inquiries. He held the rank of detective chief inspector.
He worked on Britain’s first cold case murder review in London in the 1990s. He lives near Gravesend in Kent.
Mr Morgan said he was grateful for the help he had received from Dunbeath man George Bethune and staff at Dunbeath Heritage Centre and the Nucleus archive centre in Wick, among others.
Mr Bethune is an authority on the crash and has a close personal interest in the subject as his late father, Will Bethune, a special constable, was one of the first to arrive at the scene and identified the Duke of Kent’s body.
Mr Morgan said: “This is an incident that I have always found very interesting, especially as so many conspiracy theories have been attached to it over the past 80 years.
“I spent a year trawling through all manner of archives to try and get to the bottom of this case and I must also thank George Bethune for his kind assistance with my enquiries.
“I think many readers will be surprised by my findings and what I believe caused the fatal crash – they are probably very different to what they expect.”
The Death of Prince George, Duke of Kent, 1942: A New Investigation to Find the Truth, by M S Morgan, is published by Air World, an imprint of Pen and Sword Books (£25, hardback).
