G-EBMW on its way to Baghdad.

Desert Rescue

Keeper of the Phtographs at the Air Force Museum at Wigram, Matthrew O'Sillivan, tells the tale of how “Christchurch man rescues wife from Iraqi desert”.

That Christchurch man was aviator Captain William Francis Warner and this tale tells of his involvement in searching for his wife after her airliner went missing between Cairo and Baghdad.
Capt Warner was born on 9 April 1895, the son of Christchurch identity William Warner, a noted seaman who accompanied Julius von Haast on his pioneering trip when he discovered a new route (Haast’s Pass) from Otago to Westland in 1863.

William Warner senior took over the Commercial Hotel in Cathedral Square, Christchurch in 1874. By 1894 the hotel was commonly known as Warner’s. Tragically, when William junior was only one year old, his father, Commodore of the New Brighton Sailing Club, drowned when he and three others got into difficulties while sailing the 18ft yacht Waitangi from Sumner to New Brighton for a regatta.

The original Commercial burnt down in 1900 but, on 28 February 1901, nearly five years since his father drowned, a young William Francis Warner, dressed in a sailor’s suit, laid the foundation stone for the Warner’s Hotel hat stands today. The silver trowel with ivory handle that he used remained a treasured possession until his death.

He was educated at Waitaki Boys’ High School and in 1916 applied to Walsh Bros and Dexter to learn to fly at the NZ Flying School. He paid Leo Walsh £100 on 8 January 1917,and signed the agreement to begin training. He was duly recommended to the Imperial authorities as a suitable candidate to receive a commission in the Royal Flying Corps.

He initially enlisted in the Army and was attached to the 31st Reinforcements NZEF, until he was granted a commission in the RFC. He flew with Nos. 24, 87 and 94 Squadrons, RFC and Royal Air Force. He was wounded on 24 March 1918. After the war he was granted a Short Service Commission and flew with Nos. 9 and 216 Squadrons, piloting Vickers Virginia, Vimy and Victoria aircraft.

Warner resigned his RAFcommission in 1926 to become a pilot with Imperial Airways, which took over the airmail route from Cairo to Basra from the RAF. He piloted the first Imperial Airways aircraft to reach Basra. The trip of 866 miles took all day, with many fuel stops, some of which were at refuelling stations that were merely isolated landing grounds in the remote desert. This required accurate navigation by the pilot and copilot in the open cockpit aircraft.

Capt Warner kept a souvenir booklet, The New Road to the East, detailing sights to be seen and the history of the areas along the route. He wryly wrote comments in the margins making corrections to the text.

On dust storms and flying into one from above, he wrote, “Absolute damn rot – a dust storm of this magnitude one would not tackle from above and as for seeing the deck from 1000 feet – bilge! I have been in a real one and I lost my W/T aerial flying low enough to see the ground.” He also corrected a photograph titled “Above the Dust Storm” by adding “These are ordinary clouds photographed from up above”.

In December 1927 Warner’s wife, whom he had recently married in Port Said, travelled to Baghdad to be with him. She left Cairo on the Imperial Airways DH66 Hercules airliner, G-EBMW on 29th December. On board were two pilots, a radio operator, three RAF officers, Mrs. Warner and “a big mail”.

The aircraft was approaching the refuelling station of Rutbah Wells, in western Iraq, when the pilot radioed that he was experiencing extraordinary winds. Half an hour later the fuelling station reported that the aircraft was overdue and a motor-car was sent to try to find it, without any luck. Later the pilot radioed that he had force-landed “30 miles south of the track, between landing grounds (LG) No.4 and No.5” about 180 miles west of Baghdad, and asked for petrol to be despatched by motor-car.
Capt Warner left Baghdad in another Hercules to search for the missing aircraft. He crossed and re-crossed the route between LGs 4 and 5 - a distance of only 28 miles - without luck and headed for Rutbah Wells to refuel. Later, he took off to reconnoitre an area 30 or 40 miles south of the usual track but again saw nothing.

Refuelling an Imperial Airways' DH66 Hercules at Rutbah Wells.

A second Imperial Airways aircraft was despatched to help with the search and the next morning the RAF sent three Victorias from No. 70 Squadron to help.

The search continued until about midnight and Capt Warner gave instructions for a flare to be kept alight all night. He flew an area 50 to 60 miles south of LG5, firing flares at regular intervals but no night watch was organised by the captain of the lost aircraft so the flares were not seen. When he landed at LG5 at about midnight, Warner and his crew had their first meal since breakfast. Next morning he was up before dawn and flying to LG5 to continue the search.

Warner’s official report states, “I then flew south, intending to do so for only 20 minutes, but always something ahead interested me, till at last I thought I saw a puff of white smoke, so I carried on a little further, telling myself not to be a mutt - I had seen so many puffs of white on the desert yesterday - and that it was probably only the rising sun glinting on polished stone. Well I watched most carefully and seemed to see it again, so kept on my course – at last I could distinguish the m/c [machine] – nuff said.”

Warner’s log book records that he left Baghdad for the search at 0510 on 30 December 1927. He arrived at Tel Ferida at 0724 to refuel and left again at 0742, arriving at Rutbah at 0855. He flew at least three searches that day and took off again at 0336 on New Year’s eve to continue the search.

At 0555 he landed at LG MW, Warner’s unofficial name for where G-EBMW landed. The mail and passengers were transferred to Warner’s machine and at 0855 he took off for Baghdad. He arrived at 1115 local time after flying via some bitumen pools in the desert which was a local sightseeing spot. He radioed the position of the lost aircraft but a figure three was mistaken as 33, thereby making the position south of LG5 and not the actual position, which was south of LG4.

In the meantime seven more RAF aircraft were sent from Baghdad to help. These flew in a wide formation and would undoubtedly have found the lost aircraft if Warner had not. The lost aircraft eventually made its way to Baghdad under its own power.

In the time that G-EBMW was lost there was some concern about its occupants’ safety as some Akhwan tribesmen had recently been reported in the area and Wahabi tribesmen had recently been engaged in attacks on the Iraqi frontier. Imperial Airways’ aircraft carried no weapons of any kind, but in the event the passengers and crew, “at no time did they feel in any danger”.

When it landed, the aircraft was surrounded by tribesmen who supplied water and helped out in other ways. “The Arabs were most friendly” and Capt Warner commented that “the tribesmen had been most courteous to my wife”. It was hoped that this friendly attitude would help relations between the British authorities and local Arabs in the future.

Warner was involved in several other desert searches during 1928. In March he helped evacuate a wounded Armenian from Rutbah, and in April he searched for a six wheeler Renault with 28 people. This resulted in the management of Imperial Airways sending a memorandum to Warner expressing the desire, “to steer the middle course between presenting a pro-forma invoice to an injured man before transporting him and transporting all and sundry as free passengers”!

Warnern resigned from Imperial Airways ion 1930 to become the Chief Flying Instructor of the Bengal Flying Club at Dum Dum airfield, India and in 1935 retired from flying to manage an estate in Devon, England.

In August 1941 he was granted an emergency commission in the RAF Volunteer Reserve. Among other things he served as an air traffic controller in England. He was released from the RAF in late 1945 and the next year returned to Christchurch, New Zealand to begin fruit farming. He died at his home in 1971.

His family donated his flying log books, letters, documents and photograph albums to the newly opened Air Force Museum in 1988. It is from these source documents, among others, that this article was written. is family donated his flying log books, letters, documents and photograph albums to the newly opened Air Force Museum in 1988. It is from these source documents, among others, that this article was written.