Stanley Graham manhunt 1941

[denysjones]

Yesterday at Ferrymead one of the team had a copy of the book "Manhunt" on the Stanley Graham incident on the West Coast in October 1941. He was recently given the copy of the book but had read it many years ago.

In our conversation he brought up the fact that back when he was first reading it I had shown him some photos I have from an old family album which I had always been told were of the incident. He further reminded me that when he had seen the photos he had been able to place the airfield involved based on the distinctive shape of a hill in the background which he knew well from his helicopter flying in the area and its proximity to where the manhunt occurred.

His final point was that he believes that there are supposedly no known photos of the RNZAF's involvement in the manhunt but it is well known that a "Vildebeest" was despatched to participate.

You can see that the a/c in the photos is NZ310 so it is actually a Vincent and ADF serials says that a/c was with 2GR Nelson July-October 1941.

I found a Police Gazette article on the manhunt, from Oct 2006, which mentions that the a/c carried bombs and that certainly matches the one in the photos

The officer shown in three of the photos in a jersey and having a snooze near the a/c is my uncle Hardie Ker Tait. I'm unable to say if he was with 2GR and at Nelson at said date.

Can anyone here flesh this out to verify or nullify that these photos do portray the incident?

I'm sorry for the lack of quality in the photos but they are the old 2.5 x 3.5 inch size and distinctly hazy. I've scanned them as densely as I can.

I had an idea I'd put them up here before but couldn't locate them so apologies if I'm doubling up.

[Dave Homewood]

Really interesting photos and info Denys.

Pilot Officer Hardie Ker Tait was posted in to No. 2 (General Reconnaissance) Squadron as the Signals Officer, and one of the original squadron members, on the 2nd of January 1941. So that lines up.

[Dave Homewood]

Are you able to re-scan those photos individually, with a high definition and like 200% setting on the scanner, by any chance, Denys? We might be able to recognise some faces, maybe.

[Dave Homewood]

There is an old thread here on the Stanley Graham story. Radialicious (Alistair Marshall) added some great info to it. I wonder if he might recognise one of his relatives in your photos, so I have sent him the link.

rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/3993/movie-bad-blood-question?

[oj]

The airfield name has not emerged yet?

[denysjones]

oj..My man says that the location is is the Koiterangi Valley and he believes the RNZAF operated out of a field near Mt Camelback.

I've done my best with the images and in the one of HKT having a snooze you can see a farm building of sorts behind. Now I've got this I'll show that to my man as he knows the area very well from his chopper days and so perhaps he may even have seen the shed.

Anyway here they are.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks for the larger photos, Denys. Great stuff.

Note that the the airfield had a windsock, and there is a row of stacked fuel drums (I think) in the back of one of the photos. That big shed could possibly be a small hangar? it has a wide door.

[Dave Homewood]

This passage in the AUCKLAND STAR article, published on the 11th of October 1941, is interesting.

RESENTMENT

HOME GUARD MEN

BRUSH WITH POLICE "HAS GONE FAR ENOUGH"

(Special) HOKITIKA, this day.

Resentment by members of the Home Guard at the way in which the police are handling the Koiterangi manhunt flared up in an open break late yesterday afternoon, when a section of Guardsmen went off to scour the bush after being ordered back by Inspector D. L. Calwell.

Arrangements had been made by Inspector Calwell to have an Air Force bomber bomb the bush near Graham's house. The arrival of the bomber was first scheduled for two o'clock. It was then put back an hour and further delayed till just after six o'clock. Inspector Calwell told the Home Guard the machine was not going to bomb the bush as the hour was getting late. Therefore, he said, there would be no search of the bush as a sequel to the bombing.

"Our mates have been killed, and this has gone far enough," came an angry voice from the crowd. "Come on boys. We're taking charge." One man jumped over a fence and started off in the direction of the bush, trailing his rifle, and two followed him. "Bring those men back and use force if necessary," called Inspector Calwell.

There was an angry exchange between the inspector and members of the crowd, but the Guard leader, Mr. H. Dimmock, called the men to order. The man who had shouted at the inspector apologised, and Inspector Calwell left the scene.

Other Guardsmen now ran across to join their comrades, about 15 making a frontal advance into the bush, while a dozen more went out cautiously on the right flank. All carried their rifles at the trail and observed open order as they approached the bush.

The men crouched in the tussock and ran from bush to bush. At least 50 men did not take part in this sortie. It was said that those who broke away were not local men. Those from round Koiterangi and Kokatahi claimed they had too much respect for Graham's ability as a rifle shot and bushman to venture in.

Feeling against the police was shown only by some of the Guardsmen. They maintain that the hunt was badly controlled, that action was wanted and that they were wasting time which would be better spent in killing Graham or on their farms.

Inspector Calwell said he wanted to protect the Guardsmen and avoid useless loss of life. The men returned later from the search and reported they had seen nothing.

There was a further brush with the police when Sergeant F. McRobin, of Greymouth, addressed them on their return. "Look here, all you Greymouth men," he said, "we want discipline here." A Guardsman replied, "We don't want discipline, we want organisation."

"All who are not prepared to take instructions from the police can make their own arrangements or go home now by bus," declared the sergeant.

If they had just the one Vincent coming, I wonder what the Police had in mind. Was it to drop 22lb practice bombs (it could carry eight on the bomb racks and probably more dropped from the rare cockpit) to make small explosions and get him on the run? Or were they thinking actual 250lb HE bombs, of which it could carry four at a time? Seems like that would be quite ineffective in bush country, especially with just one aircraft.

[Dave Homewood]

Excerpt from PRESS, 11th of October 1941:

Some idea of the importance attached by the police to getting the matter cleaned up speedily was a decision to send a bomber of the Royal New Zealand Air Force to drop bombs through the bush where Graham is thought to be. All day people waited for the bomber to come. It was 6.30 when it finally flew overhead, diving down to skim the top of the bush in a reconnaissance. When the aeroplane came over, the Home Guardsmen (against all orders) were in the bush. Local men were to aid in the reconnaissance, to give the pilot a chance to discover the lay of the country. The Camelback, where Graham is now thought to be, is so big and so thickly bushed that an effective search is said to be almost impossible.

[Dave Homewood]

This article from the AUCKLAND STAR, 11th of Octpober 1941, give some detail of the Air Force's activities.

"SHOOT ON SIGHT"

ORDER TO PARTIES

SEARCH NOW INTENSIFIED

(Special to Star.) HOKITIKA, this day.

With the searchers ordered to shoot on sight, the scene of the Graham man-hunt turned to-day to the bush round Kokatahi, scene of the dawn battle between the fugitive and Home Guardsmen. Aircraft co-operated with the ground parties.

Nearly 200 searchers began early this morning to comb out an area roughly five miles square around Kokatahi and Koiterangi. Somewhere in this region Graham is thought to be hiding. The searchers were mostly Home Guardsmen, strongly reinforced by police numbering about 50, including men who had been flown from Wellington yesterday.

All the morning reinforcements came in from scattered districts. West Coasters were grim in their i determination to put an end to what has become a nightmare.

Acres of dense bush extend round Kokatahi, in which Graham, with his knowledge of bushcraft, might be able to elude the search indefinitely. Guards were left at Koiterangi to watch the fugitive's house, in the hope that he would return.

Some of the stores in the district have been closed and guards are everywhere that it is likely Graham might make a break in attempting to obtain food. The danger and difficulty of the search have been increased by the fact that men ordered to shoot on sight must be under rigid control in order to prevent disaster, with one searcher shooting another.

High up in the roof of the Koiterangi Hall a Home Guard watcher scanned the countryside with binoculars. His rifle was at the ready and a ventilator in the eaves was his loophole.

Fresh relays of police arrived by air during the day, Squadron Leader Hewitt acting as pilot in an Air Force transport machine which carried six men at a time. A civil machine and a bomber, held in readiness at Hokitika, circled the district shortly before eleven o'clock, making wide, low sweeps over Kokatahi and the scrub round Graham's home at Koiterangi.

Liaison between the aircraft and the ground was maintained by radio from the aeroplanes to the Air Force station at Hokitika, and thence by telephone to the field headquarters. Each machine carried experienced Coast bushmen to act as spotters.

In the meantime senior police officers at Lower Kokatahi organised three parties which scoured the bush to the south and west of the hotel, but found no trace of the wanted man. These men were taking their lives in their hands as they searched through clumps of tea-tree and low scrub. Graham, they knew, was waiting for them somewhere. Light showers of rain fell over the district last night and early this morning, but later the weather I cleared.

So it sounds like there was a No. 42 Squadron transport, probably a DH89 I'd imagine. And there was a Reserve bomber, so maybe two Vincents, or a Vincent and a Vildebeest were involved, one based at Hokatika and one using the forward strip seen above?

[Dave Homewood]

Excerpt from the EVENING STAR, 13th of October 1941:

AIRCRAFT CO-OPERATION.
Aircraft co-operated with the ground parties over the week-end, but owing to doubt as to Graham’s whereabouts it was decided not to permit the bomber to drop bombs. Although Graham’s whereabouts could be detected from the air it would require continuous reconnaissances at low altitude because of the nature of the country.

There were several planes from Hokitika, including a private plane, used to assist the Air Force machines. Inspector Sweeney, of Wellington, arrived by plane on Saturday afternoon, and there are now three inspectors engaged, the others being Inspectors Calwell (Greymouth) and Carroll (Christchurch). The country is as difficult as any in New Zealand in which to find a man of Graham’s type, with his unrivalled knowledge of the land.

[denysjones]

Today I've made contact with our man, he armed with the copy of the book and me with photos.

The search area was south of the Graham property and north(ish) of an arc between the two mountains/hills that appear in the background of the photos.

The eastern peak of the two is Mt Doughboy which is approx SSE of the farm. It is the backdrop to the photo of Hardie Tait snoozing with the Vincent and in the same shot a strip of water appears which will be the Hokitika River. The other peak is Mt Camelback which is approx SSW off the farm and is somewhat flatter and longer in the photos especially the one of seven guys. Both peaks appear in the background of the shot of the two crew in front of the Vincent.

Slightly to the east and north of Camelback the map in the book shows a number of roads and marks out buildings and it is this area that our man had pointed out to him by a local chopper operator he was crewing for. The comment made was along the lines of "there used to be a strip there years ago" but no name was given. That makes sense seeing all the fuel drums in the photos which obviously have been trucked in. Knowing the West Coast I wouldn't put too much money on the degree of formalisation said strip might have had!

[davidd]

Dave H, re the possibility of source of the "transport" aircraft, 42 Squadron not actually formed (under that name) till December 1943, so would simply have been Communications Flight, stationed at Rongotai, which did have a Dragon Rapide on strength. E&W School Flight at Wigram may have had the two DH84s (Dragons) on strength by this stage.

[Dave Homewood]

Ah yes, correct. S/Ldr Hewett was the C.O. of the Communications Flight at RNZAF Rongotai, I believe, before it expanded to become No. 42 Squadron.

[Dave Homewood]

A couple of weeks ago I was passing through Wellington and I had some time to spend, so I popped into the Archives and searched out the No. 2 Squadron Operations Record Books. There are four. I copied three of them, but unfortunately the fourth book did not come up from the storage before I had to leave, and I suspect that is the book I actually really needed, typically.

In the main ORB (AIR 137 1) there is no mention of the Stanley Graham operation at all. On the 11th of October it lists Vincent NZ341 (P/O Lachlan, Sgt Hewitt and AC Andrew) and Vildebeest NZ132 (P/O Martin, Sgt Anscombe and AC Walker) taking part in a "tactical exercise with Home Guard, a/c provide support for defending force on Haulashore Island & to dive bomb while attack force is attempting a landing."

Nothing more is mentioned till the 14th of October 1941 when three Vincents carried out standard reconnaissance searches. And the next entry is patrols on the 24th of October.

So the main ORB mentions nothing at all about the Vincent being deployed to hunt for Graham.

The Narrative History of the squadron, a very brief diary style book of the unit's highlights, does ever so briefly mention it. No real detail sadly, I had hoped it might give us the airfield name at least. I will try to get back to the archive next time I am in Wellington and look up the fourth book. May not be till April.