Supermarine Walrus: Goodbye from the HMS Liverpool

(Author's Collection)

     A Supermarine Walrus from the Town-class light cruiser HMS Liverpool is lowered into the water. On the back of the photograph is written: “Our plane that never came back. Liverpool.” Research into this lament sounding sentence shows that what one thinks is the obvious turns out not to be. The HMS Liverpool, commissioned in November 1938, carried three Supermarine Walrus aircraft onboard though only one catapult was fitted to the ship. The primary purpose of the Walrus was twofold: carry out aerial patrolling to search for submarines and enemy surface ships and to perform air-sea rescue when called upon. I started my investigation into the loss of the Walrus on the assumption that it was downed during the extensive combat the HMS Liverpool saw while with the 7th. Cruiser Squadron of the British Mediterranean Fleet when it went into action against Italian naval ships in June 1940. During the months long campaign, the HMS Liverpool was torpedoed and bombed by Italian aircraft with one torpedo hit destroying the bow of the ship to the point that it separated from the ship while the Liverpool was under tow. Given the significant action the ship saw and the activity of the Italian air force during the skirmishes, it seemed natural to assume that the Walrus had been shot down while patrolling except that in finding an accounting of the ship’s war record, there is nothing about the loss of one of its Walrus aircraft. Then, an alternate search turned up a lead which explained the hand written caption on the photo as well as explained why no Walrus loss was given on the ship’s combat record. 

     When the HMS Liverpool first entered service, it was deployed to the 5th. Cruiser Squadron which was operating in the Far East Theater in 1939-1940. At the time, Hong Kong was bereft of military assets with much of it having been recalled to England to support British forces in Europe. The RAF had a minuscule presence at Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong, being outfitted with a mere three old Vickers Vildebeest biplane torpedo bombers. The airport did feature a slipway for seaplanes to exit Kowloon Bay. When the HMS Liverpool pulled into Hong Kong in January 1940, two of the three Walrus’ were left with the RAF at Kai Tak with the tail codes L 2259 and L 2819. 

     Although the photograph is blurred significantly, the Walrus seems to be L 2819. What appears to be camouflage on the Walrus is actually shadows of the ship’s crew watching the proceedings from the deck. The note on the back of the picture was more lamenting the fact a part of their ship was being left behind rather than lost in combat and that the Walrus photographed was not lost to enemy action accounts for why it was not recorded in the ship’s war record. Tai Tak Airport, and Hong Kong proper, fell to the Japanese on December 25, 1941. When the Japanese commenced the attack on December 8, Tai Tak was targeted by Japanese bombers and the RAF aircraft were wiped out on the ground save one Vildebeest which was abandoned and the RAF personnel went on to defend the city as foot troops.