Cathay Pacific VR-HEU - Flight and Attack

Flight and Attack

After being delayed in Bangkok for an hour because of mechanical problems on its no. 2 engine, VR-HEU finally took off from Bangkok at 2019 GMT on 22 July, bound for Hong Kong. A previous flight had taken the plane from Singapore. For the next 4 hours and 25 minutes the routine flight proceeded as planned.

At 2340 GMT, when the DC-4 was cruising at 9,000 ft and roughly 10 miles east of the international air corridor line off Hainan Island and only 31 minutes from Hong Kong, two Lavochkin La-11 fighters (of the 85th Fighter Regiment, People's Liberation Army Air Force), appeared behind VR-HEU, one above it on the DC-4's starboard rear side and the other on its port side. At approximately 2344 GMT, the fighters opened fire and the two outboard engines (Engine numbers 1 & 4) were hit and caught fire. The No. 4 engine's auxiliary and main fuel tank were also ablaze.

While Blown took evasive actions to avoid further damage, co-pilot Cedric Carlton issued blankets to passengers instructing them to place them on the back of their seats for protection against the bullets. Radio operator Stephen Wong made a first distress call at 0845 HKT (2345 GMT). "Kai Tak Tower, Cathay XXX, Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! No. 1 port engine on fire, losing altitude, requesting all possible assistance." Wong made no less than 10 Mayday calls before VR-HEU ditched. Cathay Pacific engineer G. H. Cattanach, travelling as a passenger, tried to make the passengers comfortable when it became known that the plane was going to ditch.

VR-HEU began losing altitude and at 5,000 ft, its rudder control was shot off. Travelling at 350 miles per hour, Blown tried his utmost to evade incendiary bullets coming from the fighters by turning the Skymaster left and right. At 2,000 feet, the right aileron was shot off and the plane began turning right on its own initiative. The captain then countered the increasing turn by shutting down the Nos. 1 and 2 engines and fully opening No. 3. Approximately 2 minutes after the initial attack and unable to carry on a controlled levelled flight, Blown decided to carry out a ditching of his Skymaster in rough open seas that included 15 foot waves and a 25 knots wind.

The starboard wing tip was the first to make impact with the water, severing the right wing between the No. 3 and 4 engines. The impact caused the tail to break off and float off 50 yards from the main wreckage. The main fuselage now floated at an angle of 45 degrees with the rear open fuselage pointing towards the sky.

After the plane ditched into the ocean, the attacking fighters ceased firing at the Skymaster around about 1,000 feet before making a turn around the wreckage and headed towards Sanya. While nine passengers and crew were killed by bullets and the subsequent ditching, nine others survived and escaped the sinking plane. Blown and his co-pilot escaped through a broken starboard sliding window which had water coming in fast.

With all survivors floating on the water with no life vests on, co-pilot Carlton suddenly noticed that a Mrs Thorburn was hanging on to a raft still in its case. Fearing the bright yellow rubber raft might attract the attention of PLAAF fighters, it took Carlton twenty minutes to finally inflate the rubber dinghy and lift all nine passengers in. Once all were on the dinghy, concern remained that the attacking planes might return; some of the dazed, injured passengers, with their clothes in shreds, hid under a plastic sunshade covering the edges of the dinghy. Although Blown and passenger Peter Thacher kept watch, the attacking planes never returned.