Prince George's mysterious death in 1942

[John Wilson]

Prince George, the Duke of Kent - our present Queen's uncle- died as a passenger in a plane crash on August 25th 1942 during a mysterious flight over Scotland. The plane was en route to Iceland.

But what was he even doing there?

Both before and after his marriage, Kent had a long string of affairs with both men and women, from socialites to Hollywood celebrities. The better known of his partners included the African-American cabaret singer Florence Mills, banking heiress Poppy Baring, socialite Margaret Whigham (later Duchess of Argyll), musical star Jessie Matthews and actor Noel Coward, with whom he carried on a 19-year affair.

The Duke of Kent is also said to have been addicted to drugs (notably morphine and cocaine) — a weakness which his older brother the Prince of Wales was deputed to cure him of during the latter part of the 1920s — and reportedly was blackmailed by a male prostitute to whom he wrote intimate letters.

Another of his reported bisexual liaisons was with his distant cousin Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia; homosexual spy and art historian Anthony Blunt was reputedly another intimate.

An unproven claim has been made that British Intelligence assassinated Prince George.

The appeasement movement, involving many of the nobility and the powerful- even the [then] newly-abdicated King, Edward VIII (George's older brother)- were purportedly Nazi sympathisers.

One possible reason is given by author Charles Higham, in the second, revised edition of his book The Dutchess of Windsor:The Secret Life, as serious concern over the Duke of Kent's lack of discretion and his political dealings with Nazi leadership, with negotiations towards a separate peace, to allow Germany to concentrate on its war with the Soviet Union in eastern Europe.

Higham writes that the Special Operations Executive (SOE), worried that the Duke would talk about these matters once he left the British Isles, tampered with the plane before its takeoff, ensuring its crash soon afterwards, with the deaths of all but one of the passengers.

There is another claim that the plane struck Wolf Rock on Ben Morven while attempting to take off from Loch More after picking up Rudolf Hess, who had been smuggled north after parachuting on Eaglesham Moor, near East Kilbride on a mission to broker a peace deal between Germany and Britain.

The Sunderland was certainly heading Southwest when it hit the ground and broke up, although it has been claimed that The Duke of Kent was at the controls and he was "buzzing" his cousin's lodge at Langwell Estate, Berridale. Purportedly, women's clothing and footwear was found at the crash site by estate workers first on the scene.

A possible reason for the Sunderland crashing was it was unable to gain enough altitude/airspeed after take off to clear the hillside, due to its short take-off on Loch More, extra passenger and heavy fuel load,

enough to take it to Ayrshire without stopping.

One member of crew survived the crash with only minor injuries, but never talked about the event and took what he knew to the grave, further fuelling conspiracy theorists.

Rumours circulate that Churchill alledgedly mentioned having De Gaulle killed (unconscious mutterings after one too many?) - is it so improbable and far from his character that he might have had the Prince's aircraft 'nobbled'?

[Len Colby]

John

Prince George's death was discussed extensively on a thread I just bumped, IMO it wasn't very mysterious, a pilot became disoriented in the fog and hit a mountain.

[John Wilson]

Len

A) I did a search first but nothing relevant came up?

B ) I personally think that, like other famous "accidents", it's blatantly obvious that it was not merely pilot or technical error.

The surviving crewman refused to speak about this 'fog' and on board was the Prince on some mysterious journey, many of whose details do not 'add up'.

Edited November 12, 2011 by John Wilson

[Len Colby]

Len

A) I did a search first but nothing relevant came up?

You should have tried: prince george crash

B ) I personally think that, like other famous "accidents", it's blatantly obvious that it was not merely pilot or technical error.

What do you base that on? Did you go through the other thread? The closest thing to a coherent theory as to motive was that Hess was aboard and that Churchill arranged the crash to kill him. The only reasonably coherent explanation of why the plane crashed the way it did which posited that the crash was NOT an accident was also based on the premise of the Deputy Führer was aboard. The Hess theory is nonsense as even John Simkin came to realize. If he had died in 1942 he would had to have been replaced by an imposter. He however received repeated visits from friends and family including his wife and son in Spandau and was in the dock at Nuremburg with several of his Nazi buddies but no one said Hess wasn't Hess.

What other "famous "accidents"" do you think "it's blatantly obvious [were] not merely pilot or technical error"?

The surviving crewman refused to speak about this 'fog' and on board was the Prince on some mysterious journey, many of whose details do not 'add up'.

What do you think was "mysterious" about the flight?

I made a misstatement in my previous post, the plane was believed to have been in cloud not fog, what is your source for your claim Andy Jack "refused to speak about" this? He was a tail gunner so he might not have had the best view. He wandered around the country side in a daze for a over 20 hours and claimed that the prince was in the pilot's seat when the plane crashed so citing him doesn't exactly help your case.

EDIT - Added bold text

Edited November 13, 2011 by Len Colby

[John Wilson]

I based my opinion partly on the memory of a documentary I watched a few years ago, by (?) Timewatch, I believe? The surviving Jack was stated, if I remember accurately, in that programme to have 'refused to speak' about the affair and 'taken whatever secret he may hold with him'?

But also there may be possible similarities between this and Polish General Sikorsky's "accidental" death in WW2.

This article finds no foul play in the latter, though rumours of intrigue into his death, very convenient for Stalin (if not Churchill), remain.

[Len Colby]

Though he was not called to testify at the inquest Andy Jack about the crash, this was discussed in the previous thread. The Sikorsky crash was discussed there as well. IIRC all or at least most of the evidence that it was sabotage came from a rather dubious source, David Irving, and it did not hold up to scrutiny.

Edited November 15, 2011 by Len Colby

[Len Colby]

Question for John SIMKIN:

Here and on Spartacus you wrote:

The conclusion of the report was: “Accident due to aircraft being on wrong track at too low altitude to clear rising ground on track. Captain of aircraft changed flight-plan for reasons unknown and descended through cloud without making sure he was over water and crashed.”…[the author] added “the responsibility for this serious mistake in airmanship lies with the captain of the aircraft”.

The only other Google hit for the quotes is a forum entry whose author cited no sources but obviously got his info from you (via your site or this forum). What is your source for the quote? If you have access to all or part of the report can you post it to this or the other thread?