Historic find: The wreckage of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) B24 Liberator KL654 aircraft unearthed at Gunung Telapak Buruk, Negri Sembilan. — Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR: “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! We are going down.”
This distress call was probably the last words uttered by the pilot of a Royal Air Force (RAF) B24 Liberator KL654 aircraft, carrying a crew of eight and war supplies, that had taken off from Cocos Island, Australia, before crashing in a remote forest in Negri Sembilan on Aug 23, 1945.
The wreckage, along with some of the remains of the victims, were found 50 years later, in December 1996, at Gunung Telapak Buruk, situated between Kampung Ulu Klawang, Jelebu and Pantai, Seremban.
The remains were eventually moved to the Commonwealth Military Cemetery in Cheras for burial on Oct 1, 2012.
The discovery was made possible thanks to the tireless efforts of historians as well as members of the Malaya Historical Group Society (MHG), an organisation dedicated to researching and publicising Malaysia’s aviation and war histories.
MHG, has been active since the early 1990s but was only registered as a society in 2020. It also helps locate crash sites and identify the wreckage of aircraft believed to have crashed in Malaya during WW2.
Its chairman Shaharom Ahmad said MHG aimed to enable society, especially the young generation, to better understand the history of the nation.
Besides WW2 aircraft crash sites, he said the society would also conduct studies and research on Malaysia’s military historical sites.
MHG, which has seven members comprising amateur military historians and aviation buffs, has helped with efforts to locate the crash sites and uncover the wreckage of several aircraft.
The society was also involved in efforts to find the wreckage of a British RAF Dakota KN630 reconnaissance aircraft that crashed in the middle of dense jungle in Gua Musang, Kelantan, near the Titiwangsa mountain range on Aug 25, 1950.
The plane, carrying 12 crew members and passengers, was believed to have crashed due to poor weather and technical problems.
It was reportedly flying back to its base in Singapore after completing its mission of dropping smoke markers near Kampung Jendera in Ulu Kelantan to help bombers pinpoint communist camps during the Emergency.
It was only in November 2008 that the remains of the crash victims were successfully retrieved from the site and handed over to their families.
Shaharom said they conduct comprehensive research to obtain information on the planes and the possible location of their wreckage from the public and the victims’ next of kin.
“This is actually a lengthy process and can take us several years to do. Although it is a highly challenging task for us, we are able to do it (locate the aircraft wreckage) with the help and cooperation of various agencies such as the state government, museum authorities and researchers from abroad,” he said.
Shaharom said MHG was also involved in finding, documenting and recording military artefacts and fortresses.
These include an underground bunker in the Sultan Azlan Shah Airport area of Ipoh, Perak, which British soldiers allegedly built sometime in 1941 and used to defend themselves from Japanese air attacks.
The society also identified a 6.47-hectare WW2 battle site in Kampar, Perak, where British and Japanese soldiers clashed during the Japanese Occupation.
“Since 1995, MHG has succeeded in identifying several battle sites in the country that are linked to WW2,” he said, adding that they took it upon themselves to put up signboards to provide information on the battles that took place there.
“We don’t want the sites’ historical value to be frittered away. Our society intends to preserve these historical sites for our future generations to appreciate.”
Shaharom added MHG had also appealed to relevant authorities to gazette the wartime battle sites as heritage sites.
“Many people, especially today’s young generation, are not very interested in our nation’s history, and as researchers, we (MHG) are responsible for instilling in them an interest in history,” he said.
Shaharom said MHG was also actively involved in holding exhibitions related to the nation’s history at schools, colleges and universities nationwide. — Bernama
