Dinshaw Eduljee: CrashLocation

According to the log entries at No. 1 Squadron, the memoirs of Dinshaw Eduljee's colleagues and the letter sent by Squadron Leader Arjan Singh to Eduljee's father Ferozeshaw (see our page Last Flight and Crash for the verbatim statements), we have the following information that can help locate the site where Dinshaw Eduljee's Hurricane crashed at 0830 hours on November 27, 1944:

1. The crash took place in the Kalewa-Shwegyin-Sizwe area of Burma south-east of Kalewa and with map coordinates of RU 929661.

Map of Burma showing the Kalewa (Kalwa)-Shwegin (Shwegyin) area circled in red.
Photo credit: ibiblio.org

Initial location of the crash site by this author using a 1:250,000 scale US Army Map (at the Univ. of Texas - see below) of the Kalewa-Shwegyin-Sizwe area. Also marked are the reconnaissance sightings by D. Eduljee and Cariappa (though any additional sightings made by Eduljee could have been lost with him). Click to see an enlarged image.

Location of the crash site (green cross) by Jagan Pillarisetti (recd. Sept. 5, 2013) on a 1:63,360 scale map section provided by Charpoy Chindit at ww2talk.com during a discussion initiated by Matt Poole. Note the road shaded in red and the river to its north at that point. The road crosses the river (variously named and called Mutaik Chaung on this map - in this sector) just east of the location. The river crossing was likely a bridge.

Image obtained by the kind courtesy of Matt Poole from the U.S. National Archives placed over a Google map with notations by this author.

The Kalewa (Kalwa), Shwegin (Shwegyin) and Pyingang area
and the road connecting Shwegin (Shwegyin) and Pyingang.

Click here to see a full map of the area with legends
Image Credit: University of Texas US Army Map Service

1:63,360 scale map section (second edition November 1943)
provided by Charpoy Chindit at ww2talk.com.
Note the Kalewa-Pyingang shaded in red.

2. Flight Officers Dinshaw Eduljee and wingman Codanda Machia Cariappa's mission was to conduct a reconnaissance of the Sizwe-Shwegyin area in general and the Shwegin to Pyingaing road in particular.

3. The two observed Allied troops at RU 903817 (about 7 m to the north of Sizwe and the crash-site) and 2, 20 ft boats RU 871630 (about 3 m south-west of the crash site on the Chindwin River at the confluence of the Shwegyin and Chindwin rivers).

4. Eduljee spotted a Japanese camp/camouflaged bashas along the road (and dived to machine gun (strafe) it. Shitoley has the bashas located in the Shwegyin area. The squadron log states that "bashas at Sizive (Sizwe mispelled?) strafed." If correct, this last statement by association places RU 929661 at Sizwe.

[Basha: A basha is either a simple, roof only tent made from a rectangular piece of Tarpaulin or a rudimentary rectangular thatched-roofed hut made primarily from bamboo. In his book, A Soldier Recalls, Lt. General Shreenivas Kumar Sinha (Retd.) recalls an event from the Second World War in Burma:

"I wanted to have a basha (bamboo hut) made for myself, ...I ordered a Japanese (POW) officer to have one made for me. Within a day, my basha was ready built on stilts complete with stairs, door, window, bathroom and a verandah all round. ...The only materials used for all this were bamboo, tree leaves and gunny bags. Some one hundred Japanese prisoners had worked and made this beautiful basha for me in so short a time. The Japanese were wizards in the use of bamboo which was available in plenty in the jungles nearby.]

5. Cariappa followed him.

6. Eduljee had pulled out (of his first strafing run) and positioned himself (by likely circling around) for another attack.

7. After Cariappa had pulled out (of his first strafing run), he saw a cloud of dust rising from the target area.

A tent basha (different from the hut basha described to the left). Note
the grass / thatch used for camouflage and placed on a presumed
tarpaulin sheet that formed the roof.
Image Credit: Denos Wilmot Rae

Basha hut on stilts

8. Cariappa went low and saw a wing detached, lying apart from Eduljee's aircraft. Arjan Singh surmized in his letter that Eduljee apparently, while taking evasive action hit the trees with a wing and lost control of the aircraft. Shitoley in his memoirs notes Eduljee failed to pull out of his dive while strafing the camouflaged bashas. Likewise, Patel in his memoirs states, that Eduljee made "multiple passes at a ground target" Further, "during one of them he was coming out of a roll quite close to the ground... and flew straight in." One entry in the squadron logs states that Eduljee "failed to come out of a dive, the port wing hit trees and came off and smoke was seen issuing from aircraft." Another log entry states that, Cariappa "had seen smoke issuing from the plane as it crashed but no flames." The language used in this statement leaves open the possibility that Eduljee's aircraft either had mechanical failure or was hit by ground fire causing it to smoke before it crashed.

9. Except the wing of Eduljee's Hurricane, no other part of the aircraft was visible from the air as it crashed in a very thick jungle.

10. Cariappa circled over the spot for three minutes but did not see any movement or the crashed aircraft. He saw smoke but no flames.

11. At 0935 Chatterjee and Dass took off in two aircraft to investigate but saw nothing except a few pieces of metal lying near trees at RU 929661. Another squadron log entry states the Eduljee's aircraft was "not seen owing to dense jungle. Some pieces of metal (were) seen south of road near a small hillock at RU 929661. Bivouac or bunker position overlooks bridge from hillock – much track activity (80 x 20 mm)." Given that Chatterjee and Dass' report does not mention a wing (which could have been removed by the Japanese or others on the ground). Did they therefore return to the actual crash site? If Cariappa had not been incapacitated by fatigue or emotion, perhaps he should have been Chatterjee's wingman so as to ensure that Chatterjee's flight returned to the actual site.

12. The observation immediately above is significant if it correctly locates the crash south of a road (perhaps the Shwegin to Pyingaing road), and further that the site identified as RU 929661 [which one log entry places places at Sizive (Sizwe?)] had a small hillock with a bunker/bivouac atop that overlooked a bridge. The US Army maps we display on this page show the Shwegin to Pyingaing road crossing the Shwegin River at this location and we must wonder if the bridge mentioned is one that forded the river.

13. With the information currently at hand, we have the crash site location of RU 929661 at Latitude 23.172379° ( 23°10'21.14"N) and Longitude 94.400646° ( 94°23'59.66"E).

Information of Japanese camps in the area is key to determining the possible locations of the crash site.

Perhaps the wreckage of the plane buried in the thick jungle still lies there waiting to be discovered.