Sniper of the Skies: The Story of George Frederick 'Screwball' Beurling, DSO, DFC, DFM
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‘He said he didn’t care about the money. He told me: “The Jews deserve a state of their own after wandering around homeless for thousands of years. I just want to offer my help.”’
This was at odds with statements which later emerged. One of Beurling’s friends was reported as quoting Beurling in saying: ‘I would be glad to get back into combat. I will drop bombs or fire guns for anyone who will pay me.’
Meanwhile, Beurling had a few months before he was scheduled to leave for the Middle East. In that interval, he was interviewed by the Canadian news magazine Maclean’s, when it was reported that he, ‘talked a little too boldly about being a mercenary.’
In the interview, Beurling is said to have made clear that he considered himself a mercenary. Meanwhile, he apparently told an acquaintance that the Arabs had offered him $1,600 per month to fly for them, which he declined.
It was at about this time that Beurling reportedly met his former No. 403 Squadron commander and later Wing Leader, Wing Commander Hugh Godefroy, DFC and Bar. The two had parted on less than the best of terms in late 1943. Godefroy recalled the encounter which occurred while he was holidaying in the Laurentians above Montreal, enjoying a spot of skiing. Godefroy had joined friends for a warm drink at the Grey Rock’s Inn, and it was here that he bumped into Beurling:
‘He seemed glad to see me and came straight over and inquired about my activities since last we’d met. He told me he was going to the Middle East on the invitation of the Israelis. They had P-51s, and he would be doing dive-bombing and strafing against no fighter opposition. He invited me to come [as his subordinate].’
Beurling apparently divulged details of the financial arrangements, which it was presumed reflected the terms of his own contract:
‘I would get $1,000 for crossing the Atlantic, and after eight weeks’ flying, I could come home with a net of $8,000.’
A Haganah official would later report that Beurling had agreed to fly for the Israeli Air Force for the modest sum of $200 per month, dispelling thoughts that he was acting purely as a mercenary.
Writing later, Beurling’s friend Bruce West explained that Beurling had returned to Toronto by about April, when he had dropped by to see him at his office. Beurling said he was ready to leave for Palestine to fight for the Israelis, adding:
‘I figure, that I’m a better fighter pilot now than I was during the war. When you get a little older you get more sense – and a little extra sense never hurt any fighter pilot.’
Beurling phoned West a few days later from the nearby Malton Airport:
‘this is it! I’ll be out of the country in about forty-eight hours. I’ll send along a cable when I knock off my first one.’
Beurling took a commercial flight out to Italy where he received instructions to await the arrival of ferry aircraft at Rome’s Aeroporto dell’Urbe. He booked into the Hotel Mediterraneo on about 5 May, a few days before the arrival of three Noorduyn Norseman (13 May), which were due in from Britain via Nice. The plan was for the aircraft to be flown to Greece, the general jumping-off point for Palestine. On their arrival however, the Norseman were grounded by the authorities.
On the morning of 20 May 1948, Beurling and Leonard Cohen, a former American RAF volunteer and a Malta veteran, took off to test-fly one of the ex-USAAF Norseman transport aircraft (44-70262). The Canadian-built aircraft could carry up to five passengers and was to be used as an air ambulance. The Norseman, which Reuters News Agency reported was registered in the name of David Miller of Roanoke, Va., had experienced engine problems and had been undergoing repairs over the previous days.
Witnesses reported seeing flames coming from the Norseman’s engine as it made its approach, before exploding on touch-down. Both pilots died in the resulting inferno.
One newspaper reported later that day:
‘George (Buzz) Beurling died today as he had lived—adventurously.
‘Canada’s greatest flying ace of the Second Great War crashed to death at the controls of a light aircraft which, eyewitnesses said, he had borrowed for an unauthorised joyride. He died as he was about to participate in his latest adventure, fighting in the air for the Jewish cause in Palestine.
‘With him died his buddy of the hectic war years, 24-year-old Leonard Cohen of Liverpool. They crashed from 700ft over Rome’s Urbe airfield when the engine failed. The plane burned and, when fire-fighting apparatus reached the scene, was a twisted mass of molten metal. The bodies were burned beyond recognition.’
Arnaldo Cortesi, writing for the New York Times and The Globe and Mail, gave a different version of the circumstances of the crash.
‘Eyewitnesses reported that the plane took off normally and everything seemed to be going well. Shortly afterward however, the engine began to sputter and then stopped altogether. Beurling, who was understood to be at the controls, circled sharply to regain the field, but the Norseman stalled and crashed close to the entrance to No. 1 hangar. The aircraft caught fire immediately and burned so fiercely that people present were unable to go to the pilot’s assistance.’
Beurling would, perhaps, have seen the irony in dying at the controls of a round-bellied Norseman aircraft, one of the quietest and most docile ‘workhorses’ known to the Canadian bush-fliers:
‘I guess I have been lucky as a fighter pilot. But then I feel I shall always be safe in the air. On the other hand, I shall probably slip on a bar of soap or a banana peel one day after the war and break my neck.’
Interviewed in Montreal, Beurling’s father, Fred Beurling, revealed:
‘that is the way I expected his life to end in a blaze of smoke from the thing he loved most, an airplane. It’s tragic; it is heartbreaking.’
Back in Rome, Albert Lewish, the usual pilot of the crashed Norsemen had witnessed the disaster and was visibly shaken. But the mission had to go on and he took off a short time later in one of the two remaining planes. His immediate destination was logged as Brindisi, Italy.
The official accident report gave the cause of the crash as being a backfire due to ‘engulfment of the carburettor’. Conspiracy theories abounded. Some believed that the Arabs sabotaged the plane. Others blamed the British, Italians, or even Jewish extremists.
It has been reported that after the incident, a Haganah operative in Rome claimed that a British agent, named Sergeant Levingham, was heard to boast that his mission was to do, ‘whatever he could to prevent planes and volunteers from reaching Palestine,’ for which, allegedly, the Israelis kidnapped and executed him.
Beurling’s celebrity status meant that an elaborate funeral ceremony was held in Rome. However, his body was not laid to rest after the service. Unclaimed either by his blood relatives or by his estranged widow, the coffin containing Beurling’s mortal remains, and which bore a simple plaque with the name ‘Colonel Georgio Beurling’, sat in storage in a warehouse in the Verano Monumental Cemetery, awaiting burial. Vivian Stokes had stayed away from what she had believed to be his internment, for fear of upsetting the family. When she learned that he had no resting-place, Vivian made arrangements for Beurling to be buried in the city’s Protestant Verano Cemetery (alongside Keats and Shelly, whose works he had read when he first became acquainted with Vivian).
Vivian Stokes had a silver cross placed on the coffin lid, the reverse of which was inscribed with a line from a Shakespearean sonnet:
‘And Thou hast all. The all of me.’
When Beurling’s family learned of his resting-place they were deeply upset; a burial in papist Rome, even in a Protestant burial ground, went against the teachings of the Plymouth Brethren.
With his widow’s consent, Beurling’s remains were exhumed and, on 8 November 1950, were flown to Haifa Airport, Israel. Here Beurling was given a military funeral and re-interred in the military cemetery at the foot of Mount Carmel. Arriving at Haifa Airport, Beurling’s coffin was draped with the flag of Israel, a country he had no allegiance to and had never visited. The casket was given an honour guard and the funeral cortè
ge driven through the packed streets of Haifa to its final resting-place. The grave marker is stark and impersonal, bearing the inscription ‘George (Buzz) Beurling – fell in action 20.5.1948’ – there is no dedication or recognition of his rank or awards.
1. Corporal (D/167248) David Murphy, MM, 1st Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise’s) RCIC. Murphy was 20-years-old. He was buried in Holton Canadian War Cemetery, Netherlands. Grave VII, C. 1.
2. Beurling’s inability to settle down in the years after the war may be seen as further evidence of how the war had changed his personality.
Selected Bibliography
Beurling, George F., and Roberts, Leslie. Malta Spitfire: The Story of A Fighter Pilot. Toronto: Oxford 1943.
Bradford, Ernle. Siege of Malta. London: Penguin Books. 1985.
Caruana, Richard J. Malta George Cross: Victory in the Air. Malta: Modelaid International Publications. 1999.
Cull, Brian. 249 at War: The Authorized History of the RAF’s Top-scoring Fighter Squadron of WWII. London: Grub Street Press. 1997.
Cull, Brian, and Galea, Frederick. 249 at Malta: Malta’s Top-scoring Fighter Squadron 1941-43. Malta: Wise Owl Publications. 2004.
Cull, Brian, and Galea, Frederick. Screwball Beurling Malta’s Top Scoring Fighter Ace: Flt Lt George Frederick Beurling DSO, DFC, DFM & Bar. Malta: Wise Owl Publications. 2010.
Cull, Brian, and Galea, Frederick. Spitfires Over Malta: The Epic Air Battle of 1942. London: Grubb Street Press. 2005.
Douglas-Hamilton, James, The Air Battle for Malta: The Diaries of a Spitfire Pilot. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing Co. 1981.
Halliday, Hugh. The Tumbling Sky. Canada: Canada’s Wings. 1978.
Johnson, ‘Johnnie’, and Lucas, ‘Laddie’. Winged Victory: The recollections of two Royal Air Force Legends. London: Stanley Paul, Random House. 1995.
Lucas, ‘Laddie’. Five Up: A Chronicle of Five Lives. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. 1978.
Lucas, ‘Laddie’. Malta: The thorn in Rommel’s side. London: Penguin Books. 1992.
Nolan, Brian. Hero - The Falcon of Malta. London: William Blackwood & Sons Ltd. 1982.
Rogers, Anthony. Battle over Malta: Aircraft losses & crash sites 1940-42. Gloucester: Sutton Publishing Ltd. 2000.
Rogers, Anthony (editor). 185 The Malta Squadron. Staplehurst: Spellmount. 2005.
Shores, Christopher, and Williams, Clive. Aces High: A Tribute to the Most Notable Fighter Pilots of the British and Commonwealth Forces in WWII. Grub Street, London. 1994.
Shores, Christopher. Those Other Eagles: A Companion Volume to Aces High. Grub Street, London. 2004.
Shores, Christopher, Cull, Brian, and Malizia, Nicola. Malta: The Spitfire Year - 1942. Grub Street. London. 1991.
Smith, Peter C. Pedestal. A Goodall paperback from Crecy Publishing Ltd., Manchester. 2002.
The Air Battle of Malta: The official account of the RAF on Malta, June 1940 to November 1942. London: OHMS. 1944.
Periodicals and Newspapers etc.:
Macleans, Toronto
Reader’s Digest
Sunday Express
The London Gazette, London
The Times, Malta
The Vancouver Daily Province
Correspondence with Gustav Beurling via Chris John
Correspondence with Flight Lieutenant Tony Pickering, AEA
Various Sources:
Beurling Family scrap-book via Gustav Beurling
Commonwealth War Graves internet site
Squadron Combat Reports for Nos. 41, 121, 126, 185, 222, 229, 249, 401, 403, 411, 412, 601, 603, and 1435 Squadrons in Air 50
Squadron Operational Record books for Nos. 41, 121, 126, 185, 222, 229, 249, 401, 403, 411, 412, 601, 603, and 1435 Squadrons in Air 27