Last Sunday, en route to a WW2 re-enactment display at Whittington Barracks, Staffordshire, we (forum member Pegasus and I) came across this memorial to the crew of a Lancaster Bomber who lost their lives when their aircraft crashed close to where the monument stands.

I know that a lot of flight training operations took place in the area-including night bomber training-but can anyone shed more light on the details of this particular tragic event ?

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Regards
John

"It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see" - Winston Churchill

Lancaster KB879 Crash

The story of the crash and some information about those on board. 1 Scott and 6 Canadians. One was only 16 years old!

The 428 squadron was called the Ghost Squadron.

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Regards, Michelle

Oliver Goldsmith, "I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines."

Thank you very much Michelle, a fantastic piece of detective work.

It's so very sad to read how young the crew were when they died and how close they were to seeing out WW2.

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Regards
John

"It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see" - Winston Churchill

I don't have the exact figures in front of me, but it's sobering to think that of 55,000 Bomber Command aircrew killed in WWII, something like 5,000 were due to various accidents.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

The 55.000 figure is correct, (Chorley says about 15% are accidents which puts the figure around 7500 ), nice pictures John

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Thanks for the correction, Skipper. 7,500 - an awful lot of people.....

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Glad to do it, John. I always like to know the stories behind the names on the memorials. Thanks for sharing the photos.

Looking up the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, it was also sobering to realize how many died during training back in Canada before they ever got to fire a shot at the enemy. The young Canadians listed in the memorial should also be listed in the Books of Remembrance in the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and there may be more about them in the Virtual War Memorial at Veterans Affairs Canada Veterans Affairs Canada - Anciens Combattants Canada

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Regards, Michelle

Oliver Goldsmith, "I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines."

Another great link Michelle, with al lhtose you have provided I need more lives to check them all.

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Read about these accidents and always will remember one quote:

"One a day in Tampa Bay"

PA487 Henry R. Poplawski

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Nice find, Michelle - I tried to give you some rep, but, well..... I guess I've got to spread the fertilizer around befroe I can get back to you....

....but well done!

-whatever

-Lou

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5 out of 4 people have difficulty with fractions.

Michelle :

On the back side of Hamilton International Airport, there is a grave yard from WW2. In those days this was the "Mount Hope airfield " a part of the BCATP system of flight training fields.

This grave yard is NOT open to the public, but I have been there and there are more than 100 graves, all WW2 era. Most are RCAF and a few RAF. All were killed on this airfield or in the immediate area.

Jim B. Toronto.

a hundred graves, that means quite some crews crashed there during their training sessions. May they rest in peace. Could this be one of the training zones for RAF and RCAF crews? Among the planes they flew was the avro Anson. It was sometimes equipped with a dorsal turret to remember a bomber.

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I live in Saskatoon and work very near the airport. And when I was born I was brought back to married quarters on the airbase - later than WWII though! This airbase was one of those in the BCATP. All over Saskatchewan are closed down airfields and bases from those days.

Skipper, there were a lot killed in the training sessions. This summer I'll make a point of going through Soldier's Field at the cemetery and looking for the dates as many in the RCAF buried here would possibly be from those killed that way. Although, some will also be markers only that family put up for sons buried overseas.

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Regards, Michelle

Oliver Goldsmith, "I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines."

I'd love to hear form that Michelle and if you could take pictures for our picture galery they would be most welcome too.

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