RAF casualties in Lincolnshire - anyone know them?

[DaveBrigg]

Hi
my son is doing a school project about WWII. He interviewed a Home Guard veteran from South Kelsey, Lincs, who told him about a couple of crashes nearby. It would be great if anyone could give more details, or at least confirm the stories.
1. On 30th October 1942 an Airspeed Oxford crashed into the rectory of South Kelsey, killing the three crew. The vicar and his wife survived. The crew may have been Welsh. They could have been flying from Kirton Lindsey, and were heading north when the plane went down. The crew are not buried in the village. Can anyone tell us their names?
2. The veteran recalled a British aircraft crashing quite early in the war between North Kelsey and the River Ancholme, again near to Kirton Lindsey and Caistor airfields. He says it happened at night, and a local farmer heard the men calling out, but was too scared to approach because he thought they were German. By the morning the crew had died of their injuries, and there was apparently 'quite a to-do' about them being left. He thinks that the aircraft was a Bristol, but I can't find any crash matching this description on the online records. There was a Blenheim lost a few miles further away, but he was quite specific about this location.
3 Our village cemetery has the grave of Aircraftsman Cyril Barrick (936124) who died on 28th May 1940. Our Home Guard friend knew him as Squibs. Does anyone know where or how he died.
Sorry for starting with so many questions. If anyone wants more detail about the life of a Home Guard corporal in Lincolnshire I'll happily send a write-up

[Trincomalee]

I wrote about a memorial in Wrangle Church , to a US aircrew which crashed there with 1 survivor . You should be able to find the thread .
Trincomalee

[Trincomalee]

As you can see on the thread , my photo of the memorial isn't very good . If you visit Wrangle you might be able to provide a better picture .
Trincomalee

[DaveBrigg]

Thanks for getting in touch Trincomalee. I'd never heard of Wrangle Common, but it turns out it is about 50 miles away, in the South of the county. I think that the RAF Bomber Command were mainly based in Lincolnshire, with the USAAF to the south in Norfolk and Suffolk, though I'm not an expert in these matters.

[Trincomalee]

The links that Owen put on were really interesting .

If you do go to Wrangle church there is a lot to see .
It has the largest collection of medieval stained glass outside York Minster (they buried it) .
There is a medieval brass in the floor , and a wonderful alabaster tomb .
Above one of the doors is a small room for the priest , but he would need to use a ladder to get up there .
You can arrange with the Churchwardens to go inside .
You might be able to find someone who can tell you about the survivor .
I'll be interested to hear if you do follow this up .

[David Layne]

I have a copy of "Lincolnshire Air War 1939 - 1945" by S.Finn in front of me. This book is basically about crashed aircraft in Lincolnshire during WWII. Unfortunately nothing is listed for the date you gave relating to the Oxford crash.

I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the books content but for a modest outlay there may be something in its pages that might assist you son and his project.

Below is listed Abe books link to book sellers that have the paperback in stock.

Good luck. D

AbeBooks: Search Results - lincolnshire air war

[spidge]

If not buried in the local village on that date or the day after 30/31st maybe you could look at cemeteries around the area and look for a denominator.

Where was the nearest RAF base or CWGC Cemetery to the crash site.

This has all CWGC cemeteries in Lincolnshire:

CWGC Cemeteries - E England

There are 334 in Lincolnshire from Alford to Wrangle.

The system is out of Alphabetical order so it is best to copy it onto an XLS sheet and sort it back to full alphabetical.

[Harry Ree]

AC1 Cyril Barrick's death is most likely from the loss of the SS Abukir outward bound to the UK from Ostend during the withdrawal from France and Belgium during the crictical stages of the Battle for France.The SS Abukir was lost to a German MTB by torpedeo on the date of Cyril's death and it is known that there were a number of RAF personnel missing from the loss of this merchant ship.

Some survivors were taken back to Ostend and placed on other ships.Some of the dead lie in continental cemeteries while others such as Cyril were likely to have been washed up on UK shores.As for RAF personnel who died within the British mainland, the next of kin were given the choice of burial site and Cyril's parents chose his home village for his final resting place.

Regarding the two crashed aircraft in the area (there were three, the third one was said to be a Spitfire.) Sid Finn suggests that these aircraft were Hampdens but even after extensive searching I cannot confirm this.The only reference that would conclude this if they were Hampdens is Harry Moyle via his "Hampden File" which I have not got to hand.Surprisingly,Chorley does not throw further light on the mystery.

Wrangle is situated in the fenland country between Boston, (in the south) and Wainfleet,(in the north) on the Lincolnshire coast.It saw extensive aerial activity during the war and postwar and is adjacent to the Wainfleet bombing range.Boston itself was instantly recognised for a visual fix for returning aircraft from the North Sea by its St Boltoph's Church with its unique tower which is popularly referred to as the "Boston Stump".A welcome sight for any Bomber Command aircraft returning to their South Lincolnshire bases in distress.

[DaveBrigg]

Thanks for all your help. The book recommendation looks like a good idea; helping with this project has unearthed a whole lot of other local information about crash sites and airfields that I didn't know existed.
Elsewhere on this forum I found a search engine (Geoff's) to look at CWGC records by date. A search of RAF casualties for 30th October 1942 brought up a number of hits, but taking out those with squadron numbers who were stationed elsewhere, and those who are commemorated at Alamein still leaves over a dozen possibilities. None of them are buried locally. They are of different ranks, but I don't know if this will give any clues as to which may have been on board. The witness described the unpleasant task of retrieving the bodies, so I'm sure the story is based on fact, even if the date may not be certain. I assume that the local paper would not have reported it either.
I'll keep at it.
Dave

[spidge]

Hi Dave,

I did Geoff's as well.

of the 38 on the 30th none are buried in Lincolnshire and of the 40+ on the 31st, none are buried in Lincolnshire however as you say not conclusive.