What is listed : 28 July 1942 Oxford N4647 14 (P) AFU crashed on approach to RAF Ossington, possibly through fuel starvation killing all crew. P/O James Brown RCAF - LAC Albert Fricker - AC2 Edward Alton - Sgt Ronald Wootton. I ordered up the death cert of LAC Fricker to see if there was a more exact location. It threw up some anomalies , instead of the generic death by " War Operations " it has death by extensive burns and puts the inquest verdict as misadventure. Not consistent with fuel starvation. Also lists the flight as none operational. I've ordered P/O Browns DC to see if says anything else. Has anybody details on this aircraft and crew or a more detailed account of their loss.
Hello noggin Fuel starvation Would this be a blockage. Or ran out of fuel No expert but even coming down from a low height would be enough to disable the crew and only a few gallons of fuel could cause a blaze
This aircraft of No 14 PAFU Ossington was lost when conducting finals to land at Ossington. It was returning from RAF Langar carrying 2 passengers who had hitched a lift from Langar and for some unknown reason was instructed to overshoot and subsequently collided with the camp's water tower when one wheel of its lowered undercart struck the top of the water tower caused by what was thought to be fuel starvation with one engine.(It would appear that fuel starvation was not substantiated,perhaps the Court of Inquiry might be more revealing) A late friend of mine conducted research on Ossington and Gamston where he had served at the latter and at Winthorpe and has listed this incident in his privately published book "The History of RAF Stations Ossington and Gamston" I will post the full article as published later.
I have just been told it had returned with a freight load of Sodium , water and Sodium would be another reason for extensive burns.
That's a comprehensive report Dave...technology never lies and in depth investigation usually reveals the facts. (Digressing, humans can give conflicting evidence....we had a Lincoln B2 which had its undercart damaged when it undershot the main runway threshold.The Squadron Commander,a S/Ldr was in the left hand seat and the Adjutant a F/O,was in the right hand seat acting as the Flight Engineer in the only dual control aircraft on the squadron.When it came to the Court of Inquiry,the Squadron Commander declared that the Adge was landing the aircraft and the Adge said in turn that the Squadron Commander was landing the aircraft.The report was leaked to the groundcrew crewroom and we all had a good laugh regarding it....the Squadron Commander was veteran of the Berlin Airlift flying Yorks and a renowned heavy lander) To get back to the research which was done over 25 years ago,the incident reads as follows. The evening of 28 July 1942 was sunny and calm over Ossington. Children played on the green iron gates in Hall drive outside the airmens' quarters.RAF personnel sat in buses awaiting the mile long journey to the airfield on the other side of the hamlet to continue their training courses and inside the hastily built airman's quarters,other flyers were finishing their teas.Nobody noticed the twin engined Airspeed Oxford flying over from the direction of the airfield,it was,after all,the most common sight in the hamlet.Just another trainer taking off with two more airmen to face the might of the Luftwaffe.What those on the ground did not know was that the Oxford was not taking off but trying to land and carrying the crew of two who had taken off earlier with 2 airmen who had hitched a lift from RAF Langar to Ossington. The Oxford had been in its final stages of its approach to Ossington when it was ordered to overshoot.With its undercarriage down,it flew in a shallow arc just north of a few houses that comprised the hamlet.As it neared the slightly higher ground on which the RAF camp was sited,one of its engines cut. A gardener,Arthur Weaver who was working in the Hall gardens looked up,and horrified,watched the yellow painted plane continue its gentle arc on a collision course with a 70 foot water tower on the edge of the RAF camp.Even though the aircraft was gradually losing the little height it had would have cleared the oil rig shaped water tower had its undercarriage been up,but one wheel hit the tower. Gardener Weaver died in 1974 but ironically his son Arthur Jnr is able to take up the story.I was seven at the time and playing on the green gates,it was a really warm evening.The first I remember was a tremendous crash.One of the wheels and part of the wing crashed down on the drive not 10 yards from my friends and I.After a minute or so the plane just exploded.We ran to the airmen in their buses and passed the alarm but there was nothing that anybody could do.Ironically the aircraft was on the top of 11000 gallons of water,but the Fire Fighters were unable to reach the blazing aircraft with their equipment.Two airmen were burnt to death in the remains of the plane on the top of the black tar covered tower.The other two along with a section of the cockpit were catapulted across the drive into the orchard and were dead when rescuers found them. Gardener Weaver was the only civilian witness at the inquest that followed,he told how the engines spluttered and how the aircraft just lost just sufficient height to collide with the only object on the skyline that was high enough.The verdict was that the accident happened because aircraft was out of fuel but Ossington residents hampered by secrecy that surrounds such events never found the answers. If the aircraft was short of fuel why was it ordered to overshoot the airfield and make a second approach?One family did not wait to ask questions.Shortly after the catastrophe the occupiers of a farmhouse left for a village which did not have an airfield for company.Their home had been the next landmark on the flightpath of the aircraft. The Oxford N4647 of No 14 APFU Ossington crashed into the water tower at 1800hrs. Both aircrew and the two passengers were killed. P/O J A Brown (Pilot Instructor) RCAF Age 20.... Ollerton Cemetery Sgt R C Wootton (U/T Pilot) RAF Age 20 ..................Paignton Cemetery LAC Fricker (Passenger) RAF Age.33.................. Penarth Cemetery AC2 E C Alton (passenger) RAF Age 20...............Ollerton Cemetery i would say that Sgt Wootton was on the No 15 APFU Course Sgt J Corbishley (Pilot Instructor) added a brief note in his copious Log Book regarding the loss of this Oxford which reads "F/O (not P/O) Brown (Can) Killed.Engine cut in circuit.Hit Mess Water Tower"....seems to have had the habit of noting such incidents such as Luftwaffe raids on the airfield It would appear that there were many flying accidents while pilot training at Ossington and other non based aircraft who crashed in the vicinity and were attended to by Ossington personnel
Ossington did seem to have its fair share of " odd " accidents , from a airman being hit by a section of falling hanger door , a gardener being hit by a Oxford taking a short cut across the grass he was cutting and one airman riding his cycle into a policeman and dieing from a fractured skull.
I did not know that Bill Taylor had got the title in circulation....it was a self publication as was his history on Winthorpe.....my copy,direct from Bill cost £9-95. He died in recent years.He was an excellent RAF researcher,a member of the RAFA and was particular knowledgeable on postwar air crashes in the area.....served as a RAF Fireman postwar at Winthorpe and Gamson and continued as an industrial fireman in his working life. (Incidentally, quite a number of Oxfords were lost at Ossington leading to the loss of a number of lives.A break up on 2 July 1942 of an Percival built Oxford resulted in the loss of crew led to the grounding of Percival built Oxfords.On investigation it was found that the glue in main plane had failed.Subsequently these sub contracted aircraft were all grounded for main plane changes.)
Thank you all for the information I have just discovered on Google re the Oxford aircraft crash in Ossington in July 1942. My father was one of the passengers on that flight, Edward Alton. Have never had much detail of what happened. I live in New Zealand , but have visited my fathers grave in Ossington.
