Halifax Crew crash near Colchester 25th February 1943

Discussion in 'The War In The Air' started by STAN50, Feb 13, 2018.

  1. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    Yesterday I managed to talk by phone to the 1940's landowners son. He mentioned that for years after the crash the area had a 'bluey tinge' visible in the soil. Although a local scrap man removed all the metal after the crash they still found very small fragments when working the land afterwards.

    I'm assuming the soil stain would have been caused by fuel, oil or both?
     
  2. KevinBattle

    KevinBattle Senior Member

    I'd guess the fierceness of the fire scorched the soil.
    There were dark stains in fields around Arnhem from crashed C47's etc which seem similar to the stain you describe.
     
  3. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    :flaguk:Remarkably, we have now made a connection to the family of the Pilot. Enquiries continue for two more members of the crew, airmen Cyril Smith and airman Leonard Herbert. We are hopeful for at least one more result.

    We'd like to look up a specific record for Pilot Charles Bray. If anyone has membership to 'Forces War Records' and is willing to do this for us please send me a PM, thanks.
     
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2018
  4. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    :flaguk:Yesterday evening we made yet another connection to family of this aircraft's crew. We have now linked with the daughter of airman Cyril J.D. Smith.

    Some years back Cyrileen asked a relative to see what he could find out about the crash. This involved a visit to Essex.
     
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2018
  5. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    :flaguk:Jon Dudley has kindly provided us with an image of his uncle. (see post 27 above).

    Here is Flt. Sgt. John Dudley. He was the other Air Gunner and aged just 20 years old.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Mar 9, 2018
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  6. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    Having traced family for six of the crew of Halifax DT 800, we're still searching for our last airman's relatives, this being Leonard victor William Herbert.

    He was the Observer on the aircraft aged 22. he is buried in Eltham cemetery Woolwich.

    This is proving to be a difficult search. If anyone's interested in helping with this and reviewing what we've found so far please P.M. me.
     
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  7. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    Yesterday we visited Eltham cemetery and found airman Herbert's grave. There was a possibility of other family members buried nearby, which unfortunately there wasn't. His mother is buried in the same plot.

    We have made some progress on tracing the family and we're hopeful we'll find number seven.
     

    Attached Files:

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  8. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    We do have some moderate aerial images of the area which I was going to put on here, but on reflection I'll refrain from doing this for the moment.
     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2018
  9. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Stan
    does anyone have access to a drone to help with photography


    regards
    Clive
     
  10. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    I have asked someone who carries out commercial work with a UAV (drone) if he'd help us. This may happen at some point.

    We're still finding our last airman's family difficult to find a link to.
     
    Last edited: Mar 13, 2018
  11. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    Last edited: Mar 18, 2018
  12. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Stan perhaps contact the below
    The Eltham Society
    About Us | Eltham District Historical Society Inc.
    see if they can help

    regards
    Clive
     
  13. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    Thanks for that suggestion Clive. We have one line of enquiry open and if that doesn't work out your suggestion may be our next move.



    31.3.18: We didn't have any success with our enquiry for the Herbert family so plan B now being tried.

    We did also make contact with some other relatives of the Pilot's family but they sadly knew very little. This however is a big family and we have two more enquiries active.
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2018
  14. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    We now have found a relative for the Herbert family. So all good.

    We're now trying to see if we can obtain some more images.
     
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  15. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    Things are progressing with this project. The local Parish Council are now interested in marking the airmen's loss as well as other wartime occurrences in the area from both World Wars.
    Most likely this will take the form of a history notice board which will be established sometime in the autumn.
     
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  16. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    Further to my other post, there will now be a history board established in the village. This will cover events and occurrences in the Ardleigh area for both World Wars, but the 1943 Halifax crew and their loss will be prominent most I'm informed. The village historian we made contact with in turn approached the Parish Council and after a meeting they are providing funding.

    A September date has been chosen as this will be close to another occurrence in Ardleigh. On 27th September 1944 a V1 rocket attack killed a mother, her two young children and another adult in a different property. The children were aged 8 and 18 months. The father was away in the services.

    I believe also the sign will mention about a USAAF Pilot who took off from nearby Boxted airfield and had engine failure. He crashed in the area (Wick Farm) and lost his life. His name was Lt. Samuel K. Batson. He was flying a P47- D- 42- 26413 Mustang which I'm told were prone to engine trouble. His loss happened 30.12.44

    The unveiling dedication will take place 12 noon on Sunday 30th September at the Millenium Green in Ardleigh. This is situated behind their village hall, which is just off Station Road. There is a level crossing near this hall.

    Anyone interested is welcome to attend. I've no idea at this stage if we'll have relatives come along but I would think there is a good possibility.

    The planning of the event is now under way.

    Hope this is of interest. I will post more as we move towards that date.
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2018
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  17. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    We carried out a drone camera survey this week but unfortunately this didn't really show anything mainly due to the crops now growing. We hope to carry out another survey at a later date.
     
  18. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    We now have an image of Thomas Barfoot the British Air Bomber. He was just 19 years old.
     

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  19. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    Regarding the history sign mentioning about the USAAF Pilot Samuel Batson, it came to light that there has been a memorial plaque on a tree near where he died in 1944. Not many people knew of this. It is soon to be moved to a new location as a new reservoir will cover the area where it is at present. Here is an image of the plaque
     

    Attached Files:

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  20. KevinBattle

    KevinBattle Senior Member

    Re: Samuel K Batson: A P47 is not a Mustang (which was a P51), but a Thunderbolt.
    Furthermore the P47D with Serial Tail Number 42- 26413 appears to still be around. 42-26413 | Republic P-47D Thunderbolt | United States - US Army Air Force (USAAF) | Pedro Castellano García | JetPhotos and 42-26413 | Republic P-47D Thunderbolt | United States - US Army Air Force (USAAF) | Brenden | JetPhotos but that may be a static composite simply painted to represent Batson's aircraft - but why his? List of aircraft at the Imperial War Museum Duxford - Wikipedia.
    If they specifically chose to paint their P47 as (4)226413, there may be more of a back story that they know.
     

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