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Found my next project.....


Heraldcoupe

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Some time back I tried to find out details of a Wellington bomber which crashed near my home town during WW2. At the time I had little to go on, not even an approximate date. My dad was very young when the aircraft crashed, and couldn't (wouldn't?) find much information about it.

This afternoon I took a 'phonecall from an uncle whom I'd not spoken to in 10 years. Turns out he'd done some research himself in the mid 1990s, and had managed to trace one of the surviving crew. This Wellington ran out of fuel when lost in fog, after a ten hour night-flying training flight. This was on the morning of September 19th, 1939, only a couple of weeks after the outbreak of war. The aircraft was L4256, a Mk1 from 75 Squadron at Harwell, at that time an OTU. My uncle is mailing me parts of the folder he compiled, including details of the aircraft and crew, all of whom survived.

As a child I was always fascinated by the story of this totally lost aircrew, hiding in undergrowth and hearing Welsh voices, thinking the worst that they had come down in Europe. I visited the crash site many times and have a few pieces of airframe sat on the mantlepiece next to me. Depending what information I get from my uncle, I will doubtless have more research to carry out. He mentioned the aircraft as L4256 AA, AA being the code for 75 Squadron, no idea of the aircraft letter yet though.

So I have the 70th anniversary on 19th September as a self imposed deadline, and a Trumpeter 1/48th Wellington 1c waiting to be converted. TIme to clear the decks.....

Cheers,

Bill.

Edited by Heraldcoupe
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