Article about a collision of two RAF aircraft , based at the Amarda Road airfield, Orissa (now Odisha) India on 26 July 1945. The bodies were exhumed in 1953 and transferred to the Madras (now Chennai) War Cemetery. The article briefly mentions the Air Fighting Training Unit - 228 Group and the Tactical & Weapons Development Unit based at Amarda Road, and the names of surrounding airfields- Dalbhumgarh, Dudhkundi, Salua, Digri, Salbani and Chakulia https://web.archive.org/web/20111204044912/http://zeenews.india.com/news/zee-exclusive/1945-an-untold-story-of-war-and-love_722032.html (archive.org link) Cheers Maureen
Thanks Peter. Your information prompted me to search further and I found a report by Matthew J Poole, (Version 6, 27 November 2008), which seems to be the basis of most of the information in the article I posted. This report (pdf) can be accessed through this link from Robert Quirk’s website. (scroll down to a choice of two pdf versions) http://www.rquirk.com/seac.html (archive.org link) Cheers Maureen
Thanks for your posts, Maureen and Peter. I'm the Matthew J. Poole who researched the story. I put my heart and soul into it, as a gift for a dear friend -- the daughter of one of the victims. But for three straight years an Indian journalist has twisted the story and claimed some key aspects of the research as his own. His continued actions disgust me, but that's the price one pays for posting research on-line (and I knew it might happen when I posted it). Allegedly he is going to write a book... So, some of the news story that Maureen brought to the forum's attention is pure plagiarism and false claims. I won't waste anyone's time going into details. The much more important result of his actions is that there is focus upon the fourteen casualties, and that is good. Each July since 2011 the Indian has, to his credit, organized a memorial service to honor these casualties, and it is held smack dab in the middle of the now-abandoned RAF Amarda Road airfield's runway -- the same runway where the two Liberators took off on 26 July 1945 as part of a formation training flight. See photos. He gets TV and newspaper publicity for it each year, and his press release contains the same false claims, but he is solely responsible for making the memorial service possible each year. He has conducted additional research at the crash sites of the two Liberators, including interviews with eyewitnesses. He also found the family of the Royal Indian Air Force casualty, P.V. Mathai, who was a groundcrewman who had decided to go up for a ride (not uncommon). However, he will not share any of it, not even a photo of Mathai, despite being asked by my friend Yvonne (daughter of Peter Ettlinger) and by the 101 (maybe recently 102) year old brother of another (England's oldest continuous driver, by the way). I hope you enjoy the photos from 2011 and 2013 memorial services. Regards, Matt
could you confirm Flight Lieutenant Alexander Norman BARROW 27 Navigator was a casualty regards Clive
Hi, Clive, I meant to point that one out. In his recent post, Peter Clare had copied crew lists from "The Price of Peace" by Colin Cummings. One name was wrong -- it should be BORROW, not BARROW. Borrow's service number is 186421. However, the number was painted as 186422 on one of the two wooden crosses erected in 1945 above the newly-buried remains close to the crash sites of the Liberators. You can just make out the erroneous "2" in the attached photo. My report on Robert Quirk's website needs an update, with some additional info...no time at the moment, though. I'll take this opportunity, however, to post a photo of casualty Peter Ettlinger's name on a new memorial at Southampton, dedicated in the spring of 2012. Peter's granddaughter, Dr. Alexandra Colebatch, is seen in the reflection, alongside his name. Regards, Matt
