Brookwood Military Cemetery/Lytchett Minster Churchyard/Glasgow Western Necropolis/ LANCASTER CRASH

We will remember them

 

Air Gunner Robert Cameron is still remembered where he attended Albert college Belleville 1936/8 on the shore of Lake Ontario.

There is also a Roll of Honour at the college

This information was supplied by Dave Smith RCAFA 427 (London) Wing. David has now also acquired Francis Gunn's service records for us. See post 83 below.

 

Some of the many documents on Francis Gunns service record file.

Our thanks to David Smith.

 

We've recently found more information on the British airman Ernest Fancy who was a twenty two year old Air Gunner. We now know that he was the rear gunner on the Lancaster and that he was killed in the initial attack by the German aircraft just before 4 am on the morning of the 25th April.

Like most of the crew of the Lancaster he was a very fit young man and took part in and enjoyed sports. He was almost ready to sign up as a professional football player prior to joining up.

 

We now have Murray McPhersons Air Force service records to hand.

As with the Navigators records (Francis Gunn) and the other Air Gunners records (Robert Camerons) these are very personal and we will treat them with great respect.

Again, our thanks to David Smith for obtaining these.

 

This gives some idea of just how near the Lancaster was to reaching USAAF Boxted. The blue arrow denotes the final direction of the aircraft just prior to coming down. This apporach took it over 'Bullock Wood' over Ipswich Road and then striking the landscape in a dip. At this point the tail plane detached. The small red mark is roughly where this ended up. The main crash site was furhter on close to site 7, shown encircled in red. The main runway where they tried to land is marked 04 & 22.

(See post 56 on page 6 for images of the crash site).

 

Once again Roger Collier of 'Pristine Image' has very kindly worked his magic on some more photos for us.

Here is the result of his work on Dennis Randle's photo (sent to us by his son David).

This is his webiste: Pristine Image

Thanks Roger.

 

Once again David Smith of The Royal Canadian Air Force Association has continued to help us.

He has just forwarded some photos of the memorial in Roland. This is the village just a short distance from the hamlet of Mrytle Manitoba where Murray McPherson lived.

Also there is a plaque on the property of Roland Memorial Hall.

Many thanks David.

 

We have kindly been sent some photos of Ernest Fancy or 'Johnny' as he was better known. And we have learnt some more about him.

Images here courtesy of Martin Reid and Helen Davis.

Martins wifes' mother was one of Ernests sisters.
Ernest was Helens grandfathers' brother.

Ernest was a good all round sportsman and had won many gold medals. Once he joined up he was involved with physical training. Eventually one of his friends decided to go into aircrew and he followed his example becoming an Air Gunner.

We had contact from another lady who's brother Peter also knew Ernest as a good friend in the RAF. On leave together in Dorset her brother and Ernest spent a lot of time at the family home. He mentioned to her mother that he was still lucky to be alive as an Air Gunners life expectancy was five missions and he'd already done over twenty. Not long after that he was killed. Ruby, goes on to say that he was a likeable young man, and they were all saddened to learn of his death.

 

I have been informed by the family of Ernest John Fancy of some very interesting information.

Ernest Fancy was related to John Fancy who became known as 'The Mole.'
John Fancy served as a Navigator and was shot down in 1940. For the duration of the War he was a POW. His nick name was dervived from the many tunnels he dug in various escape attempts.

The most famous of these became known as 'The Great Escape' which was in fact anything but great as it resulted with fifty re captured airmen being murdered.

He died fairly recently and his obituary was widely published. Times version here:

John Fancy - Telegraph

 

Going through the several hundred photos again recently that Anne Law kindly sent me, (Wickenby Memorial Museum), I have found a partial picture of the actual aircraft that crashed in Colchester. Standing in front of it however is another crew.

Aircraft were used by many different crews and here we see P/O Hutchinson and his crew. They were killed in another Lancaster LL797 UM-B2 on 24th February 1944.

DV177 was flown by P/O Hutchinson on at least twelve missions, the last time being 28th Jan 1944 which was on a mission to Berlin.

 

We've now been forwarded some more photos of Ernest. He was a keen all round sportsman and had won many gold medals.

Here he is pictured with a local football team, Lytchett Red Triangle. He stands in the middle row and is the third player from the left. Our thanks to nephew John Stanley Fancy and his son Jon Fancy for providing these images.

 

In this photo Ernest stands in the back row and is the third player from the left.

 

A few more photos of the Canadian crews documents. Here we see the personal effects of Murray McPherson.

 

One of the initial RCAF documents

 

This picture shows Severalls Business Park in the foreground. The Lancaster crashed further to the right of this area and is not shown in the photo. But it gives some idea of how close they were reaching the airfield.

Just off centre there is a line of trees which goes off roughly in a two o'clock direction, becoming grass further into the distance. Including the tree line, this was the main runway at the airfield.

Part of the main runway has been retained as the grass strip which is used once or twice a year by a local flying club, 'The Suffolk Coastal Strut.'
Website: Suffolk Coastal Strut

For several years up until 2006 a small public 'Fly In' was allowed on the airfield. This photo was taken when one of these was taking place and the white marks that can just be seen to the left of the runway are various tents marquees and aircraft.

 

In these two photos the tree line mentioned above is seen from the opposite direction and is in the background behind the aircraft. (To the left hand side of the white aircraft and above the parked up aircraft).

The width of the War time runway would have been from the hedge on the left to the crop line on the right.

 

Relatives of Upton airman gunned down in war will visit spot where he died (From Bournemouth Echo)



I feel it's important for me to once again mention the people who have made this project happen. The memories of local Colcestrians Michael Heath, Derek Blowers* and David Seaborn were our inspiration. * (Derek sadly is no longer with us).

David Davies of Space Makers Safestore gave his permission for us to build on his companys land.

Susan Ho, Managing Director of Seven Seas Marble and Granite at Kelvedon provided us with the marble and the stone mason they use: Jim Moran of JSM Essex provided his services at nominal cost.

Chris King at Collier & Catchpole Builders Merchants and DB Concrete will be supplying materials FOC.

 

The three people in the photos below were school children during the War here in Colchester. All three spent a considerable amount of time loitering around Boxted Airfield which was a large American base, before and after lessons. They are respectively:

Derek Blowers, David Seaborn and Michael Heath. Derek sadly is no longer with us. All of them have / had some very interesting recall about the Lancaster crashing. David saw the aircraft on fire banking low towards the Airfield and Michael heard the actual crash as he lived close by.

Between them they have / had comprehensive knowledge about the events on and surroundig the airfield. Derek and Michael featured in a short film about the airfield sometime ago.

David also went to school with and was in the same class as Roger Freeman. Rogers family lived in Dedham and his father was contracted to cut grass at the airfield. Roger would go along with his dad and take notes of everything. Later on in life we wrote many books about the American 8th air Force. These books are well known by anyone interested in American aviation history.

 

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Hi all, with a bit of Googling maps, we have identified the house in the distance, (arrowed) it actually belongs to an old friend of mine, it is the nearest house to the site of the memorial,, the memorial is sited as close to the crash site as is possible, as the exact location is built on, part of the crash site is occupied by Lancaster Garages, some coincidence what.
They do not know about the crash, but they will soon.

There seems to be many watching this thread, so I will again take this opportunity to thank STAN50 for his determination and hard work to see this memorial done, he has achieved a great deal in a short time, along with enthusiastic help from others including some here on the forum well done STAN well done everybody.

regards lofty