He was with 23 OTU and was in Wellington III X3586 "T/O 11:38 Stratford upon Avon for a navigation exercise. While flying through a scattering of cloud , collided at 2000 feet with a bomber of the same unit, both aircraft disintegrating and crashing 1215 on, or near Honington airfield in Suffolk." Other aircraft was Wellington III Z1685. Of the 10 men killed, 8 were RCAF. From Chorley's Vol.7 OTUs Dave Wallace
-- Edited by dawallace on Monday 1st of July 2013 08:50:19 AM
Hi, I have a great uncle who flew with Guy Gibson in Squadron 106 and I know everything I need to know about him and his squadron as it is in Guy Gibsons book and was easy to research, but I have another great uncle who died the same tender age of 20 who seems to have been completely overlooked by bomber command. I would greatly appreciate any help on finding out more about his role and which squadron he was in.
I have obtained his death certificate and quite a few details but nowhere online can I find anything. He is not mentioned in the book: RAF Bomber Command Losses 1943
The details I have are:
Sgt Wilfred Adams (RAFVR 1238639 W.OP/A.G.)
Death certificate: Died 29th January 1943 due to war operations. Service Number: RAFVR 1238639 W.OP/A.G. Location: Honington R.D. - death certificate registered in the the sub-district of Fornham in Bury, St Edmunds, Suffolk. - Commanding Officer who signed the death certificate: "N" or "R" Harris.
I have his Obituary from his funeral attended by family which states he died in a flying accident in the midlands on the 29th of January 1943 and had served 18 months in the RAF and had previoulsy worked in his fathers (my great grandfathers) Wireless shop in Wibsey, Bradford.
According to a distant family member who is still alive, the story is that he crashed in the UK after being damaged on returning from a bombing raid.
His brother (my grandfather, who is no longer with me) had made a Hampden bomber out of metal and a large bullet shell during the war which I now have and I wondered if this had some relevance to the type of bomber.
I have been to his grave in Bradford which I found through the war graves commission and although it has RAF on it, it isn't like my other relatives war grave.
Any help would be hugely appreciated, I am a british artist (JJ Adams) and am planning on creating some artwork to commemorate my family involvement in the RAF.
Wow.... Is all I can say. Thank you so very much Dave, this means so much to me. This was such a mystery as we have newspaper clipping but not much else. The rest of my family will be so happy to know this information. Is there any chance you have a bigger copy of that image you could email me? I would like to return your kindness somehow, where are you based? I am a British artist and have just done a new piece featuring a lancaster bomber, it's not released for another two weeks and it's not necessarily historically accurate as it features German UFO's but I would like to send you a print. It might not be to your liking but I thought I would offer. If you are able to send me that pic, I'll reply with a pic of my new piece and you can decide if you like it or not and want a print. My email is inhdesign@gmail.com and my website is www.jjadamsart.com I also have a feature on my website about my other uncle who flew with Guy Gibson. Thank you so much again. - JJ
