A few months ago, as a civilian, I worked on base at Coningsby for a year. Whilst there I met some remarkable people, RAF past and present, with some real stories to tell.
One lunchtime I was enjoying the sun and strolling down a lane near the BBMF Hangar, I saw the well maintained Station graveyard and decided to enter and read some of the headstones, one in particular intrigued me, to Sqd Leader Jack Jagger.
A Sqd Leader, distinctive name, the right age to have fought through WW2, died and buried at Coningsby.
What was his story, how did he die, why is he buried at Coningsby etc? Just some of the many questions I had… I began to Google for the facts that evening after work.
I found out quite a bit.
A fighter pilot during the war, shot down over France and captured.
Escaped, evaded and returned home to fly and fight again..a hell of a feat in itself!
After the war, boss of 92 Squadron based at Linton on Ouse, leader and developer of the Squadron Aerobatic Team. On secondment to Coningsby, practicing for an air show, crashed and died.
I have found a few snippets of info regarding him, all saying pretty much the same, highly skilled and well liked.
I would like to find out a lot more about the man, where was he from, did he have a family, what was his war time career like..successes, etc?
During my research I acquired newspaper articles of the day re the inquest details; a couple of the details make for unpleasant reading though.
Does any one else out there know anything about Sqd Ldr Jack Jagger? Did you work with him? “Grounded” can you help? Here’s hoping.
By: patrick O'Leary - 16th November 2012 at 19:01
Sqd/Ldr jack Jagger
hi trotter. I served at coningsby at that time as a bomb armourer and witnessed the whole eventfull accident ,i also wrote about it for a magazine some years ago.
which i have added as an attachment . best wishes; Gunner
By: Trotter - 14th February 2012 at 20:00
Yes, a Meteor.
He was practising for an air dsiplay, his routine was to take off, fly low and fast across the airfield, pull up to the vertical, perform a wingover into a vertical dive, before twisting into a bunt, to fly low , fast and inverted back across the airfield.
There is a theory that three of his comrades were returning to Coningsby very low on fuel after becoming lost, therefore they had to land very quickly.
This may have forced Sqd Ldr Jagger into rushing his manouvres and not gaining enough height for the wingover with tragic results.
By: Moggy C - 13th February 2012 at 23:48
The one question I wanted to ask, but can answer myself, was the aircraft he was flying at the time of his death.
Meteor 8 I understand?
Moggy
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February 13, 2012 at 11:07 pm