Dear All,
My good friend Ted Peck and I are researching the crash of Short Stirling LJ630, the 70th anniversary of which takes place next year. We are tentatively planning a memorial to be located at the crash site, which is currently anonymous. Whilst we are having some success with finding information on the crew (we are in the act of applying for the service records of each member), we do not have any photographs of the aircraft itself, which belonged to 1654 HCU based at RAF Wigsley. Do any forum members have images of this machine?
Ted served as a Flight Engineer with 622 Squadron in 1944, completing a full tour against the enemy. During training, Ted and his crew nearly met a similar fate to the crew of LJ630, so this is particularly close to his heart.
Any help would be gratefully received.
Best Regards,
Dean Wright
By: Eye on the Sky - 4th December 2013 at 16:18
Hi Don, message duly sent. Thanks all for the help so far!
Dean
By: critter592 - 4th December 2013 at 14:10
Hello Dean,
I have on file (courtesy of another Forum member, Alan Clark), the extract from the 25 EFTS Operational Record Book, which mentions this aircraft.
Due to the contents of this document, I am not prepared to post the extract here. If you would be so kind to e-mail me via my website (link in my signature), I shall gladly send it to you.
Don Bryans
By: TwinOtter23 - 3rd December 2013 at 22:58
Sorry 12jaguar – I got you mixed up with your alter ego Jaguar12 – it’s been a long day! 😮
Dean, if you PM me an email address I’ll send you a PDF file of the Aviation In Nottinghamshire booklet, which has a page on RAF Wigsley – including some photographs of the watch office (then and now); I can also let you have a jpg of it ‘now’. I may not get round to sending it through until tomorrow night as I’m heading off into Lincolnshire in the morning to photograph a few more memorials – now where did I put my passport? 😀
Fond memories of huddling in a phone box in Stanton when one of my sons went on a school trip there and I went along as a ‘responsible adult!’
By: Eye on the Sky - 3rd December 2013 at 22:19
Minisandfords- The Stanley Wellington memorial is about a 15 minute walk from my home, indeed my Grandma can remember the aircraft coming down. Remarkably though, relatively few people around here seem to know anything at all about LJ630. As part of the project we are aiming to raise as much awareness about the accident as possible, and plan to involve as many of the local community as we can. We are still in the early stages, but are making promising headway and have so far received unanimous support from everyone we have consulted.
TwinOtter23, thanks for the information regarding the NAM archive, much appreciated. 12Jaguar, many thanks indeed, we’ll be happy to make a donation to your project if you turn anything up. As a former Stirling man, Ted was most impressed that someone is working to recreate the beast. Over lunch today he was explaining the art of operating the tail wheel.
In a twist of fate, two of the three Short Brothers were born in Stanton-By-Dale!
Many thanks again,
Dean
By: 12jaguar - 3rd December 2013 at 22:02
Thanks Howard 😀
Can’t promise anything but will see what we can come up with
John
By: TwinOtter23 - 3rd December 2013 at 21:27
There’s also a memorial to a Wellington OTU crew at Creswell Crags – http://www.military-airshows.co.uk/press06/creswellcragsmemorialprmay2011.htm
Regarding the OP’s photograph request, there are no RAF Wigsley Stirling images on file in the NAM Archive, which was fully checked when the Nottinghamshire Memorials booklet was produced a couple of years ago.
Re- Stirlings Jaguar12 might be able to assist!
By: minisandfords - 3rd December 2013 at 21:12
Stanton by Dale in Derbyshire? Interesting- didn’t know about that- guessing you already know about the Wellington memorial in Stanley?
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December 3, 2013 at 5:54 pm