How to find Local WW11 Aircraft Accident reports

Thanks for the updates, sorry taken a while to respond but having talktalk issues however not for much longer as going with someone else

Alex’s Damaged Chute From Bail-out 13/10/43.

AADH.
13/10/43.
Spit’ IX, MJ190. Engine-failure in dive. Got rid, Rugeley area. A/c impacted Cannock.
A/c TWO.

Pilot impacted tailplane on exit and knocked unconcious. Came to and deployed ‘chute. Whole section of ‘chute torn-away/missing, canopy only held together by a thread. Fast descent, landed without further injury.

Despite the typewritten note on the ‘chute stating 12th, it did in fact occur on the 13th – ‘lucky for some’…!

Photo of remains of ‘chute;-

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Flt.Lt. Lester Vincent Sanders.

Lets see if this works….:)

(He’s the chap in the middle of course.)

Try the records office responsible for the area (is Cannock still covered by Staffordshire County Council or is it one of the unitary authorities?). If it’s not SCC then you may have some luck trying Police and fire service records, there is next to nothing of use on the SCC Archives catalogue for Police and Fire.

Ideally you’d want a copy of the Staffordshire County Police Form 65 for the incident, whether it still exists is another matter. I’ve got one which was copied into a USAAF accident report, that’s how I know what to look for. The subject should be something akin to ‘crashed aircraft’.

I took a while before I found out how to do it. Once you’ve managaged it it will be very easy after that.

Ah-ha….

Antoni;- Thanks for that – I will have a go. I knew I’d have to figure this out one day…!

You need to load it to a photo sharing site. I’ll explain how to do it with ImageShack. http://imageshack.us/

Open an account, i.e., register. After that make sure you are logged on ( at the top right you will see your user name (my Images) Sign out). At the left there should be a box, at the top is says Upgrade to premium. Ignore that. Make sure Upload: images is selected. There should be a black dot in the circle after Upload: If not, click on the circle. Then click on browse. A window will open up that allows you to navigate through the folders on your computer. Find the photograph and select it. Then click on open. The window will close. Back at the ImageShack box click upload now. The photo should now upload. If you are not automatically taken to my images, click on my images. There should be a thumbnail of the photograph with a lot of small icons down the side. Click on the letter ‘i’ at the top. A small window will open up. Inside a box there will be a link that has img at the beginning and /img at the end encased in square brackets. Copy the link including the square brackets. Paste the link into your post. When you post your post the photograph will appear in your post in the place you posted the link.

You may encounter a problem if the photo is very large. In that case you need create a version for posting on your computer and upload that. You can get software to this. I use Picasa 3 which you can download for free. Select the photo and then click export. A window opens up where you can set the size. Change this, about 400 pixels is usually about right. You can then choose where you want to save the downsized photograph or use the default.

VACBAF Crashes. (Some.)

Rob68;-

Some of the incidents that you mention;-

AADH;-
18/07/42.
Spit’ EP615;-
The motor cut as the magneto-drive sheared. As he was too low, flying below 10/10ths cloudcover, he couldn’t glide-clear of the congested area or bail-out without risk to area below, so he elected to put it into some gardens. AADH suffered cuts and bruses, – no one else was hurt. It ended-up in the garden of 468, Lichfield Road, Wednesfield. A/c was TWO.
(ITV screened a documentary ‘The Extraordinary Mr.Spitfire.’ on 09/09/07 which covered this incident, as witnessed by two schoolboys, Les Burrows, of Willenhall, and Fred Whitehouse, of Bilston.)

Sanders.
23/10/42.
Spit’.
Fl/Lt Sanders a/c broke-up and he was killed.
A/c TWO

AADH.
13/10/43.
Spit’ IX, MJ190. Engine-failure in dive. Got rid, Rugeley area. A/c impacted Cannock.
A/c TWO.

I have a photo of Fl/Lt Sanders somewhere, but I haven’t got a clue how I’d post it on here.
Hope that helps…:)

thanks guys, really appreciated.
How would you go about finding where on Cannock Chase this happened, this is only for curiosity sake nothingh more as I live on the edge of the chase, (approx 4 miles from the German Cemetry). Most of the chase now is either scrub/heath land or Forrestry Commision plantation

Spitfires Over Malta

Spitfire BR108 was flown several times by P/O Peter Nash (also Sqn Ldr Stanley Grant) during which he claimed one Me109 shot down, plus another damaged and a probable, along with two Ju87s destroyed, plus another probably destroyed. This aircraft, which had been flown off the U.S.S. Wasp on May 7th was later shot down on July 8th when piloted by Flt Lt Lester Sanders. After an encounter with two 109s Sanders was forced to ditch into the sea off the coast of Gozo. He survived the ditching only to lose his life later the same year whilst flying as a test pilot, when a new Spitfire Vb he was flying broke up in the air over Cannock Chase near Birmingham and he was killed in the resulting crash.
The Merlin engine from BR108 was later successfully raised in 1973 from the seabed of Marsalforn Bay, Gozo, and can now be seen on display in the National War Museum in Valletta.

Paul

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paul-Brennen-Hesselyn-Spitfires-Malta/dp/0955364655/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360666612&sr=1-2

Cannock Chase.

After a google i found the pilot to be Flt Lt. Lester Sanders DFC. 23 yrs old. Who was killed;

This Spit broke up whilst on dive tests over the Chase. The Malta Spit was BR108 a Vc.

Spitfire Crash

I recall viewing a Spitfire that had been recovered from just off the coast of Malta in the Museum. The pilot had ditched (a good idea as the fields in Malta are all tiny surrounded by stone walls)after being shot down. He had survived only to be posted back to Castle Bromwich, being killed some months after the ditching whilst on a test flight. I know that it was local to me and believe that was at Cannock, or was it MIRA (Nuneaton)