HEYWOOD, Frederick William

1051229, Corporal, R.A.F. (Volunteer Reserve)

Born 1915, Grimsby

Died 14/01/1943, Age 27, at Oaksey Wood, Oaksey

Buried 19/01/1943

Son of Ernest Heywood (b 1884), a pork butcher, and Lucy Hemstock (b 1887), married at Clee on 10/07/1913

Brother of Lena (b 1914), Jack (b 1917) and Richard (b 1923)

Address at time of death: 195 Grimsby Road, Cleethorpes

 Taken from http://hmvf.co.uk/

14th January 1943 was a very sad day for the OAPU unit at RAF Kemble in Gloucestershire as at just before noon Halifax B11 W7844 was preparing for take-off. She had arrived the previous September and after various modifications was due for a routine test flight prior to delivery overseas. On board were three aircrew, F/LT F. Harrison, the C.O. of the despatch flight, F/SGT J. Thomas and Cpl H. Munson. Looking forward to going for a ride, as many people used to do at the time, were five young aircrew, Cpl. W Ashworth, Cpl F Heywood, F/O H Hamilton and A/Cs L. Smith and V. Hadrill. Although F/LT Harrison was at 24 a very experienced pilot, he was somewhat unfamiliar with the Halifax, having just converted onto the type after flying Wellingtons for some time operationally in the Mediterranean and then at Kemble. After flying for about 15 minutes in the vicinity of the airfield, during which it "shot up" a Wellington, the Halifax chased an OTU Spitfire that happened to be in the area. The pilot of the Spitfire took evasive action, ending up in a steep turn to port and the Halifax followed in a very steep left hand turn during which it fell into a spin. The spin was checked at a low height but the aircraft struck the ground in the resultant dive into local woods at Oaksey, approximately one and a half miles from Kemble. An outbreak of fire occurred on impact and the aircraft was totally destroyed killing all 8 on board. It was a harrowing time for all at Kemble as at the time no-one knew exactly who was on board and, due to the fire, identification was difficult. One lucky man that day was Cpl K. Harman who was due to go along as flight engineer, but two of his colleagues needed to get more flying hours in to qualify for their extra one and sixpence a day flying pay. So they asked him to give up his place, which he did. F/O Pardoe of the accident investigation branch at Gloucester inspected the crash site. Their enquiry concluded that the accident was due to an error of judgement on the part of the pilot, resulting in the aircraft stalling and spinning while carrying out unnecessary manoeuvres at an unsuitable height. F/LT Harrison was buried with full honours in Cirencester at 2pm on 19th January. From that day on no-one "went for a ride" unless necessary!.

 From 'Gloucestershire Airfields in the Second World War', David Berryman

 "January 1943 brought tragedy for No. 1 OAPU when Halifax W7844 crashed with eight personnel from the unit's despatch flight on board. The bomber had taken off on a routine test flight and a number of ground crew had gone along for the ride. The pilot was 34 year old F/L Frederick Harrison the CO of the Test and Despatch Flight. Another a/c seen in the vicinity at the same time is variously identified as a Spitfire or a Blenheim. There is no doubt that this second a/c is associated with the incident that followed but the details are obscure. What is known for certain is that the Halifax went into a steep turn at 2000', stalled and spun in. This was something the Halifax was prone to do off a steep turn. Harrison was comparatively inexperienced on this type of a/c and may have been taken unawares. The a/c came down at Oaksey Woods to the east of Kemble striking the ground vertically. One of those that saw the Halifax 'go in' was local man Bill Sherwood. He was one of the first to get to the crash scene. The a/c was a blazing inferno; crash recovery vehicles sped to the crash site across fields but could do nothing more than contain the fire."

 The other men who died in the Halifax were:

F/Lt Frederick Charles Benjamin Harrison, aged 23

F/Sgt Thomas James Glyndwr Thomas, aged 24

Cpl Herbert Leonard Munson, aged 36

Cpl Walter Alex Ashworth, aged 22

F/O Henry Forbes Hamilton, aged 25

AC Laurence Leonard Smith, aged 21

AC Vivian Geoffrey Barnes Hadrill, aged 21