Vickers Wellington Mk.III BK405 of No.27 OTU, crashed near to Boylestone, Derbyshire on the 11th January 1943

Vickers Wellington Mk.X at the Royal Air Force Museum

 

Ralph Holland Tye Flying Officer RNZAF Pilot (Instructor, Screened) Killed
William Raymond Wearne Sergeant RAAF Pilot (u/t) Killed
Ian Ross McDonald Sergeant RAAF Air Gunner Killed
John Kerr Sergeant Wireless Operator / Air Gunner Killed
John Stoppard Eccles Sergeant RAAF Air Gunner Killed

 

It would appear that aircraft being airborne from Church Broughton for some 15 minutes on a Circuits and Landings exercise that the aircraft’s port engine failed, the pupil pilot inadvertently feathered to starboard propeller causing a complete loss of power, the aircraft quickly stalled and entered a spin from which it did not recover, the aircraft was destroyed by fire following the crash.  Sgt Eccles while serving with the RAAF. was not actually Australian, he was from Timperley near Altrincham in Cheshire.

Alan at the crash site of Vickers Wellington Mk.III BK405 at Boylestone, Derbyshire
Alan stood roughly at the centre of the crash site, during our search in the late summer of 2005 we found numerous small parts of the aircraft lying on the surface where they had been brought up by years of ploughing. The JCB plant on the former airfield at Church Broughton is visible in this photograph (as a light coloured shape), halfway between my left shoulder and the tree near the right hand edge of the image.
Small fragments of wreckage at the crash site of Vickers Wellington Mk.III BK405 at Boylestone, Derbyshire
Above are the small parts of the aircraft found lying on the surface of the field, mainly small lumps of melted alloy and fragments of perspex.
Grave of Sergeant John Stoppard Eccles at Salford (Agecroft) Cemetery
Sergeant John Eccles was buried at Salford (Agecroft) Cemetery, above is his grave.