Stirling Mk.III LK502 of No.1654 HCU RAF crashed at Cliffe Park, Rudyard, Leek 27th May 1944

 

Gordon Noble Leach Flying Officer Pilot Killed
Frederick Thomas James Nicholls Flight Sergeant Flight Engineer OK
Arthur C. Brett Flight Sergeant Flight Engineer OK
Geoffray Norman Wise Flight Sergeant Navigator OK
D. C. Watson Flight Sergeant Bomb Aimer OK
Bernard David Fine Flight Sergeant Wireless Operator Killed
Harry Ward Sergeant Air Gunner Killed
Charles David Howes Sergeant Air Gunner Killed

 

The crew were on a night cross country exercise from RAF Wigsley, with one of the objectives being to take a night photogaph of the Menai Bridge between Bangor and Anglesey. During the flight the aircraft began to loose power and the crew started to abandon the aircraft, though only some had left the aircraft before it crashed.

Of the four survivors, three were later killed on active service they were Flt Sgts Brett, Nicholls and Wise.

Crash site of Short Stirling LK502 at Cliffe Park, Rudyard, Leek
A general view of part of the crash site of LK502, the fuselage impacted where the bushes are now.
Wreckage found at the crash site of Short Stirling LK502 at Cliffe Park, Rudyard, Leek
These two parts were the only item found on the surface of any interest. Other items of very corroded metal can be found, along with a piece of wiring from the aircraft.
Grave of Flight Sergeant Bernard Fine at Chester Blacon Cemetery
Flight Sergeant Bernard Fine was buried at Chester’s Blacon cemetery.
Commemoration of Sergeant Charles David Howes at Camberwell New Cemetery, London
Sergeant Howes was buried at Camberwell New Cemetery in south London, his grave is one of a number of war graves which were not properly marked at the time of burial or during the replacement of temporary crosses with headstones or was even lost through other circumstances and is commemorated on a large memorial that sits over the main war graves plot, adjacent is a mass grave for civilian bombing victims whose remains could not be identified.

Commemoration of Sergeant Charles David Howes at Camberwell New Cemetery, London