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Remembered Today:

Mystery flyer


John_Hartley

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Not sure whether this was the right sub-forum.

This is a photo of Flt Sgt E Haxton's grave at Douchy-les-Ayette.

You'll see the adjacent grave is an unknown RFC officer who died the same day (or, perhaps, the previous day). CWGC records Haxton's death as 11 October 1916, whilst "Sky Their Battlefield" has it as the 10th. Both records agree that his observer, Cpl Bertie Jeffs, died on the 10th.

Jeffs has no known grave and my first idea was that I'd risk a tenner on it being him in the "unknown grave". But they didnt die together - "Sky Their Battlefield" records Jeffs jumping to his death after the plane was hit - so it may not be him.

The reference to "officer" also suggests that it isnt Corporal Jeffs. Another look at "Sky Their Battlefield", for the deaths on 10/11 October suggests there's only one "officer" who does not have a known grave. This is Capt R N Adams.

So, my question is .......is there any further research I can do to try to establish who is buried next to Haxton

J

post-72-1241992607.jpg

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I'd agree that Captain R N Adams seems a likely candidate, but if so he was buried a long way from where he crashed - Douchy-les-Ayette is 20km north of Meaulte (crash site according to TSTB) and 25km north west of Morval (crash site according to Royal Flying Corps Communiques). Though the communiques state that he never regained consciousness I suppose he could have been taken to a distant casualty clearing station where he later died.

Steve

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The cemetery contains the remains of men concentrated from a wide area. All the RFC are buried in Plot 3. (one RAF man in plot 1). the majority are buried in plot 3 row C. So the next step would be to ask CWGC where the individuals including the KUG were brought in from.

FREMICOURT COMMUNAL CEMETERY, two R.F.C. officers (who died in 1916 in a German hospital in the Church) were buried.

MOYENNEVILLE GERMAN CEMETERY where six R.F.C.) were buried by the enemy in 1916-17.

Mick

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Hi John

Just to confirm that I am still fairly sure FSgt EN Haxton died on the 10th. There are a few other records pointing at this, although the possibility that he died of wounds the next day can't be entirely discounted, given the CWGC date. The evidence points to the 10th, however.

He and Jeffs are, of course, in the FE2b/d Serials and accompanying Names Index which will be in the Cross & Cockade/RAFM FE2b/d monograph coming out in a month or two. This should be a fantastic new tool for anyone researching names with even the slightest link to an FE squadron, with almost 1,600 names linked to aircraft and related events.

I really wish you all the best luck trying to identify the unknown aviator - it's a very interesting subject you've unearthed with your photograph.

Regards,

Trevor

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Email has now winged its way to CWGC so I now sit here for a few weeks until they can check to see if they have any original burial information. Thanks for the advice so far.

John

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Hello John,

Not an answer to your question but my Great Grandfather 28186 Pte J W Nicholls 12th East Yorks is buried in the same plot behind Flt Sgt Haxton.

He was KIA in Nov 1916 at or near Serre and was originally buried at Gomiecourt German Cemetery. I have the letter sent to Great Grandmother from the I.W.G.C. dated Sept 1924 informing her he had been re-intered at Douchy-Les-Ayette.

Hope this is of interest, Steve.

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Steve

I don't know if you've ever been to Douchy Cem. but it is one of the prettiest I've ever visited. One of those places that if you had to pick a war graves cem in which to have yourself planted, this might well be it. There was loads of wisteria, in full flower, growing round the entrance and behind the cross - it looked fantastic.

John

post-72-1242467704.jpg

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John,

I have visited the cemetery a couple of times to pay my respects but always in the winter with frost on the ground, thats when i like to visit the battlefields, so its lovely to see your photos with the plants in bloom. Thanks for that.

Good luck with your research into the unknown airman,

Steve.

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Flt Sgt E Haxton was a pre war regular in the RFC and will have an entry in A Contemptible Little Flying Corps and possibly records in AIR 79/9, these usually give details of death.

Cpl Bertie Jeffs joined in 1914 and might have a record in AIR 79/38.

Not sure if these will help: WO 339/13509 ADAMS R N, Capt

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  • 1 month later...

After an initial misinterpretation of their own rules (which suggested that they were not going to disclose original burial information), they've now confirmed that Haxton and the unknown flyer were buried in adjacent graves in the German Extension of Fremicourt Communal Cemetery.

The feeling in my water is now more than ever that the unknown flyer must be Haxton's observer, Bertie Jeffs.

I've emailed the RAF Museum asking if they will check their casualty cards for Haxton & Jeffs top see if anything helpful is there. And will look for service records on my next trip to Kew.

I assume that the description of the unknown chap being an "officer" will have come from German records. Might it be reasonable to assume that, in turn, they had assumed that Jeffs must have been an officer, as most were?

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I assume that the description of the unknown chap being an "officer" will have come from German records. Might it be reasonable to assume that, in turn, they had assumed that Jeffs must have been an officer, as most were?

Wasn't it the case that in the German air force two-seaters the observer was always an officer while the pilot, deemed to be just the chauffeur for the guy doing the real work, was a ranker?

cheers Martin B

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  • 2 weeks later...

Martin (and/or anyone else)

Do you have a reference source for that suggestion, please?

Assuming that the "unknown" man is Jeffs, then it would certainly explain why they would assume him to have been an officer - the source is something I can lob in to the eventaul submission to CWGC/MoD.

By the way, I've discovered that Jeffs is commemorated on two war memorials at Headington near Oxford. So it looks like I might be having a schlep down the M40 to see if I can find an obituary at Oxford Local Heritage Library - probably do it enroute to Kew.

John

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  • 2 weeks later...
Do you have a reference source for that suggestion, please?

Found one - in the 1920 translation of "Die Deutschen Luftstreitkrafte im Weltkriege".

"The observer, invariably an officer, was as a rule the person actually responsible in an aeroplane.......

That'll do nicely.

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  • 5 months later...

Well, I've had a reply from CWGC/MoD which concludes that there is insufficient evidence to conclude that it is Jeffs buried there.

I had submitted evidence (from squadron casualty reports at the NA) that there were only two missing flyers from the two dates - Jeffs and a Captain Adams. The reports are clear that Adams crashed in British territory and was buried (with his grave presumably subsequently lost). My conclusion was therefore that the unknown flyer must be Jeffs.

However, the MoD has evidence from the Concentration Report for the reburial of the two graves from Fremicourt to Douchy-les-Ayette which notes that the "Unknown British Aviator" had "officers clothing". The conclusion is that the body was being identified as an officer by the British exhumation people and, therefore, cannot be Sgt Jeffs.

The MoD also concludes that, as there are no other "missings" from 11 October 1916, this must be the date of burial by the Germans and not date of death and must, therefore, have been a casualty from some time before who was discovered co-incidentally at around the same time and place as Haxton's body was recovered.

So that's the end of that exercise which just leaves me with "a feeling in my water" about the man's identity, regardless of what the documentary evidence suggests.

John

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... the "Unknown British Aviator" had "officers clothing". The conclusion is that the body was being identified as an officer by the British exhumation people and, therefore, cannot be Sgt Jeffs.

Bad luck, John, but congrats on getting the case as far as you did. If the supposition had rested only on what the Germans took to be "officer's clothing", there might have been some wriggle room, but perhaps not if it was so reported by the British exhumation unit. Is the fact that it says 'clothing' rather than 'uniform' perhaps significant? I don't suppose there are any photos of Jeffs and/or his squadron mates that might help? Would a squadron commander have prohibited his non-commissioned aircrew from wearing spare items of nominally 'officer clothing' (boots, coats?) if they offered better protection or some other useful advantage?

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Would a squadron commander have prohibited his non-commissioned aircrew from wearing spare items of nominally 'officer clothing' (boots, coats?) if they offered better protection or some other useful advantage?

It also assumes the original people conducting the reburial correctly identified the clothing - part of the John Kipling debate rests on the fact that Irish Guard OR's wore a symbol (a rose I think) above the leters IG, and the rose of an OR could have been mistaken for an Officers pip by someone who didn't know the difference, hence promoting the man who was in the grave inadvertantly...

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  • 6 years later...

John:

 

I was not aware of your earlier work on this case and inadvertently started a new topic, which it appears I can not delete. I put it here with a pasted copy of our report.

 

 

 

I don't believe there is any doubt that you had the man ID'd in 2009 and it is Corporal Jeffs. The issue is that he was named a "British Aviator" and there was what may have been Officer's Clothing. That really does not matter as there were no Officer's killed and missing at that time and he is exactly where he should be beside the pilot Flt. Sgt. Haxton. I have put that all together in the report with the maps. Captain Adams, the only other possible candidate went down in British territory some distance away.

 

If I understand the comments at the bottom of the COG-BR correctly, the exhumations were carried out by the French Civil Authorities and that is where the "Officer's Clothing" statement originates. They were supervised by Mr. Rutter.

 

What may not have been known in 2009 was that the remains were "badly smashed" and that Jeffs had "jumped from the aircraft". Clearly the man in this grave is Corporal Jeffs, now the question is how to get the MOD and CWGC to review the case.

 

There remains the puzzle of the Memorial Cross in the Guards Cemetery, Lesboeufs for Captain Adams as a Royal Fusilier and not RFC. I checked on SMith, Swain, Clarke(e) and Barton and they are all on the Thiepval Memorial - so these are not graves destroyed by shell fire or they would have had Kipling Memorials.

 

I am interested to hear what you think about the 2016 version of the report.

 

Richard

 

doc2006590.JPG

 

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On 1/23/2010 at 07:57, John_Hartley said:

The MoD also concludes that, as there are no other "missings" from 11 October 1916, this must be the date of burial by the Germans and not date of death and must, therefore, have been a casualty from some time before who was discovered co-incidentally at around the same time and place as Haxton's body was recovered.

 

If that was true then the same would have to apply to Flight Sergeant Haxton who is also listed on the COG-BR as died on 11 October 1916. Jeffs was buried the in the grave after Haxton, so obviously found at the same time. I think we all agree they both were KIA on 10 October 1916 and they were probably buried on 11 October 1916. 99% of the evidence points to Jeffs and the then there is the 1% for the Officer's clothing on a "British Aviator" (does not say "British Officer").

 

Added Question: Did anyone get the service record for Jeffs? Not sure if similar to ours in Canada but the Attestation Papers here have height and hair colour. The British Aviator was 5' 8" 9" with AUBURN hair. If Jeffs had this reddish-brown hair colour that would be good evidence! It was 8 years between death and exhumation. There are images of him here: 

http://www.headington.org.uk/history/war/quarry/jeffs_bertie.html

Moustache, revolver - could it look like an Officer to a French Civil Authority?

 

Luc and I have scoured the ICRC records for Haxton and Jeffs with no luck so far - I will go back and look for some other name spellings.

 

doc1996398.JPG

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One way of eliminating all other possibilities would be to list all other RFC fliers with no known grave prior to the date in question.

There can not be that many and they might all be dismissed as possibilities , leaving only Jeffs as a candidate.

 

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There are 53 on the Arras Flying Services Memorial prior to 11 October 1916.

 

47 of those were lost in 1916.

 

3 in 1915 (Caws, Pike & James)  and 3 in 1914 (Crean, Hosking & Picton-Warlow)

 

You could eliminate all those that were outside the Flers-Courcelette area first, as a great number will have been in Flanders.

 

We checked all the Canadians previously and they are on this spreadsheet:

 

http://www.mediafire.com/download/lc9kl7eb8awaj98/Canadians_Arras_Services_Memorial.xlsx

 

I would do it but I know it is Jeffs, so I await any information on his HAIR COLOUR from the records. I think that will be key. If it turns out Haxton had red hair and Jeffs had black hair then we know they reversed the graves.

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