A crash at Lilburne Airfield, 27/1/18

[Ian Underwood]

Hello

Finally received my Great Uncle's papers the other day. He crashed a plane at Lilbourne whilst "under instruction" on the 27/1/18 and was subsequently taken to Brookfield Nursing Home, Rugby. He was in and out of various hospitals for the next few months.

The only mention of the crash I can find is the following; "The accident was caused by the machine turning into the wind after a (spiral?) near to the ground and crashing". I can't decipher the word in the brackets but it looks like spiral to me - not sure if that makes aeronautical sense though.

The pilots name was 2nd lieutenant George P Kells from Canada. I belive he was completing the aerial gunnery component of his training there.

What plane would've he been most likely flying? Any info on the crash, plane or infact the airfield would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Ian.

[steve fuller]

IF he was in the RFC and you know what Squadron, it may be worth getting to the NA Ian. I was there looking at the 22nd Squadron records yesterday & the detail in the flight logs is fantastic! What plane who went up in, times left & returned, comments on any activity which are hen transferred into "Flight Casualty reports", "Daily states", "Honours & Awards" etc - fantastic! Havent finished messing around with them yet but I was mesmorised when scanning through them!

The indexes are on the first column (on the left - theyre bright red so you cant miss 'em) as you go in under "Air 1" and detailed per Squadron, which allow you to get to the relevant box & order it. Be prepared to spend quite a lot of time on it though!!!

Give me a shout if I can help more Ian, although theres likely to be more specialised people on the forum than me ...

[Terry_Reeves]

Ian

The airfield was just outside Rugby but there is nothing to be seen today except a farmers field. Originally it was used as an outstation for the air defence of the Midlands against Zeppelin attacks, and temporary hangars were erected there for three aircraft along with some very basic accomodation for the pilots and ground crew. The pilots came from Castle Bromwich, but such was their dislike of the living conditions, they moved back to their home base and motored to Lilbourne on receipt of an air-raid warning. As you can guess this wasn't very satisfactory as it meant a thirty mile trip and the idea was quite quickly abandoned as far as operational flying was concerned.

Terry Reeves

Edited 16 December , 2005 by Terry_Reeves

[mcderms]

Where abouts was the field & billets in Castle Bromwich? I'm from there and could maybe get some pics next time I visit the folks.

If they were billeted at the hall I'm surprised they didn't like it!

[salientguide]

mcderms

Try a look at my article on Castle Brom aerodrome and associated burials at Castle Brom church on Tom Morgans Hellfire Corner site. Link below will take you there.

SiTe is now all under the Castle Vale housing estate. Also if you look up the Pathe News archive and search on Castle Bromwich you,ll see some newsreel footage of flying displays there in the 1920s. It was all totally rural then.

HELLFIRE CORNER CASTLE BROM

[mcderms]

Thank you SO much! I cannot believe that as I spent my formative years deep in Biggles novels there was a real live flying ace two minutes away! I will have to go and pay my respects to Capt Haynes ASAP.

And I thought I new my home town history. Oh the shame!

[Guest Giles Smith]

Hi Ian,

If you refer to www.aviationarchaeology.org.uk you will find a page entitled 'Military aircraft crashes in the south west Midlands - 1918 which tells us that your great uncle was with 59 Training Squadron and that his plane was a BE2c, serial 4419, which stalled and crashed near Lilbourne. This type of plane had been retired from front line service and a lot of these early planes were prone to stalling and possibly spinning to the ground. There was a fatal crash 5 days earlier involving another member of the squadron and he was an American.

I suspect that this squadron was made up almost entirely of pilots from across the pond.

I trust that George recovered from his injuries and lived a fulfilled life thereafter.

I am researching Lilbourne Airfield with a view to producing something to inform my neighbours in this village and the adjacent villages of Yelvertoft and Clifton upon Dunsmore, both of which have local history groups, and will be happy to share anything I have so far learned, perhaps in exchange for more about George - from where in Canada, how recruited and his training route to Lilbourne.

Regards...Giles

[centurion]

The RE8 was particularity prone to this type of crash but a detailed enquiry finally determined that this was not a problem of aircraft design but poor instructing and training and revisions were made to the training regime which largely solved the issue. The BE2c was not prone to this kind of accident unless flown badly - indeed it was a very safe and stable aircraft. The BE8 which was a rotary engined type was however one of the early designs subject to this kind of accident but withdrawn from training by this date

[mickdavis]

I think you'll find that the machine was a BE2e, B4419, and not BE2c 4419, which had been delivered to the Middle East, passed to 14 Sqn and lost on 3.5.1916 with Lt C.W. Hill, an Australian, POW (brought down by ground fire).

BE2e B4419 was with 59 TS at Yatesbury by 13 October 1917, moved with the unit to Beaulieu, then Netheravon and then Lilbourne (on 6 December). It must have been repaired after the crash because it was recoprded on the unit's strength at Rendcomb during April 1918.

The site at Lilbourne had been used by machines of the Naval Wing that were participating in the 1913 Army Manoeuvres - they were housed in a Piggott tent. The site was proposed as a base for 3 BE2c from 5 RAS Castle Bromwich in March 1916 but the plan was abandoned. Similarly, it was later (June 1916) that a flight of 54 Sqn would be based there for HD work but that didn't happen either. The station had permanent aeroplane sheds (3 of the 1915 pattern flight sheds, which were dintionctively camouflaged) and June 1916 saw the arrival of the first units, 34 & 55 Sqns from Castle Bromwich. Other than 59 TS, other units to later use the site were 44 RS, 73 & 84 Sqns, 55 TS, 71 TS and 10 TS, then finally the Midland Area Flying Instructors School. The station closed after the MAFIS moved to Feltwell on 22 April 1919.

[mickdavis]

mcderms

Try a look at my article on Castle Brom aerodrome and associated burials at Castle Brom church on Tom Morgans Hellfire Corner site. Link below will take you there.

SiTe is now all under the Castle Vale housing estate. Also if you look up the Pathe News archive and search on Castle Bromwich you,ll see some newsreel footage of flying displays there in the 1920s. It was all totally rural then.

HELLFIRE CORNER CASTLE BROM

I couldn't access that website but a thought's occurred to me. For the last few years I've been running a series in CCI entitled 'Gazetteer of Flying Sites in the UK & Ireland 1912-1920'. I've produced c.400 site plans but one that I'm missing is that for Castle Bromwich. My aerodrome plans are based on those in TNA Air1/452/453 but that for Castle Bromwich has gone missing from Kew (as has that for Bristol[Filton]). I've managed to put together a Bristol plan, using various sources, but Castle Bromwich proves more difficult. By the 1920s, 3 of the 1915 pattern sheds survived, as did the 1916 pattern ARS shed, but the other three 1915 pattern sheds, the 2 Handley Page sheds and the Storage sheds on the southern boundary had been demolished to make way for the Exhibition Centre. Has any Forum member a copy of the plan that used to be in the PRO/TNA? I've managed to create another 10 site plans that will be added as an addendum to the CCI series but would dearly like to include one for this important aerodrome.