Albemarle near Maud, Aberdeenshire

This crash was recalled to me by Mr D Campbell Snr, via his son, Mr D Campbell Jnr.

The Albemarle in question was part of 38 Group, who were later to be more well known with the Arnhem and D Day offensives, pulling gliders and dropping paratroops. On this day it was on a glider retrieval flight from its base at Hampstead Norris near Harwell to Kinloss, Scotland. There was a crew of seven on board along with two glider pilots. The aircraft encountered bad weather on the last part of the trip up. It was seen to be flying low when it spun into the ground and burst into flames near Maud in Aberdeenshire, Scotland killing all on board. It was assumed the pilot was flying low to avoid the bad visabilty. The crash report states that the aircraft should have "returned to nearest airfield". There was no report of any engine trouble, although it was possible that the instruments were faulty and the pilot would have been flying on them at the time. What ever the cause, all nine on board were killed, they were:

Pilot - F/O Harvey O Fairbairn RAF, buried Longside Cem, Aberdeenshire.

Nav - F/Sgt Godfrey V J Bell RAF, aged 23, of Palmers Green, Middlesex, buried Longside.

AB - Sgt Hugh O'Reilly RAF, aged 23, of Saltcoats, Ayrshire, buried Longside.

AG - F/Sgt John C Chenu RAAF, aged 23, of Victoria, Australia, buried Longside.

AG - Sgt Alfred J Milton RAF, aged 20, of Wimbledon, London, buried Longside.

WOp/AG - Sgt Leonard G Starnes RAF, aged 23, of Harringay, London, buried Longside.

WOp/AG - Sgt Frederick W H Finch RAF, agefd 20, of Finsbury, London, buried East Ham, London.

Glider Pilot - Sgt Herbert J Ansell, (2nd Glider Pilot Reg), AAC, aged 25, of Romford, buried Longside.

Glider Pilot - Staff Sgt H Dowds, (2nd Glider Pilot Reg) AAC, aged 27, of Westquarter, Falkirk, buried Grangemouth.

I have yet to locate and visit the crash site but I do have a military grid ref for the crash site.

Mr Campbell went through training at 42 OTU at Ashbourne, Derbyshire with F/O Fairbairn.