Acting Pilot Officer John Arthur (Jack) Stafford Killed July 1952

[gbs]

I would be very grateful to hear any memories or recollections of my half brother A/PO J A Stafford (sometimes called Jack) . He was based at RAF Thornhill, Rhodesia in the early 1950s and was killed in a flying accident on July 1 1952, aged 21. He was born in Manchester and later lived in Prescot, Lancashire.

[Warmtoast]

MJ

gbr sent me a private e-mail separately asking whether I could possibly help with any information about his half-brother who died in a flying accident in Rhodesia in 1952. gbr asked me "I would be grateful for any information you might have about him, including the circumstances of his death."
I had nothing substantive, but suggested he posted a request in this forum in the hope that someone might have some memories or recollections, or possibly have access to "Last Take-off" - A Record of Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953" by Colin Cummings (Nimbus Publishing) and / or "Broken Wings" by Jim Halley (Air Britain Publishing), that if I recall rightly from when I borrowed the books from the library contain a précis of RAF aircraft accidents and their causes, which might help with gbr's search for information about his deceased relative.

FWIW the last link in your post to "one man's service" is to my site!

[henry crun]

The Broken Wings entry says....

1.7.52. Harvard T2B, FX416, 5FTS, 1 1/2m Sth of Indiva S Rhodesia, Dived into the ground after takeoff (1).

[Warmtoast]

As I mentioned in post #3 I have nothing substantive. However the name rang a very faint bell as possibly from when I had to stand guard (Crash Guard) on the remains of a Harvard that had crashed whilst the student pilot was doing aerobatics. This happened on a farm about 20-miles to the south of Thornhill and really I have no further details.

It was the custom to send airmen to a crash site to stand guard until the technicians could assess what had happened and arrange an appropriate method of recovery. This normally involved a mobile crane and “Queen Mary” recovery vehicle; this could prove problematic when out in the “bundu” miles from any road, particularly in the wet season with very soft ground to be traversed. During the dry season with the ground baked hard recovery was no problem.

I did two stints as crash guard. The first for a Harvard that made a wheels-landing and the second to guard the remains of the destroyed aerobatic Harvard mentioned above.

Two photos from my album of the wheels-up Harvard and the other of a Tiger Moth. Tiger Moths couldn’t of course do wheels-up landings and often suffered the ignominy of turning upside down when the main wheels caught on the brush or uneven ground when making a forced landing out in the bundu. As regards the occupants of the two aircraft shown in photos, in both cases the pilot/s walked away uninjured.

The Harvard doesn’t appear in accident statistics of aircraft written-off so probably went on to be repaired and fly again.



http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/Thornhill-Wheels-upHarvard.jpg


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/Thornhill-Upside-downTigerMoth.jpg

[3portdrift]

The Colin Cummings book records on Pg 264 as follows:

Date: 01-Jul-52
Serial: FX416
Aircraft: Harvard T2B
Unit: 5FTS
Place: Indiva Rhodesia
Casualties: 1

A few minutes after take off the aircraft dived into a farmhouse and was destroyed.

Pilot Officer John Arthur STAFFORD 21