Hurricane pilot grave

[Lister Noble]

Can anyone help with this?
Lister:)

War Graves,help needed if possible or at least pointers as have hit a dead end.

Local parish church, parish population currently about 16, has an official WW2 War Grave in it.

No amount of searching parish / BDM records can turn up the chap or wife. Total mystery as to why he is buried in this churchyard. The oldest village resident remembers the day the grave was dug, though there is no apparent connection to the village as he or this family never lived there.

The 100 or 75 year rule prevent the release of his records, so the village has come to a dead end in its research as to why he is there.

Pointers?

The village is understandably very proud of the grave, yet would like to give more details to visitors and prominence to the grave itself.

242 was Baders squadron as well.

Southease Village Church War Grave
The War Grave (http://southeasevillage.info/html/the_war_grave.html)

[racedo]

Just a question of who was his mother as she may have come from there is an obvious question.

[sycamore]

Have you tried the `Flypast` historic site,as a lot of info can usually be turned up there..

[forget]

He's mentioned here - but no help;

1941 | 1342 | Flight Archive (http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1941/1941%20-%201342.html)

and on the Commonwealth Graves Commission site which will probably have details as to 'why there'.

CWGC :: Casualty Details (http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2723873)

[AJCole]

Mother not from village, no family at all, some of the residents in the village are 3rd/4th generation, so for years this question has been asked....

With all the online census' and BDM records the village has started in ernest to find out more...

Thank you for any help.

[herkman]

Lister

I do volunteer photo work down here for the War Graves photographic project (google will bring the site up) and you can search and a photo of the grave will appear.

Sometimes attached to the photograph is some of the history of the event.

Steve is the head of this project, ex RN and a good and dedicated guy.

You can email him on

[email protected]

He may just be able to assist or send you to someone who can

Regards

Col

[Icare9]

Is there any information about the crash site? I see your War Grave web page states between "Chartham and Chicham", Chartham is in Kent and nearby is ChiLham. There is a CHIDHAM in West Sussex, not far from Chichester but nothing similar to Chartham near there. And in neither case are they near to Southease.

Perhaps the CWGC may have details as to why he was buried there. The obvious clue is his wife Christine, but you seem to have explored whether his family were in the village and I'm sure someone would remember a widow burying her husband and then moving on....

There seems to be no reason why your small hamlet has his grave, but he or his wife must have had some connection. You don't just arrive at a Church and say I want my husband buried here....

Are there any Church records of a baptism of a Christine xxxxx, say in the early 1900's? He was 41, so perhaps his wife was somewhat similar age...

[AJCole]

Yes, that is the crux of the matter, he or his wife had no connection at all to the Parish, which is very small, a farming community. No-one knows why and as such would love to know. The CWGC will not release the rest of his records.

Was he a Canuc? these are details that would help in finding out the rest of his family and why he is here.

Also note his age, he was 41 when he dies, so did he lie about his age to get into the airforce ?

As he was part of D Baders squadron, it must be on record somewhere.

No Christines on Parish records here or in surrounding villages of the correct age +/- ten years.

A mystery.

Did the Ministry just find him a lovely spot? Was his wife abroad?

[forget]

If you don’t already have this, it may be useful. The dates are reasonable. If it’s the same A J Vaughan he’d have been 26 years old in 1926. It’s possible that he rejoined the RAF(VR) during WWII. RAF Records should be able to confirm this, in which case they may provide next of kin.

London Gazette, July 20, 1926.
General Duties Branch. … The following are granted short service commissions as Pilot Officers on probation, for five years on active list, with effect from and with seniority of July 14 …… A J Vaughan.

1926 | 0539 | Flight Archive (http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1926/1926%20-%200539.html)


The short service commission of Pilot Officer on probation A J Vaughan is terminated on cessation of duty (Aug. 2 1927).

aircraft depot | training sch | flying training | 1927 | 0655 | Flight Archive (http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1927/1927%20-%200655.html)

[Lister Noble]

The original post was on behalf of AJ Cole,he has now joined pprune so can continue the discussion.
I thank you all for your replies and pm's.
Lister:)
Back to private flying;)

[AJCole]

Thank you for the links to the 1926 pages.....most intersting....correct age....may be starting to get somewhere.

Thank you for all your kind help in this.

[forget]

....... it’s significantly warmer outside as we wander into the graveyard to check out the mystery grave. It belongs to ‘Sergeant AJ Vaughan’, a WW2 fighter pilot who was shot down in Kent in 1941, and buried in Southease despite having no known connection with the village. We are joined by Ian, something of an expert on Southease’s most curious resident, who has discovered that the more research he does on Sergeant Vaughan, the more mysterious the Sergeant becomes.

From page 51 (9 Megs) http://vivalewes.com/handbook/hb_back_issues/16_jan.pdf

Shot down? Ran out of fuel? Bit of both?

[FJJP]

You might try the Air Historical Branch. Air Historical Branch - AHB homepage (http://www.raf.mod.uk/ahb/)

Every Squadron has to keep a monthly record of its operations. These records are retained in the Squaron 'Operations Record Book' and a copy is sent to the AHB every month. As you can imagine, they have a vast amount of info stored on paper.

They are a friendly bunch and usually very helpful. Worth a call.

[Archimedes]

I was wondering that - the link to the 1941 Flight you provided suggests, from the heading that his loss is recorded under, that he was involved in contact with the enemy somewhere along the line during his final flight, otherwise he'd be in the section on the right hand side of the page for those lost in accidents, etc.

I suspect that there might be a couple of additional details/clues in the 242 Sqn ORB (AIR 27/1471) or the associated appendices from the same timeframe (AIR 27/1473); I'd have thought that the circumstances of the loss would be there at least, even if the chances of there being some hint as to Sgt Vaughan's background/family are slight; there might be some clue as to the location of his grave if the squadron was able to send along a representative.

As he was 41 when he died, I suspect that he may well have been one of the oldest Fighter Command pilots to be lost during the war.

Edit - forgot to add that the aircraft accident card may hold some information regarding the circumstances. The answer would lie in the service record, of course, but you need to be a relative to get at them, which rather puts a spanner in the works.

[AJCole]

Yes, that is the one forget, and he is all rather mysterious.....thanks for the links to the other sites, will be investigating them in the morning.....will keep you posted if i find anything. ...meanwhile keep up the good work chaps.....

many thanks

AJC

[November4]

Try posting the question on the RAF Commands Forum. (http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/index.php) They have a many many people with great interest and knowledge of the period and I have always found them very helpful and interested in a challenge such as this.

[louisnewmark]

Archimedes correctly mentioned the aircraft record card, which will be held in the Air Historical Branch archive. Perhaps more specifically, the AHB also holds a similar cardex system which records all deaths and serious injuries in service; contacting the AHB with the pilot's details should allow the specific card to be easily accessed and basic details of the mystery pilot's circumstances obtained.

A few years ago I searched both aircraft record and death-in-service cardex records myself during a (supervised!) visit to AHB when it was at RAF Bentley Priory in order to find out about the background to a number of WW2 graves in my local churchyard that I had been unable to obtain through other means. Although close to a number of WW2 airfields, a few of these graves were of aircrew who had no association with the area either personally or professionally (ie they weren't flying fom the local airfields); instead, they had both crashed and been buried locally. Perhaps this was the case with the Hurricane pilot.

I also found that a search through the microfiche archives of the local newspaper in my local library turned up some useful info, but this probably wouldn't help much with such a sparsely-populated community. A 41-year-old Sgt pilot does sound rather unusual, though.

Drop the AHB a line, and they should be able to help. Good luck!

Louis

[izod tester]

By 26 April 1941 242 Sqn had moved from Martlesham to Stapleford Tawney. However, they didn't stay there long and moved to North Weald in May 1941. Records for ops from those bases may throw some more light.

[Icare9]

What I don't understand is how he is a 41 year old pilot flying a fighter and who appears to have gained his wings some considerable while earlier, isn't a BoB veteran.
Surely with the desperate need for fighter pilots then, he couldn't have stayed desk bound? Was he converting from multi engine to single?
And I don't suppose it was easy to join the RAF in the early 20's so he must have had something going for him, a father in RFC/RAF perhaps?
Hopefully, someone will come up with the answer soon!!

[AJCole]

What we have so far.....

Some additional bits of background info.

1 despite his records being in the name of Arthur James, his death certificate states Kenneth James Vaughan, I have a copy. At the time of his death his address is stated as Stanmer Villas, Brighton
2 searched the BDM records for the UK for 10 years either side of his supposed date of birth and there is no Arthur James Vaughan or Kenneth James Vaughan or any variation registered.
3 We know his wife was called Christine, again no marriage certificate exists for a Vaughan marrying anyone with a forename of Christine from 1910 to the day he died.
4 Extensive conversations with the MOD historical records people and while they are unable to give out much information because of the 75 year rule, they did confirm that he was born in the 365 day window that age 41 on the date of his death would suggest, they also confirmed that he was born in the UK.
5 Recently unearthed some details of passengers arriving in the UK in the 1920?s by ship, there are three records:

a. 22-06-1925 Arthur James Vaughan arrives from Nyasaland, modern day Malawi, age 25, occupation planter
b. 12-04-1926 Arthur James Vaughan & wife, Christine Vaughan arrive from Natal, he age 25, she age 23, occupation independent means.
c. 02-9-1927 Arthur James Vaughan arrives from Port Said, age 27, occupation Royal Air Force

Again I have copies of the passenger lists. In all 3, he states his address is c/o Sir Bernard Bircham, 46, Parliament Street, Westminster, London. Bircham was a solicitor and Parliamentary agent and the address was that of his offices. The firm still exists, or at least a descendant of it, and I have recently contacted them but their archive contains no information on a Vaughan.

That is it so far, though now the 75 year rule has been changed to 25, so will be eliciting more info soon.

And yes, exactly, what was a 41 year old doing in a fighter at that time?, most of them were in their 20's were they not?...he was either an exceptional pilot, well connected or were they really short on pilots?

Am awaiting approval from RafCommand forum at the moment too....

[Arclite01]

Was he a ferry pilot maybe ??

Arc

[philrigger]

;)


Ref Post #20.

I wish I had all that info last evening. I spent hours looking through Birth and Marriage Index for Arthur James Vaughan.

Is that the total knowledge of this guy or are there more surprises to come ?

I did discover that his Service No. (96680) was issued in September 1939 at RAF Uxbridge.


Philrigger.

[Icare9]

OK, so what we have so far is a birth date around 1900, perhaps in Africa and perhaps being sent to school in England. He (and therefore his parents) were of independent means, most likely planters in either Nyasaland or South Africa.

For an as yet unknown reason he travels to the UK in 1925 (meets prospective wife?). It could be assumed that he married Christine in Africa, hence no UK records and they came to England on honeymoon in April 1926.

Kenneth/Arthur then joined the RAF for a 5 year commission in July 1926 but leaves in August 1927. The most likely reason would be say the death of his father/parents. Whilst he appears to have quit his commission, he returns via Port Said (travelling up from Africa by?boat, road, air or somehow) still in the RAF (what rank? would you drop out of officer training and just "become" a sergeant??).

Whatever, he returns in September 1927 and disappears into the RAF until mysteriously surfacing after force landing a Hurricane in 1941.

No one would just let "someone" fly a Hurricane, especially long enough to run out of fuel on a lone mission, but he does seem inexperienced by running out of fuel fairly close to home base.

So what was he doing?

He was obviously on the strength of Baders 242 Squadron and whatever you think of him, I'm sure he would not tolerate anyone just taking an aircraft for a jaunt. Was he ribbed about being "Pops" and thought he'd show them he could fly?

Things just didn't happen like that, there must have been "questions" asked if he wasn't authorised to be in the aircraft.

Someone must have arranged the funeral (Christine?) but no one knows of any connection... and why Sir Bernard Bircham, were the Vaughans related in some way to him, or did he have an estate or property near the village?

I thought practically every WW2 air crash had been recorded and chewed over by hundreds of people in the last 70 years - obviously not in this case!!

Come on, we're a long way down the line, we're almost there!!

[sycamore]

Maybe the reason for returning to the UK in Sept27 is possibly that he was u/t at a ME FTS,possibly chopped,or maybe a family crisis so then returned to Africa,returning later to rejoin as an NCO(not having completed his probationary `commission`).
Philrigger- The service no. is given as 916680,not 96680;however , the date of issue may indicate a `window` where he may have returned again,by ship/air to UK and be on other manifests.He may then have gone off to an FTS and then to 242. The info in the Gazette states he was killed on active service,so he may have been returning,possibly injured,damaged,and lost fuel that way.
Another site gives the aircraft as a Mk2 Hurricane,not a Mk1(`sonsofdamien).
Possibly Christine remained in Africa at this time as well,maybe returning after the war.

[philrigger]

;)

My typo. However the date stands.


Philrigger

[Archimedes]

From John Foreman's Air War 1941: The Turning Point (part 2) (Air Britain), p.115 (entry for 26 Apr 41)

Sgt Vaughan's 242 Squadron aircraft was hit in the fuel tanks by Leutnant Tonne and, half way across the Channel, his engine cut. Although he managed to glide to the English coast he was killed [sic] attempting to force-land at Dungeness.

The Arthur James Vaughan serving in 1926-27 is in the RAF list for 1927 as a PO with seniority 14 July 1926); he doesn't appear in the 1926 (naturally) or 1928 Lists. In the '27 List he is recorded as being at 4FTS at Abu Suier.

[AJCole]

Sorry philrigger, was passed that info when i mentioned what i was doing to the parish church warden yesterday...he mailed me that info last night hence the post.....

That is all i have ....promise....:rolleyes: ;)

Thanks for all the extra info, most interesting, I too had thought all crashes etc would have been well documented, though it appears not....

All extra info most apreciated, even if we never find out why he is buried wher he is.

Suffice to say, al the extra info will be put in the church as a record as currently the parish has only scant details.

Currently looking for a will.....

[AJCole]

News in overnight.....

Sir Bernard Edward Halsley Bircham Kc.V.O was married to........Ivy Clelia Guilietta Vaughan....

Possible connection as to his sponsor in the 1920's.....investgating this link.....was this Vaughans mother /sister / aunt?

[philrigger]

;)

This is from the 1911 Census for the Bircham family. Not sure that it helps.

BIRCHAM, Bernard Edward Halsey Head Married M 42 1869 Solicitor London
BIRCHAM, Ivy Clelia Halsey Wife (Married 13 years) F 34 1877 Winchester
BIRCHAM, Arthur Christopher Halsey Son Single M 3 1908 Worplesdon Surrey
TUCKER, Beatrice Annie Servant Single F 27 1884 Nurse Axminster Devon
THOMPSON, Sarah Ann Servant Single F 28 1883 Parlourmaid Edithweston Rutland
PRIOR, Sarah Gregory Servant Single F 40 1871 Cook Binstead Hants
WATTS, Annie Eliza Servant Single F 23 1888 Housemaid Yorkley Glos
GOWER, Grace Emily Servant Single F 20 1891 Housemaid Scaynes Hill Sussex

Not sure if this is the man or not; Taken from the 1911 census.

Ingleside Haine Hill Terrace, Taunton

VAUGHAN, Kenneth Boarder M 10 1901 School Boarding House Glamorgan, Cardiff

If his parents were overseas at the time then the normal practice would have been to send the children to UK for schooling.



Philrigger