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Old 17th Mar 2011, 22:16
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AWF118
 
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Fern Lane Ju88 crash

Looks unlikely that Flt Lt D G M (Doug) Gough was the pilot. As a Flt Sgt at the time, he was one of the original pilots when Number 1426 (Enemy Aircraft) Flight was formed in November 1941 and, like the others, was a well-established and highly experienced RAF test pilot from an MU background - unlikely, I think, to have been a Canadian's role, at that early stage in WWII.

When 1426 Flight disbanded in January 1945, it became the Enemy Aircraft Flight of Central Fighter Establishment (CFE), Tangmere - not at that time, West Raynham - with Flt Lt Gough, as he by then was, as Flight Commander.

"Tangmere", however, is probably the real clue as to why the Ju88 was at Heston, when its home base was West Raynham, Norfolk. "War Prizes" tells us that CFE had moved to West Raynham from Tangmere (with Ford as Tangmere's satellite) in September 1945 but had been forced to leave behind its Me262B-1a/U1 ("Air Minstry 50"; W/Nr 110305), also a (two seater - how like a Meteor NF11 did that look!) FuG 218 radar-equipped night fighter, at Ford awaiting the spares our Ju88 went to Germany to collect. The Me262, ex NJG11 'Red 8', had BTW, originally been flown to the UK from Schleswig where it was captured, by no less a test pilot than Wg Cmdr Roly Falk, he of the Vulcan barrel roll at Farnborough.

Anyway, whereas Heston would have been way off course for West Raynham, a journey from somewhere in the British Zone of Occupation to Ford in West Sussex, would have made Heston its logical UK Customs Port of Entry. My guess therefore is that is what it was probably there for - assuming that Customs had returned there some time after the Allied landings in France.

It's possible that those spares never reached Ford anyway, following the Heston crash, as the Me262 never flew again. Later that month, it was taken to RAF Sealand for storage, then after several storage moves, it went to South Africa in February 1947. Restored to display condition, it has been on show in the South African National Museum of Military History, Johannesburg, since 1972 - so spare a thought for Fern Lane, anyone who sees it there!

I think that just leaves pilot name and cause of accident to uncover for the Ju88. Still an RAF unit records job, at National Archives, I guess. I have some old family records to check out there but not until they are released in November. Is anyone going to be there beforehand?
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