looking for living relatives of J A Stafford

[maddyozzy]

Good evening all. I’ve asked to join this group to see if I can locate any living relatives of a Pilot Officer J A Stafford. He was sadly killed in Rhodesia in July 1952. He is ex RAF and I’ve attached a news clip of the crash to this post.

The reason I’m asking is because one of the witnesses to this crash is writing a book on his life (Not JA Stafford) but his own.

My Dad Stu Taylor ex RLI is helping him write this book and was hoping to get in touch with any living relatives to JA Stafford.

I hope that this is the right forum to ask and I hope I don’t upset anyone by asking.

Thank you in advance for any information at all. Mads xx

[NutLoose]

Mads,

i cant help, but a suggestion if no one on here can and do not respond. Do you know the Squadron he was on as the association for the sqn might be able to help, most have a web presence or are on Facebook, do you know where he was and the type he was flying?

[maddyozzy]

Thank you so much for your message.

all I know at the moment was it was a Harvard aircraft of the RAF Thornhill and this crash happened in Rhodesia Indiva.

I'm not sure if that is enough information

do you think that info would help?

thanks again

Mads

[Imagegear]

Are you aware of this old thread from 2007?.

JA Stafford (https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/300334-acting-pilot-officer-john-arthur-jack-stafford-killed-july-1952-a.html)

The Prescot area of Lancashire may be a starting point for relatives. A contributor to the original thread is Warmtoast who is on these forums.

IG

[maddyozzy]

Hi

yes and i sent a message to the half brother however however I noticed their last activity was in 2007.

I sent a PM to him but unfortunately I did not hear back.

i have joined two different RAF Facebook pages too.

Thanks again for your responses. Hugely appreciated

Mads

[Warmtoast]

A contributor to the original thread is Warmtoast who is on these forums.
...and what I said then was:
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.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/600x339/thornhill_upside_downtigermoth_ca351352f94ba65a3fa602ea9935a 0c4f1f87000.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/600x471/thornhill_wheels_upharvard_675392ac42cb4732b9956f5691f3ead40 0f4a3f9.jpg