ATA Casualties
This page contains:
1 - The Order of Service and Roll of Honour from the Unveiling of the Memorial at St Paul's Cathedral in 1950;
2 - the locations of ATA crash sites, and
3 - links to ATA Accident reports
1 - The Memorial Service
to the "One hundred and seventy three Men and Women of the Air Transport Auxiliary representing many nations who gave their lives 1939-1945", was held on Saturday 22nd December 1950 "at two-thirty o'clock."
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Order of Service (click to view/download) (you may need to set 'Fit to Width' in your PDF viewer)
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Roll of Honour (click to view/download) (you may need to set 'Fit to Width' in your PDF viewer)
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| With thanks to Suzanne Coutanceau | |
2 - ATA Crash Sites
National Archives (NA) References are given, if the crash report is available
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DM - Deryck John Michael Martin DMS - David Martin Selby FRM - Francis Robert Marsh JS - John Charles Shirley NKR - Norman Kenneth Rodway WSE - William Silver Edgar
[6 casualties] |
[NA AIR 81/13112]|
AM261 was a Liberator which crashed 10 Aug 1941, killing 22 passengers and crew, including ATA personnel: - Francis Delaforce Bradbrooke - George Herbert Powell (Radio Operator) - Albert Alexander Oliver (Radio Operator) - Herbert David Rees (Radio Operator) AM260 was a Liberator which crashed 14 Aug 1941, killing 22 passengers and crew, including ATA personnel: - Elbert Beard Anding (travelling as passenger) - Philip Francis Lee (travelling as passenger) - Walter Lee Trimble (travelling as passenger) - Martin Joseph Wetzel (travelling as passenger) The crashes marked with a ‘?’ are because the location is ‘e.g. somewhere in the Irish Sea’, or 'last seen near xxxx' AB Arthur Bird (Flt-Eng) AG Antoni Henryk Gosiewski ALM Alexander Leslie-Melville AS Alexander Scott BS Bernard Short CE Claudius Echallier CP Cletus Lloyd Park DF Douglas Keith Fairweather DM David Aaron Marks (travelling as passenger) EU Elmer Edward Uhlich FB Francis Joseph Bush FEB Francis Everett Bender GF Geoffrey Maurice Firby GH George Holcombe HF Herbert Roy Fields HW Harold Frank Peter Waldron (Flt-Eng) JB John William Boilstone JF Charles Fisher JG John Ludlow Glover JAN John Alexander Nathan JMa Jack Allan Marcus JM James Milson JP John Richard Pruden JSW Joseph Stuart Wiley JW Joseph Francis Wheelock (travelling as passenger) KK Kathleen Mary Kershaw (Nurse, travelling as passenger) KS Kenneth Meryl Seeds LG Lee leslie Garlow MC Maurice Gaston Emile Coutanceau MS Michael George Seelly NB Nathaniel Addison Berry RB Ramchamdra Murlidhar Badhe RHW Richard Horry Winn RJ Reginald J. Richard Jackson RP Ronald Arthur Porter RS Royston Edwin Staniford (Flt-Eng) SC Stefan Czyzewski SCh Suprabhat Chirasakti SM Stephen William McFarland SR Stephen Peter Reed TB Thomas Charles Bray TC Timothy J. Manley Corsellis TW Thomas Blair Willans WE William Johnstone Elliott WH Walter Leslie Handley WM William Byrd Lee Milton
[54 casualties] [41 flying as pilot] |
[NA AIR 81/11166]
[NA AIR 81/18157]
[NA AIR 81/12814]
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ABD Alan Blair Dorrell AC Anthony Carpenter ACC Archibald Campbell Couser (travelling as passenger) AEG Alfred Edward Green AF Albert Edward Roy Fairman AL Aaga Valdemar Helstrup Laursen ARC Alan Rees Colman CSN Carill Stanley Napier CWM Cyril Walter Morris DH David Russell Hayward DJ Donald Alexander Jameson EEG Ernest Edward Gasser ELR Earl Lamar Renicker EV Edward Easton Vergette FAW Frank Aston White FDC Francis Dean Carragher HJD Hubert James Dixon HR Henry John Norman Rowe HW Harry Wolff IA Irene Arckless IJP Isidro Juam Paredes JCM J Christopher Milliken JD John Douglas Dale (travelling as passenger) JDH John Dennis Hurley JGB John Graham Bergel JH John Walter Hawkey (travelling as passenger) JKB John Kenneth Bodinnar JHS James Hector Stubbs JLB John Lloyd Bebb JPM John Platt Murphy JRB James Richard Burton JS John Shepherd JTWC John Taverner Wilson Clark JW Jane Winstone LAP Leslie Arthur Phillips LB Laurent F Ronald Brandt LS Leonard Satel MF Margaret Fairweather MGG Malcolm Goss Grant MWN Mary Webb Nicholson PJC Percival John Collins PTW Patrick Morgan Trevor-Williams RW Roderick Williams RWP Richard William Purser SEC Sydney Edward Cummings TT Thomas Frank Thompson TW Taniya Whittall (travelling as passenger) TWR Thomas Williams Rogers VGG Vincent George Govett WG William Lionel Godwin WM Walter Mason WT William Thompson
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There were also 2 crashes, with 3 fatalities, outside the UK: - Basil Frederick Wrightson - Ernest A David 'Jim' Kempster
[3 casualties] [2 flying as pilot] |
Differences beween my list, the Roll of Honour, and http://www.raf-lichfield.co.uk/ATA Casualties.htm
The original 1950 Roll of Honour has 173 names, the list at raf-lichfield.co.uk has 177. My list has 176. I have not included the following 8 fatalities, even though some were recorded by CWGC as 'Air Transport Auxiliary'
1. Captain Douglas Stanley King Douglas, along with First Officer Derek Eveleigh and Radio Operator John William Elliott, died in the crash of BOAC's Lockheed 14 Super Electra G-AFKD "Loch Invar", at Beinn Uird, Rowardennan on 22/23 April 1940. All three were long-term BOAC employees, and I can find no reference to any of them being seconded to ATA. This was not a delivery flight; G-AFKD was delivered to BOAC at Heston on 20 Oct 1938. The Scotsman (Wednesday 24 April 1940) reported that "The machine had been engaged on the now stopped Perth-Scandinavia service , and left Perth to change its base to Heston, which it should have reached before dark on Monday."
2. Dennis Brian Brooks Dennis was an RAF pilot, Service No 39707. He had been in the RAF since 1938, and was promoted to Flt-Lt on 15 Oct 1940. He was posted to RAF Maintenance Command. However, as Aston Down airfield was shared between the ATA and No. 20 Maintenance Unit (MU) of the RAF, it seems likely that he was erroneously assumed to be an ATA pilot by the World War II Index to Allied Airmen Roll of Honour, 1939-1945. His gravestone makes it clear hat he was a member of the RAF when he died 23 Jan 1941 in Anson I R3399, attempting a forced landing at Southport, Lancs due to running out of fuel in bad weather:
3. Earl Wellington Watson
- Earl died in the crash of AM260 on 14 Aug 1941, with 4 ATA pilots who had indeed been seconded (or 'loaned') to AtFero amongst the 22 who died. However, as this newspaper article makes clear, he was not an English ATA pilot, but an American navigator working for AfFero:
4,5. Richard Gaudron Miller, Nathan Frankelson Richard, an American, and Nathan, from Canada, died, along with RAF navigator F/O William Murray, in Hudson IIIa FH246 on 8 Apr 1942 out of Gander on a ferry flight to the UK. However, evidence suggests that they were directly employed by RAF Ferry Command, and not at any stage by ATA. Richard G Miller, according to the Angola Herald, 17 Apr 1942: "... enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force on June 1, 1941 .. (and was) until recently stationed in Montreal. " "This was his first flight with the Canadian [sic] Ferry Command" His grave is inscribed: "Richard G Miller R.A.F.F.C. Lost at sea":
Nathan's story is told in The Edmonton Bulletin, 29 Nov 1945: "... young Nathan 'Spike' Frankelson of Waldron, Sask ... went into Ferry Command and on that job he gave his life for his country." I can't find any evidence of either of them having served with the ATA.
6. John Kilby Cummings born in St Louis in 1902, died in Accra in Sep 1943
However, the accident is not recorded in the ATA records, and his death record confirms he was flying for RAF Ferry Command at the time:
 7. Rosamund King Everard-Steenkamp
Although Rosamund had been a ferry pilot for the ATA until 30 Oct 1945, by the time of her fatal accident on 19 Mar 1946 the ATA no longer existed; her personnel file has "Killed after leaving A.T.A." on the front.
8. Warrant Officer John Joseph Wallis
John was a member of RAFVR when he died on 12 Feb 1943, as his gravestone and CWGC entry confirm:
"John Joseph Wallis 910887, a medically discharged airman at the time of his death, had been admitted dangerously ill to the Shrewsbury Royal Infirmary on 18 June 1942. Medically discharged on 10 July, he died of a perforated duodenal ulcer.". I can find no record of him being employed by ATA.
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Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug 1941
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However, I have included 5 people who died of natural causes or non-aviation-related accidents while serving with the ATA (it seems to me that, if you include Ivan Randrup, Jay Cordner, Eddie Grundstrom and William Arundell Stewart, you should also include these 4): - M.794 Henry Edward Spain, who died at the 'farewell do' at Ratcliffe on 28 Oct 1945 when he was accidentally hit in the eye by a glass;
- M.226 Sydenham Payn, who died while on sick leave from the ATA;
- W.31 Margery Spiller who died of natural causes, and
- M.365 Clarence Brook, who died in a car accident while travelling home on leave
and 1 casualty listed in the 1950 'Roll of Honour', who died in a a car accident:
- James Watt Stirling, who died in a car accident (as reported in the Maidenhead Advertiser, 20 Aug 1941): "Capt. James Watt Stirling, Chief Engineer of the ATA and permament offical of BOAC (aged about 59) died at Newbury District Hospital on August 8th 1941 as a result of a car accident. 2 other persons in the car were injured."
[9 casualties]
[11] American pilots died when the SS Nerissa was sunk:
Frederick Walter Williams, listed in the 'Roll of Honour' was a radio operator (civilian) who died in the crash of RAF Ferry Command Liberator (Commando) AL504 on 27 Mar 1945, "lost between Northolt and the Azores":
It is possible he was employed by ATA, so I have included him.
This makes a total of 176 ATA Casualties on my list, comprising:
* Elmer Uhlich, Francis Bush ** Ivan Randrup |
Accident Summaries and Original Accident Records
