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."

 

 Order of Service (click to view/download)

  (you may need to set 'Fit to Width' in your PDF viewer)

 Roll of Honour (click to view/download)

(you may need to set 'Fit to Width' in your PDF viewer)

With thanks to Suzanne Coutanceau

 


 2 - ATA Crash Sites

National Archives (NA) References are given, if the crash report is available

 

DM - Deryck John Michael Martin  

DMS - David Martin Selby  

FRM - Francis Robert Marsh  flag england

JS - John Charles Shirley  flag england

NKR - Norman Kenneth Rodway  flag england

WSE - William Silver Edgar flag usa   [NA AIR 81/13112]

 

[6 casualties] 


 

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) flag england

- Albert Alexander Oliver  (Radio Operator)  flag england

- Herbert David Rees  (Radio Operator) flag england


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)  flag usa

- Martin Joseph Wetzel (travelling as passenger)  flag usa


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     [NA AIR 81/11116 download grey]

ALM  Alexander Leslie-Melville  flag england

AS  Alexander Scott  flag england   [NA AIR 81/12734]

BS  Bernard Short  flag england

CE  Claudius Echallier  flag france

CP  Cletus Lloyd Park  flag usa

DF  Douglas Keith Fairweather  flag scotland

DM  David Aaron Marks (travelling as passenger)  flag england [NA AIR 81/11205]

EU  Elmer Edward Uhlich  flag usa  [NA AIR 81/10457 download grey]

FB  Francis Joseph Bush  flag england  [NA AIR 81/10457 download grey]

FEB  Francis Everett Bender  flag usa

GF  Geoffrey Maurice Firby  flag england

GH  George Holcombe  flag usa

HF  Herbert Roy Fields  flag england

HW  Harold Frank Peter Waldron (Flt-Eng)  flag england

JB  John William Boilstone  flag england

JF   Charles Fisher  flag england

JG  John Ludlow Glover  flag canada

JAN  John Alexander Nathan  flag england

JMa  Jack Allan Marcus   flag usa

JM  James Milson  flag canada

JP  John Richard Pruden  flag england 

JSW  Joseph Stuart Wiley  flag usa

JW  Joseph Francis Wheelock (travelling as passenger)   flag england

KK  Kathleen Mary Kershaw (Nurse, travelling as passenger)  flag england

KS  Kenneth Meryl Seeds  flag usa

LG  Lee leslie Garlow  flag usa [NA AIR 81/11205]

MC  Maurice Gaston Emile Coutanceau  flag england flag france

MS  Michael George Seelly  flag england

NB  Nathaniel Addison Berry  flag england

RB  Ramchamdra Murlidhar Badhe  flag british india

RHW  Richard Horry Winn  flag england   [NA AIR 81/12454]

RJ  Reginald J. Richard Jackson  flag england

RP  Ronald Arthur Porter  flag england   [NA AIR 81/12736]

RS  Royston Edwin Staniford (Flt-Eng)  flag england

SC  Stefan Czyzewski  flag poland   [NA AIR 81/16076]

SCh  Suprabhat Chirasakti  flag thailand   [NA AIR 81/18157]

SM  Stephen William McFarland  flag usa   [NA AIR 81/8837 download grey]

SR  Stephen Peter Reed  flag england

TB  Thomas Charles Bray   [NA AIR 81/12814]

TC  Timothy J. Manley Corsellis  flag england   [NA AIR 81/9531 download grey]

TW  Thomas Blair Willans  flag eire

WE  William Johnstone Elliott  flag usa   [NA AIR 81/12021]

WH  Walter Leslie Handley  flag england

WM  William Byrd Lee Milton  flag usa

 

[54 casualties] [41 flying as pilot]


 

ABD Alan Blair Dorrell  

AC Anthony Carpenter  

ACC Archibald Campbell Couser   (travelling as passenger)  flag scotland

AEG Alfred Edward Green  flag england   [NA AIR 81/10857]

AF Albert Edward Roy Fairman  flag england

AL Aaga Valdemar Helstrup Laursen  flag denmark  flag canada

ARC Alan Rees Colman  flag england   [NA AIR 81/20901]

CSN Carill Stanley Napier  flag england

CWM Cyril Walter Morris  flag england

DH David Russell Hayward  flag england

DJ Donald Alexander Jameson  flag england

EEG Ernest Edward Gasser  flag usa

ELR Earl Lamar Renicker  flag usa   [NA AIR 81/11978]

EV Edward Easton Vergette  flag england

FAW Frank Aston White  flag england

FDC Francis Dean Carragher  flag usa

HJD Hubert James Dixon  flag england

HR Henry John Norman Rowe  flag england

HW Harry Wolff  flag usa   [NA AIR 81/9911]

IA Irene Arckless  flag england

IJP Isidro Juam Paredes  flag philippines flag usa

JCM J Christopher Milliken  flag england

JD John Douglas Dale   (travelling as passenger)  flag england

JDH John Dennis Hurley  flag eire

JGB John Graham Bergel  flag england

JH John Walter Hawkey   (travelling as passenger)  flag canada

JKB John Kenneth Bodinnar  flag england

JHS James Hector Stubbs  flag england

JLB John Lloyd Bebb  flag wales

JPM John Platt Murphy  flag england

JRB James Richard Burton  flag england

JS John Shepherd  flag wales

JTWC John Taverner Wilson Clark  flag england

JW Jane Winstone  flag nz

LAP Leslie Arthur Phillips  flag england

LB Laurent F Ronald Brandt  flag england

LS Leonard Satel  flag poland

MF Margaret Fairweather  flag england

MGG Malcolm Goss Grant  flag england

MWN Mary Webb Nicholson  flag usa

PJC Percival John Collins  flag england   [NA AIR 81/11846]

PTW Patrick Morgan Trevor-Williams  flag england   [NA AIR 81/20561]

RW Roderick Williams  flag england

RWP Richard William Purser  flag england   [NA AIR 81/9057]

SEC Sydney Edward Cummings  flag england

TT Thomas Frank Thompson  flag england

TW  Taniya Whittall  (travelling as passenger)  flag england

TWR Thomas Williams Rogers  flag wales   [NA AIR 81/10893]

VGG  Vincent George Govett  flag england

WG William Lionel Godwin  flag england

WM Walter Mason  flag england

WT William Thompson  flag england


[52 casualties] [48 flying as pilot]


  

AA  Albert Ernest Adams  

AJ  Amy Johnson  

BH  Bridget Grace M Ledger Hill  (travelling as passenger)  flag england   [NA AIR 81/12726 download grey]

BS  Betty Eileen Sayer  (travelling as passenger)  flag england   [NA AIR 81/12726 download grey]

DK  Donald Ian Menzies Kennard  flag scotland

DL  Dora Lang  flag england

DRH  Dennis J Richard Howell (Flt-Eng)  flag england

EDM  Eric David Mills  flag england

EIS  Eleanor Isabella Slade  flag UK

EJD  Elsie Joy Davison  flag canada

FGB  Frederick George Bowles  flag england

FH  Frank Hill  flag england

FM  Frederick Howard Moseley (Flt-Eng)  flag england

GG  Gilbert Christopher Gould  flag england

GL  Graham Oliver Lever  flag england  [NA AIR 81/12726 download grey]

GR  Geoffrey Bernard Regan  (travelling as passenger)  flag england

HET  Henry Edward Taylor  flag england

HH  Herbert John Horsey  flag england

HJH  Harold Julius Hansen  flag denmark

HS  Honor Isobel Salmon  flag england

JBE  John Burge Erickson  flag usa   [NA AIR 81/14150]

JEM  Joan Esther Marshall  za-1928flag

JH  Janice Margaret Harrington  (Flt-Eng)  flag england

JMG  John Milne Greaves  flag england   [NA AIR 81/16363]

JRB  John Robert Baker  flag england   [NA AIR 81/10435]

JWB  James Waldron Brown  flag england

LCM  Leslie Cairns Murray  flag scotland

LGF  Luis Goncelvis Fontes flag england

PR  Percy Randall  flag england

RGM  Robert Graham Morris  flag england

RLE  Roy Leonard Egginton  flag england

RSL   Robert Serge Lowenstein  flag belgium

SC  Stanley Edwin Cooke (Flt-Eng)  flag england

SH  Stanley Richard Herringshaw  flag england

SM  Stanley Eric Mitchell  flag england

TMF  Thomas Maxwell Fisk  

WH  William C Lyndon Humphrey  flag eire

WNE  William Noel Estes  flag usa   [NA AIR 81/6929]

WWA  Wilbur Washington Acton  flag usa


[38 casualties] [32 flying as pilot]


 

 

CJ  Charles Aiden Vernon Jefferys  

 

[1 casualty]


There were also 2 crashes, with 3 fatalities, outside the UK:

- Basil Frederick Wrightson   crashed a Spitfire XVI, TB329, in Opbrakel, Belgium, and

- Ernest A David 'Jim' Kempster  , and Flt-Eng Harold Race  flag england, died when their Anson DG916 crashed into the River Rhine

 

[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

 Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug 1941

 - 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.

 

 


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:

  • Robert John Burden (age 20 from Warsaw, Indiana), 
  • Kenneth Brown Collings (age 42 from Oceanside, NY), 
  • Robert Eugene Fordyce (age 20, from Chicago), 
  • Ellis Gustave Friedrich (age 37 from Peoria, IL),
  • Irvin Trout Landis (age 25 of Boyertown, PA),
  • Robert Alfred Lowell (age 25 from Chickasha, OK),
  • William Harold Nance (age 31 from Houston, TX), 
  • Robert Glenn Smith (age 33 from Warsaw, Indiana),
  •  James Charles Torpey (age 30 of Silverdale, Washington), 
  • John Allison Woodall (age 33 from Dallas, TX), and 
  • James Siegel Wright (age 29, from Medford OK).

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:

  • 119 men pilots, 11 women pilots, 21 men and 5 women as passengers/Flt-Eng/Radio Operator
  • 20 others (non-flying)

 

 Accidental Death - Aircraft Accident     154

Pilots: 117 men ( 10 % of 1,154 ) and 11 women ( 6.5 % of 168 )

Passengers/Flt-Eng: 21 men and 5 women

 Accidental Death - 'Friendly Fire' *    2 2 men 
Accidental Death - Other   4 3 men 
Enemy Action (SS Nerissa)    11 11 men 
Natural Causes   4 3 men, 1 woman 
Suicide **   1 1 man 

 

* Elmer Uhlich, Francis Bush

** Ivan Randrup

 

 


Accident Summaries and Original Accident Records

 

   



  ATA Organisation

 

map ata ferry pools

click to enlarge

  • EFTS / IFTS - Elementary / Initial Flying Training School
  • AMF / Air Movements Flight (1942–45)
  • AFTS - Advanced Flying Training School (1942–45)

 

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