During the afternoon of 2nd August 1943 the crew of this 18 O.T.U. aircraft were undertaking a training flight, the exercise involved shutting down one of the engines and flying on one good engine. During this routine the pilot lost control and crashed near Wroot at 15.30hrs sadly killing all on board. The cause of the crash was not determined. The casualty file for the incident (AIR81/23481) lists Sgt Perry as "missing believed killed" but since he now has a grave at Finningley he must have been located at a later date.
This is probebly one to delete from this website, for the purpose of documenting only flying accidents in Yorkshire this one may be in Lincolnshire. The Lindholme airfield station record book mentions this incident and stated it occurred at Haxey Turbury which is definitely well into Lincolnshire. In way of backing this up the crew's deaths were also recorded in Lincolnshire.
Pilot - Sgt Leslie Albert Charlton RAFVR (1333575), aged 21. Cremated Golders Green, Middlesex.
Navigator - Sgt Ronald Henry Smith RAFVR (1575673), aged 21. Buried Hither Green Cemetery, London.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - F/Sgt Eric Hempel Sherman RAAF (410739), aged 19, of Stanhope, Victoria, Australia. Buried Finningley Churchyard, Yorkshire.
Air Bomber - Sgt John William Perry RAFVR (1439469), aged 28. Buried Finningley Churchyard, Yorkshire.
Eric Sherman was born on 10th August 1925 in Stanhope and was the son of Leonard John and Anna Clarin Sherman. Prior to enlisting into the RAAF in Melbourne on 31st January 1942 he was working in an orchard and a dairy farm. The photograph of him shown above was found in the Australian National Archives.
John Perry's grave in Finningley Churchyard.