William Dargue, Author at Birmingham History

Two Accidents At Castle Bromwich

February 25, 2015 by William Dargue Leave a Comment

The First World War saw the deaths of many young recruits who were training to be pilots at Castle Bromwich airfield. These were the very early days of aviation and knowledge and understanding of flight was in its infancy.

There was also a very great urgency to get pilots to the Front to fight the German invaders. Safety measures then were not what they are now. Indeed the engineers working on the planes and those training the new pilots had themselves little experience of aeroplanes and aviation.

2nd Lieutenant David Billings

Not all of the young pilots were British. They came to Castle Bromwich from the countries of the British Empire and some of them died and were buried here far from home.

2nd Lieutenant David Billings was of Canadian origin, although at the time of his training in England, his father was a church minister in Chicago, USA. Surprisingly, the squadron to which Billings was attached was the 71st, a unit that had been set up in 1916 as part of the Australian Flying Corps in Melbourne, Australia, after which it was stationed at Castle Bromwich.

In September the following year Lieutenant Billings fell to his death. Part of the training of the Royal Flying Corps was aerial acrobatics.

While his Avro training plane was upside down, Billings’ safety straps broke and he fell out of the plane and was killed outright when he hit the ground. His aircraft crashed into a wood near Water Orton.

David Kitto Billings was buried in Castle Bromwich graveyard and is commemorated in the Canadian Book of Remembrance in the Peace Tower in Ottawa.

When the War ended, sadly the deaths at Castle Bromwich airfield did not.

Edwin Hayne DSC

1919 Edwin Tufnell Hayne — Edwin Hayne DSC

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1895, Edwin Hayne joined the Royal Navy Air Service in 1916. He was posted to France in 1917 with the No.3 Naval Squadron and flew Sopwith Camels, a fighter plane noted for its manoeuvrability.

Hayne became his squadron’s top ace with a record of downing 15 German planes in the air between August 1917 and June 1918. On one of his first sorties in August 1917, he attacked a German airfield and put a whole flight of aircraft out of action with his machine gun.

In 30th November 1917 Hayne carried out 48 special missions. Flying at low altitude he inflicted heavy casualties on enemy troops and transport.

Edwin Hayne was later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

After the end of the First World War, Hayne continued to fly with RAF.

1919 Edwin Hayne Bristol_F2 — Bristol F2

In April 1919 he took off from Castle Bromwich in a Bristol F2 with a passenger, Major Maurice Perrin, on board. When the aircraft’s engine stalled, he turned to come back in to land but the plane crashed killing Edwin Hayne on impact; the Major died later in hospital.

Edwin Tufnell Hayne is buried in a private grave in Castle Bromwich graveyard.

The inscription reads: Faced danger and passed from the sight of men by the path of duty and self sacrifice.

Acknowledgements: This article has been developed from research by Terrie Knibb and the Castle Bromwich Youth & Community Partnership. For more information about the Castle Bromwich Graveyard Project go to http://castlebromwichgraveyard.co.uk/

William Moorwood Staniford

February 25, 2015 by William Dargue Leave a Comment

William Moorwood Staniforth was born in Hackenthorpe near Sheffield in 1884. He had joined the army as a regular soldier before the outbreak of the First World War serving with the Queen’s Own Yorkshire Dragoons Yeomanry based in Sheffield. He rose to the rank of sergeant and was awarded the Long Service medal. When war broke out, he was sent with his regiment to France and Flanders on active service where he served until December 1915. In January 1916 William was enrolled with the Royal Flying Corps to be trained as a pilot with the 28th Reserve Squadron at Castle Bromwich. He was promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant.

Later that year William Staniforth was married. The details of the wedding were reported in the West Yorkshire Post on 1st July 1916. The previous Saturday William had married Gladys Burrows at St Mary’s, the parish church of Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire. The marriage was presided over by Rev A S Commeline, rector of Beaconsfield, coincidentally formerly of York.

It is likely that William had met Gladys while in Sheffield. Gladys was the second daughter of Mr and Mrs Sam Burrows, then living in Beaconsfield but formerly of Sheffield.

Short Lived Happiness

Gladys’s happiness was to be short-lived. The next year Gladys’s father died and was buried in Shepherd’s Lane Cemetery just along the road from the parish church where his daughter’s wedding had been celebrated.

And then in March, Gladys’s husband of only 9 months crashed his plane while training at Castle Bromwich aerodrome and was killed outright. He was 32 years old. William Staniforth was buried in Castle Bromwich graveyard with others who had shared the same sad fate.

William Staniforth Memorial Inscription — William Staniforth Memorial

A tablet was erected in William’s memory bearing the words: To the dear memory of Billie, killed while on flying duty in England, Gladys. Gladys also had her husband’s name inscribed on her father’s gravestone at Beaconsfield.

After the war ended Gladys remarried and was last heard with her husband in Southern Rhodesia at the site of a prospective gold mine.

Flight Sergeant Peter Bode

February 25, 2015 by William Dargue 3 Comments

Flight Sergeant Peter Bode of Ward End was killed in action over the Netherlands on 21 September 1944 aged 21. He is buried in the Roman Catholic Cemetery in Wijchen in the Netherlands and is commemorated on his mother’s tombstone in Castle Bromwich graveyard.

During the Second World War Peter Bode was the tail gunner in a Stirling supply plane piloted by Warrant Officer Mark Azouz as part of Operation Market Garden in September 1944. This was an unsuccessful attempt by Field Marshall Montgomery to invade Germany over the Lower Rhine and encircle the Germany’s industrial heartland of the Ruhr from the north. Large numbers of troops were dropped by parachute and supplied from the air by hundreds of missions like the ones Peter Bode was involved in.

Stirling aircraft used to supply troops during Operation Market Garden

At noon on Thursday 21 September Mark Azouz took off from Keevil airfield in Wiltshire with 10 other aircraft of the 196th Squadron and parachuted in 24 containers of supplies for the British troops at Arnhem. This was the crew’s fourth supply flight in five days. As the plane turned and made for England, it was hit by flak from German anti-aircraft guns on the ground and then chased by several German FW109 fighters. Sgt Bode fired at the enemy aircraft and hit one of them. However, two of the engines of his own plane were hit and caught fire.

Azouz struggled to keep the Stirling in the air, as the crew put on their parachutes and bailed out. Fire and smoke were pouring from the engines and the plane began to dive. Pilot Azouz abandoned the controls and ran back to the body of the aircraft to make his escape. He found the compartment empty and the crew of seven all gone, with the exception of Peter Bode. He was dead in his seat in the rear gun turret, riddled with gun shots.

Less than 15 metres above the ground, Mark Azouz jumped from the plane and was almost immediately shot dead by German gunfire. The Stirling bomber came to rest in a flooded field, the lifeless body of Peter Bode still on board.

Warrant Officer Azouz is buried at Jonkerbos near Arnhem.

Flight Sergeant Peter Harold Bode is buried in the Roman Catholic cemetery in nearby Wijchen.

The inscription on his grave reads:

1583111 Flight Sergeant
P. H. BODE
Air Gunner
Royal Air Force
21st September 1944
Age 21
My beloved son
Safe in the arms of Jesus
Safe on his gentle Breast
“Until”

When Peter Bode’s mother died only six years later, she was buried in Castle Bromwich graveyard and an inscription was also put on the gravestone commemorating her brave son.

A Death Away from Home

February 22, 2015 by William Dargue 1 Comment

Lucien Higgs’ fatal crash on a training flight from Castle Bromwich in 1917 ended his hopes of fighting the Germans who had invaded his home country of Belgium.

Higgs had been born in Belgium in 1892 in Schaerbeek, a well-to-do suburb of Brussels. With Higgs as his surname, and the English middle names of John Herbert, it may be that his father was British and his mother Belgian. Records show that he moved to Antwerp, 30 miles away from Schaerbeek, before 1915 and that he was in England by 1917.

The Germans invaded Belgium early in August 1914 and thousands of Belgian refugees crossed the English Channel to Britain. The numbers were enormous: on one day in October 16,000 refugees arrived at Folkestone alone.

During the four years of the First World War, it is estimated that a quarter of million Belgians found safety in this country. Many of those of fighting age volunteered to sign up in the military at the Belgian Embassy at London’s Eaton Square.

On 30 May 1917 Higgs was promoted from cadet to a temporary 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps. This was a a role that might involve being in charge of a platoon. The class system which operated in the forces had broken down because of the sheer numbers of troops involved in the war and the enormous death rate. By 1917 anyone with some education and/or initiative would be promoted to fill the gaps.

Training to Fly

One month later Lieutenant Higgs was being trained to fly at Castle Bromwich Aerodrome. The Maurice Farman S.11 Shorthorn was used for reconnaissance and bombing raids at the beginning of the war but by 1917 it was being used solely for training new pilots.

The priority for Castle Bromwich No.5 Training Squadron was to get as many young men airborne and off to the Front as quickly as possible. On Friday 8 June, 25 year-old Lucien Higgs took off in a Shorthorn on his first solo flight having had only 3¼ hours dual instruction.

Lucien Higgs' Aircraft, a S11-Shorthorn — Lucien Higgs’ Aircraft, a S11-Shorthorn

It is thought that Higgs must have got lost. The Farman Shorthorn had a range of over 200 miles and a top speed of 66 mph.

Higgs had been in the air for three hours and he knew that he was getting very low on petrol. He must have decided to make an emergency landing before his fuel ran out.

He did not know it but he was flying over Northamptonshire and still some 50 miles from his base at Castle Bromwich. If he had not tried to land, he would have crashed anyway.

His aircraft was seen by Blisworth villager Edwin Freeston. He watched as the pilot attempted to land in a field of clover. As the plane touched down, it suddenly stopped, tipped over forwards and was wrecked. Freeston ran for help as Higgs lay unconscious in the remains of the plane. He was taken to Blisworth railway station a quarter of a mile away and then taken by train to Northampton General Hospital. Higgs had a fractured skull and never regained consciousness. He died the following day.

Inquest into the Crash

At the inquest his instructor was of the opinion that Higgs had landed with the wind behind him and that the field sloped downhill. This would explain why the plane tipped over forwards. What the instructor failed to say was that Higgs did not have the experience yet to fly solo and could not have been expected to know how to make an emergency landing in unforeseen circumstances. Sadly he was one of many trainees from Castle Bromwich who never made it as far as the War.

Lucien Higgs' Gravestone — Lucien Higgs’ Gravestone

Lieutenant Higgs’ body was brought back to Castle Bromwich where Rev Bickersteth would have presided over his funeral. His memorial is not the usual one supplied by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission but a private one, presumably paid for by members of his family.The gravestone is in the shape of a cross with the simple inscription:

‘In loving memory of Lucien Herbert J Higgs – Killed while flying’.

A Sad and Sudden End to a Distinguished Career

February 22, 2015 by William Dargue 2 Comments

On 29th July 1950 Wing Commander Arthur Mobley lost his life at one of the last air shows at Castle Bromwich Airfield. Tragically, his wife and young son were witnesses to the event.

Arthur Mobley was born in 1913. During the Second World War he served with the No.37 squadron at Feltwell in Norfolk, flying Wellington bombers as a Flight Lieutenant. Having joined the RAF in 1937, he was 26 years old when the war started and rose to the rank of Wing Commander in the RAF.

Flying Wellington Bombers

Mobley flew in the Wellington bomber N2980 which was involved in many bombing sorties including the Heligoland Bight raid in December 1939, when over half the 22 Wellingtons were shot down by the Germans. During 1939 and 1940 the plane took part in 14 bombing raids from Feltwell.

Fortunately, Arthur Mobley was not on board the aircraft’s last flight, a training exercise over Loch Ness in on the last day of December in 1940. The plane developed engine trouble and the crew were forced to bail out. All survived except for the tail gunner whose parachute failed to open. The Wellington crashed into the deep waters of the loch.

The photograph show Arthur Mobley (centre back) with the s0 called Loch Ness Wellington N2980 at Feltwell in 1940. — The photograph show Arthur Mobley (centre back) with the so called Loch Ness Wellington N2980 at Feltwell in 1940.

Remarkably, in 1976 the Wellington N2980 was discovered by an American underwater team searching for the Loch Ness monster; it was successfully salvaged in 1985 in a state of surprisingly good preservation. When connected to a battery the aircraft’s lights still worked! The Wellington was taken to the Brooklands Museum in Surrey, the site where it had been manufactured 46 years previously and where it can still be seen.

Becoming an RAF Instructor

After the war Arthur Mobley became an RAF flying instructor and it was in this role that he made his final flight.

Castle Bromwich Airfield (now the site of Castle Vale) had been the venue for the Birmingham air shows from 1927. (The 1950s were to see the last of them.) Arthur Mobley, now 36 and a veteran with some 4000 flying hours to his name, had been appointed as deputy chief flying instructor at No.5 Castle Bromwich Reserve Flying School. It was the beginning of the school holidays and his wife Rita and nine-year-old son Terry had come up from their home in Wallingford, Berkshire to see Arthur take part in the flying displays.

Last Flight in a Tiger Moth

It was towards the end of the day. Rita Mobley was sitting in their car watching the final displays with son Terry when her husband came over to say that he had one more flight to make. He was taking up Flying Officer John Deighton of Handsworth, an RAF pilot serving in the Volunteer Reserve for some practice. Deighton liked to keep his hand in.

A Tiger Moth at Castle Bromwich Aerodrome

Four Tiger Moths took off flying in formation with Mobley as leader. The aircraft then broke away to perform a loop, first diving then ascending sharply. Mobley took the controls from Deighton. As the plane started to climb, it stalled and then spun down to the ground, crashing in a nearby field. Young Terry and his mother witnessed the crash, but did not know until afterwards that it was Arthur who had been the pilot.

Arthur’s pupil, John Deighton, remarkably survived, though badly injured with fractured ribs and a fractured leg. He spent six weeks in hospital and later appeared at the inquest on crutches.

Accidental Death Verdict

Deighton testified at the inquest that Mobley had taken over the controls before the breakaway. At the end of the dive, Deighton had blacked-out. When he came to the plane was spinning towards the earth.

Testimony was also given by Squadron Leader Ronald Chalmers, the chief flying instructor of the Flying School. In a very recent medical check Mobley had been pronounced A1 fit. In the light of the steepness of the climb and Deighton’s black-out, he assumed that Mobley too had blacked-out and was then unable to regain control of the aircraft.

In his summing up, Birmingham Coroner Dr W H Davison said that Flight Lieutenant Mobley had been shown to be a skilled and experienced pilot and that it was reasonable to assume that a black-out had been the cause of his fatal crash. The jury recorded a verdict of accidental death.

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