CornwallPhil
14-03-2012, 00:04
8162816381648165
It was fitting that I should find this memorial on a very foggy day as poor visibility played a part in the crash. While on patrol at 10.22 hrs on the 26th September 1941, a Hudson spotter plane sighted a merchant vessel about 35 miles south-west of Belle Isle in the Bay of Biscay. Three Beaufort Bombers of 217 Squadron Coastal Command were dispatched from RAF St Eval at 11.50 hrs to attack what believed to be an enemy vessel. Two of the bombers were unable to find the vessel, the third bomber saw it but didn’t attack. Returning to base they broke formation. One plane landed at RAF Chivenor and another at St Eval. The third plane Beaufort MK1 No.W6483 M-WA failed to return. It had crashed at 1620 in bad visibility on the edge of the County Quarry on Tregonning Hill. The machine was completely burnt-out and the four occupants killed. The crash was heard in a number of the villages around. For example, see Denys Bryant's account from the village of Breage http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/51/a6084551.shtml
The crew were Pilot Officer James Richards Harrison 89822 age 24, Pilot Officer Paul Francis Opperman 100561 (Observer) age 19, Sgt Harold Leslie Carter 11622321 (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner) age 25 and Sgt Dennis Albert Ryder 1255613 (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner) age 21.
The memorial was placed by the Balwest Heritage Society at the crash site which is in thick undergrowth right on the edge of the old quarry. It took 3 visits to find it as it teters at the edge of a considerable drop!
It was fitting that I should find this memorial on a very foggy day as poor visibility played a part in the crash. While on patrol at 10.22 hrs on the 26th September 1941, a Hudson spotter plane sighted a merchant vessel about 35 miles south-west of Belle Isle in the Bay of Biscay. Three Beaufort Bombers of 217 Squadron Coastal Command were dispatched from RAF St Eval at 11.50 hrs to attack what believed to be an enemy vessel. Two of the bombers were unable to find the vessel, the third bomber saw it but didn’t attack. Returning to base they broke formation. One plane landed at RAF Chivenor and another at St Eval. The third plane Beaufort MK1 No.W6483 M-WA failed to return. It had crashed at 1620 in bad visibility on the edge of the County Quarry on Tregonning Hill. The machine was completely burnt-out and the four occupants killed. The crash was heard in a number of the villages around. For example, see Denys Bryant's account from the village of Breage http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/51/a6084551.shtml
The crew were Pilot Officer James Richards Harrison 89822 age 24, Pilot Officer Paul Francis Opperman 100561 (Observer) age 19, Sgt Harold Leslie Carter 11622321 (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner) age 25 and Sgt Dennis Albert Ryder 1255613 (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner) age 21.
The memorial was placed by the Balwest Heritage Society at the crash site which is in thick undergrowth right on the edge of the old quarry. It took 3 visits to find it as it teters at the edge of a considerable drop!