Date:	Monday 6 July 1942
Time:	00:30
Type:	Vickers Wellington Mk IC
Owner/operator:	22 OTU RAF
Registration:	R1465
MSN:	LT-Y
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Waun Rydd Brecon Beacons -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Wellesbourne Mountford
Destination airport:	Return.

Narrative:
Aircraft crashed on Waun Rydd Brecon Beacons 4 miles South of Talybont.
Crew
Pilot:R/88687 Flt Sgt John Beverley Kemp RCAF - Hereford Cemetery Plot A. (C. of E.). Joint grave 5619.
Observer:R/71725 Flt Sgt Ernest Edward Mittell RCAF - Hereford Cemetery Plot A. (C. of E.). Joint grave 5640.
Observer:R/106035 Sgt Kenneth Ferguson Yuill RCAF - Hereford Cemetery Plot A. (C. of E.). Joint grave 5619.
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner:R/75332 Flt Sgt Harold Crighton Beatty RCAF - Hereford Cemetery Plot A. (C. of E.). Joint grave 5640.
Air Gunner:R/82352 Sgt James Patrick Hayes RCAF - Hereford Cemetery Plot A. (C. of E.). Grave 5660.

The starboard tailplane, a Bristol Pegasus Mk.XVIII radial engine and a fuselage section from the walkway and bomb bay top, (which was recovered from a farm at Booley, Shropshire, where it was being used as an animal pen), are displayed in the 'Aircraft Recovery Group Aviation Museum', Sleap Airfield, Shropshire.


Details:
This Wellington started its operational career with No.214 (Federated Malay States) squadron when a 2nd pilot Sergeant picked her up from RAF Harrowbeir on the 3rd of March 1941, she was then to become his aircraft along with a new crew.
214 Squadron was reformed in 1935 at Boscombe Down as a bomber squadron. Later it arrived at the newly built Feltwell airbase from Scamton during April 1937. From here it flew Harrows from April 1937 to July 1939 but began switching to Wellington I's in May 1939. The squadron then moved to Feltwell satellite station, Methwold in Sept 1939 and remained there until moving to Stradishall in Feb 1940. It is interesting to note that Methwold was nothing more than a field with some tents at the time. 214 Squadron officially entered the war on June 14th, 1940, flying Wellingtons and the first raid was a fire-raising attack on German forests by 2 Wellingtons on 14/15 June 1940.

In September 1941 214 Squadron was honoured by being adopted by the British Malayan Federation and had "Federated Malay States" officially incorporated in its title. The FMS put up the funds to raise the squadron and equip it.

For the most part of the Second World War the squadron served in No. 3 Group and over this period flew some of the bloodiest missions of the war against naval, industrial and other targets in Europe. Many never returned. 214 Squadron provided completely unbroken service throughout the war in Bomber command (though not on Ops for first nine months) and had the highest percentage of losses of 3 Group. It also played an active role in Gardening or minelaying operations.
Sgt Paramore flying R1465 and his crew, Sgt Fry 2nd pilot/engineer, Sgt Rochford Observer, Sgt Williams Wireless Operator/ Air Gunner, Sgt Wheeler W/Op-AG and Sgt Morgan Air/Gunner, flew on their first bombing sortie on the night of the 12th/13th of March. Known as a ‘Freshman op’ and was the first 1000 bomber raid, target, Cologne. They took off at 20:27hrs. Their main target was the Focke Wulf aircraft works at Essen, but due to heavy cloud, the target was not seen, so the secondary target was bombed. Six 200lbs and one S.A.P. was dropped, unfortunately the results went unchecked due to invasive flying, they returned home, landing at 01:14hrs.
Their next mission took place on the night of the 14th, this time the weather dictated they turned around at the English coast with a full complement of bombs.
March the 21st/22nd. Take off at 18:30hrs this time the primary target was docks on the Kiel canal. On their arrival over the target there was intense searchlight activity, but the target was clear. 6x500lbs H.E. and 1x S.A.P. were dropped and observed to hit on the west side of the canal in amongst the docks. The 10/10ths cloud remained on the return journey. Just after turning for home, they suffered a total electrical failure, flying on without internal working lights, the compass u/s, fuel gauges u/s, wireless u/s, altimeter etc. All they had was dead reckoning and intermittent stars for navigation, without a radio to get a bearing fix, Sgt Paramore had zero chance of making base. In point of fact, they had indeed overshot their base at RAF Stradishall by over eighty miles and lady luck was with them as they spotted an airfield ahead and lit up, as he aligned on approach, the fuel cut out! Going into a glide he was able to conduct a forced landing near the village of Colby which lay a mile southwest of RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. Their base is located to the southeast in the shire of Suffolk. The crew were all uninjured, as for R1465 she was battered and bruised, with broken propellers and crushed bomb bay. She was eventually recovered in her main components and taken away for repair. The crew went on to fly on Op’s in Wellington R1447 bombing targets such as Bremen and Brest, then flying R1614 on raids over Dusseldorf and Hamm. July 1941 they were posted away to other squadrons.
After repair, R1465 came to No.22 OTU at RAF Wellesbourne Mountford during the end of 1941. Here she received the radio codes ‘LT-Y’. On the 5th of July 1942 she was on a night navigation exercise ending with a bombing run, she had in the bomb bay practice and incendeiary bombs. The trip took the all Canadian trainee crew over the south Wales area to a point on the West coast and return via a bombing range in the Severn Flats at the top end of the Estuary. As the aircraft crossed the Welsh borders they entered thick cloud, unfortunately as was the usual scenario with a ‘Rookie’ crew, it would seem they failed to keep an eye on the ground and timings before loosing all these factors. Soon the became totally lost with unfamiliar terrain below. During their pre-flight briefing they are warned about dropping through cloud without getting a star fix or a radio fix. As is common with the military, even now, black humour comes into play, with the classic phrase from the briefing officer. “Don’t forget! The clouds over Wales have hard centres!”
Probably with this advice ringing through the head of F/Sgt Kemp, the pilot, he would have asked the Navigator, F/Sgt Mittell and the 2nd Nav’ Sgt Yuill to try to get a Star Fix. He would have also asked the Wireless Operator for Radio Fixes from the beacons scattered around the country and hopefully a friendly female WAAF at a station nearby. It would seem that a partial star fix was gained so he dropped down through the clouds from 10,000 feet at a slow rate. Unknown to the crew they had drifted north and were now above the high Black Mountains. Still unaware the decent continued. It is possible they might have spotted water below (Llangorse Lake) through gaps in the clouds? Still, they carried on. Then at 00:30hrs on the 6th of July R1465 struck the flat plateau of Waun Rhydd, which ripped off the tail! At a possible 150 Mph and no chance of stopping, the bomber careered over the edge and cascaded into the valley below breaking up on hitting the sloping ground and sending the Bristol Pegasus engines far down below along with the two main wheels. After silence had returned to this desolate part of the Brecon Beacons the crew of five lay motionless and broken. Even if they had missed Waun Rhydd, they would have slammed into the Eastern flank of Graig Fan Las.

Crew:

F/Sgt John Beverley Kemp 21yo R/88687 RCAF. Pilot. Killed. 1
Son of John Beverly Oxborough Kemp & Emma Donovan Kemp; Husband of Freda Rose Kemp, of Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
F/Sgt Ernest Edward Mittell 22yo R/71725 RCAF. Obs/Nav. Killed. 2
Son of Edward Lancelot & Annie Edna Mittell, of Clinton, Ontario, Canada.
Sgt Kenneth Ferguson Yuill 30yo R/106035 RCAF. Obs/Bdr. Killed. 3
Son of James & Agnes Yuill (Nee McMrick), Brother of Granville, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
F/Sgt Harold Crighton Beatty 23yo R/75332 RCAF. W/Op-A/Gnr. Killed. 4
Son of Robert H Beatty & Ina E Beatty, of Belbic, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Sgt James Patrick Hayes 22yo R/82352 RCAF. A/Gnr. Killed. 5
Son of Edward Emmanuel & Mabel Francis Hayes, of Souris, Manitoba, Canada.

Buried:

1 Hereford Cemetery. Plot A. (C of E). Joint grave 5619.
2 Hereford Cemetery. Plot A. (C of E). Joint grave 5640.
3 Hereford Cemetery. Plot A. (C of E). Joint grave 5619.
4 Hereford Cemetery. Plot A. (C of E). Joint grave 5640.
5 Hereford Cemetery. Plot A. (C of E). Grave 5660.

Wreckage:

The recovery crews attended the site a couple of days later and took away the crew remains and other military items such as the guns, radios, nav’ aids, compass and other sensitive or reusable items. The wealth of wreckage was gathered into three piles with large amounts of smaller fragments still buried in and on top of the gully above that was caused by the crashing bomber. Sadly, over the passing eighty years pieces of aluminium have found their way off the mountain, some to museums, but the majority by passing walkers taking souvenirs. During the eighties a Mr Brian O’Hannolan (a teacher at the Tredegar high school and a family friend). Got the crash into the attention of the pupils and when children could be taken on guided walks, they were shown the crash. Along with another teacher and pupils they built the impressive memorial which still stands there now and is a recognised War Memorial by the RAF, the Canadian Government and RCAF.
The two mounds contain the larger pieces including the undercarriage legs and fuel tanks. The engines were thrown down the valley with one ending up in a gulley halfway down (Which has since been pushed further down and now lies wedged under a small waterfall). The other ended up all the way down into the stream below. This was recovered during the early 90’s and now along with a tail plane form the wreck, can be seen at the air museum at the old RAF Sleap near Shrewsbury.

Memorials:

Large stone memorial at the site.
CWGC Headstones.
To all the crews that flew with 214 Sqn’ at RAF Stradishall outside the old Officers Quarters.
In their memory in Canada…
Canadian War Memorial, Toronto.
Clinton War Memorial.
Yuill Lake East in Manitoba was named after Kenneth in 1995
Beatty Point on Wollaston Lake was named after Harold
Hayes Lake was named after James in 1975.

Additional Information:

RAF Stradishall closed in 1970 and is now the site of two category C prisons: HMP Highpoint North, and HMP Highpoint South. Part of the former airfield remains an M.O.D. training site which is not accessible to the public. The airfield has been sold to a private buyer to be converted into farmland and is out of bounds to the public.
Update 2021: The Airfield is now a Solar Farm with grazing for cattle and nature walk. It is open from dawn to dusk.

https://www.tracesofwar.nl/sights/8436/Crash-Site-en-Wrak-Wellington-Bommenwerper.htm
http://web.archive.org/web/20150527133616/http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/community/showthread.php?13001-WAUN-RYDD-Wellington-(R1465)-Crash-Memorial
http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/507039/details/vickers-wellington-ic-r1465
http://aircrewremembered.com/kemp-john.html

Whttps://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/70388/Memorial-Crash-Wellington-R1465.htmartime
Aircraft Recovery Group Aviation Museum, Sleap Airfield, Shropshire

Bomber Command (OTU) Losses 1942 Losses

rafremembered.com
canadianfallen.ca
nationalarchives.gov.uk
rcafassosiation.ca
www.bcar.org.uk

Sleap Airfield (EGCV), Harmer Hill Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK. - 28th July 2013

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Oct-2014 11:07	gerard57	Added
19-Oct-2014 07:14	Weeks	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
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