ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 162252
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| Date: | Saturday 22 May 1943 |
| Time: | 17:00 |
| Type: | Miles Master Mk II |
| Owner/operator: | 12 FPP ATA |
| Registration: | W9029 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | The Maze, St James Close, Littleworth, near Worcester, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | RAF Hullavington, Wiltshire |
| RAF Ternhill, Shropshire |
In a quiet back garden behind The Maze, St James Close, Littleworth, Worcestershire is a plaque attached to a building, this marks remembrance of the crash of Miles Master II W9029 and the sad loss of the young A.T.A pilot . On the 22nd of May 1943 W9029 took off from RAF Hullavington, Wiltshire on a delivery flight to R.A.F Tern hill, Shropshire.
Heading north the plane came to be over Littleworth at about 5pm, the arrival was seen by locals who were alerted by the planes engine noise to be in trouble. Circling the village the plane suddenly dived after a separation of the prop, with no height or time the pilot attempted a forced landing. The plane impacted the ground, bounced, then skidded across the field hitting a small out building and sty bursting into flames. The Farmer whose land the plane crashed on Mr A.J.Gill ran to help but armed with little more then a wartime stirrup pump he was unable to put out the flames.
Later technical analysis showed that a failure of lubrication to the propeller reduction gear caused a ball race to fail, and the propeller and reduction gear flew off. On gliding down the aircraft struck some farm buildings. Mary was deemed to be 'not at fault' for the incident.
Second Office Mary Nicholson was a very experienced pilot in the US, since 1928 her flight logs include passenger and barnstorming jobs. With the outbreak of war she volunteered for the A.T.A arriving in England in late 1942, after gaining her wings she flew many types on delivery until on the 22nd of May 1943 when she was posted to No. 12 Ferry Pool R.A.F. Cosford.
Second Officer Mary Webb Nicholson (US Citizen) Air Transport Auxiliary, killed in a flying accident. R.I.P.Buried at Greensboro New Garden Friends Cemetery, Section 1, Plot 147, Greensboro, North Carolia, United States of America
Her funeral was on the 29th May. Pauline Gower is named as 'Senior Pilot to attend' on the official forms for the funeral, but Giles Whittell (via Ann Wood) states that "Gower failed to attend the funeral, even though Nicholson had been based at White Waltham. Sometimes, just when they most needed to be warm, the Brits could be breathtakingly chilly."
In 2019, "on the anniversary of her death, I and a small group of fellow historic aviation enthusiasts/ researchers finally marked the site of the crash of her Miles Master II in Littleworth, Worcesterhire. We felt that the fact that she was something of an aviation celebrity in North Carolina and beyond, was involved with Amelia Earhart in the founding of the Ninety-Nines’s and yet her death and crash site was unmarked was something of an insult to her memory. She was an exceptional woman.
We therefore placed a memorial plaque on the wall adjacent to the barn that her aircraft struck and burnt. The Memorial Service was conducted by the Rev Mark Badger and the plaque unveiled by John Webster of the ATA Association. We interviewed two surviving witnesses to the crash and a third later came forward. The event was covered by local news media including the BBC (see link #6):
The crash site is on private property but the current owners of the location are, with prior notice, happy to allow visitors to attend."
Sources:
1. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/7532024/mary-webb-nicholson/
2. https://wartimes.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?t=674
3. https://www.ata-ferry-pilots.org/index.php/category-blog-1942/749-nicholson-mary-webb-w-97
4. http://www.aviationarchaeology.org.uk/marg/crashes1943.htm
5. https://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=19380.0
6. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-48363697
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 15-Nov-2013 00:04 | angels one five | Added |
| 26-Dec-2013 17:52 | angels one five | Updated [Narrative] |
| 23-Feb-2014 18:18 | Nepa | Updated [Operator] |
| 16-Jun-2014 07:48 | angels one five | Updated [Operator] |
| 19-Feb-2015 20:30 | SIS07 | Updated [Operator] |
| 10-Apr-2015 23:26 | angels one five | Updated [Operator] |
| 19-Nov-2018 19:20 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Operator] |
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