Stone | War dead | WW2

WW2 aircraft crash

Erection date: 7/7/1999

Inscription

{The plaque is divided graphically into 3 vertical sections. The central panel depicts a maple leaf and two crowned crests, the one on the left with a maple leaf at the centre and this text around the outside and below:}
No 6 Group Headquarters, Royal Canadian Air Force. Sollertia et Ingenium 

{At the centre of the other crest is a lion rampant in front of a maple leaf and this text around the outside and below:}
427 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force. Ferte Manus Certas

{On the section to the left:}
Harmondsworth Moor
At this site on 16 September 1943, an RCAF Halifax bomber crashed on return from a mission, with the loss of all seven crew members.  This memorial is to all those who served in 427 Squadron, and in 6 Bomber Group RCAF.

Dedicated on 7 July 1999 by British Airways, in association with the Community of Harmondsworth. 

Halifax V.DK 253 ZL M
427 Squadron
6 Bomber Group
Royal Canadian Air Force
Based at Leeming in Yorkshire

{On the section to the right:}
United in service
F/O B. Begbie RCAF
F/O F. V. Webb RCAF
Flt/Sgt. A. Chibanoff RCAF
Sgt D. R. Coe RAF
Sgt H. W. Frost RCAF
Sgt A. R. Gaiger RAF
Sgt E. T. Potts RAF

At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.

Site: WW2 aircraft crash + Waterloo Bridge (2 memorials)

UB7, Harmondsworth Moor, Middle Meadow

The crash plaque is attached to a large chunk of granite - a piece of the John Rennie Waterloo Bridge (source: Colne Valley Park).  And all around the area you will see lumps of granite from the same source, so many we could not plot and photograph them all so, as an interesting representative, we have chosen the Giant's Teeth, an art-work a short walk from the memorial.  For a map showing the location of the Giant's Teeth, the crash memorial and paths, etc. see British Airway's Harmondsworth Moor.

Describing the dedication of the memorial for the crash the extremely informative website Their Last Night gives the following information:  "In the late 1980s British Airways proposed the construction of their headquarters (Waterside) … {nearby} ... Part of the overall scheme was to landscape an area of some 240 acres by planting around 70,000 trees on undulating meadowland, and laying out winding footpaths, bridleways, lakes including water features, all embracing the three rivers that are part of the Chiltern drainage.  During the planning stages British Airways was made aware of the Halifax incident … and they responded by initiating a memorial to the lost air crew."

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
WW2 aircraft crash

Subjects commemorated i

WW2 aircraft crash

The story of this crash is very well told at Their Last Night.   Here we give...

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World War 2

Sorry, we've done no research on WW2, it's just too big a subject. But do vis...

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427 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force

The picture source gives "No. 427 Squadron formed at Croft ...{County Durham}...

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No 6 Group Headquarters, Royal Canadian Air Force

Wikipedia says this group oversaw the Royal Canadian Air Force heavy bomber s...

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F/O Kendall Bell Begbie, RCAF

From Riverside, Ontario, Canada.  Aged 26.  Burried in the Warriston Cremator...

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Show all 11

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
WW2 aircraft crash

Created by i

Laurence Binyon

Poet.  Born Lancaster.  Worked at the British Museum and become expert in Chi...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
WW2 aircraft crash

Also at this site i

Giant's Teeth

Giant's Teeth

Describing the dedication of the memorial for the crash the website Their Las...

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Nearby Memorials

Foot-and-mouth epidemic - original memorial

Foot-and-mouth epidemic - original memorial

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1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Conscientious Objectors

Conscientious Objectors

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Unveiled by Sir Michael Tippett who was President of the Peace Pledge Union at the time.

2 subjects commemorated
Nelson - SW19

Nelson - SW19

SW19, Merton Road, Nelson Gardens

"The death" to which this inscription refers is Nelson's, so the gift was made on 21 October 1905 though the gardens were not opened unti...

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Foot-and-mouth epidemic - new memorial

Foot-and-mouth epidemic - new memorial

SE10, Ballast Quay, Ballast Quay communal garden

  The first memorial was obviously sinking into the ground when our photograph was taken in 2013. We returned in 2015 and photographe...

1 subject commemorated
Mahomet Weyonomon

Mahomet Weyonomon

SE1, Borough High Street, Southwark Cathedral garden

Our picture comes from a nearby information board and shows Mohegan-Pequot four-domed medallion (or rosette) and trail motifs. The medal...

1 subject commemorated, 3 creators