A local one for me , a trip over to Smethwick west park near Birmingham
to find a small memorial to the crew of Miles Master DL961 No 5 glider
school RAF Shobdon which crashed on the 31st of July 1944 with the loss
of both crew the plane was seen to be low flying and during one pass
reared up over some trees sadly it stalled and dived into the old Tennis
courts and burned out , the inquiry put the crash down to 'unofficial
aerobatics ' but locals have for years felt the c
rew
sacrificed their lives to save hitting any of the nearby houses or
people in the park the pilots presence in the area is doubly tragic in
that from the crash site only a few tens of yards is the pilots family
home where on this day his mother saw the crash from her kitchen window
later his father visited the wreckage only then finding out the pilot
was their son.
Near the crash site an unmarked stone was erected
near a memorial bench but sadly the bench has now long gone but the
stone now forms part of a very fitting new memorial which lies in the
park grounds
Crew
Pilot F/Sgt A C Cox
F/Sgt C Preston
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