The Scottish Military Research Group - Commemorations Project

columba · Joined: 19 Feb 2014 Posts: 404

I was at a cousin's funeral in Dundee Crematorium last week and saw the CWGC sign at the gate. There is a plaque with names on it - all from WW2.

Out of curiosity I looked at CWGC website and found a fair few names of men in their 50s and 60s. Were they really combatants? I can understand the one from the Home Guard being that age and possibly the merchant seamen but Black Watch? and RAF? (Not suggesting that is old, of course!!)

Sandra

Kenneth Morrison · Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2016 5:23 pm Post subject:

They grow them tough in Dundee, Sandra Laughing

The one casualty that caught my attention was a "youngster" of 39.
WILKINS, LOUIS ALFRED
Rank: Captain
Date of Death: 17/08/1943
Age: 39
Regiment/Service: British Overseas Airways Corporation

Cemetery: DUNDEE CREMATORIUM

Additional Information:
Son of Musgrove and Elizabeth Ann Wilkins, of 4 Argyll Road, Kensington, London; husband of Gladys Victoria Wilkins.

It was only recently that I ran across the story of military flights to neutral countries (like Sweden) which were operated using unarmed Mosquito fighter/bombers and classified as BOAC even when flown by RAF crews.
This particular aircraft crashed after take-off from RAF Leuchers in Fife bound for Stockholm. The other crewman, Harold Beamont from Dewsbury, Yorkshire was RAF and is buried in Fettercairn Cemetery, Kincardineshire.
Details of the crash are at:
http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=18796
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Ken

columba · Joined: 19 Feb 2014 Posts: 404

Yes, Ken, the city of my birth! (I left almost 50 years ago)

That's interesting about BOAC - covert operations to neutral countries, hmm!

Kenneth Morrison · Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2016 7:38 pm Post subject:

I first ran across BOAC flights when I was researching the the Urr Parish War Memorial in the village of Haugh of Urr just north of Dalbeattie.

James Irwin Douglas – age 21 – Flying Officer (Pilot) (127137) Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.
James was onboard a BOAC Lockhead Hudson when it crashed near Khartoum. The aircraft was transporting pilots from Cairo to West Africa to collect aircraft which had been ferried out from the UK.
Died on Active Service on 30 June 1943 and buried in Khartoum War Cemetery, Sudan.
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Ken