WHEN AN EXCAVATION OVER THE WEEKEND OF 28/29 JULY 2007 AT ALBION PARADE, GRAVESEND, BY A TEAM OF ROYAL ENGINEERS AND RAF PERSONNEL FAILED TO FIND ANY TRACE OF ONE HURRICANE AIRCRAFT OR ITS PILOT, FLT SGT ERIC WILLIAMS, IT SEEMED THAT THE MYSTERY OF THIS PILOT’S LAST RESTING PLACE WOULD ENDURE. INDEED, THAT WAS HOW THE SITUATION WAS DESCRIBED ON THE OFFICIAL MINISTRY OF DEFENCE (MOD) NEWS WEBSITE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THOSE JULY EXCAVATIONS. SUBSEQUENTLY, HOWEVER, THERE HAVE BEEN NEW DEVELOPMENTS – PROMPTING US TO LOOK FURTHER INTO THE SAD YET FASCINATING SAGA OF A BATTLE OF BRITAIN PILOT, STILL MISSING SINCE 15 OCTOBER 1940. IT IS, REPORTS ANDY SAUNDERS, A TRULY REMARKABLE TALE AND ONE WHERE THE LAST CHAPTER REMAINS, AS YET, UNWRITTEN.
Since early September 1940, No.46 Squadron had been operating from RAF Stapleford and participated in the latter half of the Battle of Britain as part of 11 Group Fighter Command. Here, the squadron had taken many casualties along with the tally of victories they had notched up. By 15 October they were surely a tired and battle-weary unit, but still manfully participating in holding the line against the continuing Luftwaffe onslaught.
At around 12.30 on that date, twelve Hurricanes took off from Stapleford for a patrol. Leading them was Flt Sgt Eric Williams and, although junior in rank to many other pilots in the Squadron, he was arguably one of the most experienced amongst them – having been a fighter pilot since 2 September 1934. An additional factor in Eric’s leadership of the Squadron that day may well have been the “fluidity” and almost transient nature of No.46 Squadron’s commanding officers at the time. (1)
Between 12.57 and 13.08 hours on 15 October 1940, though, three Hurricanes had returned to Stapleford from the patrol – Blue 2 and Green 2 with oxygen problems and Green 3 with engine problems. Shortly before this, at 12.55, Blue One (Flt Sgt E Williams) with the remainder of the Squadron, and flying at 15,000ft, reported on the R/T that he had spotted twenty to thirty Messerschmitt Me 109’s milling overhead at 25,000ft.
The Squadron started to climb as rapidly as possible. They were then vectored nine-zero. As the Hurricanes headed eastwards and climbed, the enemy aircraft above them were then able to position themselves between the Squadron and the sun to deliver an astern attack from above and out of the sun. It was a classic fighter ‘bounce’. In this instance, the ‘bouncers’ had been the Messerschmitt Me 109’s of Adolf Galland’s Jagdgeschwader 26.
Without warning the Messerschmitts tore into the Hurricanes that were straining to gain altitude. Two pilots of the I Gruppe and two from II Gruppe each claimed a Hurricane as destroyed. Galland, the Geschwader Kommodore, claimed a ‘Spitfire’ in the same combat – the forty-sixth victory for this ever-rising star.
In the slashing attack by the Messerschmitts, Oblt Henrici and Uffz Scheidt got their sixth and third aerial victories respectively. Meanwhile, Hptm Adolph and Oblt Grawatsch downed their twelfth and second ‘kills’. Without doubt, their victims were the Hurricanes of No.46 Squadron, whom JG 26 reported to have attacked in the Gillingham/London area. As for Galland, his claim for a Spitfire was in the Rochester/Gillingham area. However, no Spitfire losses that day match this time or location and so it is entirely possible that he, too, engaged the same group of Hurricanes but had perhaps misidentified the type during the heat of battle.
As the Messerschmitts pounced, Pilot Officer Robert Reid (Green One) was startled to suddenly see, from nowhere, tracer bullets entering the cockpit of Blue Three. Similar tracers then poured into hitting Blue One (Eric Williams) with some effect. Almost immediately, a Me 109 appeared just fifty feet above Reid and to his left. Pulling up the nose of his Hurricane he got in a two second burst at the enemy, and saw bullets entering the cockpit and right across its wings. This caused the Messerschmitt to turn over, emitting grey smoke, before spiralling down out of control. Reid followed, down to 10,000ft, before pulling out.
Red One (Pilot Officer Lefevre) saw what was believed to be the same Me 109 entering the clouds below him at 2-4,000ft although, due to the cloud conditions, it was impossible to see the enemy crash (it was estimated the location was in the vicinity of Rochester and the Medway towns).
In just a matter of seconds, the engagement was all over. No.46 Squadron had been broken up and badly mauled, losing three Hurricanes and having one more damaged. Pilot Officer Gunning was dead, and Flight Sgt Williams was missing. Meanwhile, Sgt Gooderham had baled out with facial injuries, a bruised arm and a damaged knee. Although a recent MOD press release attributed the loss of Flt Sgt Williams directly to Adolf Galland, there is no definite evidence of this.
*
On the ground at Gravesend it was lunchtime, and Walter Holden was just about to leave his work at the timber depot of W R Barton & Sons Ltd, located in Albion Parade, when he heard the roar of a descending aircraft. Although he could not see it, he realized from the sound that it was headed towards either the River Thames or Albion Parade.
The resulting noise of the impact told him all he needed to know. He immediately rushed to the scene, and was surprised to find the Fire, Police, ARP and Ambulance services already there. Making himself known, he was allowed into Barton’s Wharf. Here he discovered a gaping hole torn in the shed roof. No timber was stored there at the time and, in the soft dirt floor beneath the damaged roof, was a large imprint with shreds of metal strewn around. A mixture of water, fuel and oil was bubbling and seeping into the crater. Of the pilot there was no trace, and those initially on the scene had no idea whether he had baled out or had failed to escape from his aircraft.
Gradually, the facts were pieced together and it became clear that the pilot of this aircraft had not been accounted for. At first, there was some speculation that he may have fallen unseen and with an unopened parachute into the adjacent river – some half a mile wide at that point. Investigations at the site, though, soon revealed the grim truth when a Royal Engineer party dug down into the crater and recovered part of a Flight Sergeant’s sleeve badge. There was only one contender; Flight Sergeant Eric Williams.
*
Upon Eric’s failure to return to Stapleford that afternoon, enquiries were immediately made by the Squadron Adjutant as to what had become of him. Police, Hospitals, the Observer Corps, military units and other RAF stations in the region were canvassed. No information was forthcoming, although the report of a Hurricane landing with combat damage at RAF Hawkinge gave some initial promise but turned out, instead, to be a Hurricane and pilot of No.257 Squadron.
With the other No.46 Squadron losses accounted for, and the known circumstances of the Albion Wharf crash eventually established, it was concluded that Eric Williams was missing in action. Accordingly, the standard terse Air Ministry telegram was sent to Eric’s wife, Joan, notifying her that her husband was missing as the result of air operations. Eventually, after the passage of some months, his death was presumed. In fact, the RAF had already established, with some clarity, the location of his crash and, indeed, the place of his death. Whilst the No.46 Squadron Operations Record Book for 15 October 1940 was unambiguous on the matter, the Casualty File for Eric Williams was quite clear, and enabled the RAF’s Air Historical Branch to, much, later confirm:
“The Hurricane aircraft (V6550) piloted by Flight Sergeant Williams was shot down at approximately 13.00hrs on 15 October 1940. The aircraft crashed onto a wharf, approximately one mile east of Gravesend Ferry Railway Station.” (3)
Unfortunately, Joan Williams wasn’t told. All she then knew was that he was missing, presumed dead. Later, his name was added to the RAF’s Runnymede Memorial to airmen who are missing and who have no known grave. (2)
There the matter may well have rested had it not been for research conducted by the author and his colleagues during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. With the upsurge of interest in researching the losses of Battle of Britain aircraft at that time, it was inevitable that interest would, at some time, focus on the Albion Wharf crash. Eye witness accounts like those of Walter Holden abounded from those who were in Gravesend during 1940 and a certain amount of folklore and legend had grown up. It was also generally accepted, locally at least, that the aircraft, was still buried there – as was its pilot.
Local clues, though, were scant but the Kent ARP report gave a starting point: “15 October 1940. Time of Report: 14.25 hours. One British plane down at Albion Parade. Map Reference 090908. Pilot missing. Plane burnt out. Slight damage to wharf building.”
From that information it was possible to deduce that the pilot must almost certainly have been Flt Sgt Williams and by the late 1970’s the RAF had confirmed it. Bizarrely, the researchers now knew the final fate of Eric, but, unbeknown to them, his widow still had no clue as to what had become of her husband or how or where he had died. To her he was still just “missing”.
Working with Terry Thompson, then a colleague at Tangmere Aviation Museum, the author and Thompson set about tracking down Eric’s family. It was a long and tortuous process involving a search for wills, birth certificates and so on. But, in November 1987, his widow Joan was tracked down and contacted in Ontario, Canada. Re-married, but again a widow, Joan Eddleston was staggered to learn the news of what had become of her Eric. So too was Eric’s daughter, Jennifer, who had never known her father - having been born shortly after his untimely death. Jennifer was now a resident of the USA. It was a tragic and yet comforting situation – especially when it became clear just how important this news was to the family. At last there was now some kind of partial “closure”. However unsatisfactory the location of his last resting place might be, it was at least now known to them.
By 1987, and when contact with the family was established, the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 was already in place in the UK. This meant that the clearly expressed wishes of Eric’s next of kin to have his Hurricane excavated, and his body buried in a marked grave, could only be met legally if a licence was granted by the MOD. However, in cases where the presence of human remains is known or suspected, it is not the policy of the MOD to grant such licenses. Notwithstanding the fact that the site owners were agreeable to a recovery taking place, it could not occur in the absence of a PMRA licence. For a while, the possibility of bringing Eric Williams home had stalled.
During the late 1980’s, it gradually became clear that the long term future of the crash site as a timber wharf and storage area was in doubt. The busy waterfront activity on this part of the Thames was a thing of the past, and the surrounding buildings had fallen into disuse and dereliction. Eventually, the timber yard closed down – but not before the original wartime earthen floor had been concreted over. Realising that it was potentially now-or-never, the team of enthusiasts who had worked towards the recovery of Eric made another attempt, officially, to get something done. Again, though, efforts were stalled.
Walter Holden, the elderly witness, again visited the site and pointed out, absolutely emphatically, where the Hurricane had disappeared into the ground – just inside the yard gate and off the Albion Parade roadway. In the 1990’s, the building was still standing and little had changed apart from the recent addition of a concrete floor and the extension of the Thames riverbank when the post-war sea wall was constructed. However, the situation was academic. Notwithstanding Joan’s wishes, and the compliance of the site owner, nothing could proceed without a licence. And still a licence was not forthcoming.
Frustrated, the team ultimately wrote to the Ministry of Defense in 1997 seeking an “official” attempt at recovery. The result was not encouraging, and the MOD declined to issue the necessary licence. Yet again, the project had hit a brick wall.
Then, something happened that sparked yet more pressure on the authorities to finally reach a decision. On Sunday 8 February 1998 two “enthusiasts” gained access to the now derelict site and carried out an unauthorized and unlicensed dig with a mechanical excavator. Though they found nothing, the MOD was asked to review their position regarding an official dig.
Finally, after so many years, the site was surveyed by a combined team from the Royal Engineers and RAF who reported to the RAF Personnel Management Agency at RAF Innsworth on their findings. By March 1999 the MOD had responded, stating that no recovery would be attempted on the basis of the difficulties associated with the site and the potential costs. Blue One would remain missing.
In October 2006 it was revealed that the site, finally, was due for extensive re-development with luxury riverside apartments scheduled for the Albion Parade site. A local aviation historian, Lewis Deal MBE, became aware of the plans and, knowing the existence of the buried Hurricane and its pilot, mounted a campaign to have something done before Eric’s remains were concreted over. He was granted a licence for what was to not be an “official” recovery attempt per-se. However, the RAF and Army would assist with resources and a military presence.
Then, in July 2007, it was announced that a recovery attempt would be made within the next few days. A report on Meridian Television stated that the wreckage had, in fact, been detected at a depth of a few metres. The ‘dig’, it was stated, was scheduled for the weekend of 28/29 July 2007. The author contacted the pilot’s family to discuss this news, only to find that they were considerably surprised and knew nothing of such a plan. After an initial phone call to the MOD, when they told that the work was not going ahead as the RAF/RE team had not yet located the buried wreckage, a subsequent conversation with the family revealed that the dig was in fact going ahead.
As the excavation continued, it soon became apparent that the recovery team may have been misled by the location of the existing sea wall and the subsequent demolition of the building. The reference point of the bank was not in the position where it sat during 1940. This fact was clearly evident when comparing aerial photographs of the site in the 1940’s to those currently available.
Ultimately, by the end of day two, on Sunday 29 July, nothing had been found.(4) Indeed, the detected readings were found to be the remains of an old Thames barge - it had already been long established by researchers that Thames barges were pulled up alongside the old sea wall, sunk and then in-filled and covered over. These formed the basis of the post-war sea wall construction. The very discovery of the barge, therefore, would alone seem to have indicated an incorrect position. Before the site was closed down that day, a small service of commemoration was held which involved a moving fly past by a Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Hurricane.
On Saturday 22 September 2007, the story developed further when an officer from the MOD telephoned the family to say that yet another recovery attempt was being made to recover the Hurricane that day – starting immediately!
Again, digging over a two day period yielded absolutely nothing but mud, rubble and scrap iron – and not a trace of either the Hurricane or of Eric.
At time of writing, the case remains in a state of impasse, although a small remembrance event was held at Eric’s memorial on 11 November 2007. Among those who attended were his daughter, Jennifer, and other family members. A wreath was laid by the local MP, Adam Holloway. It was an emotive event, and those present could be forgiven if they found it hard not to reflect on a comment from one of those involved in the July 2007 excavation. Wing Commander David Lainchbury’s had earlier stated that any future attempt to recover Eric William’s remains will stand less than a 50/50 chance of success. The odds faced by ‘The Few’ were considerably less favourable than that, but Eric Williams and his contemporaries did not give up. Neither should we.
In 1940, the Royal Engineer party had given up digging when their excavations became too dangerous at eighteen feet. Later, a party from No.49 Maintenance Unit (RAF) attended the location to clear away what little remained there. Rounds of .303 ammunition were thrown into the river, and pieces of wing structure were taken away and dumped at ITC Sandling Park. It had been considered not worthwhile to transport these pieces back to the salvage and reclamation depot at RAF Faygate in West Sussex. Before they left, the squad had probed into the crater, just inside the yard entrance, with a boat hook and metal pipe, and struck a solid mass of wreckage at twenty feet.
That is where it still lays to this day.
FOOTNOTES
1. On 6 October 1940, the Commanding Officer, Squadron Leader J.R. MacLachlan, had been posted away with Squadron Leader A.R. Collins taking over. By 31 October he had been replaced by Squadron Leader L.M. Gaunce. The circumstances of these leadership comings and goings is curious to say the least – but that’s another story!
