WW2 100 - 12 February 1942 - A Death on North Barrule: Leading Aircraftman William Edwin Carter (1919-42), Royal Air Force, No.5 Air Observers School

Continued from 1 February 1942:

The Admirals’ Grief Part ii: SECOND LIEUTENANT JOHN BARHAM LEAHY (1920-42)

https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2020/09/ww75-admirals-son-second-lieutenant.html

 

 

 

Budleigh Salterton War Memorial at the junction of Coastguard Road and Salting Hill

Local people would have been distressed on hearing that Bill Carter had been killed in an air accident. The 22-year-old was the son of Harry and Bessie Carter and would have been regularly seen by customers at the family-run ironmonger’s shop at 50 High Street in Budleigh Salterton.  

In the early stages of WW2, Bill had joined the Army, with Service Number 657954. He later volunteered to join the RAF. At the time of his death he was classed as an Under Training (U/T) Observer, attached to No.5 Air Observers School (AOS).

A No.5 AOS had been set up in Winnipeg, Canada, as a component of the extensive and ambitious Commonwealth Air Training Plan (CATP) during WW2, and Bill may have spent some time there or at one of the other training schools outside the UK.   

Britain was considered an unsuitable location for air training, due to the possibility of enemy attack, the strain caused by wartime traffic at airfields and the unpredictable weather. The CATP had been drawn up so that the facilities in the Dominions could train British and each other's aircrews. On 17 December 1939, the Air Training Agreement had been signed. It stated that the training was to be similar to that of the RAF: three initial training schools, 13 elementary flying training schools, 16 service flying training schools, ten air observer schools, ten bombing and gunnery schools, two air navigation schools and four wireless schools were to be created.

 

The Avro Anson: a workhorse for the CAPT training schools 

Image credit: Wikimedia

One of the most widely used aircraft at these training schools was the Avro Anson. The Anson I began life in the mid-1930s as a coastal reconnaissance aircraft. Although an advanced design at the time, rapid improvements in aircraft performance meant that the Anson was hopelessly outclassed when war broke out in September 1939. It was slow, cold and noisy but is the most famous British aircrew trainer of all time.    

 The agreement in the CAPT called for the training of nearly 50,000 aircrew each year, for as long as necessary: 22,000 aircrew from Great Britain, 13,000 from Canada, 11,000 from Australia and 3,300 from New Zealand. Under the agreement, air crews received elementary training in various Commonwealth countries before travelling to Canada for advanced courses. Training costs were to be divided between the four governments. 

 

 

Photo of a Link trainer taken at Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa, Idaho. The Link Trainer flight simulator was used as a key pilot training aid in the CATP.  Image credit: Tony Speer  

Pilot and Air Observer candidates began their 26- or 28-week training program with four weeks at an Initial Training School (ITS). They studied theoretical subjects and were subjected to a variety of tests. Theoretical studies included navigation, theory of flight, meteorology, duties of an officer, air force administration, algebra, and trigonometry. Tests included an interview with a psychiatrist, the four-hour long M2 physical examination, a session in a decompression chamber, and a ‘test flight’ in a Link Trainer. 

 

Instructor and student with North American Harvard II aircraft of No.2 Service Flying Training School, RCAF Station Uplands, Canada, 1941  Image credit: Wikipedia

CATP Air Observers - later called ‘navigators’ – followed a training path after ITS consisting of eight weeks at an Air Observer School (AOS), one month at a Bombing & Gunnery School, and finally one month at a Navigation School. Aircrew recruits were educated in a variety of topics, including air navigation, aerial photography, reconnaissance, observation, mapping, and target description.

 

Jurby Parish sign, illustrating the close ties between the parish and the Royal Air Force 

Image credit: Wikipedia

The No.5 AOS to which Bill was attached at the time of his death in February 1942 was in Britain at RAF Jurby, located on the north-west of the Isle of Man. This extensive RAF Station had been completed and officially opened in September 1939 as No.5 Air Observers School.

  

Aerial view of Jurby Camp (circa 1986). 

Image credit: Harvey Milligan   

From August 1941, the importance of No.5 AOS had grown with the release of the Butt Report, which had revealed the widespread failure of RAF Bomber Command aircraft to hit their targets. The revelations in the Butt Report were a shock to many, though not necessarily to those within the RAF, who knew the difficulty of night navigation and target finding. At the start of the war, Bomber Command had no real means of determining the success of its operations. Crews would return with only their word as to the amount of damage caused or even if they had bombed the target. The Air Ministry demanded that a method of verifying these claims be developed and by 1941 cameras mounted under bombers, triggered by the bomb release, were being fitted.

 

A student observer contemplates his 'office' in the nose of a Hampden before embarking on an early-morning flight at No. 5 Air Observers School, RAF Jurby, January 1942. Image credit: Flying Officer H. Hensser, Royal Air Force official photographer. Photograph CH 4864 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums  

It’s clear to see that Bill’s choice of the RAF as a wartime option was both ambitious and personally demanding. It was during a night navigation exercise that his aircraft, an Avro Anson I, with the number N5346, crashed into a peak at North Barrule on the Isle of Man, killing Bill and another crew member, and injuring two others.

 North Barrule. Looking west from The Hibernian. Image credit: Andy Stephenson/Wikipedia 

From the summit of North Barrule, the second highest peak on the island, walkers can enjoy spectacular views of the coastlines of Ireland, Cumbria, Wales and Scotland.

But the military cemeteries on its hillside tell of North Barrule’s sadder reputation, its winter mists making it a treacherous place for unwary aircrews. It’s been estimated that 288 people lost their lives in 260 air crashes during the 20th century, many of them in wartime conditions when radar was still relatively primitive.  

The most notorious case was on 23 April 1945, when a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress crashed into the east side of the North Barrule, killing all 31 people on board, the deadliest aviation accident to have occurred on Manx soil.   

St Patrick’s Cemetery, Jurby, showing some of the military graves Image credit: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

 Less publicised was the accident in which Bill died on 12 February 1942, a tragic incident which seems to have been one of a series during WW2. 

Many airmen who lost their lives while training at No.5 AOS were buried in St Patrick’s churchyard in the parish of Jurby, and a small section in the north-eastern corner was reserved for these service burials. 

The total number of WW2 burials here is 43, and one has to assume that the figure takes no account of those servicemen whose bodies lie in graves in their home area. Many families were unable to provide such graves of course: of the 43 in St Patrick’s churchyard, 20 were members of the Royal Canadian Air Force, and seven were from the Polish Air Force. 

 

Image credit: www.findagrave.com

While the body of Bill’s fellow crew member, Scotsman Sergeant Alexander Bain Anderson was taken for burial in his home town of Aberdeen, Bill shares a grave with his parents Harry and Bessie Carter in Section E, Row 10, at St Peter’s Burial Ground in Budleigh Salterton.   

 

 

The next post is for Lieutenant Cyril Hamilton Palairet (1915-42), who died on 1 March 1942, while serving on HMAS Perth.

You can read about him at

https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2020/12/ww2-75-1-march-1942-golfing-name-with.html

These ‘orphans’ are listed on Budleigh Salterton War 

Memorial, but have not been identified. Their first names, 

date of death and service numbers are not known. 

They are recorded on the Devon Heritage website as 

'Not yet confirmed’  

If you know anything which would help to identify them,

please contact Michael Downes on 01395 446407.

 

F.E. Newcombe

F.J. Watts