Flight Sergeant Frank Brown Graham Heron RCAF 21 Squadron 1942
Since I last visited in February 2011 the headstone has either been considerably cleaned up or replaced.
R.93513 Flight Sergeant
F.B.G.HERON
Pilot
Royal Canadian Air Force
7th July 1942. Age 20.
Name: HERON, FRANK BROWN GRAHAM
Rank: …………………….Sergeant (Pilot)
Service: …………………..Royal Canadian Air Force
Unit Text:………………... 21 (R.A.F.) Sqdn.
Age: ………………………20
Date of Death: ……………07/07/1942
Service No: ……………….R/93513
Additional information: Son of Frank Brown Graham Heron and Elizabeth Malcolm Heron, of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Grave Reference:…………Row C. Grave 63.
Cemetery: WATTON (ST. MARY) CHURCHYARD
CWGC www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2764541
21 Squadon, based at Watton and Bodney, began to convert from Blenheims to Lockheed Ventura’s with arrival of the first craft on the 31st May. The crews began an intensive regime of training and preparation through-out the summer of 1942, and inevitably there were accidents.
Later in the summer, the crews of 21 Squadron assisted with the conversion training of a squadron based at nearby RAF Feltwell. A glimpse of this period can be seen here
www.feltwell.net/raffeltwell/articles/ventura_airmen.htm
Sergeant F B G Heron of the Royal Canadian Air Force is listed as killed on active service in the edition of Flight published on the 24th September 1942.
www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1942/1942%20-%202027...
The death of Frank B G Heron, aged 19, was recorded in the Wayland District in the July to September 1942 quarter.
Other 21 Squadron casualties from this day.
George Douglas Maluish…Observer…aged 23...from Kenora, Ontario, Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force.
www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2764546
George Step….Air Gunner….20. Also buried at St Mary.
www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2764551
This would appear to be a single training crash, but that is yet to be confirmed.
Shortly after I posted that original image, I had a comment left on my photostream by a user that was then going by the name of “Major Dundee”.
Maluish George Douglas FS (AG) R68700 From Kenora, Ontario
Killed July 7, 1942 age 21. #21 Squadron (Viribus Vincimus). Blenheim aircraft #V 5851 crashed three miles south of Watton at Stowbedon, Norfolk. FS. F.B. Heron and Sgt. G.E. Step (RAF) were also killed. Flight Sergeant Air Gunner Maluish is buried in the St. Mary Churchyard, Walton, Norfolk, England.
Flight Sergeant Heron was the pilot of the above crew.
Excerpt from “They Shall Grow Not Old” published by the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum Inc., Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.
Since I originally posted there are also many more source on-line. One includes a site dedicated to RAF Watton, which has pictures of the funeral procession and burial of Frank and his colleagues.
It adds:-
This crew were killed in a flying accident on board Blenheim V5851 of 21 Squadron on July 7th 1942. Having been decimated in Malta, 21 Squadron was officially disbanded in North Africa on 14 March 1942, and reformed at Bodney airfield in Norfolk, that same day. 21 Squadron reformed with Blenheim Mk I’s and IV’s, left behind by 82 Squadron which had departed, while awaiting new Venturas to arrive. At the time of this crash only about three war weary Blenheims were on charge and these were used as ‘squadron hacks’ to move between Watton, Bodney and other bases.
Eye witnesses have related to us that the Blenheim was flying at very low level about 2-3 miles south of the airfield, over the village of Stow Bedon. The land there forms a deep valley and as the aircraft flew up the side of the hill towards the airfield it is said that the aircraft’s tail hit a tree and was ripped off. It does seem unlikely that could happen and it is equally possible that there was a structural failure of the airframe; as far as I am aware no blame was ever attached to any of the crew for the accident.
The aircraft then zoomed skywards before diving into the ground behind a house in Stow Bedon. It was observed that the legs of one of the crew were dangling and waving as if struggling to escape from the camera hatch in the aircraft during the final descent. This would have been the escape hatch for the Wop/AG but sadly he didn’t make it out of the aircraft.
rafwatton.info/funeral-of-sgt-s-b-g-heron-flt-sgt-g-d-mal...
Flight Sergeant Frank Brown Graham Heron RCAF 21 Squadron 1942
Since I last visited in February 2011 the headstone has either been considerably cleaned up or replaced.
R.93513 Flight Sergeant
F.B.G.HERON
Pilot
Royal Canadian Air Force
7th July 1942. Age 20.
Name: HERON, FRANK BROWN GRAHAM
Rank: …………………….Sergeant (Pilot)
Service: …………………..Royal Canadian Air Force
Unit Text:………………... 21 (R.A.F.) Sqdn.
Age: ………………………20
Date of Death: ……………07/07/1942
Service No: ……………….R/93513
Additional information: Son of Frank Brown Graham Heron and Elizabeth Malcolm Heron, of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Grave Reference:…………Row C. Grave 63.
Cemetery: WATTON (ST. MARY) CHURCHYARD
CWGC www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2764541
21 Squadon, based at Watton and Bodney, began to convert from Blenheims to Lockheed Ventura’s with arrival of the first craft on the 31st May. The crews began an intensive regime of training and preparation through-out the summer of 1942, and inevitably there were accidents.
Later in the summer, the crews of 21 Squadron assisted with the conversion training of a squadron based at nearby RAF Feltwell. A glimpse of this period can be seen here
www.feltwell.net/raffeltwell/articles/ventura_airmen.htm
Sergeant F B G Heron of the Royal Canadian Air Force is listed as killed on active service in the edition of Flight published on the 24th September 1942.
www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1942/1942%20-%202027...
The death of Frank B G Heron, aged 19, was recorded in the Wayland District in the July to September 1942 quarter.
Other 21 Squadron casualties from this day.
George Douglas Maluish…Observer…aged 23...from Kenora, Ontario, Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force.
www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2764546
George Step….Air Gunner….20. Also buried at St Mary.
www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2764551
This would appear to be a single training crash, but that is yet to be confirmed.
Shortly after I posted that original image, I had a comment left on my photostream by a user that was then going by the name of “Major Dundee”.
Maluish George Douglas FS (AG) R68700 From Kenora, Ontario
Killed July 7, 1942 age 21. #21 Squadron (Viribus Vincimus). Blenheim aircraft #V 5851 crashed three miles south of Watton at Stowbedon, Norfolk. FS. F.B. Heron and Sgt. G.E. Step (RAF) were also killed. Flight Sergeant Air Gunner Maluish is buried in the St. Mary Churchyard, Walton, Norfolk, England.
Flight Sergeant Heron was the pilot of the above crew.
Excerpt from “They Shall Grow Not Old” published by the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum Inc., Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.
Since I originally posted there are also many more source on-line. One includes a site dedicated to RAF Watton, which has pictures of the funeral procession and burial of Frank and his colleagues.
It adds:-
This crew were killed in a flying accident on board Blenheim V5851 of 21 Squadron on July 7th 1942. Having been decimated in Malta, 21 Squadron was officially disbanded in North Africa on 14 March 1942, and reformed at Bodney airfield in Norfolk, that same day. 21 Squadron reformed with Blenheim Mk I’s and IV’s, left behind by 82 Squadron which had departed, while awaiting new Venturas to arrive. At the time of this crash only about three war weary Blenheims were on charge and these were used as ‘squadron hacks’ to move between Watton, Bodney and other bases.
Eye witnesses have related to us that the Blenheim was flying at very low level about 2-3 miles south of the airfield, over the village of Stow Bedon. The land there forms a deep valley and as the aircraft flew up the side of the hill towards the airfield it is said that the aircraft’s tail hit a tree and was ripped off. It does seem unlikely that could happen and it is equally possible that there was a structural failure of the airframe; as far as I am aware no blame was ever attached to any of the crew for the accident.
The aircraft then zoomed skywards before diving into the ground behind a house in Stow Bedon. It was observed that the legs of one of the crew were dangling and waving as if struggling to escape from the camera hatch in the aircraft during the final descent. This would have been the escape hatch for the Wop/AG but sadly he didn’t make it out of the aircraft.
rafwatton.info/funeral-of-sgt-s-b-g-heron-flt-sgt-g-d-mal...