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| Date: | Friday 12 January 1945 |
| Time: | |
| Type: | Percival Proctor IV |
| Owner/operator: | 4 RS RAF |
| Registration: | NP216 |
| MSN: | H.612 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Corn Du, Brecon Beacons -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Madley |
| Return. |
Descended into the mountain in cloud trying to get a position fix killing the pilot:
Flt/Lt E.P.J.A Thomas (130198)
The injured trainee operator managed to make his way down to the Storey Arms for help:
AC2 F.Stokes
The Proctor was developed from the Percival Vega Gull in response to Air Ministry Specification 20/38 for a radio trainer and communications aircraft. To meet the requirement, the aircraft based on the Vega Gull had larger rear cabin windows and the fuselage was six inches (150 mm) longer. Modifications were made to the seats to enable the crew to wear parachutes, and there were other changes to enable a military radio and other equipment to be fitted.
NP216 was taken on charge with No.4 Radio School at RAF Madley on the 26th of March 1944. Its pilot was F/Lt Thomas, a son on a Nigerian Prince and his pupil, Lac Stokes, they were to conduct wireless telegraphy training, and took off at 14:00hrs.
There was thick snow on the ground, but the runways had been cleared. Once airborne, they climbed and were soon above the cloud, flying in brilliant sunshine. The flight was going without any issues when they encountered thick cloud ahead. Thomas descended before entering the high thick cloud to gain a fix of their position from the ground.
Suddenly the port wing struck rocks. This spun the aircraft around and flung them onto fairly level ground with extreme force which knocked Stokes about in the rear of the aircraft, hitting the radio sets and cutting his legs badly, he was knocked unconscious.
On coming round, he was still in his seat. After getting out of the wreck, he immediately saw Thomas had been flung out of the aircraft and was laying on his back in the snow. Frank hobbled over to the pilot and saw bloody coming out of his nose, Frank turned him onto his side and attempted to wrap him in his parachute, but as soon as it was presented out of its pack the wind simply blew it away and out of sight. It was getting dark quickly, so Frank set off and try to get any help in what looked like an area totally devoid of life.
Somehow, in the face of fierce sapping wind and snow, Frank came across the ‘Convex’ ground of Bwich Duwynt and saw 700 feet below, the main Merthyr to Brecon Road. Then just before he reached the road, he saw the Story Arms, long since used as a drover’s public house, now it was used as a hostel, luckily the Warden was in residence who, after listening to Franks story and providing the airman with a gratefully accepted cup of tea, called the Police at Merthyr.
A passing car was stopped by the Warden. However, Frank was not to be moved until a rescue party arrived to recover his pilot. After giving them a detailed account of his route up to the crash, it was only then he allowed himself to be taken to Merthyr and hospital.
Sadly, when the rescue team arrive at the site, high on the Western slope of Corn Du, F/Lt Thomas had died from exposure. He was recovered on their return down.
As for the Proctor, she was eventually broken down into manageable components and taken down to the Story Arms, loaded onto trucks and taken away. She was SoC on the 30th of January 1945.
Crew:
F/Lt Emanuel Peter John Adeniyi Thomas 30yo 130198 RAFVR. Pilot. Killed.
Son of Prince, Peter John Claudius Thomas and of Josetta Mary Thomas (nee Cole).
AC 2 Frank Stokes RAFVR. W/Op U/T. Injured. Safe.
Buried:
Bath (Haycombe) Cemetery. Plot 39. Section H. Row E. Grave 255.
(1)
Wreckage:
Most of the wreckage was removed, but a few pieces can be seen below Bwlch Duwynt where they fell off the teams’ stretchers which they loaded the pieces onto to make recovery easier. Sadly, these seem to have gone from the stream crossing point where I last saw them. With the current trend of visitors to the Story Arms and Pen Y Fan, this is hardly surprising, as the two routes up are overused, one being known as ‘the highway’.
Memorials:
I visited this site when the mountain was shrouded in mist, with the echoes of walkers high above me and probably unaware of the tragic accident and loss of an RAF flyer. I then decided to put together a simple obelisk with the vein attempt of marking the spot and others hopefully looking for the site could add to! I performed this effort at the crash site of Wellington T2520 on Cefn Yr Ystrad over thirty years ago and Spitfire R7057 ‘Caithness’ on Mynydd Pen y Cae. Which, both having knowing visitors adding to them.
Additional Information:
In October 1939 the British government announced that for the duration of the war the ‘colour bar’ preventing ‘those who are not of European descent’ from becoming officers in British forces would be removed. In November 1940, the Air Ministry informed the Colonial Office that it would accept black aircrew candidates from the colonies. Between 1940 and 1942, some 3,000 West Indians enlisted in the RAF. One of these volunteers was Leslie Francis Gilkes of Siparia, Trinidad. He volunteered in 1942 and did his initial training at the Royal Naval Air Station at Piarco in Trinidad before setting off for England later that year in August. He received further training as an air gunner, destined to serve in Bomber Command.
People of colour who served in Britain faced discrimination and racist treatment, but units were not segregated - they flew, fought and lived with their white comrades.
Haycombe Cemetery in Bath opened just before the Second World War. During that conflict, an area in the cemetery was set aside for military burials, and the RAF made it one of its regional plots, using it to bury airmen of Commonwealth and Allied air forces stationed in the Southwest. Among them is the first African to be granted a commission in the RAF: Flight Lieutenant Emanuel Peter John Adeniyi Thomas of Nigeria.
Known as Peter, or ‘Deniyi’, to his friends, he was born in Lagos in 1914, into one of the wealthiest and most influential families in the region. When war came, Peter was 25 and in government service in Nigeria. Inspired by the achievements of the RAF in the Battle of Britain, he wanted to volunteer and train as a pilot. Four months after the air ministry announced they would accept black aircrew, Peter sailed for Liverpool. He received his commission in mid-1942, the first West African to do so, and the first to qualify as a pilot. His older sister Stella was also a trail blazer: the first African woman to be called to the bar and the first to sit as a magistrate in West Africa.
January 1945 found Peter serving with the RAF’s No.4 Radio School at RAF Madley, helping to train wireless operators by taking them up to practice working in the air.
To us, he is one among 1.7 million servicemen and women the CWGC commemorates, but to his mother, Peter was the beautiful son she would never see again. His headstone in Haycombe Cemetery reads:
"FORGIVE MY GRIEF
FOR ONE REMOVED,
THY CREATURE
WHOM I FOUND SO FAIR". MOTHER
Frank Stokes.
"I was initially called up to London in January 1944, a year before the War would end. After preliminary training at Usworth, County Durham, then brief postings to Bridlington and Yatesbury, I found myself at RAF No. 4 Radio School, RAF Madley, Hereford. After initial training in Radio Operation, actual flying Training was started. Several airborne exercises had been successfully completed, and without appearing complacent, there was no hint or concern that there would be any problem with the next. On Friday January 12, 1945, at about 14.00hrs with Flt. Lt Thomas as pilot, (a sort of taxi driver), I set out on another routine airborne radio training exercise. There was a healthy covering of snow on the ground, but the runway had been cleared.
(2)
Once airborne, it was beautifully clear above the cloud ceiling and the exercise was proceeding normally and perhaps a little mundanely. After flying for some time, I noticed a sudden change in the light conditions. I looked up and saw that the aircraft was entering cloud: the pilot was descending. I think there was a fair degree of turbulence when suddenly the aircraft's engine tone changed dramatically, consistent with an attempt to gain altitude rapidly. From that moment events happened alarmingly quickly. I glanced up and could clearly see the mountain looming directly ahead of us, as pilot Thomas continued his urgent and ultimately futile attempts to climb. The port wing struck a rocky outcrop, and the aircraft slewed to the left, coming to rest on a relatively flat patch of ground; I was rendered unconscious.
On coming to, I discovered I was still in my seat, lying on my side. My shins were lacerated where I had struck the T1154 Transmitter, and my right eye and bridge of nose were cut: I must have struck the R1155 Receiver. I had also received a compression fracture of two spinal vertebrae, but did not know about that until much later. I was not wearing my seat belt, as it was usual to undo the lap strap when airborne! Flight lieutenant Thomas had been thrown forward clear of the aircraft. He was lying on his back, unconscious, breathing heavily with blood oozing from his nose. He was a heavy man, but I managed with some difficulty to turn him onto his side so that his air passages were less likely to become blocked. I then had the idea to try and wrap him in my parachute canopy for warmth, but as I pulled the ripcord, the canopy filled quickly, and the strong wind carried it away. I simply didn't have the strength to hold it. I thought about trying to set up a signal using the aircraft landing lights, but without any tools, this was an impossibility.
It was getting very late in the afternoon, and I decided I could not afford to hang around any longer, or we would both perish from exposure to the elements if not our injuries. Thoughts of happier times passed through my mind as I looked at the desolation all around me. All I could see was the snow-covered mountaintop. I set off in the direction of a downward slope. Fortunately, it was not too steep and despite my injuries, I moved at a fair pace with obvious urgency, I needed to get help to the pilot and quickly. There were two streams, which had to be carefully negotiated. After a short while I looked to my left and could see a road (Brecon- Merthyr Tydfil), perhaps a mile away! When I eventually reached it, I found that I was near The Storey Arms Youth Hostel. Fortunately, there was a Warden in residence. He was able to stop a passing motorist, and after giving the directions to the scene of the crash, I was taken to Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, by which time it was getting dark.
In Hospital, I was treated for the effects of shock and had my leg and facial wounds stitched and dressed. I remained in hospital for several weeks, during which time I made a slow but steady recovery.
Two senior RAF Officers came to attend my bedside early on and conducted a preliminary investigation in the recovery ward. It was only then that I learned with great sadness that F/ Lt Thomas had not survived the crash.
F/Lt. Thomas's sister visited me in Hospital, which was very kind of her considering the grief and anguish she must have been experiencing at the tragic loss of her brother. Perhaps she wanted to make sense of her brother's death or just meet someone who had been the last person to see him alive. She may have believed I had spoken with him after the crash, but that had not been possible as he was in a deep state of unconsciousness. She was an intelligent, perceptive woman, an undergraduate at Newcastle upon Tyne University. I told her what I could about events, and she went on her way. There was no further communication between us.
After discharge from Hospital, I returned to RAF Credenhill, near Hereford. There I was X-rayed and told I had compression fractures of the 11th and12th dorsal vertebrae and told to return to bed without delay. This all seemed somewhat pointless, as I had been walking around, albeit a little stiffly, from about the fourth day of being confined to hospital. From Credenhill, I went to Cosford where a specialist examined me and decided I was to be sent to a convalescence unit at Blackpool, ah the benefits of healing Lancastrian Sea air! After several weeks recuperating in Blackpool, completing numerous tedious therapeutic exercises daily, I was returned in May 1945, to Madley. There I was able to finally complete my training as a Signaller and was also made up to the rank of Sergeant! Almost immediately,
I became acquainted with the word 'redundant'. I spent the next two years at RAF Hednesford, Staffordshire and RAF West Kirby, Wirral undertaking accountancy tasks for which I had retrained at RAF Kirkham, Lancashire.
Finally, I was discharged from the RAF in May 1947. I was given a 15% Disability pension, which was later reduced to 10% shortly afterwards, probably because I appeared to be remarkably fit, and later the pension was terminated with a final lump sum. I should say that despite the injuries I sustained on a mountainside near Brecon, I have been fortunate in never at any time having suffered consequently.
(3)
Following the accident, The R.A.F. issued a rather generous citation for Distinguished Conduct. It has always seemed a bit daft to be praising anyone for saving their own life and acting with a degree of common sense! After becoming acquainted with Eddie Doylerush, I learned a bit more about F/Lt. Thomas. He had been a pilot at RAF Valley, Anglesey where Roy Sloan worked as a civilian. It's an ill wind that blows no good for anybody and so it was for me. My stay in Hospital at Merthyr Tydfil was a life changing experience I would not have missed for anything. I have been back to The Brecon Beacons. The first time was whilst I was still under the care of the Hospital. I went with a local man and walked some way up the mountain, but I do not know if I was anywhere near the site of the crash. Other than this I have toured the area around the Beacons with Myrtle my wife (who sadly died in May 2004), though we never attempted to walk or climb in the area."
NB. The hospital was St Tydfils which has since been demolished. Mr Stokes, now 95 years young and living in Crosby, near Liverpool.
The Percival Proctor.
Reflecting its Percival Gull and Vega Gull heritage, the Proctor was used for a number of long-distance flights, including to New Zealand, Australia and Brazil. During late 1948, British female pilot, Mrs Richarda Morrow-Tait, together with her navigator, Michael Townsend, flew Proctor IV G-AJMU ‘Thursdays Child’ from Croydon Airport to India, Japan and then across the North Pacific to Alaska.
One last thought. Only during the middle to end of 1944, the majority of the Home Guard units were stood down, the regular army units tasked with manning the important stop lines of defence, now sent across to France with the D-Day landings. The vital ‘Stop line’ at Pont Ar Daf was unguarded. If the accident occurred when the troops were at the post, would this have given F/Lt Thomas a better chance of survival? These defensive structures remain, which include three Patrol hard points/positions (commonly called pillboxes). If one knows what to look for there are five linear trenches on the western side of the river, one being a Mortar trench. What visitors see are the obvious Anti-Tank Cubes which cross the river, (of which there are 68 in total). The old bridge is extant with at least three sockets for Iron rails to be inserted. The current road has been heightened by fifteen feet and runs over the level of the old bridge. All this history, including the two crash sites on Pen y Fan and Corn Du, now largely goes without any knowledge of the passing visitors to this area of the Brecon Beacons.
Sources:
ystradgynlais-history.co.uk
www.air-britain.com
www.baesystems-history.co.uk
www.cwgc.org
www.bbc.co.uk
'Rocks in the clouds' Edward Doylrush 2008.
'Story of RAF Madley' Fiona Macklin 2006.
www.cwgc/remembering the fallen.org
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 07-Feb-2017 18:26 | ORD | Added |
| 29-Nov-2018 09:30 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Nature, Operator, ] |
| 12-Jul-2019 15:50 | A.J.Scholten | Updated [Cn, ] |
| 04-Jan-2025 06:38 | Davies 62 | Updated [Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
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