1944 June Quarter death registration-
District: St. Austell (Volume & Page: 5c & 111)
RAF 525 Squadron's Vickers Warwick III (#BV 247) aircraft, with fourteen air crew members and passengers aboard, had taken off from RAF Station St. Mawgan, Newquay, Cornwall, on a scheduled service flight (England to Algiers Maison Blance airport, via Gibraltar), when it exploded in mid-air and crashed into Watergate Bay near Newquay Bay. All 14 on board the aircraft perished in the crash. The Warwick was thought to be carrying several top-secret agents, military advisers, linguists and top-secret documents, as well as thousands of £100 bills and possibly boxes of gold (thought to be for use in helping to finance European underground groups).
The passengers included two French officers enroute to meet with General Charles DeGaulle in Cairo; two Polish couriers enroute to Warsaw; one senior staff officer enroute to Cairo; one Greek expert enroute to Greece; one Hungarian/Canadian enroute to Hungary on an S. O. E. mission; three S. O. E. officers; and one Russian-speaking MI6 officer enroute to Yugoslavia to meet with Tito partisans.
The 525 Squadron members who perished in this accident were:
RCAF Flying Officer Harold Calven AUSTEN,
RAFVR Flying Officer Albert George Tracey GARDINER,
RCAF Flying Officer Arthur Douglas GAVEL,
RAF Pilot Officer George William LAMB,
RAFVR Flying Officer Noel Spencer NICKLIN,
RAFVR Flight Sergeant Michael Kingston ROWE and
RAF Squadron Leader William Godfrey TILEY.
The passengers were:-
Lieutenant Colonel Ivor Watkins BIRTS,
RAF Air Commodore George Lionel Seymour DAWSON-DAMER, Viscount CARLOW,
Lieutenant Colonel Stanley CASSON,
Lieutenant Stephen MAITLAND (using the alias, Lieutenant Stephen MATE)
(He is thrice listed on the CWGC: Steve Mate (Civilian), Stephen Mate (General List) and Stephen Maitland [Alias]),
Major Thomas Percival WARD and
Military Service-
Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
Service No: 132903
Age: 34
Service: Royal Artillery
Son of William Lomas Watkins Birts and of Lilian Grace Birts (nee Stephens); husband of Marie Josephine Birts (nee Bain) of Westminster, London. B.A. (Oxon.).
He was a barrister by trade.
He is commemorated in perpetuity by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
1944 June Quarter death registration-
District: St. Austell (Volume & Page: 5c & 111)
RAF 525 Squadron's Vickers Warwick III (#BV 247) aircraft, with fourteen air crew members and passengers aboard, had taken off from RAF Station St. Mawgan, Newquay, Cornwall, on a scheduled service flight (England to Algiers Maison Blance airport, via Gibraltar), when it exploded in mid-air and crashed into Watergate Bay near Newquay Bay. All 14 on board the aircraft perished in the crash. The Warwick was thought to be carrying several top-secret agents, military advisers, linguists and top-secret documents, as well as thousands of £100 bills and possibly boxes of gold (thought to be for use in helping to finance European underground groups).
The passengers included two French officers enroute to meet with General Charles DeGaulle in Cairo; two Polish couriers enroute to Warsaw; one senior staff officer enroute to Cairo; one Greek expert enroute to Greece; one Hungarian/Canadian enroute to Hungary on an S. O. E. mission; three S. O. E. officers; and one Russian-speaking MI6 officer enroute to Yugoslavia to meet with Tito partisans.
The 525 Squadron members who perished in this accident were:
RCAF Flying Officer Harold Calven AUSTEN,
RAFVR Flying Officer Albert George Tracey GARDINER,
RCAF Flying Officer Arthur Douglas GAVEL,
RAF Pilot Officer George William LAMB,
RAFVR Flying Officer Noel Spencer NICKLIN,
RAFVR Flight Sergeant Michael Kingston ROWE and
RAF Squadron Leader William Godfrey TILEY.
The passengers were:-
Lieutenant Colonel Ivor Watkins BIRTS,
RAF Air Commodore George Lionel Seymour DAWSON-DAMER, Viscount CARLOW,
Lieutenant Colonel Stanley CASSON,
Lieutenant Stephen MAITLAND (using the alias, Lieutenant Stephen MATE)
(He is thrice listed on the CWGC: Steve Mate (Civilian), Stephen Mate (General List) and Stephen Maitland [Alias]),
Major Thomas Percival WARD and
Military Service-
Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
Service No: 132903
Age: 34
Service: Royal Artillery
Son of William Lomas Watkins Birts and of Lilian Grace Birts (nee Stephens); husband of Marie Josephine Birts (nee Bain) of Westminster, London. B.A. (Oxon.).
He was a barrister by trade.
He is commemorated in perpetuity by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
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Records on Ancestry
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Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935
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London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1923
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England, Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, 1790-1976
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London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938
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England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005
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