Spanish bid to honour tragic Shawbury bomber crew
A group which is drawing up plans to erect a memorial in memory of a Shropshire-based bomber crew who were all killed when their aircraft flew into a Spanish mountain is trying to trace relatives of the seven victims.
The Wellington bomber was one of five which flew from RAF Shawbury on a long distance navigation exercise. Off course, it hit a mountain on the Costa Blanca on December 5, 1950.
Now the North Costa Blanca branch of the Royal Air Forces Association is seeking to put up a memorial and in particular wants to hear from the grandson of Flight Sergeant Ernest Hansom, who in 2009 put posts on an online forum discussing the accident using the handle "Salop Boy" and signing his name as "Martyn."
Colin McNae, from Moraira, Costa Blanca, says the group understands that Flight Sergeant Hansom was from Shrewsbury.
"We would very much like to contact Salop Boy and he can get in touch through our website rafa-ncb.org.uk or write to us at rafancb1360@gmail.com," he said.
"As we live close to the crash site, the Royal Air Forces Association, North Costa Blanca branch, would like to contact as many living relatives of the crew that lost their lives on the mountain The Montgo as we can," said Colin, of the group.
The branch meets monthly in Spain and is a charity which aims to help and support serving or former RAF personnel and their dependants living in that region of Spain.
Training
"They seem to have been one of a flight of Wellington Mk X aircraft from RAF Shawbury conducting navigation training in early December 1950. They had flown to Istres in southern France and on December 5 were heading towards Gibraltar when they encountered very bad weather between Valencia and Alicante. One of the aircraft hit the mountain at about 3pm local time.
"The crash site is in a most inhospitable part of the mountain but the local people organised a search at first light the next day – from Denia they would have heard the crash.
"We have copies of the local records from the various offices in the area and the mayor of Denia and the Montgo Natural Park authorities have given permission to erect a memorial to the crew, the design of which is yet to be approved.
"The crash site is not easily accessible as it requires scrambling up 200 metres of loose rock and stone, but there is a well used path just below it and we propose to erect our memorial by the path looking up to the crash site."
The bodies of the crew were recovered and they were buried at Gibraltar.
"No investigation was ever carried out as to the reasons for the crash as relations between Spain and UK were somewhat limited in those days. We do know that the wreckage of the aircraft was sold for scrap to a Madrid dealer and it covered the costs of the recovery.
"We have managed to contact some of the members of the pilot's family, but we understand that Flight Sergeant Hansom was from Shrewsbury."
Three Aircraftmen who died are listed as being from Shawbury, although Colin says it is possibly simply where they were based.
The full list of victims was: Flight Lieutenant Leonard West (pilot), Warrant Officer Peter Pullar, Flight Lieutenant Robert James Baker, Flight Sergeant Ernest Hansom, and Aircraftsmen First Class Neville Jones, Roy Owen Ouseley, and Peter Field Thorne.
In one post by Salop Boy he says his grandfather came from Llandudno and left a heavily pregnant widow who already had three other children aged under five.
