CHELTENHAM, Gloucestershire, U.K. — More than 50 relatives of a Second World War aircrew that crashed on Aug. 26, 1944, gathered at Cleeve Common on Aug. 26 this year to commemorate those who died in the crash, including men from Saskatchewan.
MZ311 crashed on Cleeve Common escarpment above the Cotswold town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
Relatives of the Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Airforce were located by Judith Wordsworth (Cheltenham GA pilot) and Nick Price (Royal Air Force Association Cheltenham branch member). Guests attended from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom and local and general public on Cleeve Hill, Cheltenham.
Daughter of MZ311 pilot, Flight Lieutenant Howes (RCAF); grandson and great-grandson of Flight Sergeant John McArdle (RAF); step-daughters of Wireless Operator Sergeant Harris (RAF); many nephews, nieces, great-nephews and nieces and great-great-nephews and nieces and cousins of Flight Lieutenant Howes, Flying Officer George McCartney (RCAF), Air Gunners Flying Officer John Glenn and Pilot Officer Hugh Hamilton (RCAF) were among those who paid tribute to the crew.
Dignitaries included Colonel Jonathan Bouchard MSM, CD representing the High Commission of Canada in the UK and the Royal Canadian Air Force; MP for Tewkesbury Cameron Thomas (ex RAF); Royal Air Forces Association air marshals, air vice-marshals, group captains; members of Cleeve Common Trust and a cohort of 78 Squadron with their OC Wing Commander Ian Evans and Flight Sergeant Paul Rigby.
Wreaths were laid by: Bouchard; Air Marshal Sir Dusty Miller KBE on behalf of the Royal Air Forces Association, Cheltenham branch; Constable Edward Stortz, Windsor Police Service, Canada on behalf of the relatives of the crew of MZ311 and Wing Commander Ian Evans, LLB MA RAF: officer commanding 78 Squadron, Swanwick.
A flypast by an RAF A400M saluted fallen comrades.
Cleeve Common Trust says: “Yesterday’s ceremony to dedicate the Memorial on Cleeve Common to the crew of the Halifax bomber that crashed in 1944 marked the culmination of four years of work for Cleeve Common Trust. We were contacted in 2020 by a military aviation enthusiast in Australia, who had heard about the incident from friends in Cheltenham and was looking into it. Through the investigation reports from the time and accounts from a few residents who were children at the time, we narrowed down the crash location. A chance find, also in 2020, of a small fragment of the aircraft in gorse bushes gave us a more accurate location.
“The Trust decided to erect a monument, designed by Mark Wilks, with a plaque on a piece of stone from one of the quarry faces on the common, This was unveiled in late 2022. The trust was very pleased to support the dedication ceremony organised by the Cheltenham branch of the RAF Association, which was a moving occasion. It is wonderful to think there is now a permanent tribute to the gallantry and service of the seven young men who lost their lives in this crash, along with many other men and women who died serving their country.
“For over 90 years, the RAF Association has championed a simple belief – that no member of the RAF community should ever be left without the help, support or recognition that they need and deserve, part of which is the determination to keep alive the memory of those of all nations who have died in the Royal Air Force and the Air Forces of the Commonwealth. Not since WWII has the RAF been so constantly deployed on global operations – and across the generations, the need for support is becoming ever more complex. Demand for their services is therefore increasing significantly.
“At the Cheltenham branch, their principal activity is to offer friendship and a warm welcome to support the wellbeing of mostly those who have served in the past, but members also include a number who serve today in a variety of locations and increasingly important roles.”
The flight crew of MZ311
Pilot: Flight Lieutenant Charles Maurice Howes (J/25977) Royal Canadian Air Force
Navigator: Flying Officer Elton Eugene Freeman (J/28223) Royal Canadian Air Force - Born April 4, 1915. Parents Eugene Ellis and Bada Christine Freeman of Fosterton, Sask.
Air Bomber: Flying Officer George William McCartney (J/28883) Royal Canadian Air Force
Flight Sergeant: John J McArdle (1684019) Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Air Gunner Flying: Officer John Alexander Glenn (J/36021) Royal Canadian Air Force
Air Gunner Pilot: Officer Hugh Brannan Hamilton (J/89908) Royal Canadian Air Force - Son of James and Janet Hamilton, who emigrated to Canada from Scotland and lived at Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford.
Wireless Operator: Sergeant Emmanuel Henry Harris (1423759) Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.
Their mission
With the end of World War II almost in sight, a fact unknowable at the time, these seven young airmen bravely took to the air in Halifax bomber MZ311 in the late evening of Aug. 25, 1944, and into the teeth of enemy flak and night fighters as they had done so many times in the preceding months. Several Royal Canadian Air Force crew trace their roots to England and Scotland.
On that night, Bomber Command operated a total of 1,311 sorties. MZ311 had been laying sea mines (gardening) off La Pallice in the Bay of Biscay, the deep sea port of La Rochelle, of which MZ311 was one.
Having completed their hazardous mission off the west coast of France they returned towards the safety and comfort of their home base at RAF Breighton in Yorkshire, but all perished in a crash on the Cleeve Common escarpment, overlooking the Cotswold town of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, during the early hours of Aug. 26.
Research by Judith Wordsworth and Nick Price over the last year identified and located many surviving relatives of MZ311’s seven-man crew.
The simple stone marker with a plaque bearing the names of the lost airmen at the site where the aircraft crashed, was erected by Cleeve Common Trust and unveiled Dec. 7, 2022, in a brief ceremony organized by the Cheltenham Branch of the Royal Air Forces Association.
The courage of these men, alongside their contemporaries, to launch repeatedly into the night knowing full well that the odds against their survival were high, is simply astonishing by any measure, which makes their loss on their way home and over English soil even more tragic.
We owe our freedom today to the unflinching courage and determination of these men, and a key role of the Royal Air Forces Association is to ensure that we, and others, proudly and thankfully remember them.
