Operation: Training
Date: 19th April 1943 (Monday)
Unit: No. 430 Squadron (602 Squadron)
Type: Mustang I (Spitfire Vb)
Serial: AP181 (AR430)
Base: RAF Dunsfold (RAF Lasham)
Location: Hillside Farm, Odiham (Newton Cottage, Crondall)
Pilot 1: F/O. George Frederick Radcliffe Jackson J/13098 RCAF Age 21. Killed
Pilot 2: F/O. Frederick Grant Willis J/7324 RCAF Age 22. Killed
REASON FOR LOSS:
During a training exercise the two aircraft collided. F/O. Jackson attempted a landing at nearby RAF Odiham but sadly crashed en route. The Spitfire AR430 flown by F/O. Willis, crashed at Newton Cottage near Crondall. Both pilots lost their lives.
Area of training with insert, F/O. George Jackson (courtesy Sherborne School Archives - see below)
F/O. George Frederick Radcliffe Jackson. Brookwood Military Cemetery. Grave 34.F.8. Further information, courtesy Sherborne School Archives: Son of George Frederick Radcliffe Jackson and Elizabeth Winchester Jackson, of Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA. Attended Sherborne School (Harper House) 1935-1939; 6th form; Prefect; Head of House.
Obituary in 'The Shirburnian', December 1944: 'G.F.R. Jackson was Head of his House in 1939. Half American by birth, when the war broke out he was in America on holiday before going up to Cambridge. After a short period at an American University, he volunteered for the RCAF, and came over to this country a trained pilot. He was killed in 1943, flying a Mustang on exercises in this country. Large in physique, he was large-hearted and generous in all he did. He had great powers of leadership and wide interests, chief of which was a passion for music. His conducting of a winning "Shout" was described by a critic at the time as an "electrifying performance," and he had the ability to put that quality into anything on which he had set his heart. His was a generous, virile and sympathetic personality.'
His grave inscription reads: “He shall cover with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust;”
F/O. Frederick Grant Willis. Brookwood Military Cemetery. Grave 34.F.9. Son of Frederic Arthur and Ethel Norma Willis, of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
His grave inscription reads: “Greater love hath no man than this.”
Researched and dedicated to the relatives of the two pilots, With thanks to Sherborne School Archives for additional information also sources as quoted below.
