Operation: Training

Date: 27th February 1943 (Saturday)

Unit: 105 Squadron, No. 2 Group

Type: Mosquito IV

Serial: DZ472

Code: GB-Z

Base: RAF Marham

Location: Brick Kiln Wood, Beachamwell, Norfolk

Pilot: Fg.Off. George William McCormick 408661 RAAF Age 21. Killed

Nav: Wg.Cdr. John William Deacon 25042 RAF Age 35. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off from RAF Marham in Norfolk on a training exercise. The pilot instructed to carry out local tests at around 30,000 ft.

Crashed at 15:25, following structural failure of wing root, near Brick Kiln Wood, Beachamwell, 1 mile SE of RAF Marham.

Mosquito DZ472 - total hours: 22.45 hrs, fitted with Merlin 23 engines, of which 27.15 and 27.45 hrs run.

The Commanding Officer of the Squadron, 33 year old, Wg.Cdr. Geoffrey Phelps Longfield 27229 RAFVR of Shorne, Kent, England was killed the previous day. Wg.Cdr. Deacon was to have been the Squadron’s new C.O.

Wg.Cdr. Longfield with his navigator, 22 year old Flt.Lt. Ralph Frederick Mills 115317 RAFVR from East Finchley, Middlesex, England in Mosquito IV DZ365 GB-V collided with a Mosquito IB DZ413 GB-K flown by 31 year old, Fg.Off. Spencer Griffith Kimmel J9561 RCAF from Pennsylvania USA with his navigator, Fg.Off. Harry Nettleton Kirkland J10427 RCAF - both crews were killed.

Burial details:

Fg.Off. George William McCormick. Marham Cemetery. Grave 34 - War graves plot. Born on the 04th April 1921, in Elsternwick, Victoria, the son of William Charles and Lily Docea McCormick, of Mansfield, Victoria, Australia. Enlisted 22nd May 1941 in Melbourne, Australia. Funeral held at 15:00 hrs on the 12th March and attended by his cousin, Flt.Lt. McCormick, conducted by the Rev. D’Arcy Hutton - as well as his cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Walker from Wolverhampton, England. 12 members of his squadron attended the service with full military honours. Wreaths were sent from his fellow officers and another from his Commanding Officer.

Wg.Cdr. John William Deacon. Brookwood Military Cemetery. Grave 23.B.18. Born on the 12th April 1907 the son of Richard William and Alice Grace Deacon, husband of Margaret Marwood Deacon, father of Richard. Wg.Cdr. Deacon began his military career in the British Army, the Worcestershire Regiment, and transferred to the RAF in the late 1930’s. Sadly it is assumed that his log books were among the many destroyed in the 1960’s by the Air Ministry.

Researched for Richard Deacon, son of Wg.Cdr. Deacon and dedicated to the relatives of the crew with thanks to sources as quoted below. Photographs kindly supplied by Richard Deacon.