In the early evening of March 15th, 1944, four Hellcats, that had been practising for an hour, were ordered by Lt. Cdr Ronald A. Richardson in the leading aircraft, to form up in line astearn for the final approach to RNAS Stretton. Off Vl 3kl J.E. Helfrich was flying directly behind CO Richardson, waiting for the numbers 2 (Smith) and 3 (Huijer) to form up. Sgt. At about 18.30 hours, Smith touched with his left wingtip the tail of Off Vl 3kl Huijer's aircraft. Both aircraft lost parts during this collision. Smith spun down out of control. Huijer fell into a dive on his back, from about 2.500 ft. He baled out, but he was already too low for his chute to deploy properly. The aircraft crashed about 300 meters from each other. JV166 (Smith) struck a hole 3,5 meters deep, wreck burning. JV161 exploded on the ground. Huijer came down and died about 90 meters from the wreck of his aircraft. The CO of RNAS Stretton saw as causes for this serious accident: 'error of judgement on the part of Petty Officer Smith and pure mischance'.

Source: NIMH, no primary source stated. We assume the source to be J.E. Helfrich.

P.J. Huijer Source: Marnix Coumou

Wing and cap sign of P.J. Huijer. These objects were mounted in a cadre, together with the previous photograph of him. At the back was a marriage photograph, probably Huijer's parents. The husband wears a Ducth Naval uniform. The cadre was found at an auction by Marnix Coumou.

Photo mounted at the back of P.J. Huijer's portrait, found at an auction by Marnix Coumou, showing P.J. Huijer's parents. The note at the lower right corner reads: P.J. Huijer N. Plantage 91 by Delft. Nieuwe Plantage, a street in Delft city center.

Prof. Petrus Johannes Gerrit Huijer, ON4, BK, OHK2, OV3, XXV, Mk. Born Delft, 28/6/1898. Ltz. 3kl in 1919, retired as Kaptz 1kl 1/11/1948. Commander of Hr. Ms. 'Soemba' 17/1/1941 to 25/4/1943. Professor in physics, University of Liberia, 1950-51. Died 's-Gravenhage, 20/4/1977.

F6F Hellcats of 1840 Squadron. Front to back: Simpson, J.G. Boon von Ochssée, F.R. Nauta, Ch.A.M. Poublon. Source: Boon von Ochssée, 1999

RNAS Stretton on 18/4/1945. Source: FAA archive

Remains of HMS Blackcap, FAA Stretton, in January 2007. The derelict airfield and the main buildings have been divided by a motorway, The main buildings have become a prison for young offenders. Stretton 070127-1

2. Crash site data

Map 57. Budworth Mere area, South of RNAS base Stretton, Cheshire, GB

Above Budworth Mere the collision took place between the aircraft of P.J. Huijer and A.J. Smith on 15/3/1944, about 300 meters from each other. Budworth Mere 070127-4