AR banner
Search Tips Advanced Search
Back to Top

Info LogoAdd to or correct this story with a few clicks.
Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.
Check our Research databases: Database List

.

We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.

51 Squadron Crest
11.04.1946 No. 51 Squadron Avro 685 York I MW252 Fl/Lt. George E. Brooks

Operation: Transit flight

Date: 11th April 1946 (Thursday)

Unit: No. 51 Squadron

Type: Avro 685 York I

Serial: MW252

Code: -

Base: RAF Woodbridge, Suffolk

Location: At base - RAF Woodbridge

Pilot: Fl/Lt. George Edward Brooks 113665 RAFVR Age 33. Killed

PX: Fl/Lt. Richard Edwin Boyd DFC. 133418 RAFVR Seriously Injured

Other passengers: 4 - no further details - are you able to assist?


We welcome contact from the relatives of Fl/Lt. Brooks and indeed from any of the relatives of the crew/passengers on this flight.


REASON FOR LOSS:

During a 3 engined approach to land the aircraft bounced heavily on touchdown - overshoot action was taken but the pilot lost control during an attempt to climb away - the aircraft hit trees crashing and caught fire. 

The pilot, 33 year old, Fl/Lt. George Edward Brooks from Colwyn Bay, Wales was killed - 5 others injured. It is thought that he initially survived the crash - succumbing to his injuries the following day.

Top left: Richard Boyd with Timothy Tremble - right: Fl/Lt. Richard Boyd (courtesy Timothy Tremble)

We were brought to the attention of this tragic story by Timothy Trimble in the USA who is good friends with Mr. Boyd.

Timothy is in the process of restoring a Fleet PT26 WW2 aircraft and is dedicating this to Richard Boyd. 

Richard Boyd was born in London, England and was a member of the RAF Air Training Corps before joining the RAF air crew. Assigned to the United States, in 1942 received his US Army Air Corps Wings. Richard graduated from the US Air Corps Training School as an instructor (1943). Richard flew the following aircraft in training. Tiger Moth(UK). Primary Training PT-17. Basic Training BT-13. Advanced Training. AT-6. Curtiss AT-9. Beechcraft AT-10.

During 1944-1945 he returned to England and was assigned to the 3 Group Bomber Command / 195 Squadron. 

Richard Boyd's crew L-R Rear: George Webb, William Hughes, Barry Shutt, Jack Burns. Front: Richard Phillips, Leonard Cliff and Richard Boyd.  (courtesy Timothy Tremble)

He flew 33 missions over Germany and France in a Lancaster Bomber and was awarded the DFC. Assigned to transport command operating between Europe and India (1946), Richard was on board a York transport that crashed. He spent several months in the hospital and rehabilitation. Over the course of the war Richard flew 17 different aircraft. When he was released from duty he sought a position in commercial aviation.

Left: George Brooks -  Colwyn Bay Cemetery (Bronynant)

Burial details:

Fl/Lt. George Edward Brooks. Colwyn Bay Cemetery (Bronynant) Sec I. Grave 318. Son of George Henry and Ellen Brooks, husband of Edna Brooks, of Weybridge, Surrey.

With thanks to Timothy Trimble and Richard Boyd for additional information. Collin Cummins “Final Landings”. For further details our thanks to the sources shown below.

Pages of Outstanding Interest
History Airborne Forces •  Soviet Night Witches •  Bomber Command Memories •  Abbreviations •  Gardening Codenames
CWGC: Your Relative's Grave Explained •  USA Flygirls •  Axis Awards Descriptions •  'Lack Of Moral Fibre'
Concept of Colonial Discrimination  •  Unauthorised First Long Range Mustang Attack
RAAF Bomb Aimer Evades with Maquis •  SOE Heroine Nancy Wake •  Fane: Motor Racing PRU Legend
Acknowledgements
Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and MWO François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
Click any image to enlarge it

Click to add your info via ticket on Helpdesk •Click to let us know via ticket on Helpdesk• Click to buy research books from Amazon •Click to explore the entire site
If you would like to comment on this page, please do so via our Helpdesk. Use the Submit a Ticket option to send your comments. After review, our Editors will publish your comment below with your first name, but not your email address.

A word from the Editor: your contribution is important. We welcome your comments and information. Thanks in advance.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2023
Last Modified: 27 June 2019, 12:21

Monitor Additions/Changes?Click to be informed of changes to this page. Create account for first monitor only, thereafter very fast. Click to close without creating monitor