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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.
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RAF Crest
12.10.1941 16 Elementary Flying School Magister I N5417 LAC. Eric W. Pierce

Operation: Training

Date: 12th October 1941 (Sunday)

Unit: No. 16 Elementary Flying School

Type: Miles Magister I

Serial: N5417

Code: Not known

Base: RAF Burnaston, Derby

Location: Broken Flats Farm, Repton, Derbyshire

Pilot: LAC. Eric Walter Pierce 1384107 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

At approximately 14:30 hrs, he was on 'Solo Aerobatics' duty, when the aircraft stalled and spun into the ground from about 1,000 feet into a field at Broken Flats Farm, Repton, Derbyshire.

The cause of the accident was engine failure in flight. It is possible that he had inadvertently stopped the airscrew. An eyewitness statement said that it appeared that he was carrying out a forced landing with a stopped airscrew.

Eric Walter Pierce had been a junior player with the Dulwich Hamlet Football Club and is remembered on on the Dulwich Hamlet 'Roll of Honour' at the Club's boardroom.

Above: Morden Cemetery and grave (courtesy Stephen Hunnisett)

Burial details:

LAC. Eric Walter Pierce. Morden Cemetery. Sec. G.4. Grave 5564. Son of Walter Herbert and Florence Mary Pierce, of 150 Aragon Road, Morden, Surrey, England. Grave inscription reads: “To Live In The Hearts Of Those We Love Is Not To Die.”

Researched by Stephen Hunnisett for Aircrew Remembered, December 2016, thanks also to Gavin Heaton who contacted us in January 2017. Page dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to Air Historical Branch and sources as quoted below:

KTY 13.01.2017 Page updated with further details

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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 Captain 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', Andrew Mielnik: Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Polish graves: https://niebieskaeskadra.pl/, PoW Museum Żagań, 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.
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