Ernest Henry's Story.
Ernest Henry Brautigam was born in Vancouver on 18th January 1925 to parents Henry and Edna. He was raised by his maternal grandparents in Upper Capilano B.C. following his parents’ divorce. Prior to enlisting in the RCAF at Vancouver on 2nd March 1943 Ernest worked in the stock room at General Motors and had spent two years in the Air Cadets. After enlisting Ernest completed his initial training in Canada and qualified as a navigator. He embarked at Halifax on 10th April 1944 and disembarked in the UK on 18th April and completed operations training at 82 OTU. On 8th November 1944 he was posted to 1664 CU at RAF Dishforth in Yorkshire for training in Halifax bombers in preparation for joining an operational squadron.On 12th December 1944 Ernest was killed along with 7 other Canadian flyers when their aircraft, Halifax LL541 crashed in the Elan Valley near Rhayader in Wales.
LL541 was on a daytime cross country training mission along with another Halifax and flying at 18,000 feet when it suddenly went into a near vertical dive and disappeared into clouds with the cloud tops at 8,000 feet. The aircraft was observed to come out of the clouds at 3000 feet in pieces and crashed into the ground with the death of all 8 on board.
Crew lost on LL541
P/O G.L Lister (J/90220) RCAF
F/O E.H Brautigam (J/40697) RCAF
F/Sgt D.Levine (R/85078) RCAF
F/Sgt J.H Preece (R/184114) RCAF
Sgt F.Willmek (R/168352) RCAF
Sgt J.S Overland (R/270919) RCAF
Sgt G.G Goehring (R/204000) RCAF
Sgt A.F McMurtry (R/250838) RCAF
The cause of the crash was never determined but it was believed that the pilot may have passed out due to oxygen deficiency causing the aircraft to go into a dive. It is speculated that the pilot regained consciousness as the altitude decreased and tried to recover from the dive but in doing so the structural limits of the plane were exceeded and the plane broke up. One eyewitness on the ground saw the tail of the aircraft come out from the clouds at 3000 feet separated from the rest of the plane.
In October 2025 a commemorative plaque in honour of the crew of LL541 was unveiled at the Elan Valley Visitor Centre. The unveiling was attended by two surviving eyewitnesses of the crash.
The crew were buried at Blacon Cemetery Chester
Accident Report 1
Accident Report 2
Accident Report 3
Accident Report 4
Memorials laid at crash site
Memorial plaque at Eland Valley Visitor Centre