George Richard's Story.
George Coathup was born on 14th September 1920 in Watrous, Saskatchewan, Canada and was the son of Harvey and Eva Pearl Coathup (nee Mosher). Both his parents were born in Scarborough, Ontario and his father Harvey Coathup had served in WW1. While George was born in Saskatchewan later the family moved to Toronto where his father served in the police. George Coathup was serving as a police cadet in Toronto when he enlisted for RCAF service there on 17th July 1941. He married Miss Betty Burgoyne after enlisting. After basic training in Canada he received his air gunner's badge on 6th July 1942 and was then posted overseas in late November 1943 arriving in the UK on 1st December 1943. He was then posted to 7 AOS on 18th January 1944 and 22 OTU on 22nd February 1944 at Wellesbourne Mountford. He was killed on 16th June 1944 when the Wellington bomber HZ715 that he was flying in crashed into a mountain in the Lake DistrictThe loss of Wellington HZ715
On 16th June 1944 this No.22 Operational Training Unit aircraft was to be flown on a cross country training flight combined with a dual control flying exercise with a mixed crew. A trainee crew of five were to fly their first cross country flight in the Wellington, they were to be joined by two instructing aircrew; one giving wireless operating instruction and the other as a pilot instructor. Also on board was a passenger, Unterseher (who was also a pilot instructor) making a total crew of eight. The route that was planned in advance of taking off was to fly from base of Wellesbourne Mountford and use turning points of Newmarket, Barnard Castle, Malton, Aylesbury, Priors Hardwick before returning to base. The passenger had obtained permission to obtain a lift to Crosby on Eden airfield, near Carlisle a few days before this flight as he was to go on a period of leave and his commanding officer had permitted him to fly in a passenger in a Wellington the next time a cross country flight was roughly in the area. The leg of this flight was then extended from Barnard Castle to head to Crosby on Eden to land and drop off the passenger before heading back south. With the route of the cross country training flight agreed the night previously, the passenger then checked the weather forecast prior to take off. The Met Officer later stated that he believed that the landing was to be made in Yorkshire and not at Carlisle and while the forecast was not at all good over the North of England it was deemed acceptable to fly the route and land in Yorkshire (not (now) Cumbria). In general this was a reasonably common occurrance for aircrew to use available aircraft to ferry themselves around when the opportunity arose. The Wellington took off from Wellesbourne Mountford at 10.24hrs and begun flying the planned route. All appears to have gone well until they passed Barnard Castle but then they appear to have flown into poor weather. Believing they were flying on the correct course they began to let down through cloud to make the landing at Crosby on Eden, what had actually happened is that they had flown off track by twenty five miles earlier in the flight and instead of making an east-west approach to Crosby they had flown across the northern Lake District from east to west and begun to let down through cloud while crossing high ground. Their course would have seen them cross over the "Dodds" / Helvellyn range at a safe height but then to descend reasonably quickly heading west flying roughly over the Newlands Pass, the aircraft was heard flying over Buttermere but then failed to clear high ridge between Red Pike and High Seat. It struck the rock face only feet below the summit of Red Pike at 13.35hrs killing all on board instantly.
Pilot (Instructor) - P/O Albert Digby Cooper RCAF (J/18201), aged 25. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester (A/1068).
Pilot (Pupil) - F/O Frederick Allan Dixon RCAF (J/35425), aged 27. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester (A/986).
Pilot (Passenger) - F/Lt Emil Unterseher RCAF (J/16129), aged 29. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester (A/322).
Navigator - F/O Daniel Titleman RCAF (J/38329), aged 26. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester (A/63).
Bomb Aimer - Sgt George McCrimmon Anderson RCAF (R/168378), aged 29. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester (A/896).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner (Instructor) - F/O Roy Edward Simonson RCAF (J/19182), aged 23. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester (A/149).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - WO1 George Richard Coathup RCAF (R/115256), aged 23. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester (A/279).
Air Gunner - Sgt Campbell McRae Hodges RCAF (R/266186), aged 34. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester (A/806).
The enquiry into the accident found that the primary responsibility for the accident was that the Captain, Cooper had not determined his location properly before commencing a descent through cloud which was not in accordance with standard operating procedures. The passenger Unterseher was also partly responsible because he had obtained an incorrect weather forecast from the Met Officer prior to the flight. Other contributing factors were determined to be:
1 Approval for the flight and the detour to drop off the passenger was given the day before the flight meaning that the decision was made without full knowledge of the weather conditions. Also approval for the additional leg to Crosby to drop off the passenger should never have been given considering the adverse weather conditions in the area.
2 The navigator was on his first flight in a Wellington and his determination of the aircraft location should have been cross checked
3 The navigator had never used GEE position locating equipment in the air before and had only practiced its use on the ground.
Court of Enquiry 1
Court of Enquiry 2
Court of Enquiry 3
Court of Enquiry 4
Court of Enquiry 5
Court of Enquiry 6
Court of Enquiry 7
Scar on the mountainside where the plane crashed
Wreckage at the crash site
Generator nameplate at the crash site
George's younger brother Clifford was also an airman and was killed in action over France on 18 April 1944. They are both mentioned in this local newspaper article published prior to their deaths
Credit
https://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/lakes/hz715.html