William Paul's Story.
William Paul Donnelly was born in Montreal, Canada on 7th September 1922 to parents Daniel and Gertrude. Prior to enlisting he worked as an office boy. He enlisted in the RCAF on 25th May 1942 and was selected for pilot training. After completing his initial training in Canada he embarked for the UK on 30th June 1943 arriving on 7th July 1943. On 3rd August 1943 he was posted to 11 (P) AFU for advanced training then on 15th August he was posted to 21 (P) AFU at RAF Wheaton Aston to continue advanced training. On 29th September 1943 he was killed in a flying accident. He was buried at Blacon Cemetery in Chester. He is commemorated on the Westmount cenotaph in MontrealThe Accident
On 29th September 1943 Sgt Donnelly was assigned Oxford LW959 to undertake a daytime cross country flight from Wheaton Aston near Stafford. Sgt Munro, an instructor was on board as a safety pilot. The briefed route was Wheaton Aston – Ellesmere (Shropshire) – Helsby – Prestbury – Madeley – Ruabon – Wheaton Aston. This route is some 170 miles long and would have taken around 2 hours to complete in an Oxford.
At 15:00 the aircraft left Wheaton Aston and followed the route reaching Prestbury at 16:05, at the time of departing visibility had been about 3 miles with the cloud base at 600 to 1,000ft ASL. An hour later in the Prestbury area conditions were similar but with drizzle, the cloud base was either touching the ground or was just above ground level.
Having made the planned turn at Prestbury the aircraft took up the course for Madeley, though was about 800 yards to the west of where it should have been. After travelling 2.5 miles along that track and while flying at around 550ft the aircraft struck the top of a tree at Henbury which was reported to have been 60ft tall before then striking a second tree a short distance further on. After this the aircraft hit the ground about forty yards away from the tree sliding for a similar distance before running into an earth bank which stopped the aircraft which was crushed in the impact .
Sergeant Munro was killed during the crash, while Sergeant Donnelly was severely injured. He was quickly removed from the wreckage and taken to Parkside Hospital in Macclesfield where he died two hours later.
The Court of Inquiry recommended that it be stressed to all pilots that when there was the possibility of deteriorating visibility approaching high ground that they should turn back rather than continue with the planned route. The Officer Commanding Wheaton Aston stated that both pilots had been warned of the possibility of poor visibility but as the safety pilot Munro should have ordered Donelly to return to base rather than continue the training mission.
Enquiry 1
Enquiry 2
Enquiry 3
Enquiry 4
Montreal newspaper article
Westmount Cenotaph
Service Record