Stanley Edward's Story.
STANLEY EDWARD WITZ(1914 – 1944)
Stanley
Sgt (A/B) Stanley Edward Witz (1524174)
Born: 21 July 1914 – Sunderland
Father: Louis Edward Witz
Mother: Martha Lucy Brown
Siblings: Kathleen Witz (1912), Charles Witz (1915), Donald Witz (1923)
Family moved to York when Stanley was very young
Occupation: Gas fitter
Enlisted: RAFVR 28th May 1942. Completed his military training in England and Canada (September 1943 – June 1944), qualifying as an Air Bomber with the rank of Sergeant.
Died on a training flight 20 November 1944
Crew: F/Sgt John George Lamb (Pilot), F/Sgt Eric Richard Southern (Navigator), Sgt Benjamin Kelly (Wireless Operator), Sgt Donald William Herbert Hall and Sgt William Forsyth (Air Gunners), Sgt Stanley Edward Witz (Air Bomber)
Wellington LN428 of 14 OTU took off on the morning of 20th November 1944 from Market Harborough at 11.25 hrs for a cross country training flight. The aircraft was involved in a mid-air collision with a Seafire aircraft and crashed at 14.55 hrs near Red House Inn, Brockton, Lilleshall, Shropshire. All six crew members of the Wellington were killed in the crash, as was the pilot of the Seafire. Parts of the bodies of F/Sgt Southern, Lamb, Kelly, Witz and Hall were recovered and buried together. They are buried in Chester (Blacon) cemetery, their gravestones marked “BURIED NEAR THIS SPOT”.
The MOD accident card records, ‘In flight in adverse weather conditions, aircraft apparently out of control dived steeply into ground. Pilot had been assessed not fit for bombers, flying boats or army co-operation - instrument flying poor, reactions slow’ - it makes no reference to the mid-air collision that several other sources confirm [T Thorne 2018, pers. comm., 29 November - author of Pancakes & Prangs: Twentieth Century Military Aircraft Accidents in Shropshire, 2013].
An eyewitness account appeared in the Shropshire Star in 2008 from a G.E. Oliver of Trench:
‘Three of us were working in a field near the Red House pub and the Lilleshall Monument. A large plane came over the monument, lower and lower, and crashed and exploded, spreading parts of humans and sheep all over. Bits of bones and wool spread out, it also made a large crater.’
Thanks to Janey Witz for providing the above information and the photos of Stanley.
Footnote
Seafire No LR 872 of 894 Squadron FAA which was being flown by Sub Lt J.V. Brooke of 887 Squadron FAA to Mona in Anglesey also crashed in Shropshire on 20th November 1944 with the death of the pilot after being involved in a mid air collision with another aircraft. It is possible that this is the Seafire that hit LN 428 as mentioned above although we haven’t been able to confirm it.
Stanley in 1943
Stanley in Canada
