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WW2 airmen from HMS Condor killed near Letham Angus

 
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Keptie



Joined: 24 Feb 2009
Posts: 937
Location: near Arbroath Angus

PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 4:19 pm    Post subject: WW2 airmen from HMS Condor killed near Letham Angus Reply with quote

Ive recently heard of a WW2 memorial to two young Fleet Air Arm men stationed at HMS Condor at Arbroath who was Killed whilst Flying in possibly a Swordfish flown out of that RNAS Base in around 1944 or 1945 .

The machine came down killing both young men nearto Gask Farm near Letham (Angus) and a wooden memorial was erected at the fatal site . It was said that both airmen came from the south of England and one family used to come north to visit the memorial at the locus each year . The Memorial was made of wood and each year the farmer's family used to put linseed oil onto the wood to try to preserve the wood . I would expect that both names would have been included on this wooden memorial . I would have thought that the two airmen families would have asked that their sons be buried in their home town in England and not at Arbroath's western or eastern cemetery.

PS The memorial was seen by a friend in Letham when he was a teenager in the mid 1960s and it was beside a banking in a field and he said there was a dead tree nearby that had been damaged in the fatal crash in WW2

Patrick w anderson
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Keptie



Joined: 24 Feb 2009
Posts: 937
Location: near Arbroath Angus

PostPosted: Wed May 23, 2012 3:29 pm    Post subject: WW2 airman from HMS Condor killed near Letham angus Reply with quote

Further facts on this fatal RNAS airmen crew from HMS Condor at Arbroath in WW2 :

Crash near Gask Farm, letham angus was : Saturday 27th February 1943 when a Fairey Swordfish serial No K 8444 of 769 Naval Air Sqn flew from HMS Condor arbroath angus on an Instrument Practice . This was a Mark 1 Fairey Swordfish . Info has come to light that this machine had been built in 1937 and had served at MALTA, and at ABOURKIR in EGYPYT before returning to the UK to serve with a second line Sqn at HMS Condor Arbroath .

Casualties were :

Sub Lieutenant (A) BRIAN ROUTLEY HONEYBUN, 21 years , Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , son of Arthur Emsley Honeybun and Dorothy Grace Honeybun of Northfields , Ealing , Middlesex . His body was returned to his home area and buried at Shipley (St Mary) Churchyard Grave D 44 in Sussex , England.

Sub Lieutenant (A). ARNOLD WATERHOUSE , aged 21 years , Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve H.M.S. Condor , son of Allan Wilson Waterhouse and Annie Waterhouse of Shipley , West YORKSHIRE . His body was returned to his home town of Shipley and buried at Shipley ( Nabwood ) Cemetery in West Yorkshire England. Grave Section B grave no 28 .



=

patrick w anderson
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Keptie



Joined: 24 Feb 2009
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Location: near Arbroath Angus

PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 12:57 pm    Post subject: Sub Lt B Honeybun & Sub Lt A Watershouse HMS Condor Reply with quote

The farmer David Lumgair at Gask Farm Letham and a group of metal dectorists on Tuesday 15 December 2015 found the WW 2 crash site of the Swordfish that flew out of HMS Condor in February 1943 and crashed in the fields at Gask farm having come over the bothy cottage at Backboath farm when it was seen spluttering with engine trouble and crashing at Gask farm further on ..

The Metal dectorists found the original metal plaque and with no damage to it all these years in the ground since the wooden part of the memorial disintegrated over the many ( 60 years ) .

A new stone memorial is being arranged now by the family of Sub Lieut Arnold Waterhouse.



(Patrick w Anderson
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Keptie



Joined: 24 Feb 2009
Posts: 937
Location: near Arbroath Angus

PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 1:06 pm    Post subject: Letham WW2 Swordfish Reply with quote

The original metal plaque reads


IN PROUD MEMORY OF SUB LIEUT (A) ARNOLD WATERHOUSE , RNVR

AND

SUB LIEUT (A) BRIAN HONEYBUN , RNVR

WHO WHILST ON A TRAINING FLIGHT FROM ARBROATH NAVAL AIR STATION ON 27 TH FEBRUARY 1943 AT A POINT 50 YARDS DUE SOUTH OF THIS TREE . GAVE THEIR LIVES IN DEFENCE OF LIBERTY

DUTY NOBILY DONE


( Patrick w Anderson )
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spoons



Joined: 09 Jan 2007
Posts: 4991
Location: St John's Town of Dalry

PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 6:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well done to all concerned. It's great when such memorials, erected soon after an incident, are then brought back in one way or another for the men to be remembered.

\Paul
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Keptie



Joined: 24 Feb 2009
Posts: 937
Location: near Arbroath Angus

PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 12:15 pm    Post subject: letham WW2 Reply with quote

I had a write up in the Bradford Telegraph & Argus on 10 Nov 2012 about the WW2 swordfish fatal crash and hoping to find some of the WATERHOUSE relatives living in and around SHIPLEY and Bradford but the newspaper did not get one reply . The newspaper story was headed INTRIGING CRASH TALE and started off as RETIRED WEST YORKS POLICE Sgt Patrick Anderson wants to know what became of the famlly of young airman who died in a plane crash north of the border in 1943 . etc (strangely enough I was a sgt in Shipley in 1985 and must have gone past the grave of Sub Lt (A) Waterhouse RNVR during these patrol sgt days !

Then I had a write up in the ARBROATH HERALD 21st February 2014 :

MEMORIAL CROSS HAS ROTTEN AWAY : starting with the story "Reader Patrick Anderson of letham wonders if anyone can recall a fatal incident that took place in letham during WW2 etc " and strangely enough months later I received a phone call from an Andrew Waterhouse from England and he said his grandson had found the Arbroath herald story on the internet when he was researching his relative Sub Lt (A) Arnold WATERHOUSE RNVR one of the casualties and Andrew Waterhouse remembers visiting the crash site memorial many years before and now will erect a stone memorial at the site when he can organise a stone mason etc


The Courier 27th February 2014 : The Craigie section page 34 :

under the heading of SAD SWORDFISH TALE :
and starts off with "Patrick Anderson from letham Forfar writes to say "I thought your readers would like to hear about an event that occurred at HMS Condor in the WW2 .. etc "



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Keptie



Joined: 24 Feb 2009
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Location: near Arbroath Angus

PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 12:19 pm    Post subject: letham Reply with quote

The Courier 19th December 2015 : MISSION ACCOMPLISHED -METAL DECTORISTS FIND POIGNANT PLAQUE BURIED ON ANGUS FARM "

has a story and photo of the farmer holding the original metal plaque that was found at the field this week by a metal dectorist . Still in good condition but the wooden base had disintegrated over the 60 years!


Maybe some will be able to add this story showing the photo of the memorial plaque (original )


Patrick w Anderson
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Keptie



Joined: 24 Feb 2009
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Location: near Arbroath Angus

PostPosted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:17 pm    Post subject: letham WW2 Reply with quote

Maybe someone will be able to add the Courier newspaper report reporting the original Memorial plaque found in the field as the wooden post that held it had over 60years disintegrated .

I don't know how to add these to this website Courier 19th Dec 2015 - Mission accomplished -metal dectorist find poignant plaque buried on Angus Field


This would help the story greatly , thanks

( Pat w Anderson )
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Kenneth Morrison



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
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Location: Rockcliffe Dalbeattie

PostPosted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

From: http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/angus-the-mearns/mission-accomplished-metal-detectorists-find-poignant-plaque-buried-on-angus-farm-1.916408

Mission accomplished – metal detectorists find poignant plaque buried on Angus farm

By Graham Brown, 19 December 2015 10.22am.



Dave Lumgair with the memorial plaque.

DC Thomson
The mystery over the fate of a wartime Angus memorial has been solved after a farm field gave up the precious bronze plaque.


Metal detecting enthusiasts swooped on the site near Forfar in the hunt for the memorial to two Second World War airmen who died when their biplane came down during a training mission within miles of their Arbroath air station.

This week The Courier reported the quest by detectorists to trace the plaque commemorating 21-year-old Sub Lieutenants Brian Honeybun and Arnold Waterhouse, whose Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber fell from the skies over Gask Farm, near Letham, on February 27 1943.

A cross was erected in memory of the young Englishmen but after being carefully looked after for decades, it eventually fell down and Detecting Scotland members took on the task of trying to recover the plaque so it could be placed on a new monument planned for the site.

Several enthusiasts found parts of the plane during the initial visit but determined Perth man Gordon Ross hit the jackpot when he returned the next day and uncovered the well-preserved bronze plaque.

Salesman Gordon, 57, said he homed in on one part of the field after speaking again to farmworker Dave Proctor. He came up trumps after clearing away the vegetation near a line of trees which the aircraft is thought to have hit.

“I first uncovered what looked like Bakelite and I now believe that this was a backing to the plaque itself,” Gordon said.

“I kept going down and found it lying upside down, more or less flat, about five inches down. I’m surprised they didn’t hear me shouting back up at the farm.”

Gordon added: “I’ve been doing this seriously for about a year to 18 months and this is a great one for us to find. It was a team effort, there were a few Detecting Scotland members there on the first day and I just happened to be the one that passed my detector over it when I went back. It’s in remarkably good condition and hopefully it’ll brush up to be put on a new memorial.

“Being in the club is a fantastic way of getting out and trying to find interesting things, and this is right up there.”

Farmer David Lumgair is now confident a new marker to the two men from Royal Naval Air Station HMS Condor, near Arbroath, will be built.

“I had a deep-down feeling that this might never have been found, that it could have been picked up and taken away, so I am really pleased that it has turned up,” he said.

“It’s amazing that they found it so quickly and hopefully it might be built into a memorial, perhaps in the dyke, to remember these two men.”

The inscription on the plaque, thought to have been erected by families of the two flyers, reads: In Proud Memory of Sub-Lieut (A) Arnold Waterhouse RNVR and Sub-Lieut Brian Honeybun RNVR who whilst on a training flight from Arbroath Naval Air Station on 27th February 1943 at a point 50 yards due south of this tree gave their lives in defence of liberty. Duty Nobly Done.
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Keptie



Joined: 24 Feb 2009
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Location: near Arbroath Angus

PostPosted: Sat May 14, 2016 7:40 pm    Post subject: HMS condor 1943 Gask farm letham Reply with quote

on Wednesday 11th May 2016 I was invited by Dave Lumgair , farmer at Gask farm Letham to meet Andrew Waterhouse , the nephew of Sub Lieut Waterhouse RNAS one of the two Fleet air arm officers killed when flying out of HMS Condor in February 1943 who come north to arrange a crash site and memorial site visit so that he could meet stone masons as he wants to replace the now disintegrated old 1950s memorial erected by his late grandparents with a more substantial memorial and as Dave Lumgair recently found the plaque he intents to have that original plaque set into the new stone memorial on the same site and facing the same way as the wording records the crash site locus in distance in the field next to the memorial ,.

The original plaque looks great now cleaned up and ready to be replaced in the memorial in memory of his uncle and his colleague from HMS Condor Arbroath

a great result

Patrick W Anderson
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Keptie



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Location: near Arbroath Angus

PostPosted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 4:09 pm    Post subject: letham WW2 RNAS Reply with quote

This memorial is being re instated with a stone base and the original metal plaque at the same locus on the farm field at Gask Farm Letham angus . The grandson Andrew Waterhouse from England read my arbroath herald story about his grandparents wood based memorial had rotten away in the 60 or so years since it was erected and this year he and the farmer Dave Lumgair met him at the original locus of the memorial and he then arranged a stone memorial for unveiling this autumn or so (2016) .


patrick w anderson
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Keptie



Joined: 24 Feb 2009
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Location: near Arbroath Angus

PostPosted: Sat Nov 19, 2016 7:52 pm    Post subject: gask farm Letham angus Reply with quote

Today at 2pm ( 19th NOv 2016) I was invited by Andrew Waterhouse and his brother and family members to the unveiling of the new memorial to his Uncle , Sub Lt (A) Arnold Waterhouse RNVR aged 21 and his colleague Sub Lt (A) Brian R. Honeybun , RNVR both killed whilst flying at the locus on 27th February 1943 when flying out of RNAS Condor at Arbroath on a training exercise in Fairey Swordfish No K8444 when it had engine problems and crashed in a field at Gask Farm near Letham (angus). Mr Lumgair farmer at the time was working in the next field and found the two young men deceased . The bodies of Sub Lt Waterhouse RNVR were returned for burial to Shipley (Nabwood cemetery ) and Sub Lt Honeybun RNVR to West Sussex for burial .

I had a bit in the Bradford T & A about the fatal crash and the memorial that had fallen apart since the 1950s when it was erected and got no replies and in February 2014 i had a story in the Arbroath herald and a while later i had a surprise phone call from Mr Waterhouse saying he was the nephew of Sub Lt Waterhouse RNVR and he was pleased to hear the story in the papers and would plan a new stone memorial at the locus etc. This was arranged and today the memorial was unveiled and is in stone with the original bronze plaque inset into the stone . A fantastic result for all ......
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Keptie



Joined: 24 Feb 2009
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Location: near Arbroath Angus

PostPosted: Sun Nov 20, 2016 1:40 pm    Post subject: gask farm Letham angus Reply with quote

can this memorial be re instated into Dundee & Angus as the original wood memorial disintegrated and the family have installed a stone memorial at the same locus near to the crash site at Gask farm Letham angus and placed the original bronze plaque that their grandparents and father had erected near the crash site in the immediate years after WW 2

thanks

pat w anderson
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stuartn



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PostPosted: Sat May 26, 2018 8:08 pm    Post subject: WMR (ex UKNIWM) number Reply with quote

WMR 76422
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