At eleven in the morning on a summer day during World War II, Wellington bomber T2962 left its base near Banbury on a long training flight which was to take it north to Yorkshire, west across the Pennines and the Irish Sea to the Isle of Man, down to Pembrokeshire and thence eastwards towards home. Just after five o'clock, over Goodrich, the starboard engine failed and the aircraft turned through 180 degrees, losing height all the while as it headed towards Llangrove. Narrowly missing Llangrove school and church, but clipping trees in the churchyard, it crashed in a small field opposite and burned out. Pilot Sgt F H S Bush and crewman Sgt R J McKean were killed and the remaining four crew members survived, though injured.
Children were playing close to the school and two of them, who still live in the village, have particular memories of the disaster. One, only five at the time, recalls running away in fright to hide from the flames and the noise. Another, sent to look for her great-grandmother, found the 89-year-old ex-midwife nursing one of the survivors. This eye-witness remembers that people came running to see what help they could give, and the crash report acknowledges the '...valuable assistance given by villagers both male and female (in spite of) danger from fire and exploding ammunition'.
To compound the tragedy, two villagers died. The church organist Mrs Sarah (Bessie) Watkins suffered a fatal heart attack on her way to the crash, reputedly carrying water. The vicar, Revd Frank Easton, died similarly as he was cycling home after giving what help he could at the site. His headstone, in the churchyard, records the date of the tragedy: 7 July 1942.
Tim Pridgeon
