history
Vickers Wellington with ASV
Kitty Tor
Once the War was over the U.S. Military did its best to comply and finally on 22 September 1948 Second Lieutenant Jerome Leonard Foreman was laid to rest at Hillside Memorial Cemetery, Los Angeles, California.
Vickers Wellington with ASV
A hundred of them had searched ten square miles of the bleakest parts of Dartmoor in appalling weather conditions.
The next Dartmoor death crash involving a Gibraltar bound flight came a little more than five months later. The Vickers Wellington GR11 was being ferried to join Coastal Command at Gibraltar. This RAF bomber was special because it was one of the first to be fitted with Air to Surface Radar (ASV) to be used in the ongoing battle against German submarines. Also equipped with the intensely bright Leigh Lights the Wellingtons proved to be a scourge of the U-boats. The ASV was used to locate the subs when they routinely surfaced at night to recharge their batteries. The Leigh Lights effectively blinded the enemy gunners as the Wellingtons attacked with bombs and machine gun fire. This particular Wellington was piloted by Flying Officer George Watterson and it took off from RAF Boscombe Down, near Stonehenge in Wiltshire, on 1 June 1943. The remaining crew consisted of co-pilot, Sgt John Dixon, navigator Sgt G. Collins, flight engineer Sgt W. Simpson, and Wireless Operator Sgt A. Mooney. All five crew were members of the Royal Air Force Voluntary Reserve.
Jones writes: “It is thought the intention was to make the journey to Gibraltar via an airfield in Cornwall, most likely St. Eval. There the aircraft could top up with fuel and the crew would be able to get an up to date weather briefing. But Wellington MP 597 was destined never to arrive at the GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2018
Vickers Wellington with ASV Cornish airfield.”
Just half an hour into the flight the weather conditions must have turned nasty and it would seem likely that FO Watterson was probably flying-low to get a sighting through the clouds and fog when the Wellington’s belly struck ground on a grassy area of the moor near Kitty Tor. Co-pilot Dixon was killed on impact, the others suffered a variety of injuries, some serious, but all survived. Dixon, the son of Joe and Sarah Dixon had earned his teaching diploma just before enlisting. He is buried in St. John’s Churchyard at Shildon, County Durham. Despite his wounds the gutsy Watterson struck out on his own to find help. He followed a stream for three miles and must have been close to giving up hope, when two hours after the crash, he heard voices through the dense fog and stumbled, exhausted and covered in blood, into the offices of Meldon limestone quarry. Watterson could only provide a rough description of the crash site, but quarry manager, F.G.L. Weaver, immediately organised search parties, and the determined rescuers set off into the dark laden with first aid equipment and stretchers.
the scene, testified later that the injured airmen would not have survived long on the open moor without the assistance of the quarrymen. A hundred of them had searched ten square miles of the bleakest parts of Dartmoor in appalling weather conditions.” Southern Railway, the company that owned Meldon Quarry at the time, presented scrolls to each of the men involved in the rescue. Interestingly one of them was named Baskerville. Today Meldon Quarry is a recreational site catering to hikers, cyclists, swimmers, bungee jumpers and devotees of extreme sports, few or none will be aware of the life-changing drama that took place there 75 years ago.
It wasn’t until 11 pm, four and a half hours after the crash, that the wreckage and survivors were found. The quarrymen administered first aid and stretchered the survivors for miles through the maze of rocks and brush to waiting ambulances.
As I finish writing this account I look out the same window of the Moretonhampstead flat and see the sun shining, not a cloud in the sky, but it is 7 January, there is a slight breeze, the temperature is 4 degrees and I understand that at any moment an eerie black fog could come rolling over the hilltop.
Jones writes: “There is no doubt that the initiative and fortitude of the men of Meldon Quarry helped to save lives. Dr. Routh of Okehampton, who attended
“Yes, the setting (Dartmoor) is a worthy one. If the devil did desire to have a hand in the affairs of men.” - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 49