Harrogate (Stonefall) | |
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Commonwealth War Graves Commission | |
![]() Harrogate (Stonefall) Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery entrance stone | |
Used for those deceased 1943–1947 | |
Location | 53°59′10″N1°29′42″W / 53.9862°N 1.4950°W near |
Total burials | 1,017 (including special memorials) |
Unknowns | 1 |
Burials by war | |
World War I: 23 World War II: 988 | |
Statistics source: Cemetery details. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. |
Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burial ground for the dead of the First World War and Second World War located on the outskirts of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England.
The cemetery grounds are located next to the main municipal cemetery and crematorium for the district, [1] in Wetherby Road.
This area of Yorkshire had many RAF bases during the Second World War. In particular, No 6 RCAF Bomber Group had headquarters at Allerton Park in nearby Knaresborough. [2]
An area of the municipal cemetery was set aside for use as a war cemetery at the start of the war and received burials, mostly from after July 1943, mostly airmen, mostly Canadians, until after the end of the war. [2] Burials are from northern airfields and the military wing of the now demolished Harrogate General Hospital in Starbeck. [2]
Within the cemetery, there are burials of or special memorials to 23 First World War troops which are dispersed across the municipal part of the cemetery. [2]
Many of the burials are from aircrews killed in training or on the ground or who died later in the local hospital. Amongst the burials in the cemetery are three (all Canadians) of the seven crew of a Lancaster bomber that crashed on Helmsley Moor on the morning of 17 May 1944. [3] Five burials (all serving in the RCAF, but two were from the United States) in adjoining plots are of the crew of Halifax bomber EB203, which crashed into a railway bridge in Bishop Monkton on 15 April 1944. [4] Also buried here is Brian Sinclair, the inspiration for the character of Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small . [5]
Wellington BK387 crashed near Oakworth, Yorkshire on the night of 2 January 1944. The main force of Bomber Command was out in strength that night and 383 aircraft were on their way to Berlin. The Operational Training Unit (O.T.U.) was based at Ossington eight miles north-west of Newark and it was from bases like these, flying the Vickers Wellington, that all operational crew passed through on their way to squadron service.
At 20.00 hours, Wellington BK387 lifted off from the Ossington runway on what should have been just another training flight of four hours duration. The pilot, Warrant Officer Ernest Glass, brought the aircraft down through low cloud and subsequently crashed into the hillside at Tewitt Hall wood. Six young people died in an instant. The crew of BK387 were all from Canada. If they had completed their training they would have joined one of the 16 Canadian Bomber Squadrons in Yorkshire. The remains of the aircraft were cleared away and little remains today at the site of the crash except for the burnt and broken trees. The crew were all buried at Stonefall Cemetery along with many of their fellow countrymen. All are buried on section C, row H, graves 11 to 16. [6]
The cause of this crash is unclear. The Canadian crewed Wellington BK387 was on a night training exercise when the aircraft descended through cloud and crashed into farmland. One witness account suggests Warrant Officer Glass was trying to land the plane in the fields. This same account quotes the landlord of the nearby Grouse Inn, who says he had gone to his outside toilet and, with the door open (after all the customers had gone home for the night...) "he sat there frightened out of his skin as he could see the plane heading straight for his loo". The Wellington crashed just beyond the pub. [7]
The crew of BK387 were:
A special memorial commemorates six First World War troops whose graves are in local churchyards around Yorkshire and cannot be maintained by the commission. [2] The actual grave of one of those commemorated, Edgar Audsley, has since been destroyed as part of development works on the site of South Ossett Baptist Burial Ground. [9]
A plaque in the cemetery records the names of 12 servicemen of the Second World War who were cremated at Harrogate Crematorium. [10]
Cyril Joe Barton, VC was a Second World War bomber pilot in the Royal Air Force who received the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth Armed Forces.
Edwin (Ted) Essery Swales VC DFC was a South African pilot and Second World War hero. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and posthumously the Victoria Cross.
Andrew Charles Mynarski, VC was a Canadian airman and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for bravery in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Mynarski was 27 years old and flew with No. 419 "Moose" Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War when he died attempting to help rescue a trapped crew member. His Victoria Cross, which was awarded in 1946, was the last Victoria Cross received by any Canadian serviceman in the Second World War.
Leslie Thomas Manser, VC was a British bomber pilot and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, which was awarded posthumously following an attack on the German city of Cologne.
Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial is a World War II American military war grave cemetery, lying between the villages of Coton and Madingley, 7 km (4.3 mi) north-west of Cambridge, England. The cemetery, dedicated in 1956, contains 3,811 American war dead and covers 30.5 acres (12.3 ha). It is one of 26 overseas military cemeteries administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).
Aldershot Military Cemetery is a burial ground for military personnel, or ex-military personnel and their families, located in Aldershot Military Town, Hampshire.
The Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery is on Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, England. The cemetery contains nearly 5,000 burials from both the First and Second World War. The burials are mainly German and Austrian nationals with a very small number of Ukrainians.
426 Transport Training Squadron is a unit of the Canadian Forces under Royal Canadian Air Force, located at CFB Trenton in Trenton, Ontario. It originated as a squadron in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) that fought during the Second World War as a bomber squadron.
424 Transport and Rescue Squadron, nicknamed "Tiger Squadron", is a Royal Canadian Air Force strategic transport and search and rescue unit based at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Trenton in the Canadian province of Ontario. The squadron is the primary provider of search and rescue response for the Trenton Search and Rescue Region, which extends from Quebec City to the Rocky Mountains, and from the Canada–United States border to the North Pole, covering an area of over ten million square kilometres in Central, Western, and Northern Canada.
Hamilton Road Cemetery is a combined municipal and military burial ground situated in the coastal town of Deal, Kent, in South East England. Opened in May 1856, it was created to provide a new burial ground for Deal at a time when its general population was expanding and when previous, often ad hoc facilities for dealing with deaths in the area no longer sufficed.
Frank Donald Collinge was a Canadian fencer. He competed in five events at the 1936 Summer Olympics. He was killed in action during the Second World War.
Frank Vernon Watkins was an officer of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) during the Second World War. He was killed in air operations trying to save a close comrade and for this action was recommended for the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Royal Air Force Ossington or more simply RAF Ossington is a former Royal Air Force station located near the village of Ossington, Nottinghamshire, England.
Gilbert William Walenn, known as Tim Walenn, was a British bomber pilot who was taken prisoner during the Second World War. He took part in the "Great Escape" from Stalag Luft III in March 1944, but was re-captured and subsequently shot by the Gestapo.
William Jack Grisman was a British Vickers Wellington bomber crew member who was taken prisoner during the Second World War. He took part in the 'Great Escape' from Stalag Luft III in March 1944, but was one of the men re-captured and subsequently shot by the Gestapo.
Gordon Arthur Kidder, was a Royal Canadian Air Force officer, the navigator of a Vickers Wellington bomber, who was taken prisoner during the Second World War. He took part in the 'Great Escape' from Stalag Luft III in March 1944, but was one of the men recaptured and subsequently shot by the Gestapo.
The aircrews of RAF Bomber Command during World War II operated a fleet of bomber aircraft carried strategic bombing operations from September 1939 to May 1945, on behalf of the Allied powers. The crews were men from the United Kingdom, other Commonwealth countries, and occupied Europe, especially Poland, France, Czechoslovakia and Norway, as well as other foreign volunteers. While the majority of Bomber Command personnel were members of the RAF, many belonged to other air forces – especially the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). Under Article XV of the 1939 Air Training Agreement, squadrons belonging officially to the RCAF, RAAF, and RNZAF were formed, equipped and financed by the RAF, for service in Europe. While it was intended that RCAF, RAAF, and RNZAF personnel would serve only with their respective "Article XV squadrons", in practice many were posted to units of the RAF or other air forces. Likewise many RAF personnel served in Article XV squadrons.
Patrick Wilson Langford, was a Royal Canadian Air Force officer, the pilot instructor aboard a Vickers Wellington bomber, who was taken prisoner during the Second World War. He took part in the 'Great Escape' from Stalag Luft III in March 1944, but was one of the men recaptured and subsequently shot by the Gestapo.
Royal Canadian Air Force Station Dunnville was a Second World War British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) station located near Dunnville, Ontario. The station was home to No. 6 Service Flying Training School and is usually known by that name. Service Flying Training schools trained pilots, either single engine or multi-engine, and 6 SFTS was a single engine school. After graduation the new pilots were assigned various duties, which might be overseas in the Royal Air Force or an RCAF squadron; or in Canada as instructors or staff pilots in the BCATP, or for duty in RCAF Home Defence squadrons.
On 1 February 1945 an Avro York carrying members of the British delegation to the Yalta conference crashed off the Italian island of Lampedusa. During the flight to Yalta, undertaken during night time, the crew became unsure of their position due to a navigation radio malfunction. The aircraft ended up over Lampedusa and circled for approximately one hour as crew members attempted to verify their position. The crew eventually determined the proper course to Malta but by then the aircraft lacked the fuel quantity to cover the distance. During an attempted ditching the Avro crashed into the sea, killing all four crew and 11 passengers. Some sources state there were four survivors.