Scampton church yard

**Gary J** · 11-06-2013, 06:17 AM

Cranwell village church yard is worth a visit, if in the area.
There's a section of about 30 plus RAF graves there.

Gary J.

**Wagriff** · 11-06-2013, 06:59 AM

I'd bet that 22 year old Aussie Flight Sergeant Haskins never dreamed that he'd be sleeping in English soil 70 years later with a sweet little 3 year old girl he'd never known laying flowers over him. What strange twists of Fate...

**Paul D** · 11-06-2013, 02:48 PM

I have now visited RAF Scampton a few times and i thouroughly recommend it , the Museum to Gibson and Dambusters is superb !!

**Tango** · 11-06-2013, 05:36 PM

Thanks for the thread guys I'm with Harry on this one! As beening very moving..I need to get my butt up to Scampton I don't live far from there..It is on my next leaves hitlist .. Cheers Terry.

**Glenn66** · 11-06-2013, 06:00 PM

So sad...the koala laid at the Aussie gravestone does it for me...

**Michael Ryan** · 11-06-2013, 06:56 PM

Hi Dave? A very interesting thread for me as I was stationed on RAF Scampton twice. I never thought to visit the church yard on either tour and now regret it as I am a bit of an anorak when it comes to viewing grave yards especialy when there are military graves to see. Are you aware that some years ago a farmer in one of the fields around the airfield plowed up some bones and uniform fragments. The feds were called in and the body Id'ed.

A Luftwaffe bomber, I believe a Heinkel 111, was brought down and its remains disposed of. The crew were all accounted for and burried, probably/possibly the graves in the Scampton Church Yard. The bones etc. found by the farmer were found to be those of a young German Airman who was reported as missing presumed deserted from the base that the 111 flew from on the night of the raid. The new assumption is that he had cadged a ride on the raid with the air crew and was subsequently killed but posted as AWOL by his base. As he was not part of the crew who were all accounted for, no one realised that he was still burried in the field until he was found by the farmer. He was subsequently given a proper funeral but I know not where. Possibly Scampton but more likely on Cannock Chase Staffordshire where about 2000 German troops are burried in the "Soldatedfreidhoff". Please excuse the spelling!! In the Scampton base magazin circa late 70's or early 80's thare are some photos of the man's tunic and other relics and a narative on the find etc.

If you write to the PR Officer at the base, he/she may be able to shed additional light on the incedent and possibly even a copy of said magazine.

Hope you find this of interest!!

Regards and best wishes Michael Ryan

**m3bobby** · 11-06-2013, 07:14 PM

by davesap250

I returned to Scampton today and gave my three year old daughter a cross with a poppy on it. I then let her pick a grave to place it on and she chose F/S Ronald Henry Askins 'Air Gunner'.

At 04:30 on the morning of 16th August 1943 Lancaster JA896 of 57 Sqn was returning from an eight hour bombing mission to Milan. It was the Pilot Jack Smithers first flight. The port outer engine was being feathered on approach to Scampton. The engine had suffered some form of over heating. On landing at Scampton the Lancaster hit the runway hard bouncing. Smithers went around for another approach. He was too hasty in applying power.
With greater power on the star board wing the aircraft began to veer to port, a phenomenen known to pilots of the day as 'swing'. JA896 's port wing struck the ground spinning the aircraft 180 degrees. The plane inverted and caught fire killing five of the crew and injuring two in the process.
Smithers was killed in the accident and was a flight sergeant at the time however, he had been selected for a commission in July 1943 and was buried as a Pilot Officer at Scampton church yard.
Haskins was found alive in the wreckage and was taken to the RAF hospital at Rauceby. He died four hours later.Haskins was from Inglewood, Western Australia.
Also killed were:
P/O Arthur Joeseph Organ buried in Bristol
Sgt Derrick Rose buried in London
Sgt Alan George Luxford buried in Sheffield

P/O Bladen and Sgt Burgess both survived with minor injuries and survived the war.

Requiem for a Rear Gunner

My brief sweet life is over, my eyes no longer see,
No summer walks - no Christmas Trees - no pretty girls for me,
I've got the chop, I've had it, my nightly ops are done
Yet in another hundred years, I'll still be twenty-one

I've lived about a 1/2 mile from Rauceby hospital for 10 years, I never knew it was Ex RAF, I was always led to believe it was the mental asylum. There were also officers billeted at Rauceby Park, I wonder if Rauceby park was for rehabilitation of injured officers having spent time in hospital?