George Thomas John WOODHAMS

 

Name:

WOODHAMS, George Thomas John

Nationality:

Canadian

Regiment/Service:

Royal Canadian Air Force

Rank/ Trade:

Sergeant/ Observer

Service No.:

R/58453

Posting on Death:

No.2 Air Navigation School - Pennfield Ridge, NB

Date of Birth:

June 1, 1913 - Huronville, SK

Date of Death:

August 25, 1941 - Beach Hill, Liverpool, NS (crash of Anson 2388)

Place of Burial:

September 1, 1941 @ Fillmore Cemetery (Plot 10, Lot 24) - Huronville, SK

Name of Father:

WOODHAMS, George L. (Huronville, SK)

Name of Mother:

Lillian M.

Four Pennfield Airmen Killed
In Crashes Near Liverpool

First Plane Lost Bearings During Night Manoeu-
vres And Crew Bailed Out; Second Machine Crashed While Searching For Men
Already Safe

Transcribed by G. Christian Larsen

    Two R.C.A.F. training planes based at No. 2 Air Navigation School at Pennfield Ridge were lost early Monday morning in crashes near Liverpool, Nova Scotia, but five of the nine men comprising the crews escaped, apparently with slight injury.

    The four men killed were Fli.-Lt. W.S.L. Smallman, R.A.F., the pilot; Sgt. S. Street, another Briton; Sgt. Observer G.T.S. Woodham, Huronville, Sask., and A.C. G.J. Elliott, Calgary, wireless operator.

    Information from various sources indicated that a plane out of Pennfield on night maneuvers over Nova Scotia lost its bearings and ran out of fuel. The five men aboard bailed out and landed safely, although one of them, Sgt. J.H. McKay, sustained a fractured arm when he struck the tail in getting out.

    Shortly afterwards other planes set out from Pennfield to search for the missing machine. One of them sighted a bonfire set in a gravel pit near Liverpool by F.O.J. Barneson, pilot of the missing plane, evidently swooped down to signal, and crashed into an orchard at Beech Hill, six miles from Liverpool. The four occupants were instantly killed and the plane was destroyed by fire. The wreckage of the first plane was also found near Beach Hill. The two crashes followed one another within an hour before dawn Monday.

    The five who escaped by parachute were: F.O.J. Barneson, San Francisco, the pilot; Sgt. J.H. McKay, Montreal; Sgt. D.J. Robertson, Cornwall, Ont.; Sgt. J. Martin, Forestburg, Alta.; and A.C. D.B. Douglas, Belleville, Ont.

SOURCE: The Saint Croix Courier (St. Stephen, NB) - August 28, 1941.

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