wellington

The Crash of Wellington T2564 and a Tragic Connection to Brockenhurst

On the 18th of October 1942, a terrible accident happened near South Ruislip train station in Uxbridge, Middlesex, resulting in the deaths of 21 people, with a tragic and coincidental connection to the New Forest and Brockenhurst.

On that day a Vickers Wellington bomber of No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF, a Coastal Command unit based at RAF Talbenny in Pembrokeshire, was flying enroute to RAF Northolt. Wellington T2564 was on a non-operational flight and had two Czechoslovak crews onboard (one flying, one as passengers). There was also a Belgian airman onboard, also “hitching a lift” to London to go on leave. In total there were fifteen men on the Wellington.

As Wellington T2564 approached RAF Northolt from a westerly direction at about 1600 hours she was seen to have her undercarriage lowered. The pilot and captain, Bulis turned the plane steeply to port to approach RAF Northolt’s east-west runway. Witnesses then report seeing the aircraft go into a stall and vertically dive towards an area near South Ruislip station.

At 1608, a wingtip clipped a main road, flipping the aircraft over onto a waste ground near the station where children were playing. The Wellington T2564 burst into flames, the heat detonating ammunition of its .303 inch machine guns, which started firing in all directions.

Wellington T2564 wreckage
Wreckage of Wellington T2564 near Ruislip station in Uxbridge.

All 14 Czechoslovak airmen were killed, including the Belgian. This was the biggest loss of life ever suffered by No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF in one incident. 

On the ground, 6 civilians, including four children were killed. The dead were two adult mothers: sisters Phyllis Street (35) and Lily Reay (32), plus their four young daughters, Molly (12) and Beryl Street (5), and Ruth (4) and Marion Reay (18 months), all cousins playing. 

The women and children were all from Brockenhurst, they had been visiting friends that day. The funeral of the two mothers and four children of the Street and Reay families was conducted by Reverend Haslam on 24th October 1942. They were all buried in St Nicholas Churchyard, Brockenhurst, Hampshire.

graves
The graves of the Rhey and Street families in St Nicholas Churchyard, Brockenhurst. (FindaGrave)

The No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF personal on Wellington T2564 were:

Crew:

  • P/O František Bulis
  • F/Sgt John Bláha
  • F/Lt Václav Haňka
  • P/O Bedřich Gissübel
  • F/Sgt František Doležal
  • P/O-Jebáček

Passengers (associated military personnel on board):

  • F/Sgt František Stoklásek 
  • František Paclík
  • Sgt Bill Götzlinger
  • Sgt Josef Čech
  • F/Lt Václav Smart 
  • F/Sgt Josef Švec
  • P/O Anthony Bunzl
  • Sgt Vladimir Rájecki
  • P/O Georges Strauss-Leemans (Belgian)

As well as being as biggest the biggest loss of life in one incident for No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF, it was also the biggest – in a single Wellington aircraft crash, with 21 killed. 

st nicholas brockenhurst
I visited the grave at St. Nicholas Churchyard Cemetery in Brockenhurst in November 2024. I found this sheet that someone had left in remembrance of the mothers, girls, and 311 Squadron airmen.

The coincidence 

By strange and eerie coincidence, No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF, would leave their base of RAF Talbenny in Wales, six months after the crash that claimed so many of their colleague’s lives and that of 6 civilians from Brockenhurst. 

The new base for the men/ of No. 311 would be RAF Beaulieu. The airfield and accommodation area was sited just two miles from where the women and children killed at South Ruislip were buried in Brockenhurst.

grave
When I visited their resting place in November 2024, the grave was now very overgrown.

(The black and white photo in the header shows the same version of Wellington as the one from 311 Squadron that crashed at South Ruislip in 1942.)

Credits & references

  • https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/167847320/marion-reay
  • https://fcafa.com/2012/10/16/last-flight-of-wellington-t2564/

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