Charles John Clarke, of Beeston, died in Bristol when Wellington T2905 bomber crashed A MAN has launched a website to tell the story of how his Beeston grandfather died after his Second World War bomber crashed in a park in Bristol. And already he has had people coming forward to give him more information on the fatal crash. When John Clarke started researching his family tree in 2001 no one knew much about the crash in April 1941. He was shocked to find out that his grandfather, Charles John Clarke, died on a training flight which hit a barrage balloon – not when returning from a bombing raid on Germany, as he had always thought. Mr Clarke, who grew up in Stapleford but now lives in Sheffield, said: "I went to Bristol to look in the papers to find something but it wasn't reported because it was bad for morale. "I found eye-witnesses – a lady got in touch who saw it happen. It's fascinating to find all this out 60 years later; people are still getting in touch with me." He launched the website with the full story of the crash hoping people would come forward who know anything about the other five crew members of the Wellington T2905 bomber. He said: "Someone got in touch with me this week – a cousin of two people who tried to rescue them from the plane. "I didn't expect to find very much but it's snowballed, it's been fantastic." Alongside his grandfather, who was the front gunner, pilot officer Kenneth Guy Evans and wireless operator Sergeant Thomas Leonard Lever died in the crash at St Andrew's Park. Charles Clarke was almost 26 when the plane crashed, leaving behind his wife Nora Litchfield who was pregnant with their third child Patrick – and their two children Charles Arthur and Francis Peter Derek. During the war barage balloons were installed as a defence, forcing enemies to fly higher and bomb less accurately. Web site. Home page
He's done a superb job of research. The maps etc are a great help. And all the locations are about me 15 minutes from so I shall try to get to the memorial once it is up
The only problem being that the area of the crash is at a tangent from me so one has to take a very indirect route by bus. Typical Bristol
One would need to trawl through the site but it is one of the most comprehensive local WW2 sites around
My website Thanks so much guys for your appreciation of my site. Learning the code and stuff was relatively easy, but it's been hard work getting it all organised and I'm still updating it as more information comes in, so keep checking it.
