578 (Burn) Squadron memorial - Carpenters Wood (Maidenhead, Berkshire)
On the 18th July 1944, 578 (Burn) Squadron took part in a dawn attack on five fortified villages on the east coast of Caen. The Squadron provided 21 aircraft for this raid which was tasked to soften enemy troop concentrations prior to an assault by British Second Army ground forces with armoured support.
Intense anti-aircraft fire was encountered and crews reported seeing four heavy bombers erupting in flames and crashing to the ground. All but one of the 21 aircraft from 578 Squadron landed at Burn airfield.
Halifax LK-Q, known as “Q for Queenie”, after being airborne for little over an hour, caught fire in the vicinity of the starboard inner engine. Attempts to control the blaze were not successful and the pilot ordered the crew to abandon the stricken bomber. Unfortunately the speed of events was so great that only the rear gunner was able to bale out before the aircraft turned upside down, broke into two pats and fell vertically to the ground in Carpenters Wood near Maidenhead. The impact explosion was so great that the bodies of those left on board were never found. The names of those who lost their lives are recorded at the Royal Air Force Memorial to the Missing at Runnymede.
Sergeant Hugh Sloan, the rear gunner, was the sole survivor of this tragedy. The remaining crew who lost their lives were:
Pilot Officer Jan Frederick Fink (Navigator aged 26)
Flight Sergeant Ivor Morgan (Bomb Aimer aged 20)
Pilot Officer Lloyde Hinson Hopper (Canadian Wireless Operator aged 24)
Sergeant Gerald Thomas Nicholson (Flight Engineer aged 20)
Flight Sergeant John Edward Clague (Mid-upper Gunner)
Some 10 years after the original memorial was unveiled, 155 (Maidenhead) Squadron ATC have been working to remove the old wooden memorial and place a more substantial permanent memorial next to the main crater in Carpenters Wood. This is due to be unveiled in October 2008. Cadets and staff from the unit will be working onsite at the woods to also tidy the area in fitting with the memorial to honour those who lost their lives.
Hugh Cawdren with the assistance of 587 Burn Association managed to trace the crash site in the spring of 1988. There are still three large craters, the largest being 15 feet deep and 100 feet across in the heavy wooded land owned by the Woodland Trust. A memorial to those who perished onboard “Q for Queenie” was unveiled on 18th July 1998, conducted by the Chaplain in Chief of the Royal Air Force and the Maidenhead Rabbi. Also in attendance were 578 Sqn veterans, Air Force representatives, the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and members of 155 (Maidenhead) Squadron Air Training Corps.