Ten years after campaign began, memorial for NAAFI women moves closer to installation

A MEMORIAL to six women killed in a plane crash at RAF Aldergrove may be installed in the coming weeks after it emerged that a site had been cleared.

On 19 July 1941 a Bristol Blenheim aircraft from 254 Squadron was involved in a fatal crash at RAF Aldergrove when it struck a wireless mast during a low level flight and crashed into the roof of the NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes) building before bursting into flames.

All three airmen on board were killed, as was another airman, who had been walking nearby, and six civilian women working in the building.

Wartime enthusiast Andy Glenfield, from the WW2 in Northern Ireland website, has been campaigning for a memorial to the women for many years and has been working with UUP councillor and Antrim Royal British Legion chairman Paul Michael on the issue.

It was finally agreed at the December 2023 Community Planning Committee meeting of Antrim and Newownabbe Borough Councik to erect a memorial at Killead commemorating the six civilians killed in the air crash at RAF Aldergrove on 19 July 1941, subject to approval of the memorial design.

A meeting of the committee viewed a proposed design in early 2024.

A budget of £1,000 was approved at the December 2023 Community Planning Committee meeting for the creation and installation of this memorial.

When the crash happened, some airmen who were drilling on the parade grounds in preparation for a funeral were horrifically burned.

While the military casualties have been remembered with full trappings, no monument has ever been erected to the women who died.

They were Margaret Castles, Elizabeth Osborne, Brigid McGarry from The Largy, Crumlin, Mary Mulholland from Aldergrove, Annie Watson and Annie V. S. Crozier.

Mr Glenfield has been in contact with the NAAFI, Royal Air Force Association, RAF Benevolent Fund and the Northern Ireland War Memorial to try and arrange a memorial for the women, but so far has met with closed doors.

However last in 2023, Andy met with former Mayor Paul Michael, who said he would do all he could to secure backing and funding for a permanent place for the women to be remembered.

The pair met back in 2021 at a special service to unveil a memorial in Mallusk to one of the many Polish airmen who lost their lives here during the Second World War.

Mr Michael was also instrumental in having a memorial stone erected in Killead for Crimean war hero and Victoria Cross recipient Charles McCurry.

Andy explained: “The NAAFI girls were at work just like the rest of those killed, doing their bit and supporting the war effort, yet they have been forgotten about and it’s not right.

“They were women from all over Northern Ireland, from both communities, working together, looking forward to their day, and then this happens and their lives were gone.

“They should be remembered in the same way as the servicemen who died.

“Some of these women have little more than a flower pot on their graves and many of their families are dead and gone, so it is up to us to make sure that people know their names.”

The baton has since been taken up by the council’s Veteran’s Champion, Alison Bennington, who has been pushing for progress on the issue.

It is now understood that a section of roadside near Killead village has been cleared in preparation for installation, which could happen in the coming weeks.

On the day in question, in the NAAFI, the women were clearing up after a busy tea break. In the nearby 23 Maintenance Unit Hangar, the Ground Defence Force was drilling – they were practising a funeral march.

And in the blue skies above, a Mark 4 Bristol Blenheim was returning to Aldergrove in formation with two others.

On approaching the airfield, one of the aircraft broke from the pattern, with the other two making perfect landings.

But for whatever reason, not the third, piloted by Flying Officer Walter Hargreaves King.

The plane was initially said to have clipped a mast or telegraph pole, but later reports said that it had collided with a support wire leading from the Squadron Commander’s flag pole.

The Blenheim skimmed the Aldergrove Road with just feet to spare - with one airman dying immediately from devastating injuries as he walked along the road, right in front of a horrified eight-year-old boy who lived next to the facility.

With the wings said to have been shorn off, what remained of the plane then went hurtling straight into the roof of the NAAFI building.

When the fuel tanks of the aircraft burst, the burning fuel set the building alight, killing some of those women and injuring a number of others.

Wreckage was thrown into the hangar where the Ground Defence Force was drilling and 13 casualties were sustained, including one fatality.

The three crew members of the aircraft, Flying Officer King along with Sergeant Philip Evans Neale, and Sergeant Richard Edward Lea, who was only 18-years-old, were killed along with six women who worked in the NAAFI and one airman, Aircraftman First Class Clifford Henry Hore, who was 20.

The pilot’s body was found fifty yards from the impact site.

David Whiteside was that eight-year-old boy, riding his bike around his yard next to the airfield.

A few years ago, he told the Antrim Guardian about his memories of the incident. David said he saw the aircraft swing to the left, flying across the Aldergrove Road at three to four feet, killing the airman walking on the road, then flew into the NAAFI.

“I was 200 yards away,” he said, and witnessed the airman being killed.

“I remember that the flames were horrific and the scene was just bedlam for the rest of the day, and for days afterwards.”

A few months later, his cousin John Lavery also spoke to the Antrim Guardian about his memories of the crash.

“My mother and brother and I had been down at her hen house behind the house, watching this plane go up and around and turn, over and over again, going very low. All of a sudden we heard a bang and saw black smoke.” he said.

“The story was that the pilot had been showing off and hit the flagpole,” said John.

“The two local girls I remember dying were called McGarry and Mulholland.

“My mother was beside herself when she heard that the canteen had been hit because we had a neighbour called Nancy O’Hanlon who worked there.

“She was eventually brought home in a lorry at about two o’clock and everyone was so pleased to see her. The crash happened just before everyone would have been heading in for their tea, otherwise a lot more would have been killed.

“(Nancy) had been up in her room getting her hair dickied-up when the crash happened and the mirror shattered in front of her.”

The Aldergrove Operations Record Book reads: “The plane became uncontrollable and it crashed through the roof of the NAAFI building, where the (fuel) tanks burst and set the building on fire.

“Parts of the wreckage flew in the direction of a 23 Maintenance Unit Hangar, in front of which a party of the Ground Defence Force had been drilling.

“Some of these men were hit by the wreckage, causing 13 casualties, some fatal.

“Some of the girl employees in the NAAFI were trapped in the collapse of the building and killed outright while others were injured.”

It went on to say that the pilot: “Failed to pull out of a dive on aerodrome in time to avoid obstruction. Port wing struck a telegraph pole and aircraft crashed into buildings and caught fire.

“This accident was the result of an error of judgement on the part of a comparatively inexperienced pilot. The flight was authorised for formation flying training and the dive was a breach of flying discipline. This pilot was a very quiet type and had never given cause to be suspected of dangerous flying.”

Fire tenders from Aldergrove and Nutts Corner attended and the fire was later extinguished but not before much loss of life and serious injury, while other staff at the base raced to the scene to search through the wreckage and rescue the survivors.

At the time, and unusually for civilians, Miss Castles, Miss Crozier, and Miss Watson were placed in the “Died on Active Service” column of the newspaper death notices - but nowhere else, it seems.

The bodies of the Royal Air Force fatalities were repatriated to England for burial.

The casualty file is retained by RAF, but the Air Historical Branch does not contain any details on the NAAFI girls.

The Air Council asked the NAAFI to convey its condolences to the NAAFI next-of-kin on its behalf, so no details of their names are recorded with the single exception of Miss Osborne, whose sister thanked the Air Council via the NAAFI.

One of the RAF personnel who was very badly injured was David Comer who spent over a year in hospital recovering from his injuries and suffered with his burns for the rest of his life.

His son said that his father was ‘on the ground’ marching’ when the collision took place.

On 23rd July, a Coroner’s Enquiry was held. Evidence was given that the aeroplane was in perfect mechanical order when it took off. In response to a question from a relative of one of the victims as to whether the pilot was experienced, a flying officer responded that, ‘the pilot was fully qualified to fly the machine’.

The Coroner returned a verdict of ‘accidental death’ and expressed his profound sympathy with the relatives of those who had lost their lives in the tragic accident. He also warmly commended those who had hurried to the scene to help in the rescue work.

Mr Glenfield first happened upon the case in 2015 and over the years has been in contact with the NAAFI, Royal Air Force Association, RAF Benevolent Fund and the Northern Ireland War Memorial to try and arrange a memorial for the women.

More information was gleaned from Thomas G. Docherty, the author of Ours to Hold: RAF Aldergrove at War 1939 - 1945.

Mr Glenfield says that Killead would be an ideal location for any memorial.

“I think past suggested locations were frowned upon either as a security or traffic risk, so the village sounds like a good place, away from the main road, for any sort of memorial, and it is a place rich in the history of World War Two in Northern Ireland.”