At 18.45 hours on 27th November 1940, a Bristol
Blenheim MK1V and crew of 3 took off from its 105
Squadron base at RAF Swanton Morley in Norfolk.
Ops that evening were to bomb vital industrial targets
in Koln,Germany. From that raid 5 Blenheims would
fail to return, T1884 flown by RNZAF pilot Sgt Edgar
Alfred Costello-Bowen would be one of those aircraft.
Having reached the target successfully, Sgt Costello-
Bowen and crew were now on their way home but on
arrival over England,many of the airfields were bogged
down with low cloud,including their own so it was hoped
that they could find a field further to the north to land
until they could get back to their own base.
In desperation they flew north and tried hopelessly to
find a break in the cloud, but to no avail, for their fuel
was now near exhausted and it was decided that they
would have to abandon the aircraft for face running out
totally and crashing into the ground.
It was now around 00.50 hours on the 28th November,
and young Ian Wynne of Castle Farm Matley, Nr Hyde,
Cheshire who had been woken by the drone of an
aircrafts engines overhead some 20 minutes earlier
wondered what was going on as T1884 began to circle,
its crew still trying to find out where exactly they were,
in hope of setting the plane down, or at least finding a
safe haven to bale out.
Mr Wynne takes up the story: "It was about half past
twelve when I first heard the plane, it flew low over the
house and seemed to circle a while, the engine noise
sounding near then far away, after a while it flew over
the house again and it sounded like one of the engines
was spluttering, I looked out of the window and saw it
pass straight over the hill and crash in the next field
with a dull thud" The plane had crashed in the adjoining
field and with what little fuel it had left, had burst into
flames. Mr Wynne added, "You could hear the bullets
going off and tracers were firing in the sky" The glare
from the burning aircraft could be seen for miles and
emergency services were soon at the scene, though
Oddly no sign of the crew was found.
It was later discovered that all the crew had all baled out,
Sgt Cameron over Ashton-U-Lyne and Sgts Broom and
Costello-Bowen over Stalybridge,Cheshire. In a recent
telephone conversation with Sgt Tommy Broom,now aged
90, he recalled how bad the weather was that night and
seeing the burning aircraft on the ground as he descended
by parachute. Sgt Costello-Bowen just managing to exit
shortly before the plane crashed in a field at Harrop Edge,
Mottam,Some 10 miles East of Manchester.
After the incident the crew were taken by locals to a pub
nearby, the authorities were notified,and the crew were
given free drinks & the hospitality of the proprietor,until
being picked up the following morning.
The pilot Sgt Costello-Bowen,undaunted by this went
on to fly Mosquitos and flew many a successful raid
over enemy occupied Europe, however,on 25th August
1942 he took off in Mosquito DK297 `0` for ops to bomb
a switching station at Brauweiler but hit high tension
power cables while low flying, the Mosquito crashed
through pine trees but despite this both he and his
Navigator W/O Tommy Broom survived,though Costello
-Bowen was badly injured. Broom was unconcious but
when he came around he managed to help the injured
pilot to the Belgian resistance, and both crew made it
back home via France & Spain, For his courage and
devotion to duty he Costello-Bowen now a Flight Lieut
was awarded the AFC.
Alas, his luck would turn sour in 1943. On the 9th August
while taking a test flight in Lockheed Ventura AJ454 the
aircraft was landing when it stalled and hit the ground
killing all 3 on board, F/O S.B.Abbott, Cpl F.R.Magson &
Edgar Costello-Bowen.They were all buried in Marham
Cemetery, Norfolk. Sgt Costello-Bowen had by then reached
the rank of Squadron Leader with 487 RNZAF and was highly
respected by all who knew him.
Crew of T1884:
PILOT: SGT EDGAR A. COSTELLO-BOWEN.
NAV: SGT TOMMY BROOM.
W/AG: SGT CAMERON.
Blenheim T1884 - Peak Dis.
