WWII Wellington Bomber Multi-Cache
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Size: 
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Least we should forget……..
I think there are a lot of locals who are not even aware of this place or its sad history.
This simple multi-cache takes you to the war time crash site of a Wellington Bomber, BK517, just to the West of Bodicote. No trace of the bomber remains but a memorial to the aircrew that lost their lives has now been erected to mark the spot.
It was not only during bombing missions that planes and crews were lost. Even experienced pilots could run into trouble on training exercises, due to mechanical failure, or poor weather conditions.
One such crash occurred in December of 1942, and involved a Wellington bomber which most likely took off from Atherstone-on-Stour, flying a routine 25 minute air test, with an experienced pilot and five other crew members aboard.
For reasons which will never be fully understood, the bomber hit an elm tree and crashed into a valley to the west of Bodicote church. Wellington BK517 was part of 23 Operational Training Unit. The parent unit was based at Pershore in Worcestershire, with a satellite airfield at Stratford (Atherstone-on-Stour), 30 miles north-west of Banbury.
On that fateful Monday in December 1942, the Wellington was being piloted by Flying Officer John Gordon Byrne 112527, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He was a 22-year-old Flying Instructor and was 'screened' (i.e. had already participated in military operations). The flight was described on the aircraft accident card as an Air Test (Medical) which suggests that F/O Byrne was demonstrating that he was medically fit to fly.
There is no record as to why the Wellington ran into difficulties. However, shortly before midday the aircraft was seen by a schoolboy and his mother in Bodicote, flying very low from the south-east, with one engine apparently smoking. It was not unusual for bombers to be seen flying very fast and very low over the village, but on this occasion the schoolboy saw the Wellington hit an elm tree, losing a wing and then crashing into a valley just beyond. When he got down to the crash site he saw a pile of wreckage which was still on fire, and the bodies of several airmen.
We will never know for certain what caused Wellington BK517 to crash that December morning. The death certificates of Jack Thompson McDonald and William McMillan, both registered in Banbury, state that their deaths were due to "War Operations". It is certainly a tragedy that these young men came from all around the UK, in fact all the way from Canada in the case of Jack McDonald, only to die in a field in Bodicote, miles from home. However, if the aircraft was for some reason in difficulties, it is worth remembering that they would have flown over the houses and shops of Bodicote village just seconds before the crash; the death toll that morning could potentially have been far higher. Perhaps the last thoughts of the crew of BK517 were for those below them on the ground.
70 years after this fatal crash a memorial stone and plaque were erected at the crash site.
There is no public footpath to the memorial but access can be gained via a small bridge and gate at N52 01.993 W001 20.112 followed by walking along the edge of the field
(Information on the crash gleaned from the Banbury War Memorial and Oxford Mail web sites)
The coordinates of the final cache can be calculated by answering some simple questions while you are at the memorial and applying the results to the following
N52 0(b-d).(c+e)c(a+d) W001 20.e(c-d-a)b
where
a - The number of caged trees
b - The number of airmen who lost their lives in the crash
c - The Wellington crashed on the 2Cth December 1942
d - The number of words in the second line of text on the memorial
e - The number of grey/blue plaques on the memorial stone
Now go find that cache
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
50pz nobir tebhaq yriry
Treasures
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