Photo Brian Chandler
The badly eroded headstone reads:
In proud and ?remembrance
Our . . . beloved son
Sergeant Observer William
(Bill) Charlton, R.A.F.
Killed on active service
December 22nd 1942
Aged 20 years.
Sgt. Charlton was serving with 26 O.T.U. He was a crew member of Wellington IC Z8950 which took off on a night bombing training exercise. The aircraft was involved in a mid-air collision with another Wellington in Buckinghamshire. All crew were killed.
Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses Volume 7: Operational training Units 1940-1947; W.R. Chorley; 2002; Midland Publishing; ISBN 1 85780 132 6
He is remembered in Fenham on F31.22
