Suffolk, England

An aviation story with a bit of irony attached to it.............

I was always aware of a story my father told me as a young lad where he was stationed at RAF Hawkinge near Folkestone in Kent in 1930 as an Aircraft Fitter IIE, he was 22 years of age.

On October the 5th 1930 the giant airship the R101  left its mooring at Cardington to fly to Karachi on its maiden overseas voyage unfortunately the R101 crashed at Beauvais in Northern France, 48 of the passengers and crew died. The Secretary of State for Air Lord Thomson was one of those that perished, 8 of those on board survived the initial crash but one died later from his injuries.

One of those on board was Squadron Leader Michael Rope he was the Assistant to The Head of the Design Committee and Assistant Designer for the construction of the R101, Michael was one of those that did not survive and The Church of The Holy Family and St Michael was erected at Kesgrave, Suffolk as a memorial.

My father Joseph [Joe]  Cooper was detailed along with many others to take the next available ferry from Folkestone to Boulogne, this was one of the nearest bases to the scene of the RAF crash of R101. His task was to recover the bodies of those that perished and repatriate them back to the UK

The coffins lay in state at Westminster Hall at the Palace of Westminster. On October 11th 1930 a memorial service was held at St Paul's Cathedral, the coffins were taken to Cardington village for interment. A monument was later erected in the churchyard. I visited the graveyard at the Cardington hangars many years ago but I did not know the significance of Kesgrave and Michael Rope at that time until I moved to Kesgrave some 15 years ago and living within half a mile of St Michael's Church  

http://www.comberenterprises.co.uk/apps/WikkaKCW/KesgraveHistoryR101

One of the newer stained glass windows