Happy landings for chopper downed by weather
An incident in which a helicopter force landed in bad visibility in Shropshire may have happened over 50 years ago, but it is still well remembered by some older Shropshire Star readers.
The other day we carried pictures from Mr Ron Gill of Buildwas who was trying to find out more about what had happened. As his late mother Mabel appeared in one of the shots, the assumption was that it was somewhere in the Buildwas area.
But it turns out to have happened near Lawley crossroads on February 7, 1963.
John Morris, who lives these days in the Cumbrian village of Ings, happened to see the pictures in the Star while on a visit back to his Shropshire haunts.
"The picture was taken in Lawley Village, and the house on the extreme left is where my late parents lived, and my brother still lives.
"Although there were lots of other fields which would have been much better for it to land in, for some reason it landed in a field next to my parents' house.
"There was very thick fog and wintry weather and I think they had lost all visibility. Somehow or other they managed to miss all the telephone and electricity cables."
The landing spot was in a field opposite what used to be known as Ralph's Garage.
"I'm 66 now and I remember it being guarded by RAF personnel for a couple of days. It was all planned for it to take off one morning, and there were police and fire engines there, but the weather was bad again and it didn't go. Next day the weather improved and with nobody there, off it went."
John's parents were Alfred and Martha Morris.
"When it landed my parents commented on the noise it made, and when it took off they commented on the excessive down draught."
Also ringing in was "Terry", from Gateshead, who preferred not to give his surname.
"It was at Lawley crossroads. I'm not sure whether it landed because of engine trouble or fog. I spoke to the pilot and he was telling me about it. It landed in a very small space, with open fields around. The site is right opposite the old road which went to Horsehay.
"I'm 76 and was living at Glendale in Lawley, and was catching the bus to work. I didn't see it happen, but walked up at 10 to 10 as I had to catch the 10am bus, and it was there in this little green patch, like a lawn."
Also getting in touch recalling the incident was Derek Badham, of Spring Village.
Mr Gill has been doing some detective work to find out what ultimately became of that helicopter, XP 398, and the news is not good. Until 2013 it was at Gatwick Aviation Museum, which passed it on to another small museum which could only afford to bring one of its Westland Whirlwind helicopters up to display condition.
"Our helicopter was the worst of the two, and went to the scrapyard," said Mr Gill.
Readers' information enabled us to find a report in the Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News of the 1963 incident. It said the pilot was Flying Officer Bleaden, from RAF Odiham, and the helicopter was travelling from Lyneham to Hawarden, carrying two crew and four RAF passengers, when it became penned in by low clouds and he decided to land.
Flying Officer Bleaden said he was in familiar countryside, having trained at RAF Tern Hill.
The chopper landed near the village post office and the paper said postmistress Mrs K. Owen entertained them to cups of tea and refreshments.
