The crash of RAF Liberator KH126 on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset. Those lost commemorated by a memorial in Hare Lane near Castle Neroche.

This month sees the anniversary of the tragic crash of Liberator KH126 belonging to 53 Squadron, RAF Transport Command.  At 1000 hours on 22nd November 1945 the aircraft took off in foggy weather from RAF Merryfield, a wartime airfield just north of Ilminster in South Somerset, only to crash a few miles away at Hare Lane on the Blackdown Hills near Castle Neroche.  The Liberator did not gain enough height to clear the hills which at the area of impact reach a height of 930 ft.  

On board the four-engine long-range aircraft were the 5 RAF crew members, 4 of whom were Polish, and 22 Army personnel returning to India after leave.  There were no survivors.

Three of the Polish airmen are buried in CWGC graves in Ilminster’s cemetery on the western slopes of Beacon Hill. They are Pilot Officer Stanislaw Kleybor DFC, aged 25, the navigator; Flight Lieutenant Leopold Mielecki, aged 34, the pilot; Sergeant Jan Brzezinski, aged 25, the flight engineer. 

Flying Officer Antoni Wize, the wireless operator, was the fourth Polish crew member.  He is buried in Newark-on-Trent.  The British crew member was Flying Officer Gordon Jenkins Myers, the co-pilot, who lies at rest in Armley Hill Top Cemetery, Leeds.

Ilminster's cemetery on the western slopes of Beacon Hill.  The distinctive CWGC headstones mark the final resting place of Stanislaw Kleybor, Leopold Mielecki, and Jan Brzezinski.

The view from Ilminster's cemetery toward the Blackdown Hills.  Castle Neroche is on the skyline in the centre of the picture. 

Of the Army casualties, 5 were buried in Yeovil with full military honours.  They were Major Harry William Gilbert Staunton, aged 37, and Lieutenant Peter Biles, aged 22, both of the Indian Army Medical Corps together with 3 members of the Royal Corps of Signals - Ronald Oswin Anderson aged 22, Owen Williams aged 19 and Robert Charles Anderson aged 19.  Unfortunately I could find no verifiable or detailed information for the other 17 fatalities. 

Earlier this year I visited the memorial stone which commemorates those lost in this appalling accident.  It is best to walk from the ample and well signposted Forestry Commission car park at Castle Neroche.  On leaving the car park turn left and then left again into Hare Lane, but take care as although the narrow lanes might appear to be quiet they are used by cars and milk tanker lorries.  I saw one tanker which took up the entire width of an extremely narrow stretch of Hare Lane – be aware!  The memorial is a few minutes’ walk down the lane near two gates to your right. The view from the gates gives an impression of how high on the Blackdown Hills the crash site is.  Apparently the wreckage from the Liberator was spread over fields either side of the lane.

The view from the gateway near the memorial in Hare Lane.

The memorial commemorating those lost on RAF Liberator KH126 is beside the tree on the verge of Hare Lane.  Wreaths of poppies are visible in this picture. 

The memorial commemorating those lost on RAF Liberator KH126 on 22nd November 1945.

Even though it is in such an isolated spot the memorial is obviously visited by those paying their respects as I found wreaths and poppies had been laid around it.

Update 20 March 2022.

I recently came upon a document on-line which contains newspaper articles, RAF accident reports, eyewitness statements, and a full list of the tragedy’s victims.  It is a most informative document and very well worth reading.  The link is below.

12.pdf (vanishedlives.uk)