Located in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Brownstown Charter Township, Michigan, this memorial is dedicated to two groups of Royal Air Force airmen, one from the 1940's and the second from the 1958 bomber crash. The memorial was placed by the The Royal Canadian Legion Downriver Post 92
The first group mentioned on the memorial is 11 RAF student pilots killed during the Second World War in training accidents at nearby
Naval Air Station Grosse Ile. These occurred in accidents spanning 1942-1944. Killed were Albert C. Summers, Robert Walker, Keith M. Hoare, Reginald J. Stephens, R.G. Ingouville, Arnold H. Tulloch, Derek R. Stewart, Arthur R. Turner, David S. Parker, Harry Threadgold, and WIlliam T.G. Pridmore.
The second dedication is to the six man crew of a
Avro Vulcan. On 24 October 1958, Vulcan B.1 XA908 of No. 83 Squadron crashed east of Detroit, Michigan, USA. A complete electrical failure occurred around 30,000 ft (9,100 m). The backup system should have provided 20 minutes of emergency power, allowing XA908 to reach one of several airports in the area, but backup power lasted only three minutes due to a short circuit in the service busbar, locking the controls. Bound for Lincoln AFB in Nebraska, XA908 went into a steep dive before crashing, leaving a forty-foot (12 m) crater in the ground, which was later excavated while retrieving wreckage. Despite extensive property damage, there were no ground fatalities, only one person on the ground was hospitalized. All six crew members were killed, including the co-pilot, who had ejected. The co-pilot's ejection seat was found in Lake St Clair, but his body was not recovered until the following spring. Those killed in the crash were H.J. Scull, B. Peacock, J.D. Watson, J.W. Moore, A.D. Baker, and E.C. Evison.
The memorial consists of gray stone small monolith with black lettering. There are five flagpoles but only the southern most has a flag, that of the United States. In line with the flagpoles are the graves of the airmen who died in World War II training. Just to the west is the 6 graves of those killed in the Vulcan accident. Each of the headstones is flanked by an American and British flag. The inscription reads:
The Royal Canadian Legion
Downriver Post 92
U.S.A.
Dedicated 2010
In honor of the 11
British airmen killed
While training at the
Grosse Ile N.A.S. 1942-1944
And 6 R.A.F. crew of a
Vulcan bomber killed on a
Goodwill tour from
Lincoln England to
Lincoln Nebraska,
The year of 1958
Lest we forget
Reprint of the original
Detroit Free Press article.