WELCOME TO
THE COMMONWEALTH
WAR AND SERVICE GRAVES
AT SCAMPTON CHURCH
During the Second World War there was a Royal Air Force Station at Scampton, and in the early months of the war a plot of land lying to the right of the church entrance was set aside for the burial of servicemen.
In 1941 it became necessary to reserve further ground for this purpose and a plot in an extension of the churchyard north of the church was used. The war graves in this burial ground are therefore in two sections and these are linked by a footpath. The war graves contain those who flew with the Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force and Royal New Zealand Air Force, as well as the German Luftwaffe.
Every year Scampton Church receives hundreds of visitors who come to wander up and down the rows of headstones, stopping to read the names and are saddened by the loss of so many young men.
Research by Flt Lt Gary Mennell of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight has documented the personal stories of each service personnel buried here. Flt Lt Mennell and members of Scampton Church Family are still searching for more information about their lives, and photographs that will put a face to the name which is engraved on their headstone. We realise that this may take a long time, but we hope to encourage you to take part. These men deserve to be remembered. Run the cursor over the names below to follow the links to the research so far.
If you would like to help out with this project then please contact us. The National Churches Trust has included Scampton Church in its ‘Lincolnshire Remembers’ project which is associated with the International Bomber Command Centre, Lincoln. They also awarded the project the ‘Open for Visitors Award’ for the UK.
We always welcome new information to add to the stories of those remembered at Scampton Church – please get in touch if you feel that you can help.
Scampton Church is on the West Lindsey Aviation Heritage Trail. You can download the full trail HERE.
COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES AND SERVICE GRAVES
Scampton Churchyard contains 64 Commonwealth and eight German war graves from the Second World War, and a further 38 post-war graves of personnel who died on active service.
The graphic above shows the layout of the war graves and post-war service graves as seen from above.
The Commonwealth War Graves, German war graves, and post-war services graves are grouped together in separate lists, below. Each name is a link to a page to learn more about the person remembered. Where graves are numbered, this is included after the name. Abbreviations after the names correspond with those marked on the graphic, and relate to the graves’ position within the churchyard. Please note that grave 8 contains the remains of two German airmen.
Sergeant John Hannah V.C. is not buried at Scampton Church but a memorial can be found within the Rose Garden (R.G.) to the left of the path up to the church, opposite the Cenotaph.
CLICK THE NAMES BELOW TO FIND OUT MORE
Commonwealth War Graves
German War Graves
Post-War Service Graves
(RAF)
Royal Air Force
(RAAF)
Royal Australian Air Force
(RNZAF)
Royal New Zealand Air Force
(RCAF)
Royal Canadian Air Force
(LW)
Lufwaffe
(KOYLI)
King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
Find more information about the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A TALE OF TWO JUNKERS 88’s
Underneath the large red maple tree at the front of the churchyard there are eight graves from two Junkers 88 crews. In Lincolnshire this is not unusual as having 46 airfields and being known as bomber county, it was the target of numerous German raids during the war.
What makes these two crews interesting is the story that goes with them.
The first is Junkers 88 No. 5168 Ft + BS of 9/KG76 Bomber Training Wing 4 from Griefswald in Germany and loaded with 50Kg bombs (23 being found in the wreckage). This plane was on a mission to bomb RAF Hemswell, about 4 miles North of RAF Scampton. Being picked up on radar it was tracked and shot down by RAF Scampton ground defences at 0135 on 12th May 1941. The tail unit was seen to break off and the plane burst into flames and dived into the ground.
The wreckage hit the land belonging to a farmer called Miller, he and his wife running to the site when they heard the explosion. The pilot Lieutenant Kurt Hanning died in the arms of Mrs. Mliier with all the others being killed in the explosion. Not an unusual episode in wartime Lincolnshire but what happened next is.
Five days after the crash Mr Miller was preparing to work in a field near the crash site when he spotted what he thought was a bundle of rags. On investigation it turned out to be a body and obviously from the condition it was connected with the crash. Five crew from an aeroplane that only needs four crew?. This was cause for investigation….was a spy due to be parachuted into England during the raid?
Even wartime England wasn’t short of conspiracy theory’s and the one that persists to this day is that the pilot had given his girlfriend a joy ride over England when the plane was shot down! The truth is a little more mundane but interesting. A ground crewman E.H Reidel was reported AWOL from the base the next day and it is almost certain that he took an illegal joy ride that night. That’s why there are two names on one of the gravestones for this plane.
The second Junkers 88 met its end on 4th March 1945. This date is known as ‘the night of the intruders’. A force of 200 Junkers 88’s of the Luftwaffe Night Fighter Destroyer Group flew at wave top height making landfall between the Thames estuary and the North East of Yorkshire and undetected by radar. Their mission – to intercept bombers returning to base at the end of their flights and shoot them down.
This Junkers 88, piloted by Sgt. Heirech Conze, started the night ‘well’ by intercepting a Lancaster over Langworth (about five miles east of Lincoln) and shooting it down. He then proceeded to look for other targets, getting away from Langworth, as he knew RAF Mosquito night fighters could now be on their way.
A funeral with full military honours for the crew of a plane at Scampton Village church. Pilot Kurt Hanning, gunner Wilhelm Hansen, wireless operator Johannes Dietrich and bomb aimer Helmut Wimmender died in the crash in May 1941.
About two miles east of RAF Scampton he spotted a car’s headlights, even though they were hooded, and dived to strafe it. Not realising that there were telegraph poles and wires at the side of the road, the plane hit them and then collided with the car, throwing it two fields away. The car driver and the crew of the plane were killed instantly.
What makes this story interesting is that the car driver, Observer Jack P. Kelway, was going on duty when he was killed, making him the only member of the Royal Observer Corps to be killed on a active service. Jack’s grave is only a few miles away from the graves of the crew that killed him, at Newport Cemetery, Lincoln.
A Plan of the trees in Scampton churchyard.
CENOTAPH
Cross of Sacrifice raised in Scampton Churchyard dedicated July 1950 for the 68 aircrew killed in 1939-45 war.
Dedicated by the Bishop of Lincoln unveiled by Air Marshal Sir Hugh Walmsley KCIE CB CBE MC DFC – Stn Cdr RAF Scampton in 1940.
THE SCAMPTON MYSTERY
Could it be possible that in the early days of the Second World War, that the Scampton village rector and an RAF officer, both members of Sir Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, be in league with the enemy and be passing secrets to the Germans?
SLIGHTLY BELOW THE GLIDE PATH
A book relating to the white military headstones in the churchyard is available from local bookshops and online retailers: ‘Slightly Below the Glide Path – RAF Scampton’ by Brian Mennell and Gary Mennell. Fox 3 Publishing York. ISBN 978 0 9566319 0 9.
Find more information about the work of the National Lottery Heritage Fund.