Joseph Paul Ernest's Story.
Joseph Paul Ernest Burke was born in West Bathurst, NB, Canada on 24th April 1924 to parents William and Hermine Burke. Prior to joining the RCAF he worked as a time clerk. He joined up on 19th December 1942 and trained as a Wireless Operator Air Gunner in Canada before moving to the United Kingdom for advanced training. He arrived in the United Kingdom on 18 April 1944 and was assigned to 22 OTU on 22 August 1944 for bomber training in Wellington aircraft. On 20th November 1944 Joseph was killed when Wellington MF509 that he was flying in crashed into the Brecon Becons during a night flying exercise after suffering from engine trouble.The Accident.
On the Monday afternoon of the 20th the crew of MF509, were briefed for a navigation exercise on another dull and wet day going into the evening. They took off from RAF Stratford at 19.26 hours to conduct the night-time cross country navigation training exercise along with two other Wellingtons, these were MF505 and LN460.
Shortly before 20.50 hrs They had flown into shower clouds and accumulated an ice layer. Unable to maintain height with this additional load and the Starboard engine causing problems with power, the crew sent a radio message asking permission to go below cloud as they were having problems maintaining height. Permission was granted.
As they descended over the mountains of the Brecon Beacons their aircraft flew into the Southwest slope of Carreg Goch and carried on up the slight hill, breaking up along the way until finally coming to a stop and finally bursting into flames.
The alert was raised soon afterwards when the radio calls from control went unanswered. With the help of local people from Craig y Nos, the RAF rescue team reached the site that night to hopefully to rescue any survivors. Instead, all they could do was to recover the bodies.
Group Photo
Accident Report 1
Accident Report 2
Accident Report 3
Accident Report 4
Court of Enquiry 1
Court of Enquiry 2
Copurt of Enquiry 3
Crash Site Memorial
Crash Site
Crash Site plaque