Horndean Heroes Remembered

February 7th 2020

On Tuesday 4 February several pupils from the RAF section of Churcher’s College Combined Cadet Force attended a service in Horndean, Hampshire, to dedicate a memorial to two brave Australian pilots who died in a plane crash there in the early hours of 4 February 1945 during the last few weeks of WW2.

Pilot Officer Mountford and Pilot Officer Wicky both died in the crash.

Pilot Officer Mountford and Pilot Officer Wicky, both childhood friends from Australia, had already been awarded a DFC for their role in bombing strategic sites in Europe. Leading up to the fateful crash of their Mosquito fighter plane, both men had been involved in nightly raids for weeks and were exhausted. On the night of the 4 February 1945 they were returning to their base at Thorney Island in appalling weather conditions and low on fuel when they clipped the roof of a house in Five Heads Road, ploughed through the roof of the Parish Hall opposite and finally crashed into a field behind the old Police House in Havant Road. Both men sadly perished in the crash.

Members of the two airmen's families were in attendance.

Also attending the event, which took place exactly 75 years after the tragic crash, were nine members of the young men’s families who had travelled from Australia to take part – both gave emotional speeches during the service.

Our Cadets stood to attention at the service.

The Churcher’s pupils were honoured to attend as a way of representing today’s young people and found the service both moving and impactful. Pupil Cadet Flt Sgt Jasper Browne, the RAF Section Lead Cadet, took part as the school’s flagbearer, processing the Churcher’s College standard along with representatives from other military organisations.