Search for families of Digbeth air crash victims

A research group is digging up information on a tragic crash in 1944 when a plane’s engines cut out and the aircraft plummeted into a coach station.

Lee Dent, left and Richard Pursehouse, from the Chase project, at the grave of David Huddleston in Shenstone

Three RAF crew sadly died in the crash at Digbeth coach station in Birmingham, including Sergeant Bramwell Morgan from Walsall, Pilot Officer David Huddleston from Shenstone and Flight Lieutenant Bernard James Balchin from Peterborough.

The Chase Project, a military research group, is looking for families of the two crew from the area who still live locally to share any information with them with the hope of eventually installing a plaque for them.

Member, Richard Pursehouse, said: “We would like to find relatives of the victims with the view of creating some sort of memorial plaque in Digbeth at the site.

“We have had a couple of responses and it is still within people’s lifetime so it would be interesting to see if there are still surviving family members who still live locally or maybe even further out.

“It was a major crash in Birmingham and hopefully we can rekindle memories of those who died so they are not forgotten. It is an opportunity to bring the story alive.

“It is coming up to the 75th anniversary of the crash and we would like to get something organised for next March. It is less than a year away but it will come around quickly.

Lee Dent and Richard Pursehouse are asking for help with the project

“It is a miracle that no civilians were killed so there is definitely an element of luck. Lee and myself feel really humble about it all. It is just about remembering them and because it is the centenary of the RAF, it is a simple story that needs to be put out there.

The crash happened in March a year before the end of the Second World War.

Wellington bomber of Number 105 Operations Training Unit was flying over Birmingham when it crashed after taking off from RAF Bramcote, near Nuneaton, to be converted into a transport aeroplane at RAF Castle Bromwich.

Shortly before midnight a faulty fuel system caused both engines to cut out and the aeroplane began to plummet towards the blacked-out city below.

Officer Huddleston was aged 34 when he died and he lived in Shenstone, near Lichfield. He had worked in the Birmingham offices of the Alliance Assurance Company, barely half a mile from the scene of the crash.

Sergeant Morgan, the son of Benjamin and Hannah Morgan of Walsall, was 23 and Flight Lieutenant Balchin was 27.

Anyone with information has been asked to email thechaseproject@gmail.com