Jepson, Reginald Andrew Bown
Personal Information
Rank | Sgt |
Forename(s) | Reginald Andrew Bown |
Surname | Jepson |
Gender | M |
Age | 20 |
Decorations | |
Date of Death | 19-07-1943 |
Next of Kin | Son of Capt. Reginald Jepson and Edith May Jepson, of Derby. |
Aircraft Information
Aircraft | Vickers Wellington IC |
Serial Number | DV455 |
Markings |
Memorial Information
Burial/Memorial Country | United Kingdom |
Burial/Memorial Place | Derby (Nottingham Road) Cemetery |
Grave Reference | Sec. F. Grave 2484. |
Epitaph | FRESH FROM HIS TRAINING YOUNG AND KEEN HE CAME INTO GOD'S ARMS HE FLEW |
IBCC Memorial Information
Phase | 1 |
Panel Number | 55 |
Enlistment Information
Service Number | 1575100 |
Service | Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve |
Group | 93 |
Squadron | 28 OTU |
Trade | WOp/AG |
Country of Origin | United Kingdom |
Miscellaneous Information
Chill initially escaped with minor injuries but went back into the inferno in an attempt to save his wife. Clothes alight, he then ran down towards Plas Llanfigael where he was treated by the woman of the house, Mrs Grace Pritchard, and by Ernest Naish, a naval officer, and son of a local farmer, home on leave. Naish rushed Chill by car to Valley Hospital where he died the next day. The Chills, husband and wife, are buried at Bodedern. |
By sheer coincidence, a Vampire T11 jet from RAF Valley crashed at the same spot on the 24th of April, 1961. |
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Last Operation Information
Start Date | 19-07-1943 |
End Date | 19-07-1943 |
Takeoff Station | Castle Donington |
Day/Night Raid | Day |
Operation | Training- navigation exercise |
Reason for Loss | Total failure of the port engine followed by a fire caused the crew to bail out but tragically Sgt Jepson's parachute became detached and he fell to his death. The aircraft landed in a field at Tyddyn Watcyn near Bodedern on Anglesey and, ablaze, skewed across a road and struck a blue Morris car containing the local doctor (Dr. Mark William Chill, 60), his wife Marjory and his mother in law. |