Gardner, Frank Steight Died

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Personal Information

Rank F/L
Forename(s) Frank Steight
Surname Gardner
Gender M
Age 29
Date of Death 24-02-1938
Next of Kin Son of William S. Gardner and Lucy Gardner (née Kearny), of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
GARDNER FS

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Vickers Wellesley
Serial Number K7734
Markings

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Australia
Burial/Memorial Place Sandgate Cemetery, Newcastle, NSW
Grave Reference (Memorial plaque on father's grave)

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase Pre-War
Panel Number PRE (not yet erected on site)

Enlistment Information

Service Royal Air Force
Group 1
Squadron LRDU
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin Australia

Other Memorials

Location Bawtry Hall, Bawtry, South Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Marble Tablet
Memorial Text In memory of those who did not return 1939 - 1945

Miscellaneous Information

Orkney Herald, 2 March 1938: Bomber Disappears on Flight to Orkney There is still no news of the R.A.F plane, a Vickers Wellesley bomber with three occupants, which disappeared on Thursday morning while making for Orkney on a 16,000-mile non stop flight round Britain. The machine set out from Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire on Wednesday night, and its position was logged by wireless. Its last signal was at 7.15 a.m. on Thursday from a position near Braemar on its way to Orkney. R.A.F. machines have made systematic search flights, and were seen over Orkney on Saturday. Pilots on the air lines operating to Orkney, and local coastguards have been asked to keep a look out for traces of the machine.
Born 1909. His father William was born in Worcester, UK in 1864 and his mother Lucy was born 1874 in Wellingrove, NSW, Australia.
His second given name may have been spelled Stait. In some instances it is quoted as part of his surname, i.e. Stait-Gardner, although his memorial plaque does not bear either aspect out.

Fellow Servicemen

Please note that this list gives all the losses aboard the quoted aircraft and occasionally these may have occurred on an earlier date when the aircraft was not itself lost. Please check the dates of death carefully.

Name Outcome
Thomson G J D (F/O) Died
Higgs G (Sgt) Died

Last Operation Information

Start Date 24-02-1938
End Date 24-02-1938
Takeoff Station Upper Heyford
Day/Night Raid Day
Operation Endurance test flight
Reason for Aircraft Loss Takeoff 2350 hrs. Flew to Lands End and then up the west coast and across to Orkney before following the east coast southwards. At 0800hrs a message was received saying they were 50 miles easy of Wick. Nothing more was heard. Despite a massive search operation, the aircraft was never found. On 1st March an oil slick was seen off the coast of Caithness and two oil drums washed ashore that were thought to have come from K7734. On 22 March a tail wheel washed ashore at Karmo near Stavanger which was positively identified as coming from K7734 from its serial number
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Casualty Pack

IBCC is delighted to introduce a unique facility to link the Losses Database to the relevant RAF Casualty Pack on the National Archives website. This project is the result of on-going collaboration between IBCC, the MOD Records Office and National Archives, Kew. This document describes what Casualty Packs are, when they were created, the process of making them available to the public and then goes on to describe the process by which you can view the contents of the packs. Casualty Packs (CPs) were created by the RAF whenever there was serious injury or loss of life associated with operational activity within the RAF. This includes operational flying losses, enemy action due to air raids, road accidents either on station or even off-station if they involved RAF vehicles. Deaths due to natural causes in service or accidents that did not involve RAF vehicles did not generally give rise to a CP.

CPs were originally given a unique reference number by the RAF. Each begins with the letter ‘P’ and is followed by six digits, then an oblique (forward slash) and the finally the year in which the incident took place- for example P396154/42.

The CPs are in the process of being made available to the general public as they are passed from the MOD Records Office, Portsmouth to National Archives, Kew. This process requires some rework to the files which is very time consuming, so the process of making them all available to National Archives will take several years. They are being made available in increasing date order.

Once CPs arrive at National Archives they are assigned a unique AIR81 number, so each CP has both a P-number and an AIR81 number. Both are searchable on the National Archives website under ‘Search the catalogue’ and both are included on the IBCC website.

The AIR81 reference on the IBCC website is a link to the file on the National Archives website. When you click on it, the relevant page will open in a new tab on your browser.

There is currently no plan to digitise AIR81 files, partly because they are fragile and partly because the information they contain can at times be sensitive, even harrowing, since they may contain exhumation reports and even photographs of corpses. Family members wishing to read the AIR81 files relating to their ancestors are advised to exercise caution and be guided by National Archives warnings where appropriate.

There are two means for accessing AIR81 files- to attend in person or to order a copy by post.

To attend in person, the attendee should first create a Reader’s Ticket. This can be done online by following this link: https://secure.nationalarchives.gov.uk/login/yourdetails. Then click on the AIR81 reference on the IBCC website and click Order in Advance. Enter your Reader’s Ticket number and state the date on which you intend to visit. National Archives will have the file ready for you when you arrive, saving you time. When you visit Kew, you must quote the Reader’s Ticket number and take along two forms of ID- one bearing your signature and one bearing your address. When you view the files, you are permitted to take photographs of each page, should you wish.

Alternatively, if you wish to order a copy by post, please be aware that there is a charge for this service based on the number of pages in the file. Click on the AIR81 reference on the IBCC website and then click Request a Copy. There is an £8.40 charge for National Archives staff to access the file and give you a quotation for the copying service. The process takes around 24 days to complete and can be expensive.

IBCC wishes to thank the staff at the MOD Records Office and National Archives for their engagement and assistance in making this facility available to our website users.