James McLAUGHLIN
- Extended Description
- Sergeant (Pilot) James McLAUGHLIN No. 516867 Royal Air Force (True family name James PRATT)
Died 10 September 1939 aged 25. Killed in a plane crash at RAF Cleave, Cornwall after engine failure of a Blenheim IV P4853 82 Sqn. Watton. on the approach to RAF Cleave.
T/o Netheravon and crashed at Cleeve, 5 miles SE of Clevedon, Somerset. Sgt Pratt, who served as McLaughlin, died from his injuries at 2030 that same evening, while AC1 Butler also succumbed to his wounds soon after the crash. Both received private funerals; Sgt Pratt at Woodchester while 19 year old AC1 Butler was interred in Hounslow Cemetery. The cause of the accident was attributed to engine failure after which the Blenheim struck a wire and cartwheeled.
Information credited to rafinfo.org.uk
At rest at Woodchester Church of the Annunciation Churchyard, Gloucestershire.
