Fl/Lt Leslie Victor Walsh 150 Squadron
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2016 2:40 pm
619525 Flt Sgt Leslie Victor Walsh Commissioned Plt Off(p) RAFVR GD Branch (52309) 10 May 43 (Note he also comes up in the LG under 50309 which might be a typo, or OCR error?). 619525 Enlisted from Civilian after Mar 1938. MiD 14 Jun 45 (deceased).
Flight Lieutenant Walsh was killed in a road accident. Off duty, he was riding as a passenger in an ambulance when it overturned on Burton Road, Lincoln. (Source: Air Historical Branch).
The ambulance accident was reported in several contemporary newspapers. The accident took place at the junction of Yarborough Road and West Parade, Lincoln at around 9.10pm. Walsh was trapped under the overturned ambulance, which had crashed into the wall of St Martin's Parish Church. Cause of death was given as a fracture to the base of the skull.
The Lincolnshire Echo of 13 February reports that the driver, F/O Gerald Alexander Stuart, who had been charged with manslaughter, was acquitted at his trial. He was also found not guilty of dangerous driving, and discharged. Road conditions at the time of the accident were described as very bad, with ice and snow on the road surface - one local witness described the conditions as the most dangerous he had seen for 40 years.
The photo attached is of a local Brigg lad wearing Walsh's flying kit
The two pictures came from the family of the lad wearing his flying kit. They have been framed up by a framers from Brigg... Harold Green of Bridge Street and have never been out of frames
The portrait shows FL/Lt Walsh in a cornfield the other is of a MK IC Wellington ... DV952 which appears by the IP coding to have been attached to the BCIS which I am guessing was at Lindholme or Finningley at some point of the war.
I wonder if this was an aircraft that he flew Ops in or was an instructor on ... ?
I guess the only way to really know is to pull his RAF service file
The final photo is his resting place in Brigg Cemetery.
Flight Lieutenant Walsh was killed in a road accident. Off duty, he was riding as a passenger in an ambulance when it overturned on Burton Road, Lincoln. (Source: Air Historical Branch).
The ambulance accident was reported in several contemporary newspapers. The accident took place at the junction of Yarborough Road and West Parade, Lincoln at around 9.10pm. Walsh was trapped under the overturned ambulance, which had crashed into the wall of St Martin's Parish Church. Cause of death was given as a fracture to the base of the skull.
The Lincolnshire Echo of 13 February reports that the driver, F/O Gerald Alexander Stuart, who had been charged with manslaughter, was acquitted at his trial. He was also found not guilty of dangerous driving, and discharged. Road conditions at the time of the accident were described as very bad, with ice and snow on the road surface - one local witness described the conditions as the most dangerous he had seen for 40 years.
The photo attached is of a local Brigg lad wearing Walsh's flying kit
- Procter~1.jpg (184.41 KiB) Viewed 5220 times
- Photos~1.jpg (65.47 KiB) Viewed 5220 times
I wonder if this was an aircraft that he flew Ops in or was an instructor on ... ?
- Welly~x.jpg (58.09 KiB) Viewed 5220 times
The final photo is his resting place in Brigg Cemetery.
... I wondered what his connection to 150 Sdn was ... possible then he completed a tour of operations then was posted instructing before joining 150 .. such a tragic end to his life.