War plane crash boy remembered 70 years on

A Newark town councillor laid a palm cross of remembrance on the grave of an air cadet killed 70 years ago in a second world war plane crash.

Keith Couzin-Wood, 16, is buried in the war graves section of Newark Cemetery.

He was a passenger in an RAF Hampden bomber that crashed just after take-off from RAF Balderton on July 29, 1942.

The plane, from 408 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, stalled and crashed about two miles south-east of the airfield.

The crew, which also included another cadet, Geoffrey Hughes, of Chesterfield, and two flying officers, were all killed.

Keith, a member of the Southend-on-Sea squadron of the Air Training Corps, was from Leigh-on-Sea and the youngest of four children.

His father’s family were from Southwell and Normanton.

It was his first flight.

There is no record of the crash in the Advertiser’s archives because information was often heavily censored during the war.

Many cadets were sent to work on RAF stations across the country during the war.

They were used to carry messages, move equipment, load ammunition and do office work.

Town councillor Mr Laurence Goff said he felt compelled to mark the 70th anniversary of Keith’s death as there was no official commemoration.

He also laid flowers at the grave on the anniversary, which was Sunday.