Pilot Officer FSH Ford
Frank Stewart Heathcote Ford
- Rank
- Pilot Officer
- Squadron
- No 20 OTU
- School
- Selborne College
- Fate
- Killed in a flying accident, 25 March 1941
- In the book
- Pages 99
From the book
The Dreaded Telegram
South African families had husbands, sons and daughters in the RAF and RAFVR and SAAF airmen seconded to the RAF. The blandness of the standard Air Ministry Telegram “ regret to inform you” was certainly overworked but so many years later, it remains difficult to appreciate and encapsulate the effect of those telegrams. The margin of hope created by “Missing” was sometimes followed by “Now a Prisoner of War” telegram. However, many South African families experienced the wording “Regret to inform you that your son Pilot Officer Frank Stewart Heathcote Ford is reported missing but believed to have lost his life as a result of an aircraft accident”.
The Dreaded Telegram
Twenty-three-year-old Pilot Officer Frank Stewart Heathcote Ford was educated at Selborne College in at the same time as “Battle of Britain” pilot Frederick Posener. He reported for training at No. 20 “OTU” in January where Squadron Leader Rivett-Carnac DFC another South African from the Eastern Cape was an instructor and had completed eight weeks of training when his Lossiemouth based Wellington crashed during night bombing exercises on March 25th 1941 killing all on board 15.