A new Roll of Honour memorial commemorating air and ground crew who died while flying from or working at the airfield was unveiled and dedicated on Saturday 23rd June 2012.
The memorial is adjacent to the existing memorial on the airfield built in 2005. A black granite plaque, supplied by local stonemasons J Day & Son, contains the names of one hundred and twenty-six airmen, covering seven nationalities, with ranks from AC2 to Group Captain.
Of the 126 who died, 82 were RAF (including one Canadian, one Belgian, one South African), 30 Royal Canadian Air Force, 9 Royal New Zealand Air Force, 3 Royal Australian Air Force, 1 United States Army Air Force and 1 South African Air Force.
In March 2011 the owners of the airfield once again kindly gave us permission to go ahead with the project. Since then we have been fundraising for the plaque and additional building materials which cost about £3,500, as well as the cost of the dedication day.
Thank you to those who have given us donations. We received generous amounts from the sons and daughter of four RAF officers who lost their lives from Hunsdon – Fred Weston, Barney Jobling, Henry West and Sally Haddon – and Nigel Miller, son of C.M. Miller, CO of 530 Sqn at Hunsdon. Also we have received contributions from members of the public, including funds raised at the village fete in Hunsdon. On the memorial day we received donations from ‘BJ’ Jobling, who’s grandfather died while flying from Hunsdon, and George Broadley, brother of Alan.
Mrs Eileen Coleman, widow of Pilot Officer Bernard Jobling of 157 Squadron, sent us a generous donation towards the upkeep of the memorial.
Special thanks to Trevor Edwards for all his help with fundraising, David Gibbs, David Kitching, Hunsdon Microlight Club (who also donated £250) for their help and support with this project, and to the following for their generous donations –
Paul Dixon, Adastral Mark Master Masons Lodge, Lodge Of The Legion, Adastral Craft Lodge, Aerial Lodge 5596, Waltham Cross Lodge 5359, Hertfordshire County Council Locality Budget Scheme, Croudace Homes, Michael Yianni, Peter Edwards, David Glayson, Judith Nelmes, Martyn Reid, Eric Jones, Ian Brett.
We were delighted to hear from Maxwell Sparks, the last surviving pilot from the Amiens prison raid. Flt Lt Sparks flew with 487 RNZAF Squadron from Hunsdon in early 1944. As well as a generous donation, he sent us his good wishes and support for the project.
*Update: 13th June 2015
Two new plaques have been fitted to the RAF Hunsdon Roll of Honour memorial. One is to commemorate RAF Regiment dispatch rider LAC Thomas Grizzell who was killed in November 1943 after his motorbike skidded on ice and collided with a tender. The other plaque is to clarify that the names on the memorial are those who were killed (or died from injuries) on active service while flying from or serving at the airfield.
