Gertrude Hudson was hanging out her washing when an object falling from a passing aircraft caught her eye.
To her horror, she later discovered it was 18-year-old Aircraftsman Walter George Goodhand plunging to his death.
He had fallen out of the plane in mid-flight as it passed over Upper Heyford. Mrs Hudson witnessed the drama from her garden in Somerton Road.
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It was a cold winter morning on January 17, 1938 when Pilot Officer Clive Theodore Norman, the pilot, and Aircraftsman Goodhand, gunner, climbed aboard the Hawker Hind, of No 57 Squadron.
The plane took off just before 11am on a routine half-hour flight for gun practice. Sadly, it was to be Aircraftsman Goodhand’s last assignment.
An inquest with a jury was conducted by the North Oxfordshire coroner, Mr EC Fortescue, at RAF Upper Heyford the following day. A full report appeared in the Bicester Advertiser
Giving evidence, the flight commander, Flight Lieutenant Wardrop, said he had authorised the flight for gun practice on the aerodrome target, with Aircraftsman Goodhand using a camera gun.
Asked by the coroner what the arrangement was for keeping the gunner in, he explained that he wore a parachute harness and that a safety cable was attached which came up the body and through the legs. If it was properly fastened, it was impossible for the passenger to fall out.
Pilot Officer Norman said he had never been accompanied by Aircraftsman Goodhand previously, but he knew he had carried out practice as an air gunner before.
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He told the coroner that it was possible for the passenger to undo the cable, but he had never known one to become undone by itself. He had not seen the cable being fastened.
He said they had been in the air for about 15 minutes at an altitude of about 250ft, and when 11 circuits had been completed, Aircraftsman Goodhand indicated that he had just one film left.
Shortly afterwards, he felt a bump and slight jar on the aircraft which, at first, he thought might have been due to the weather conditions, but he then noticed the trim of the aircraft was slightly different.
He looked over his shoulder, only to discover that the gunner was no longer in his seat, with the gun hanging freely.
The jury concluded that for some reason, Aircraftsman Goodhand had unfastened the safety cable which attached him to the machine, and that possibly he died trying to get into a better position to take a final photograph. They returned a verdict of accidental death.
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Details of his death come from Ian Lough-Scott, of the Upper Heyford Historical Society.
He writes: “Sadly, Mrs Hudson had unwittingly witnessed the tragic fall of George, a young man, probably motivated by a desire to achieve the most accurate photograph, to impress his senior officer.
“We should remember George as a young man trying to do his very best and losing his life as a result of an error of judgement.”
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