Flight Sergeant Edmund Verner Shaw (748518) served in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve during World War Two. He was the son of Edmund Shaw and Mary Shaw of Belfast, Co. Antrim.
On the night of 11th-12th February 1941, Shaw survived a ditching when he was the 2nd pilot on board Vickers Wellington R1210. At 1750hrs, the crew took off from RAF Marham, Norfolk bound for a bombing raid on Bremen, Germany.
Their wireless equipment failed on returning to England. Off-course and almost out of fuel, the crew abandoned at 0215hrs over Tebay, Cumbria. The plane came down on Bretherdale Common between Kendal and Shap. After surviving this incident, Shaw took up a position instructing pilots at RAF No. 21 Operational Training Unit.
Death in Oxfordshire
Flight Sergeant Shaw died on 21st May 1942 aged 22 years old. He was the pilot of Avro Anson N5259. The plane took off on a low-level cross-country training flight from RAF Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire.
On a daytime flight, the plane flew into high tension cables about 1 mile east of Kingham near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. Sergeant E Brocklebank also died in the incident, which 3 crew members survived.
Edmund Verner Shaw’s grave is in Section D4, Grave 105 of Dundonald Cemetery, Dundonald, Co. Down.