By Lauren Henry

The family of a Horsham pilot who died in an aircraft crash in Wales in 1942 has welcomed the crash being memoralised –more than 80 years later.

David Campbell Anderson was one of four crew members to die in the test-flight crash after enlisting in the Royal Australian Air Force during the Second World War.

He never returned home and was buried at Aberstwyth Cemetery, Cardiganshire, in Wales.

Pilot officer Anderson was the son of David and Florence Anderson, of Wilson Street, Horsham, and at the time, was survived by siblings Robert, Marion, who later married David Walter, and John.

The family was well known in Horsham as their father was a real estate and stock agent in the rural city.

Now, descendants of pilot officer Anderson – both still living in Horsham and further afield – have come forward to welcome the memorial and give an insight into who D.C. Anderson was.

Brenda Samuels, daughter of Marion, said she was surprised to hear about the planned memorial – the brainchild of Wales military enthusiast Adrian Hollis.

As reported in The Weekly Advertiser on June 18, Mr Hollis put out a call for family and descendants of pilot officer Anderson to make contact with him.

Mrs Samuels, who now lives in Sydney, said the wider family had always known about the story of her uncle but it was not dwelled on.

“I think in those days, life moved on and probably they didn’t want to burden the descendants with sad stories,” she said.

Through the Mid Wales Memorial Project, Mr Hollis is set to mark a series of memorials of aircraft crash sites, with the first project to be at Aberystwyth, Wales.

“I think it’s a lovely idea to remember things like that,” Mrs Samuels said. 

“I’m not really a military sort of person, but I guess it’s part of history to remember things like that and the stories, and to bring those stories to life.”

On February 10, 1942, pilot officer Anderson had taken off on a fuel-consumption test flight from the Royal Air Force station at Honeybourne, south of Birmingham in England, when the Lockheed Hudson V9127 aircraft crashed at 1.30pm near Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, in Wales.

The 28-year-old was accompanied by Flight Sergeant and observer Gordon Duncan, of the Royal Canadian Air Force, and Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve wireless air gunners Sergeant John Harker and Sergeant Ronald Hodgson.

A flying accident report stated ‘a possible cause of the crash was bad weather conditions with the pilot flying at low altitude in hilly conditions’.

Mrs Samuels said when she was living in London in 1988, her mother Marion had visited and they travelled together to Aberstwyth to visit pilot officer Anderson’s grave.

“We saw the grave and then we went to the site of the accident and we met a woman who lived nearby who remembered the crash, so that was amazing,” she said.

“We also went to the library and looked up old newspaper articles and there was an account of the crash.

“I remember there being an account of his funeral and how they had draped the Australian flag over his coffin, and I found that so sad.

“I mean, I’d never met him, but I think I was sadder than my parents, because you imagine the relatives back home just getting a telegram to say he was killed.”

Mrs Samuels said it was an emotional experience for herself and her mother to see the grave and hear about the crash first-hand.

“I found it so moving the whole experience. I suppose mum probably had thought about it and  grieved and all those things, all those years ago,” she said.

Mrs Samuels said the families of the four victims in the plane crash would be intrinsically linked. “They were all in the same boat, but then in those days, communication wasn’t like it is now,” she said.

“Now they would get in touch with them and their families, grieve and do all those things, but then it was so different.”

Mrs Samuels said a lot of families went through a similar experience during war times.

And it had a long-lasting effect on Marion.

“ I remember (my brother) Rob was actually conscripted during the Vietnam War, and my mother being terribly upset and that’s probably because it would’ve brought all those memories back,” Mrs Samuels said.

“So that would’ve been terrible. And I remember she was so angry about it.”

Family legacy

While their son and brother’s death had a profound effect on the Anderson family, he continues to be held in high regard and remembered.

Great niece Jessie McCrae has a filing cabinet full of information passed down from her grandparents, while another young relative in Horsham – a great, great nephew, has the middle name of Campbell, which is the christian name that pilot officer Anderson was called in the family.

Ms McCrae said her grandmother Florence Anderson had kept all the letters her son had sent home to her while serving in the United Kingdom.

There was also an article from a Wales newspaper detailing the funeral of pilot officer Anderson and Canadian airman Gordon Duncan.

Comrades of both airmen were among other military and police officials to attend, along with the Aberstwyth mayor and councillors.

Following a service at the cemetery chapel, the men were laid to rest to the sound of The Last Post and the Reveille.

The article also states the ‘chief mourners were pilot officer Anderson’s two cousins’.

But it was in a five-page letter to his mother, dated July 21, 1941, that gave a true indication of the man that pilot officer Anderson was.

The detailed letter was written before pilot officer Anderson had started active service in the United Kingdom, where he travelled to Scotland, London and to various English countryside towns as he prepared to begin service.

He had also been to Canada before arriving in the UK. He wrote about a couple of links to home, like when he was in a pub and met an English Army officer who had been to Australia who asked if he knew the Felstead family in Horsham. 

“He went on to tell me that he nearly married one of the Felstead girls in Sydney,” he wrote.

“The world is small as I shall cite in another case later.”

Later in the letter, he wrote about meeting ‘chaps’ that his mother knew such as Mac Paton, Geoff Heard, Alan Cook, Jack Bond from Nhill, Fitzpatrick from Ararat, and Ken McDonald formerly of Polkemmet.

Pilot officer Anderson wrote about his love of the countryside, distaste for London – although it was growing on him – and he had enjoyed visits to the same tourist spots that are popular today – Westminster Abbey, the Thames, Houses of Parliament, St Paul’s Cathedral and Madam Tussaud’s Wax Works. A highlight was seeing Queen Elizabeth II drive past and wave while he was sight-seeing at Buckingham Palace.

His letter was like any other Australian 28-year-old who was travelling in the UK – but of course, it was during the Second World War. 

Pilot officer Anderson’s letter makes several references to preparation for the job that he had travelled to the UK to do, but he notes ‘there is plenty to eat of good wholesome food. People are happy, bright and confident.’

He seemed to have been making the most of his time in the UK, making friends and enjoying the experiences that come with being in another country.

But less than a year later, it all came to an end for the young Horsham airman.

“I think my mother’s family would’ve all been heartbroken,” Mrs Samuels said.

Some 83 years later, the Mid Wales Memorial Project is taking a small step to mark that heartbreak by acknowledging the sacrifice and service of pilot officer Anderson, and his three fallen airmen.

The entire July 30, 2025 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!

The entire July 30, 2025 edition of AgLife is available online. READ IT HERE!