A Vickers Wellington MK1C aircraft crashed on the former Harrow Green school when its generator failed in bad weather, and its engines stalled. All of the plane's crew of six, as well as five Civil Defence ARP (Air Raid Precautions) volunteers who were based at the school, were killed.
The cause of the crash: the plane's generator failed in bad weather and radio contact was lost, forcing it to fly lower to identify its position, but the engines stalled, and/or it was attempting to carry out an emergency landing on Wanstead Flats during a night flying exercise when it nose dived.
The dead were:
ARP wardens: Henry Arthur Edwards, Joseph G. Smith, James Edward Gorham and Walter G. Black, all from Leytonstone. Albert Edward Stanlon came from Wanstead.
The crew consisted of two pilots: William Mance and John Taylor, an observer Harold Jowett, two wireless operators and air gunners Allen Rogers and Arthur Ford, and a third air gunner Arthur Foote.
Ben Priestly advised (2024): "The area of the cemetery where there might have been a common grave/memorial for the ARP wardens was cleared and mounded by Manor Park some years ago now, so any memorial would have been destroyed unfortunately. This is the area of the cemetery closest to the East Gate of the Cemetery."
Source: which reports on research carried out by local historian John Turner; .
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
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