163 replies to this topic

[Jimmy Piget]

In another threads, were discussed where and when such people as Luis Fontes, Ulli Bigalke or André Embiricos met their death in action.
I propose to list the drivers who suffered such a bad fate. This could be the first draft :

WW1
Georges BOILLOT. 16 September 1916, shot down in an air fight near Bar-le-Duc.
Leslie PORTER. 22 November 1916, prisonner by the German army, north of St.-Omer

Spanish Civil war
G.O. de LA RIVA. circa 1936

WW2
Peter AITKEN. RAF mission, 1943 ?
Walter BAUMER. 1941 (or from a road accident ?)
Robert BENOIST. Buchenwald camp, 12 September 1944, hanged by the nazis.
Neil BERRY. RAF mission, 1941.
Ulli BIGALKE. 12 August 1940, Luftwaffe mission in the "Battle of Britain", Channel shore in France.
Gaspare BONA. 1940 (?)
Andrea BREZZI. circa 1943 ???
E.G. BURGGALLER. Luftwaffe mission, 2 February 1940 (in Britain ?)
David CHAMPEAU (USA). 1944
Fernand CRESPELLE. 19 July 1944, died in his house under a bombing on his town (near Tours).
André EMBIRICOS. 23 May 1941, off the Crete Island during a naval battle.
A.F.P. FANE. RAF mission, 18 July 1942, crash near Duxford.
Luis FONTES. RAF mission, October 1940, crash in Wales.
Fernand GABRIEL. 9 Septembre 1943, died in his house under a bombing on his town (Parisian suburbs).
Rüdi HASSE. 1942, on the Eastern front.
Percy MACLURE. 1943 (RAF mission ?)
Lionel de MARMIER. 30 December 1944, air crash off the Baleares islands (probably due to sabotage or attentate for he was supposed to lift general De Gaulle this day)
Franco MAZZOTI. 1940, air crash in the Messina Channel.
Violette MORRIS. 1944, executed by the French Resistance for she was a Gestapo agent.
Teddy RAYSON. 1939 (in france ?)
Tim ROSE-RICHARDS. October 1940 (RAF mission ?)
Dick SHUTTLEWORTH. 2 August 1940, RAF mission, air crash near Benson.
Adolf SZCZYCKI. 1943
Ben TARR (AUS). 1939 (in France ?)
Jean TREMOULET. 13 October 1944, during a Resistance mission at Sagelat.
Johnny WAKEFIELD. RAF mission, April 1942, air crash near Wargrave (sic)
"W. WILLIAMS" GROVER. Arrested 1943 in Paris by the Gestapo. Either assassinated then, or died later (1945) in a camp.
Norm WILSON. 1942
Juan ZANELLI. 1942 in a camp where he was inmate for his Resistance involvement.

Civil war in Zimbabwe
Peter PARNELL. circa 1972

More details on them ?

[Wolf]

Jimmy, there is a thread on the subject, lying around and collecting dust... With the help of search facility, You could easily locate it and compare your list with those names in't, and hopefully post it in there. Anyways, I find the idea very nice.

[Adam F]

Jimmy,

One correction to your list......
Peter Aitken died in 1947 in Stockholm as a result of injuries sustained in a boating accident.
His death is mentioned in the various biographies of Lord Beaverbrook, his father.

Adam

[Leif Snellman]

Jimmy,

You can also skip Walter Bäumer from the list as he was definitely killed in a car accident. I have been in contact with his nephew whose comments were:
... getting sick hearing all the rumors like "heared your uncle was killed in a submarine...!" or "...the russians killed him after Stalingrad....!" All bulls...!
The reason for the rumors were that the grandfather kept the real reason for Walther's death secret for years, but now the nephew wants the truth to come out.

Hans, you received a letter from Bäumer Jr. in May 2001. Time to publish parts of it?

[Ray Bell]

As an addendum in his chapter on the 1939 Australian Grand Prix in The Official 50-race History of the Australian Grand Prix, Ray Bell writes that Neville Bakewell and Russell Bowes (both competed in MGs) were killed in the coming conflict.

I don't know what his sources were... but seeing as the issue came up I thought I might mention it.

[Barry Lake]

Wouldn't his sources have been Graham Howard and/or John Medley who, I understand, did most of the original research for the early years covered by that book?

[Jimmy Piget]

Thanks for precisions.

Wolf : Any idea of the tittle for the ancient thread ?

Adam : Did you find a birth certificate for Peter Aitken ?

Leif : Can you provide precise date & place for Bäumer road accident ?

Ray : Did Ray Bell, in his book, indicate which year Neville Bakewell & Russell Bowes passed ? And which place (Europe ? Far East Asia ? Pacific ?)

[Hans Etzrodt]

Originally posted by Leif Snellman
.....Hans, you received a letter from Bäumer Jr. in May 2001. Time to publish parts of it?

Leif - He told me the story but of course I would need his permission to bring it up here at TNF. I always knew that his uncle had died in a car accident on a German road but a more detailed description I received per e-mail from the driver's nephew. I will try and contact Walter Bäumer Jr.


Bäumer, Walter (D)
* 17 October 1908 in Bünde, Westphalia, Germany
† 29 June 1941 in Bünde, Westphalia, Germany

[Adam F]

Jimmy,

I haven't looked for Peter Aitken at the UK FRC registry - I will do so on my next visit.

His full name was Peter Rudyard Aitken and he was born in March 1912, so he was 35 when he died.

ADAM

[Barry Lake]

Oh, no! Here we go again.


Jimmy

I have two dates for the demise of Georges Boillot:

20 May 1916 and

21 May 1916

Now, you have another date. Might I ask your source on this?

[anjakub]

Originally posted by Jimmy Piget
Adolf SZCZYCKI. 1943

Jimmy, IIRC Adolf Szczyzycki (Czechoslovakia) died on 7 January 1940 in Prostejov.

[alessandro silva]

Lotario Rangoni Machiavelli “the first Ferrari driver” on October 2nd, 1942 while testing a new plane nr Pistoia.
Brezzi, in action over Greece; plane in flames, early 41.
Bona, late 40, aircraft testing accident
Mazzotti, plane accident in home journey from Tunis over the Channel of Sicily (not Messina)

[Leif Snellman]

Originally posted by Jimmy Piget
Leif : Can you provide precise date & place for Bäumer road accident ?

Most of the story can be found at http://www.kolumbus....lman/db.htm#BAU
It was in a Mercedes-Benz 5ooK, by the way.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted.....
Wouldn't his sources have been Graham Howard and/or John Medley who, I understand, did most of the original research for the early years covered by that book?

Graham, I believe, provided a lot of magazine articles and so on. In fact, these came to light a few years ago, some 13 or 14 years after the story was written, but were destroyed by a rampant local council. There was some original research done, however, and that was how Ken McKinney was located, for instance. I don't think Graham ever spoke to Allan Tomlinson either. Or not to that point.

[Jimmy Piget]

Barry : Among many sources, I have chosen (as the most valuable) the book by Maurice Louche "Un siècle de grands pilotes français", for I know that he had worked from birth and death certificates.
So for Georges Boillot : GEORGES LOUIS FRÉDÉRIC BOILLOT, born 3 August 1884 at Beaulieu-de-Valentigney (département du Doubs), died in action 16 September 1916 at Vadelaincourt, near Bar-le-Duc (département de la Meuse).

Anjakube : Thanks for information on Adolf Szczyzycki (sorry for the typo in my first message). The date of 1943 I provided was from a Mister Pavel Novotny of prague, whom I corresponded with some years ago. Now, I favourize your source for you precised also a month & a day. Do you know the reason why Szczyzycki died ? Was it really because of war ?
Other information on Czech drivers I look for : Urban-Emmerich died 1945, was it as a consequence of war ?
Do you know when Florian Schmidt died ?
Antonin Komar died 1951 at Ostrawa, was it a a consequence of a race accident ?
Jiri Weinfurter was deported after the war for he was from the Sudetes Germanic people. Do you know what happened to him after that ?
Ahoj !

Alessandro : Who was this « Lotario Rangoni Machiavelli “the first Ferrari driver” » ? I do not find any mention of him in the Sheldon Black Books ?

Leif : I went to your site & read the Bäumer story. I wish I had such a nice death (joke... — really ?)

Thanks to you all

Jimmy

[alessandro silva]

Jimmy:
Lotario Rangoni Machiavelli was the driver-owner of one of the two Auto-Avio Costruzioni 815 built by Ferrari for the 1940 GP Brescia-Mille Miglia, the other being Alberto Ascari.

Born in 1912 in a noble Florentine family, he lived in Modena where he owned land. He was the 1938 Italian Champion for the 1100cc sport nazionale class in a Balilla Coppa d'Oro prepared by Stanguellini, moving onto a Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 for 1939. A good amateur airplane pilot he was enrolled by the air force for the war.

[Barry Lake]

Originally posted by Jimmy Piget
Barry : Among many sources, I have chosen (as the most valuable) the book by Maurice Louche "Un siècle de grands pilotes français", for I know that he had worked from birth and death certificates.

Jimmy

Thanks for that. Sounds like a better source than the ones I had.

I actually have that book(s) and have intended to go through the dates in it some day... but it's on a very long list of things to do.

[Hans Etzrodt]

Originally posted by Jimmy Piget
.....Other information on Czech drivers I look for : Urban-Emmerich died 1945, was it as a consequence of war ?.....

Urban Emmerich, Hugo (CS) - † September, 1939 in Prague (CS) on pneumonia
a Czechoslovakian driver of German origin from Prague was a chain-smoking, corpulent industrialist who also happened to be quite a good racing driver. His international career spanned the years 1922 to 1932, driving racing cars like Brescia Bugatti, Austro-Daimler Sascha, Tatra and a 2-liter OM sports car. End of 1925 he acquired a 1.5-liter 4-cylinder s/c Talbot factory car, which provided him with success on several occasions.

After 1927, he cut down his racing, appeared in a Morris sports car, also Bugatti T43 from compatriot Elizabeth Junek, with some works drives in a MG Midget during the early thirties. He later was President of the Automobile Club of Mid-Bohemia. Urban-Emmerich, brother-in-law of Czechoslovakian driver Edgar Morawicz, died of pneumonia September 1939 in Prague.

[WGD706]

Adam
Did Peter Aitken have a brother, Max? RAF pilot during the Battle of Britain?
Warren

[Ray Bell]

Somewhat related...

Gus McIntyre, racing patron and one of a rare breed of people who had money to spend on racing in Australia in the early thirties (owned cinemas, which were very successful despite... or because of... the Depression) gave up his racing interests because of health problems.

Despite this he patrolled the coastline near Sydney during the war on the lookout for Japanese submarines etc. He died of pneumonia (I'm fairly sure it was...) after exposure to the elements during this time.

[Adam F]

Warren,

Yes, Max Aitken was Peter's older brother.

ADAM

[st59cz]

Antonin Komar was killed in practice incident (IIRC) in Cisitalia D46. Car was repaired and later rebuilt and raced by architector Valenta first as race car, then as sports car and last as Formula Junior.

[Jimmy Piget]

So, the updated list :

WW1
Georges BOILLOT. 16 September 1916, shot down in an air fight near Bar-le-Duc.
Leslie PORTER. 22 November 1916, prisonner by the German army, north of St.-Omer

SPANISH CIVIL WAR
G.O. de LA RIVA. circa 1936

WW2
Neville BAKEWELL (AUS). (when & where ?)
Robert BENOIST. Buchenwald camp, 12 September 1944, hanged by the nazis.
Neil BERRY. RAF mission, 1941.
Ulli BIGALKE. 12 August 1940, Luftwaffe mission in the "Battle of Britain", Channel shore in France.
Russell BOWES (AUS). (when & where ?)
Andrea BREZZI. 1941, air action over Greece.
E.G. BURGGALLER. Luftwaffe mission, 2 February 1940 (in Britain ?)
David CHAMPEAU (USA). 1944. (Europe ? Pacific ?)
Fernand CRESPELLE. 19 July 1944, died in his house under a bombing on his town (near Tours).
André EMBIRICOS. 23 May 1941, off the Crete Island during a naval battle.
A.F.P. FANE. RAF mission, 18 July 1942, crash near Duxford.
Luis FONTES. RAF mission, October 1940, crash in Wales.
Fernand GABRIEL. 9 Septembre 1943, died in his house under a bombing on his town (Parisian suburbs).
Rüdi HASSE. 1942, on the Eastern front.
Percy MACLURE. 1943 (RAF mission ?)
Lionel de MARMIER. 30 December 1944, air crash off the Baleares islands (probably due to sabotage or attentate for he was supposed to lift general De Gaulle this day)
Violette MORRIS. 1944, executed by the French Resistance for she was a Gestapo agent.
Teddy RAYSON. 1939 (in France ?)
Tim ROSE-RICHARDS. October 1940 (RAF mission ?)
Dick SHUTTLEWORTH. 2 August 1940, RAF mission, air crash near Benson.
Adolf SZCZYZYCKI. 7 January 1940 at Prostejov. (why ? war, or not ?)
Ben TARR (AUS). 1939 (in France ?)
Jean TREMOULET. 13 October 1944, during a Resistance mission at Sagelat.
Johnny WAKEFIELD. RAF mission, April 1942, air crash near Wargrave (sic)
"W. WILLIAMS" GROVER. Arrested 1943 in Paris by the Gestapo. Either assassinated then, or died later (1945) in a camp.
Norm WILSON. 1942 (where & why ?)
Juan ZANELLI. 1942 in a camp where he was inmate for his Resistance involvement.

CIVIL WAR IN ZIMBABWE
Peter PARNELL. circa 1972, executed by the Guerrilla

I was not able to find the previous thread Wolf mentioned (I used the keywords "war" and "killed")

[Ray Bell]

Wasn't Benoist garotted?

I recall reading that in an article about him... published in the sixties.

[Jimmy Piget]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
Wasn't Benoist garotted?

I recall reading that in an article about him... published in the sixties.

From other sources (that I did not check now), he was hanged.

Garot was the Spanish supplice (still used in 1973, under Franco's dictatorship, against the young Anarchist Salvador Puig Antich), and I do not think it was used by Germans, even if Nazis (but may be I am wrong...)
BTW, garotting never was a French supplice, this people prefered the Guillotine (until 1981) ...

[sat]

Adolf SZCZYZYCKI dead on stomach illness.

[dmj]

Old thread:

http://www.atlasf1.c...ghlight=Benoist

[KJJ]

I think you can find data on British and Commonwealth war dead on the following site:

www.cwgc.org

I just searced Tim Rose-Richards and it gave a date of death

[Jimmy Piget]

Originally posted by KJJ
I think you can find data on British and Commonwealth war dead on the following site:

www.cwgc.org

I just searced Tim Rose-Richards and it gave a date of death

Great thanks, KJJ.
That's what I found on this site :

Neil Berry, Sergeant in the RAF, died 6 May 1941, aged 29.
Russell (R.R.H.) Bowes, Flight lieutenant, died 21 May 1943, aged 27, buried in Singapore.
Luis Goncelvis Fontes, died 12 October 1940.
Teddy (E.K.) Rayson, Flying officer, died 1 November 1939, aged 35, buried in the Surrey.
Tim (T.E.) Rose-Richards, Lieutenant in the Navy, died 7 October 1940 in the sea.
Norm (N.G.) Wilson, Flight lieutenant, died 18 April 1942, aged 30, buried at Edinburgh.

and "W. Williams" (Grover-Williams) has an official date of death : 18 March 1945.

No mention of : Neville Bakewell, Percy Maclure, Ben Tarr nor Johnny Wakefield.

[David McKinney]

Same source lists Lt R O Hesketh of South African Air Force, died 19/9/44 (aged 29), buried in Egypt

BTW, who was Russell Bowes?

[jarama]

Originally posted by Jimmy Piget


From other sources (that I did not check now), he was hanged.

Garot was the Spanish supplice (still used in 1973, under Franco's dictatorship, against the young Anarchist Salvador Puig Antich), and I do not think it was used by Germans, even if Nazis (but may be I am wrong...)
BTW, garotting never was a French supplice, this people prefered the Guillotine (until 1981) ...

Jimmy,

with the only goal to give accuracy to your statement, the date for Puig Antich's execution was later, in 1975 -October IIRC- a few weeks before the dictator's death.

Carles.

[Jimmy Piget]

Originally posted by jarama


Jimmy,

with the only goal to give accuracy to your statement, the date for Puig Antich's execution was later, in 1975 -October IIRC- a few weeks before the dictator's death.

Carles.

Without checking, I'm afraid you confuse with the execution of some Basque militants (who were shot, not garotted), late 1975.

I'm approximatively sure of these dates (1973, then 1975, for these respective executions), for I well remind of the protest demonstrations in Paris of the time... (oh dear ! I'm getting old, now...)

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by David McKinney
BTW, who was Russell Bowes?

All I know about him is that he raced an MG N in the 1939 AGP at Lobethal...

He possibly was South Australian, so you might find some reference to him in With Casual Efficiency... if you don't have this book I suggest you get in touch with the Sporting Car Club of South Australia and get it... fantastic for its behind the scenes look at the club's history.

[Jimmy Piget]

Originally posted by David McKinney
Same source lists Lt R O Hesketh of South African Air Force, died 19/9/44 (aged 29), buried in Egypt

BTW, who was Russell Bowes?

Russell Bowes had participated in the Australian GP (information some messages upper, by Ray Bell)

I didn't know that Roy Hesketh was a war casualty. Thanks for info.

Two more names to be added :

- Gilbert Dutrieu (who raced in Spain in cyclecars & voiturettes). July 1944, shot by the French Resistance near Avre (Savoie), perhaps in error.
- Edoardo Weber (of carburettors fame). Kidnapped 1944 by the Italian partisans and never reappeared.

[Jimmy Piget]

Originally posted by Ray Bell


[Russell Bowes] possibly was South Australian

I read in the quoted site that he was from Springfield (South Australia)

[jarama]

Jimmy,

Maybe you're right on Puig Antich and the other executions, I'll check it and post the result when I find something.

Carles.

[David McKinney]

Thanks for answering my Bowes question
I thought someone might be confusing him with Bobby Bowes, an entrant, but IIRC a non-starter, in one of the early Monaco GPs

[Jimmy Piget]

Still no Maclure, no Wakefield & no Tarr, but I found Neville (L.N.) Bakewell, from Prospect (South Australia), captain in infantry, died 17 August 1942, aged 26, buried at El Alamein (ET)

Didn't John Bolster have a brother who also hill-climbed in the late '1930s ?
For I found a Richard Vary Campbell Bolster, of the RAF, who died 28 june 1941 aged 29, and was buried at Hamburg. the name "Vary" makes me think that, perhaps...

I'm amazed that WW1 had so much people dead worldwide, counted by millions in Europe, and so few drivers among them. (Sorry for this morbidity)

[Ray Bell]

Ben Tarr is noted in John Medley's Bathurst, the Cradle of Australian Motor Racing as being "an early casualty of World War 2."

Indeed, he was entered for the October, 1939 meeting in his Rajo Ford Special but didn't run it... instead driving an MG. No doubt he would have been keen to run his Ford at the 1940 (Easter) meeting had he been available, but we might be able to draw the conclusion that he was already in the military by then.

John might know this, of course, and if we can only coerce him into posting here maybe we would have the answer... he lurks and may well read this.

As for the overall numbers, I really don't think we have scratched the surface with this pursuit. American racing in all its forms would no doubt have contribute a lot of cannon fodder to the Pacific war...

[Tim Murray]

In John Bolster's book Specials he refers to:

"...my brother, the late Pilot-Officer R V C Bolster..."

[scheivlak]

[i]
Garot was the Spanish supplice (still used in 1973, under Franco's dictatorship, against the young Anarchist Salvador Puig Antich)[/B]

Some googling brought me this: http://www.themilita...11/6311_31.html
Puig Antich was executed on March 2, 1974.

[Jimmy Piget]

Thanks, Scheivlak, for the precision.

Jimmy

[barrykm]

David, thanks for picking up on Roy Hesketh.

Roy Hesketh was a friend of my late parents and I should be able to relate more than I can at present. My parents spoke most fondly of him, he was apprenticed as a baker to my maternal grandfather and was quite a character, on the nicest way.

He was talented on two wheels as well as four, having participated in the Durban to Johannesburg motorcycle race which was run in the pre-war years, I'm a bit sketchy on the details at the moment, but I think he may have won the race, or his capacity class, at least once. My father recalled an MG Magnette that Roy had.

The race circuit at Pietermaritzburg in Natal was named after Roy. "Hesketh" as it was known in Natal, operated from the Fifties through to the early Eighties, and hosted many a cracking race meeting with may well-known names on two wheels and four having raced there, but that can be the subject of another thread.

[Felix Muelas]

Originally posted by Jimmy Piget
Spanish Civil war
G.O. de LA RIVA. circa 1936

Guillermo Oliveras de la Riva AKA "Vega". (c.1907 - 1938)

He was an amateur driver born in Barcelona, that used to race under the nickname "Vega".
You can find a trace of him in the 1933 IV Penya Rhin Grand Prix that took place in Montjuich.
Together with much more well known names like Lehoux, Wimille, Nuvolari or Zanelli, "Vega" drove the Bugatti Type 35C 2,0 l owned by Andrés de Vizcaya -that had just used it at the Rabassada hillclimb- but the car was not running properly and he had to give up by lap 22.

As for the date of his death, he was a casualty of the war in 1938 in the Batalla del Ebro. Date is unknown although anytime in the last week of July or first of August is where the majority of the casualties took place, but the battle continued until October that year.


Un abrazo

Felix

[john medley]

Three time Australian Grand Prix winner William Bethel Thompson (28/12/06 - 12/02/45), RAAF Squadron Leader whose plane crashed in the Marshall Islands. Thompson had won the AGP in 1930,1932, and 1933

[Barry Lake]

Here is a big win for The Nostalgia Forum!

John Medley on deck.

No doubt John will introduce himself somewhere along the way, but I will pre-empt that by telling TNFers he is the author of "Bathurst: Cradle of Australian Motor Sport", one of the all-time great motor racing books.

John is one of Australia's most noted motor sport historians, a serious researcher, exuberant historic open wheeler racer, and a very funny man with an almost indestructible sense of humour (even when you take too long to return something you borrowed from him).

Does this mean the house renovations are finished, John?

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted.....
Here is a big win for The Nostalgia Forum!

John Medley on deck.

There's no doubt about that...

And I was only reading in the book you did about Thompson drowning in that way too... shame on you for not having posted it yourself!

Anyway, if that's what it took to flush John out, maybe it will be an easy step for him to click on this link and put in his two bob's worth on another subject?

http://www.atlasf1.c...&postid=1020544

Welcome to our happy home, John...

[Catalina Park]

Welcome John, glad you could join us

[MrAerodynamicist]

Originally posted by Barry Lake
Here is a big win for The Nostalgia Forum!

John Medley on deck.

My 'Whitbread' thread wasn't totally pointless then

BTW - Millhouse Books have a copy of the book on sale at £29.99.

[Ray Bell]

I heartily recommend you correct that situation, Mr A...

It's more than just a good read, it's a thorough browse through a great history... complete with some of John's legendary humour (the chapter on traveling to and from meetings, for instance)... and the photo collection has to be seen to be believed.