THE people of Britain were used to tragic events as the Allied Forces battled against the evil of Hitler's Nazi regime in the Second World War.

But a tiny West Somerset community was rocked by an incident that saw 'one of their own' killed in a training accident 150 miles away on Saturday, February 13, 1943.

Sgt Russell Charles Heath Boulton was one of eight crew members who perished when a Canadian aircraft came down just outside Stratford-upon-Avon, in Warwickshire, on that fateful day 76 years ago.

His death was felt strongly in Brushford, just two miles from Dulverton.

Although he was born in Canada, Russell had strong links with the village, where his mother, Florence Mary Nelder, was born in 1896.

She was the daughter of Charles William Nelder, who had been born in Tiverton, across the border in Devon, in 1853, and Edith Caroline Nelder (nee Gibson), who originally hailed from Sheffield, Yorkshire, in 1859.

Census records from 1901 show Florence was aged five and living with her siblings Dorothy, aged ten, Reginald, nine, Norah, seven, Edith, three, and one-year-old George in Brushford.

Their father was obviously a busy man working hard to feed and clothe his large family - as well as running the Caernarvon Arms, near Dulverton Station, he was also the town's postmaster.

At some stage Florence moved to Canada, where her husband, George Cartwright Boulton, was a rancher in Stettler, Alberta. He had two sisters, Margaret Augusta, whose married name was Ellenbrogen, and Helen Mary.

Records there indicate that Florence and George's son Russell was born almost exactly 100 years ago on May 15, 1919.

Once the couple decided Russell was old enough to embark on a lengthy journey across the Atlantic, they set sail for England to proudly show off their toddler to family and friends in Brushford on September 30, 1921.

They remained in the Somerset countryside for an idyllic nine months, obviously enjoying a third birthday party for the youngster before returning home to Canada on June 8, 1922.

As far as we know, it is the one and only time Russell set foot in Brushford.

On his return to Canada, he was educated in Alberta and on leaving school took a job as a bank teller with the Royal Bank, in Red Deer, before enlisting with the Royal Canadian Air Force as a navigator based in Edmonton on October 8, 1941.

He completed his initial and elementary training in Canada before embarking for England, where he arrived on November 25, 1942, before being posted on January 5, 1943, to the 22 Operational Training Unit based at Wellesbourne Mountford, some five miles east of Stratford-upon-Avon.

No doubt he would have written home to his mother describing the joys of his first Christmas and New Year as an adult in the country of her birth.

Yet within three months of his arrival those celebrations would turn to sadness and he would be dead.

Just over two decades since his childhood experience in Brushford, the tragic news of his untimely death filtered through to stunned villagers who recalled those carefree days when the little boy with the unusual accent enjoyed playing with local youngsters.

They would hardly have recognised the 5ft 6in tall, 12-stone 23-year-old as he joked with his fellow Canadian airmen as they prepared to become airborne in a Wellington Bomber Mk X HF-759 on a routine navigation exercise on the morning of Saturday, February 13, 1943.

Everything went well until they began their approach to land back at Wellesbourne, when a pin snapped in one of the flaps causing the pilot to lose control, bouncing down on the runway.

As he attempted an overshoot, he climbed up until at around 150 ft the plane stalled and came crashing down near to the airfield in a field at Kingsmead Farm at 12.37pm, bursting into flames, killing all eight on board, including Russell.

The other victims were the pilot WOI Leonard Stanley Carpenter, aged 24; WOI George Andrew Molozzi, 27; PO Spencer Hewitt Amys, 21;

PO Michael Stein Jacobs, 23; Sgt John Gilbert Campbell, 23; Sgt, Roy Kennedy, 24; and Fl/Sgt Lawrence Michael Fleming, 24.

Russell and his six countrymen were buried at Eversham Road Cemetery, Stratford-upon-Avon, while Englishman Lawrence Fleming was buried in a private family grave in Buckfastleigh, Devon.

Author David J. Eason is researching the lives of the 243 Canadian airmen who died or were killed during accidents and operations while they were with the 22 Operational Training Unit at Wellesbourne Mountford during the war.

He is supported in his efforts through the Canadian Consulate-London.

If you have any information about Russell Boulton, e-mail Mr Eason at wrha1121@yahoo.com