Sgt Frederick Charles Brown, 2nd Glider Pilot Regiment, Army Air Corps

Army Air Corps

Frederick Charles Brown was a Sergeant (No.10576757) in the 2nd Glider Pilot Regiment, Army Air Corps. He died on Friday 28th April 1944 aged 22 and is buried in St Cuthbert’s churchyard in Great Glen. His brother John William is also commemorated on the same headstone as he was killed in Burma a fortnight later.

Horsa Glider and Lancaster

‘The Eagle’, the journal of the Glider Pilot Regiment Association had the following quote in its April 1993 edition.
'On 28 April 1944, Horsa LH438 from Fairford disintegrated on tow, resulting in the death of S/Sgt Neddleman and Sgt Brown. The tail unit broke off and the Horsa spiralled into the ground. The Accident Card mentions "looseness in front of the fin may have started breakup".'

Parachute Regiment Badge

Staff Sergeant Neddleman and Sergeant Brown were both members of 2 Wing, Glider Pilot Regiment. All Glider Pilots were volunteers and were entitled to wear the maroon beret of the Parachute Regiment together with that regiment’s beret badge. At the time of their deaths they were training for D-Day and the airborne assault on Normandy. The job of a glider pilot was very hazardous and there was a high proportion of deaths amongst the volunteers. After the glider had landed in hostile territory the pilot, who was lightly armed, was expected to accompany the assault troops.

Fred Brown enlisted in Leicester into the army. At one time there was a photograph of him hanging in the Minister’s Vestry in Great Glen Methodist Church but no one now knows what happened to it.

Fred's Gravestone

The inscription on the gravestone in Great Glen Cemetery reads :-
10576757 Sergeant F C Brown – Glider Pilot Regiment – Army Air Corps – 28th April 1944 Age 22 – Also to the memory of Capt. J W Brown – Killed in Burma – 11th May 1944 Age 25. The crest on the stone is that of the Army Air Corps although, as previously mentioned, this would not necessarily have been the badge which Fred wore.