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Major Adrian John FITZGERALD (62544)
Royal Engineers Date of birth: 17th May 1914 Date of death: 13th April 1942 Killed on active service aged 27 Buried at Tidworth Military Cemetery Section E (Officers) Grave 61
Adrian John Fitzgerald was born at Tipperary in Eire on the 17th of May 1914 the third and youngest son of Lieutenant Colonel Peter Francis Fitzgerald DSO, King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, and Baroness Adrienne (nee de Geer) Fitzgerald of Hatherley Hall, Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. He was educated at Lancing College where he was in Heads House from September 1927 to July 1932. He was a Cadet Officer in the Officer Training Corps achieving Certificate A and gained his School Certificate in 1930. He was a member of the Athletics Team from 1930 to 1932 and was winner of the Public School Hurdles in 1931 and 1932 and of the Long Jump in 1932. He was appointed as a House Captain and as a Prefect in 1931. On leaving school he passed 9th into the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich from where he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on the 1st of February 1934. He went on to Caius College Cambridge on a Scholarship the same year where he achieved a BA Hons 3rd Class in Mechanical Science in 1936 and also won a Blue for Athletics. He was known as the "monocled hurdler" due to his habit of wearing a monocle in his right eye during races. He won nearly every race that he was entered for, including the Oxford v Cambridge Challenge Trophy in 1936. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 1st of February 1937. On the outbreak of war he was serving in Gibraltar. He was promoted to Acting Captain in 1940 and served in Sierra Leone from 1940 to 1941 when he was recalled to England and attached to an Armoured Division. He was promoted to Captain on the 10th of January 1941 and to temporary Major on the same date. He was promoted to Acting Lieutenant Colonel in 1942. In early April 1942 a demonstration of tactical air power was arranged at Imber on Salisbury Plain. The plan was for a squadron of aircraft to fire live ammunition at dummies and vehicles on the ground and the event was to be attended by a number of spectators, both military and civilian, who would be contained in a spectator’s enclosure which was to be marked with white tape to alert the pilots to their location. On the 12th of April a practice run was made at 2pm where it was noticed that the white tapes had not been laid out. During the practice the formation was three aircraft short and it was agreed that this would be rectified for the demonstration the following day with the addition of three Hurricane IIb aircraft from 175 Squadron based at RAF Warmwell. On the morning of the 13th of April it was noticed by a Royal Air Force Wing Commander that the tapes had still not been laid out and he and an army Major set about laying out what tape was available. There was not enough to surround the enclosure, as had been the plan, and an arrow of tape was laid 500 to 600 yards from the enclosure where it was thought to be visible to the pilots. The weather over the practice area was good but hazy, which made visibility poor as the aircraft were to be flying into the sun. At 2pm six Spitfire Vbs from 234 Squadron made their pass over the target area but did not fire their guns. They were followed by nine Hurricanes from 175 Squadron which were led by their commanding officer who did not see the arrows but successfully attacked the dummy targets. The second aircraft also fired but his shots missed the target while the third aircraft overshot the target without firing as he claimed he couldn’t see well enough because of the direction of the sun. The fourth aircraft also missed the targets and the fifth hit them. At this time a message was sent to the remaining aircraft:- “If you cannot see the target fire anyway, but before reaching the spectators.” The pilot of the sixth aircraft was Sergeant William John Andrew McLachlan RCAF in Hurricane Mk IIB BE417 which was armed with cannons rather than machine guns. He couldn’t see very well due to the angle of the sun and didn’t see the tapes, instead he took the spectators area to be the target and opened fire at a range of 500 yards. Thinking he was firing a little short, he raised the nose of his aircraft and fired again. In spite of very lights which were fired in an attempt to prevent the remaining two aircraft firing, they too opened fire on the spectators. Twenty five were killed or died of wounds with a further seventy one wounded. Adrian Fitzgerald was among the dead. Three days later the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, attended a similar demonstration at Imber which went according to plan. Those who died were:- Corporal Charles Victor Norman Blackman Royal Armoured Corps Captain Maxwell Brown 5 Survey Regiment, Royal Artillery Bombardier William Gordon Connelly 5 Survey Regiment, Royal Artillery Major George Bevan Davies 8th Hampshire (Avon Valley) Battalion Home Guard Major Adrian John Fitzgerald Royal Engineers 2nd Lieutenant Colin George Hamilton 97 (3rd Battalion London Scottish) Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery Lieutenant John Christopher Hawks Royal Army Medical Corps attached to the 2nd Battalion London Scottish Lance Bombardier David Carey Hodge 117 Field Regiment, Royal Artillery Lieutenant William Laurence Hodge 54 Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery Driver Charles Henry Kent Royal Army Service Corps 2nd Lieutenant Ronald Benjamin Lipman Royal Army Service Corps 2nd Lieutenant Kenneth Ronald Mattey Welsh Regiment Lance Bombardier Ivor McNeil 140 Field Regiment, Royal Artillery Private Francis Verdun Llewellyn Parry 10th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers Lieutenant Henry Ernest Phillips 7th Wiltshire (Salisbury) Battalion Home Guard 2nd Lieutenant James Carey Poole 10th (Airborne) Battalion Border Regiment Captain George Richard Gorton Roberts 1 Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery (died of wounds 14th of April) 2nd Lieutenant Henry William Cunnie Robson CIE OBE 5th Hampshire (Winchester) Battalion Home Guard (died of wounds 15th of April) Sergeant Alfred George Smith 140 Field Regiment, Royal Artillery Brigadier Robert Allan Grant Taylor OBE MC Royal Scots Fusiliers and General Staff Corporal Ernest Travers Royal Armoured Corps Lieutenant Leonard George Tunbridge 70th Battalion Hampshire Regiment Captain James Rowland West MC 5th Dorset (Weymouth) Battalion Home Guard Captain Frederick Joseph Willy 3rd Dorset (Poole) Battalion Home Guard Lieutenant Ralph Patrick Farquar Wilson 2nd Battalion London Scottish An inquiry into the incident was convened at Warminster on the 26th of June 1942 which concluded that all those who had died were the victims of misadventure and Sergeant McLachlan was exonerated. Three days later, Sergeant McLachlan was killed in action while attacking enemy shipping off the port of Cherbourg. He is commemorated on a plaque at Imber, along with the other victims of the tragedy, and is commemorated on the Borough of Cheltenham war memorial. He is also commemorated on the memorial at Christchurch.

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