Source: Leicestershire War Memorials Project.
02-MAY-1941
Blackburn Botha Mk I aircraft
Owner/operator: 3 SGR, Royal Air Force (3 SGR, RAF)
Registration: L6326
During training flight, engine failure. Ditched Just NE of Carrick Rock, nr Port St Mary, Isle Of Man, United Kingdom. All four crew KOAS F/O Julien Walter Lowndes Bruxner-Randall (RAF) P/O Vernon Bramwell Dewhurst (RAFVR) P/O Philip Arthur Goode (RAFVR)
AC2 Frank Mitchell Philp (RAFVR)
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Submitted by J. Parrot 2018

The Blackburn Botha was a British four-seat reconnaissance and torpedo bomber, built by Blackburn Aircraft at its factories in Brough and Dumbarton. The aircraft was introduced to active service in 1940, but the design was underpowered and following a high number of fatal crashes, was very rapidly withdrawn from active service. The model continued to be used for training purposes however, resulting in further casualties, and was not retired until 1944.

A descendant of P/O Vernon Branwell Dewhurst, who died aged 19 years, alongside F/O Julien WL Bruxner/Randall, wrote online (www.ww2talk.com) that 'They took off from Squires Gate, Blackpool, on a triangular patrol over the Irish Sea, with the Isle of Man one of the way points. The plane nosedived into the sea apparently on one engine. My grandparents were unable to obtain any more details from the RAF and his (VB Dewhurst's) friends were instructed not to discuss the accident with anyone. There were 4 men on the plane. My uncle was buried on the Isle of Man without my grandparents being informed, in spite of them being asked before if they wanted his body returned to the mainland...Major Bruxner-Randall, the father of the pilot was invited to the funeral however...'
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Julien (born at Thurlaston on 25 August 1920) was the only child of Walter and Dorothy Bruxner-Randall, both of whom were killed on their coffee plantation in Thika/Kenya by Mau-Mau rebels in 1954 (The Times, 17 March 1954, p. 8). Julien's great-grandfather, Rev. George Edward Bruxner (1812-1891) was Rector of the parish of Thurlaston, where he is buried (together with three of his children) at the cemetery of All Saints' Church (one of the stained-glass windows in the church was donated by two of his daughters in 1850). Several relatives live in London and Kent today.
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Information and photograph supplied by family member, Peter H. Sand, 2018
http://www.sand-clan.net/english/familyhistory.html