Lieutenant Rhodri Leyshon Royal Navy

Originally from Cardiff, Wales - lived in Langport, Somerset
Died on 5 September 2024, aged 31

Lieutenant ‘Rhod’ Leyshon joined the Wales University Royal Naval Unit in 2010 and was commissioned into the Royal Navy four years later.
He undertook flying training, specialising as a Commando Helicopter Force aviator, where he served with 845 Naval Air Squadron and completed a number of overseas deployments, including to the Caribbean, USA and Norway. He became one of the Force's most trusted, highly capable, aircraft captains and instructors. Away from flying, Rhod was a keen and accomplished rugby player.

​Rhod lost his life following an aircraft accident at approximately 8:45 pm BST in the English Channel some 13 miles off the Dorset coast. The 846 Naval Air Squadron Merlin Mk 4 helicopter, Serial Number ZJ135, he was piloting ditched into the sea aft of the aircraft carrier HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH during a night-flying training exercise. The two other crew members were rescued quickly escaping with minor physical injuries, but Rhod was located later and died after being airlifted to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth. 

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Lieutenant Commander Darren Chapman Royal Navy

Originally from Burghclere, Hampshire - lived in Charlton Mackrell, Somerset
Died on 6 May 2006, aged 40 

Darren Chapman worked his way up through the ranks of the Royal Navy from Able Seaman in 1983 to eventually command 847 Naval Air Squadron based at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton. He had extensive operational experience, serving as a Sea King pilot in the first 1991 Gulf campaign, on operations in the Balkans during the mid-1990s and returned to Iraq for Operation Telic in 2003.
​He was flying a Westland Lynx Mk7, Serial No. XZ614 assigned to the Joint Helicopter Force in Iraq, conducting a local area reconnaissance overhead Basra on Saturday 6 May 2006 when it exploded in mid-air and crashed onto the rooftop of a residential building in the centre of the city. Darren and all the occupants of the helicopter were killed including two other 847 squadron members; Captain David Dobson on loan from the Army Air Corps and Marine Paul Collins the Air Door Gunner. Following consideration of all the evidence, including witness statements and subject matter expert advice, the Board of Inquiry concluded that the main cause of the crash was a hostile Surface-to-Air Missile attack. 

Lieutenant Jenny Lewis Royal Navy

Originally from the Isle of Wight, Hampshire - lived in Sherborne, Dorset
Died on 12 June 2002, aged 25

Jenny, an Observer, was the first female aircrew to die while serving in the Royal Navy. She lost her life alongside that of her colleague and pilot, Lieutenant Rod Skidmore. Also on board was Paul Hanson, a Petty Officer working as a photographer in the rear of the aircraft, who managed to escape. Their Westland Lynx Mk 8 helicopter, Serial Number XZ 256 from 815 Squadron based at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, was operating from the Type 23 frigate HMS RICHMOND at the time of the accident.
The aircraft was returning to the ship after a Sea Skua missile live firing exercise when it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 200 miles off the coast of Virginia, USA.
The Lynx sank to a depth of 4,000 metres, as deep as the Titanic, coming to rest on the seabed. In a delicate and lengthy salvage operation, the helicopter was raised then carefully lifted onto the salvage ship and Lieutenant Skidmore's body removed. Sadly Jenny’s body was never found.
​Although Jenny has no grave she is remembered with honour on the Armed Forces Memorial at the National Arboretum, in the Fleet Air Arm Roll of Honour and on the headstone of Lieutenant Skidmore in the Royal Naval Cemetery, Yeovilton. There is also a D6515 diesel locomotive named in her memory.  

Lieutenant Andrew George Royal Navy

Born in Arbroath, Scotland
Died on 7 February 1985, aged 25

Lt ‘Andy’ George joined the Royal Navy on 1 September 1977, and having previously been awarded a Naval Flying Scholarship, was selected for the Flying Grading Course. An intuitive pilot from the outset, he was awarded his ‘wings’ in March 1981. 
Although Andy’s career as a naval aviator was just shy of four years he achieved much in that short space of time; in 1982 he was the youngest Sea Harrier pilot to participate in the Falklands Conflict flying 46 combat missions during the hostilities. He was qualified to fly 11 different fixed wing aircraft types and became an aircraft instructor at only 23 years old. Andy was also privileged to fly the Royal Navy Historic Flight Sea Fury T20 on numerous occasions, displaying this iconic aeroplane around the summer circuit during 1984. 
Just after midday on Thursday 7 February 1985 Andy took off in a Harrier T4N, Serial Number ZB 606 of 899 Naval Air Squadron, for an engine check test flight.  Shortly afterwards it crashed 3 nautical miles north of the air station at Yeovilton, Somerset.
Andy and his passenger, Midshipman Paul Norman, were both killed. They are laid to rest next to each other in the Royal Naval Cemetery at the rear of the Fleet Air Arm Memorial Church. 

HMS GLAMORGAN Flight

12 June 1982

Group photograph taken a few months before the Falklands conflict. Those highlighted perished on 12 June 1982.
Back row left to right: Brian Hinge, Andy Gibbs, George Lilley, Kelvin McCallum, John Humphrys, Michael Adcock, Unknown, Bernie Inglis
Front row left to right: Mo Morris, Dave Lee, Geoff Stevenson, Gerry Hunt, Mike De Winton, Ian Tate, John Kelly (survivor)

On the morning of 12 June 1982, two days before the Argentinian surrender, at approximately 6:30am HMS GLAMORGAN was hit by a shore-launched Exocet missile whilst supporting 45 Commando Royal Marines with naval gunfire bombardments during their assault on the ‘Two Sisters’ Heights overlooking Port Stanley, Falkland Islands.
​The missile struck HMS GLAMORGAN on the port side aft, exploding on impact, destroying the fully armed Wessex Mk III helicopter, severely damaging the hangar, and wrecking the main galley below. The ship stayed afloat but thirteen of the crew were killed instantly with a further fourteen injured, one fatally. Six of those who died were from the ship’s flight 737 Naval Air Squadron;
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Petty Officer Engineering Mechanic (Electrical) Michael John Adcock
Air Engineering Mechanic (Mechanical) Mark Henderson
Air Engineering Mechanic (Radio) Brian Peter Hinge
Local Acting Chief Air Engineering Mechanician David Lee
Air Engineering Artificer (Mechanical) Kelvin Ian McCallum
Petty Officer Aircrewman Colin Paul Vickers