Pilot Officer Ross Pringle Fahrni — The Third Victim of
the 19th of August 1942 Accident, Buried at St. Hilary
Early Life
 |
| Ross Pringle Fahrni |
Ross Pringle Fahrni was born in
1921 in Manitoba, Canada,
the son of
Stanley Harrison Fahrni and
Edith Josephine Mincker.
 |
| 1931 Canada Census |
By the time of the
1931 Canadian Census, the Fahrni family was living in
the small town of
Gladstone, Manitoba. Stanley, aged 42, worked as a
lawyer,
while Edith, then 32, cared for their four children:
Harrison (15),
Madalen
(13),
Ross (10), and
Joan (3). Ross grew up in this prairie
community, part of a close-knit family, before the war changed the course of
his life.
Military Service
 |
Ross Pringle Fahrni
Attestations Papers |
Ross enlisted in the
Royal Canadian Air Force on
10th
July 1940. His
Attestation Papers survive, recording his commitment
to serve overseas in one of the most dangerous branches of the war effort. Like
so many young Canadians, he left home to join Britain and the Commonwealth in
the fight against Nazi Germany, eventually being assigned as part of the
aircrew with
No. 172 Squadron, RAF Coastal Command.
Death and Burial
 |
| Vickers Wellington Mk VIII “Leigh Light” |
On
19th August 1942, Ross was flying in
Vickers
Wellington Mk VIII “Leigh Light” HX482, a specialised aircraft used in
anti-submarine patrols. The squadron, based at
RAF Chivenor, had been
pioneering the use of the Leigh Light to locate and attack U-boats under the
cover of darkness. That night, HX482 failed to return from its mission,
crashing into the waters of
Swansea Bay. Later reports suggest the
aircraft was almost certainly the victim of
friendly fire, possibly from
the guns of the American oil tanker
SS Gulf of Mexico, with the
crash site thought to be near the
Scarweather Lightship.
South Wales, with its powerful tides—second only in the
world to Newfoundland’s Bay of Fundy—eventually gave up its dead. On 29
August 1942, ten days after the crash, the guardroom at RAF Chivenor
received word from RAF Fairwood that a body had been recovered, washed
ashore on Swansea Beach. It was identified as Ross Pringle Fahrni.
 |
Ross Pringle Fahrni
St. Hilary churchyard, Killay
credit - findagrave |
On
5th September 1942, Ross was buried
with
full military honours at
St. Hilary Churchyard, Killay,
becoming the
first of the HX482 crew to be laid to rest there. Just
three days later, his comrade
Pilot Officer Edwin Thomas Arthur Deacon
was buried in the same churchyard after his body was recovered from
Oxwich
Beach. Their graves now stand close together, a poignant reminder of the
loss of the Wellington’s crew and of the international nature of the RAF’s
sacrifice.
Legacy
Ross was only 21 years old when he died. His grave at
St. Hilary is a lasting reminder of the contributions and sacrifices made by
young Canadians who travelled far from home to serve in the Royal Air Force.
Alongside Edwin Deacon and others lost in the same tragedy, Ross’s resting
place binds together men of different nations—Canadian and British—united by a
common cause and a shared fate in Swansea Bay.
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