In the spring of
1917, at the height of World War I, a young South African
was recruited by the Royal Flying Corps to be trained
as a fighter pilot on the Western Front. His name was
Andrew Weatherby Beauchamp-Proctor. A tiny man, who
needed cushions in the cockpit of his SE 5A in order
to reach the controls, Beauchamp-Proctor proved so proficient,
that by the end of the war, he had become the fifth-ranking
ace on the Allied side with 54 kills.
After recovering from wounds
sustained in September 1918, Beauchamp-Proctor attended
an investiture at Buckingham Palace at which he was
awarded the VC, DSO, MC and DFC - which made him the
most highly-decorated South African of all time. Also
present on this occasion was Winston Churchill, then
Secretary of State for War and Air.
Beauchamp-Proctor then disappeared
from sight until 1922, when he returned to England and
rejoined the Royal Air Force. Because of his special
flying skills, he was appointed to the RAF aerobatic
squadron, then based at Upavon, Wiltshire.
Then, while practising for an
air display, he lost control of his SE 5A and was killed
in the resultant crash. He was buried in the village
churchyard.
On hearing of the war hero's
death, Jan Smuts, then Prime Minister of South Africa,
cabled Churchill and asked that the remains be shipped
to South Africa for a state funeral. The coffin was
duly delivered some six weeks later, and finally interred
in Beauchamp-Proctor's hometown of Mafeking.
All this is recorded fact.
But in 1983, a South African
tourist who happened to be visiting Upavon noticed a
gravestone in the village churchyard bearing the name
of Beauchamp-Proctor. It so happened that he was a native
of Mafeking and clearly remembered seeing the pilot's
tomb there. Intrigued, he talked to the local vicar,
who in turn contacted his Bishop. It transpired that
no diocesan authority had ever been given for the exhumation
of the remains, nor had there been any order from the
Home Office.
Which grave is the true resting
place of Andrew Weatherby Beachamp-Proctor? How can
a body be buried in two places 6,000 miles apart and
why is an old man in the village of Upavon so upset
by the appearance of the young man from Mafeking?
This novel seeks to explain the mystery and will keep
you riveted to the end. With a combination of research
and imagination, William Norris has constructed an adventure
story to match its hero's real-life exploits. Who knows
- it might even be true.
eBook:
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CD-ROM:
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