Main image - 1832 Squadron pilots at R.N.A.S. Culham. 2nd from left Lt. Cdr (A) G McC Rutherford MBE DSC R.N.V.R. 5th from left Lieutenant Robert C MacLaren R.N.V.R.
REASON FOR LOSS:
Lieutenant MacLaren took-off from R.N.A.S. Culham in Seafire F.15 SR611 for a squadron battle formation practice flight, during the exercise Lt. Maclaren’s aircraft collided with another of the squadrons Seafires, F.17 SX290 flown by Lt. S R Leslie. SR611 dived into the ground in an orchard at Highmoor Cross, Nettlebed, Oxon killing Lt MacLaren, the pilot of SX290 Lt Leslie landed safely.
Lt Maclaren was taken to his native home in Scotland for private burial.
In 1991 the remains of Seafire SR611 were recovered under M.O.D. Licence 749 by The Booker Aircraft Museum (Aircrew Remembrance Society) In the gallery below, are some of the parto now saved in the Societies Aviation Heritage Collection, such as the Brass engine plate from engine that reads; Griffin VI No.39780 LEFT HAND TRACTOR. Navy Tunic fragment, and R.N.V.R. button.
12th May 2025 - Seafire XV SR611 Pilots Son Peter Maclaren Receives Our Donation
Throughout April & May 2025 we had been corresponding with Christopher Thomson regarding the loss of his Uncle Lt. Robert Caldwell Maclaren, who was tragically on the 24th April 1950 in the crash of Supermarine Seafire XV SR611 at Highmore Cross, Oxon. Chris who is also the cousin of the pilot’s son Peter MacLaren, who was sadly less than one year old at the time of his father’s death, informed us that both of them had very little information about the loss of Robert until Chris came across the society’s remembrance page for Robert. At the time of our recovery of the aircraft back in 1994 we were unable to trace any relatives of Robert and it was a great privilege and honour to pass on the knowledge we had been able to research and preserve over the years. Chris informed us that he would be passing on our detailed information to Peter on the 75th Anniversary of Roberts loss, and that at the beginning of this month he would be visiting Peter at his home in Vermont U.S.A. We decided that we would like to pass on something to Peter in memory of his father to coincide with Christopher’s visit. We therefor selected a poignant item recovered from the Seafire crash site, the Altimeter Instrument face from the pilots blind flying panel framed up, and also had a photograph album printed covering our crash site investigation and research. In the Gallery (photo 2) Our two gifts photographed before posting (photo 3) Peter seen after receiving his gifts, (photo 4) Lt. Robert Caldwell Maclaren seen here while serving on H.M.S. Implacable during 1949 and other poignant framed items held in our Heritage collection, The Rolls Royce Griffin Engine plate, a button and piece of fabric from the pilots tunic (Photo7).
Page researched and compiled by David & Alexander D King. (updated 2012) page recompiled & updated (2025)
