257 Squadron May 1941 help required

Once again from the ‘Unaccounted Airmen’ research by the late Henk Welting over on rafcommands.com

This thread for 16 Feb 44 has your man as Died on Active Service, with the death registered in the Stratford district (i.e. Stratford-on-Avon) – so possibly some accident or illness while on leave or otherwise away from his squadron.

You can order his death cert from the GRO using the information in this link here, but it may or may not contain any further information.

Hopefully this is of some help.

In a previous thread I explained how to use FreeBMD to get details for Birth and Death certificates for casualties in England and Wales.

If you use this to look up the registration district for the death of Evans you will see that it is not connected with either Scotland or Coltishall.

As said before a copy of his death certificate will give details of where and how he died and a copy of his service record will give most of his service postings.

Ross

Ivor thank you so much,i cant believe two casualty groups i have both share Coltishall in common !.

I have only just started collecting WW2 RAF medal groups,so please any leads / ideas on finding out circumstances/ details etc are welcomed.Its a learning curve for me.

Again many thanks H

64 Sqn moved from Ayr to Coltishall on 3rd February 1944. Only the ORB summaries seem to survive but there is no mention of Cpl Evans or aany other casualty on 16th February. The weather was poor on that day and the only activity recorded is the watching of three films in the morning (“Ditching without hedging”, “Siege of Tobruk” and “Young Norway”). The squadron was released at 1300 hrs and had a liberty bus to Norwich.

Forgive me if I’m teaching you to suck eggs – you could try contacting the local newspaper for his hometown, Blackwood Caerphilly. There may have been an obituary for him.

Thank you very much Ivor,the other set of medals i am trying to trace are 1161570, Cpl, Dennis. K. Evans, 64 sqn, RAFVR. Died – 16/02/1944.
I know the squadron was at Ayr during this date but thats all yet.

H

I’m afraid the ORB for May 1941 doesn’t add anything to what has already been given here. The Sgt Pilot who was killed, Sgt Parrott, took off at 23.59 on the 4th on a weather test and was ordered to land at Duxford because an enemy aircraft was in the vicinity of Coltishall. He put on his landing lights and was shot down at 01.10 on the 5th.

The only mention of the bombing of Coltishall is one line – “COLTISHALL airfield was bombed by the e/a which prevented SGT PARROTT landing”

I hope you find some more information somewhere.

Thank you everybody for your help and time in tracing the above. Edgar i shall message you.

I really am grateful,its so fitting with your knowledge to trace this airman,and add the lost story to the medals i have.

Thank you H

(Now i just have one set left to trace ) :eagerness:

Would anyone have a copy of that days “Orb” ?

If you don’t mind waiting for a future visit to Kew (possibly the 20th. or 27th.,) I’ll have a look at the microfilmed copy.

http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?2761-Unaccounted-airmen-5-5-1941
Smith,26, is registered at N Walsham, Norfolk

AC1 Alfred L. SMITH – 1258230 – KOAS (Killed on Active Service)

So “negligible damage but one killed and 5 injured” on the night of 4th/5th May 1941.

looks like Smith

You can download the ORB from the National Archives. There are two parts, record of events and summary of events, for each month. It will cost you £6.60 for both for one month. Click on details and then add to basket.

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C2504169

According to “The Blitz, Then and Now” vol 2, page 587, Coltishall received “negligable damage but one killed and 5 injured” on the night of 4th/5th May 1941. No more details given. The same page also mentions a 257 Squadron Hurricane being shot down at Duxford, by a German nightfighter, Killing its Sergeant Pilot.

On the following day, the 5th, according to the same referrence “there were several attacks on airfields in the South-East, but all to little effect”.

Is this of any help ?

Would anyone have a copy of that days “Orb” ? if thats the correct term ?.Or possibly point me in the right direction?.I also wondered if there was a record of the base being bombed at all that day ?. Thank you H

Thank you Edgar.That will help to narrow my search down a little. H

According to “Fighter Squadrons of the RAF,” they were at Coltishall from December 1940 until November 1941.