Flt Lt Gordon Ayton DFC

Hayden Lawford

Just a short note to say that Hayden Lawford who posted above passed away in the last few weeks. He had only just contacted me about his KA317 research in the months before hand.

regards

Dennis

Hans Raymond Anderson

The Canadian Newspaper The Globe and Mail dated 16 July 1945 carried the following official casualty notices which I believe refer to the F/O Anderson RCAF.

Ottawa, July 15 The Department of National Defense for Air foday issued Casualty List Nos. 1242 and 7243 of the Roval Canadian Air Force, showing next of kin of those named from Ontario as follows
LIST NO, 1242
OVERSEAS

…

Seriously Injured
ANDERSON, Hans Raymond, FO. Bird River., Man

The Lethbridge Herald Newpaper carried the list in this manner:
Seriously Injured on Active Service
ANDERSON, Hans Raymond, FO.
S. Anderson (father) Bird River., Man

This information was backed by Mr Hugh Haliday who is a RCAF researcher as:

ANDERSON, Hans Raymond (R.182278 and J.38661. Born 4 October 1922. Enlisted in Winnipeg, 13 April 1942.
Graduated and commissioned, 22 November 1943.
Shown at being posted to No.45 (Air Transport) Group, Dorval, 13 September 1944.
Repatriated 30 December 1945. retired 15 February 1946.

The obituary I found that I believe relates to him is:
http://obits.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/obit.cgi
ANDERSON, Hans Raymond; 80; Salmonhurst NB>Winnipeg MB; Winnipeg F-P; 2003-1-4; smb

www.passagesmb.com
HANS ANDERSON (published on January 04, 2003)

HANS RAYMOND ANDERSON Peacefully, on Thursday, December 26, 2002, with his family by his bedside, Hans passed away at the Grace General Hospital, at the age of 80 years. He leaves to cherish his memory his wife Mildred; son George; daughter Shirley (Glen) relatives and friends. He was predeceased by his parents, a brother and a sister. Hans was born on October 4, 1922, in Salmonhurst, NB. He moved to Manitoba as a child. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War and worked at the Deer Lodge Hospital after the war until his retirement. In keeping with Hans wishes, no formal funeral service will be held. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Hans memory to the Grace General Hospital Foundation, 300 Booth Dr., Winnipeg, MB R3J 3M7. WOJCIKS ALL BELIEFS & FAITHS FUNERAL CHAPEL & CREMATORIUM 897 – 4665

Dennis Burke
http://www.skynet.ie/~dan/war/crashes.htm

Article in “Flying in Ireland” magazine

For those intersted my article on the crash of Mosquito KA317 has just been published in the July edition of the Irish aviation magazine “Flying in Ireland”. This publication is available in the North and South of Ireland – I’m not sure if it is distributed in the UK. The actual crash site has also been located.

Hayden

Hi Kev,

Navigator was F/O H.W. “Hans” Anderson, RCAF. At the time of the crash his address was given as Winnipeg. According to David Ayton, Gordon’s son, he is believed to have survived until 2002, which accounts for the lack of info from the CWGC. He was dragged clear of the blazing wreck by a local man who then attempted to save Gordon Ayton but was driven back by the flames. Ayton survived the initial impact and he was heard calling for help, but the rescuers were driven back by the flames.
I have copies of the eye witness statements and Irish Military Records obtained by David Ayton from the Military Archive in Dublin which tell the whole tragic story.
I am hopeful that publishing the story might result in a memorial to Gordon Ayton near the site, last August a memorial garden was opened to commemmorate the 7 airmen who died in the crash of Halifax EB136 near Tuam, Co Galway, in November 1943,

Hayden

Hayden.

Would you mind refreshing my memory on who died alongside Gordon Ayton in the crash? I did have the surname some time ago but can’t for the life of me find the details now. If I remember correctly there may have been some concern that the name of the Navigator did not appear on the CWGC Register, perhaps this is what led to the rumours of a passenger or VIP being aboard the aircraft.

Having come across this incident in the course of some other research, I am sure you are as aware as I am of some of the rumour present concerning the loss of Flt/Lt Ayton. If not, PM me and I will try and dig out what notes I have and outline the circumstances by which I was made aware of the rumours.

Edited to add: It was F/O H R Anderson who died alongside Gordon Ayton. Still unable to locate him with CWGC and totally confused as to why he is not registered if he was RAF. Unless, of course, F/O stood for something like Flight Officer or first Officer and Anderson was a civilian?

Regards,

kev35

Mosqito KA 317/ Gordon Ayton

Just picked up this Forum – I have also been researching Gordon Ayton’s death at Ballinduff, Ardrahan Co Galway on 28/06/45. The crash site is a turlough – an area flooded in the winter months but which dries out during the summer. I have visited recently with David Ayton, Gordon’s son, and earlier with his son-in-law. I am writing an article on Ayton’s illustrious service career (he completed 138 Ops during WW2) for the Irish magazine “Flying in Ireland”, what a tragedy that he should die on a routine ferry flight after VE Day. By the way, I have found no evidence of a passenger on the flight, VIP or otherwise. Aircraft was unarmed with no munitions aboard.

Hayden

‘In the earlly part of the war there were two patterns A and B schemes. Usually odd numbered aircraft had the B scheme although my fathers Blenheim had the A scheme and an odd serial number (R3891) even serial numbers had a mirror image of the B scheme called the A scheme!’
http://forums.diecast-aviation.eu/showthread.php?t=3860

Hi Kev

Thanks for that info – amazing rapid response. I see that this subject came up on this forum in 2003. I am in touch with Gordon’s sister, thats where I got the photos from, at one point in our conversation she said that Gordon was carrying a VIP on his last flight but I did not pursue that line of inquiry.

Gordon was Dereham born and breed. His parents went to Canada after the war. Sister still lives in Dereham.

I will speak to sister again after the New Year.

Cheers

Frank

I was quite stunned to see these two photo’s appear on this forum as I have copies of both amongst my bits and bobs.

I can’t check details for you right now but I can confirm for you that I know of the other two gentlemen in the pictures. The aircraft is indeed a Blenheim. The code letters FV indicate that this is a Blenheim of No 13 OTU (Operational Training Unit) at Bicester.

The shorter of the two is a Sergeant Zagerman, known to all and sundry as Ziggy. The other is Sergeant, and later Warrant Officer, Frank Sullivan. If I remember correctly, they were all posted to 37 Squadron on Wellingtons in the Middle East but were assigned to different crews. I believe Sergeant Zagerman was posted to another Squadron within 205 Group shortly after arrival. I do, however, know that Sergeant Sullivan completed a tour of 39 Operations with 37 Squadron before returning to the UK where I believe he finished his career in an administrative role. Both survived the war and both have passed away within the last ten years or so.

Do you know anything of the circumstances surrounding Gordon Ayton’s death? I should be interested to hear whether you heard the same rumours as I did during my research, but that’s probably best discussed privately either by telephone or PM. I’ll see what else I can find about Sullivan and Zagerman. There was a book published a few years ago recording the history of 37 Squadron, this carried the title “Wise Without Eyes” which was also the Squadron Motto.

If I can be of any further help please don’t hesitate to ask.

Regards,

kev35