101 Squadron at Stradishall – Wellington BJ689

Dave! I did not monitor the thread (I thought I would be notified of any other posts but either I wasn’t or I missed it). So, today is the first time I’ve seen your post! A TV program on WWII bombing made me search again. I really do hope you get notified about me seeing your post. I’d love to find out more about Roberta and anything about the de Bartok family too – looks like you have excellent insights! My brother and I met with the latest generation of the family in order to return some personal items we recovered from the crash site. Please do get in touch with me. I’ll PM you too if I am able to do so.

Regards,

Tony

Hi,

This is my first post. I hope this thread is still being monitored. I wrote to the J. DeBartok who posted on the 101 Sqn message board but the address was dead.

What do you want to know about Roberta Agnes Elizabeth Audrey Mary McDowall of 52 Lesmahagon Rd, Strathaven, Scotland?

I can tell you that, as next-of-kin to P/O DeBartok, even for only two weeks, she made life miserable for the Countess Gabrielle De Bartok, his mother. She wanted his possessions and these were refused with the excuse that “it’s all stored in the attic but no money to send it”

I’ll cease for now but there is plenty more to tell.

Regards,

Dave

No problem amdyhou. I am more than happy to try and help. I am lucky in that there are several pictures of my father and his crew although as the ABC system was fitted to his aircraft there are no pictures of it that I know of.

Thank you very much MindOverMatter for going to all that trouble for me. I do have the ORBs, but I think that’s the first time I’ve seen the Battle Order sheet. I’m the nephew of James Dyhouse. De Bartok was quite a chap – he got the DFC (entry can be seen online). Sorry the 29th Sept was a typo of mine – it was supposed to be 20th and I obviously hit the next key! I’ve tried to track down De Bartok’s wife (McDowell) too (as have De Bartok’s family) but no luck. My real hope, though unlikely, is to find a pic of the actual aircraft and/or crew. I’ve done a lot of searching!

Thanks again for your help,

amdyhou

26 July 1942 Hamburg BJ689 E.T.D. 22:39

A bit more about the raid. 19/20 September Saarbrücken 118 aircraft were sent – 72 Wellingtons, 5 Stirlings and 41 Halifaxes. Of these 3 Wellingtons and 2 Halifaxes were lost.

Ground haze at the 2 targets hampered their marking by the Pathfinders and this led to scattered bombing to the west of them. Damage in Saarbrücken was limited to 13 houses destroyed and 27 seriously damaged with 1 fatality.

These are taken from the Summary of Events for September.

4 September 1942 F/Sgt/Pilot E. De Bartok commissioned – P/O.

13 September 1942 P/O E.A.F. De Bartok is recorded as getting married in Newmarket to McDowall.

I have the ORB entries for this period but they show BJ689 as failing to return and no message received on the 19/20 September 1942 not the 29th. This was on a raid to Saarbrücken the capital of the state of Saarland, Germany and consisted of 13 aircraft from 101 with BJ689 the only aircraft failing to return.

The last raids in September were “Gardening” ones on the 26th consisting of 6 aircraft. The squadron received orders to relocated to Holme-on-Spalding Moor on the 27th September and the advance party left Stradishall on the 28th. 16 aircraft and crew left for Holme on the morning of the 29th.

I have found about 28 ORB entries for this crew from 17th June 1942 and the Movements record for the 9th June 1942 shows :-

R:77136 F/Sgt: Ernest De Bartok posted from No. 419 Squadron Mildenhall
1191572 Sgt: C. Drury posted from 214 Squadron Stradishall
1310053 Sgt: R.A. Haskins posted from 214 Squadron Stradishall
1195067 Sgt: James Ladas Dyhouse posted from 214 Squadron Stradishall
1293866 Sgt: E.J. Bailey posted from 214 Squadron Stradishall

As Brawley (pilot in training) wasn’t a regular crew member he is proving elusive to track down other than he was present on the night BJ689 failed to return and there is no mention of him with this crew in any of the raids prior to this either.

I’ll do a bit more research tomorrow and try and come up with a bit more information if I can.