142 Squadron April 1943

I’ve updated the list of losses on the website: http://www.aviationarchaeology.org.uk/marg/142sqn_losses.htm

I don’t think HF795 is the correct serial for the subject of this thread though. The squadron ORB is actually pretty confusing for April to June 1943, but HF795 appears to have been operating in June. Air Britain has it listed as missing 10/4/43 (Decimomannu). The ORB lists 3 operational losses in May and Air Britain attributes 4 aircraft to two of these. One of these could well be QT-C which failed to return from Enfedaville. I suspect the records were written up incorrectly at the time.

Any help sorting this out will be great! The web page is still being updated and I’m slowly adding the crew names for 1943-44 to the list of aircraft losses. If anyone can identify crews that I haven’t listed yet, please post a reply and I’ll add details to the website. The crews up to the end of 1942 are already listed here: http://www.aviationarchaeology.org.uk/marg/men_of_142.htm

Although I have yet to see it, I found out that another Great Nephew of George Sherwwod is in possession of the letter sent to the family from the Air Ministry regarding the loss of QT-C and the death of my Great Uncle. Maybe there are some details in there. I will post an update when I have seen it.

We met up recently at a family funeral and I was saddened to hear my late Great Aunt had never made it to Tunisia to visit the grave and we discussed the possibility of getting in touch with the families of all five of the crew to see if a visit could be organised.

Probably not HF795

I’ve updated the list of losses on the website: http://www.aviationarchaeology.org.uk/marg/142sqn_losses.htm

I don’t think HF795 is the correct serial for the subject of this thread though. The squadron ORB is actually pretty confusing for April to June 1943, but HF795 appears to have been operating in June. Air Britain has it listed as missing 10/4/43 (Decimomannu). The ORB lists 3 operational losses in May and Air Britain attributes 4 aircraft to two of these. One of these could well be QT-C which failed to return from Enfedaville. I suspect the records were written up incorrectly at the time.

Any help sorting this out will be great! The web page is still being updated and I’m slowly adding the crew names for 1943-44 to the list of aircraft losses. If anyone can identify crews that I haven’t listed yet, please post a reply and I’ll add details to the website. The crews up to the end of 1942 are already listed here: http://www.aviationarchaeology.org.uk/marg/men_of_142.htm

I have found some more information courtesy of http://www.rafweb.org/

09-Apr
Sgt
WILLIAMS, NORMAN HARRY (1231774) RAFVR; age: Unknown
He was killed whilst flying in Wellington III, HF795 of No 142 Sqn, which crashed and burst into flames during an attack on enemy troops and MT near Enfidaville. He is buried in Massicault War Cemetery

The only extra infro it provides is a little more detail of the crash and the serial number of the aircraft.

I came across this thread whilst researching the story behind the death of my Great Uncle George Sherwood.

Thank you for the links provided already, the photo of his headstone in Massicault has prompted me to arrange a visit there in the near future.

I was interested with the news that the mission was a bombing raid on Enfedaville as I had always been led to believe the target was in Romania and the crew had volunteered knowing they would not have enough fuel to allow them to return to Blida.

I would love to know how to access the military records for this mission. Is such a thing possible, and how do you go about it?

Richard.