Whitley losses

Mantog,

Sent you a PM.

Cheers,
Hans

Well, gf returned with a wealth of info and his log book, caterpillar club badge(!) and various other bits and pieces.
The previous few posts were correct, he was on N1417
last entry in his log book (apart from repatriation flights) reads ” 19/5/40 raid on oil refinery near Gelsenkirchen. Caught in heavy flak barrage and hit in main tank. Failed to return”
He mentioned the merlin engined Whitleys were far better than the Tiger engined variants. Also confirmed he was in Stalag I, II, III and VI (I think). Also of interest was an earlier entry 19/3/40 “bombing raid on seaplane base at Sylt. All bombs dropped. Fairly heavy AA fire. Height 4000ft” and “24/11/39 Kinloss in search of (battleship) Deutschland”
There are 3 missions from 5/4/40 which are, ” from satellite ‘drome to base (duration 15 mins)” “low level bombing on aerodrome (duration 35 mins) “high level bombing mission, all bombs dropped” (duration 2hrs). What the heck was all that about?!
Anyway, thanks for your help folks!

I appreciate all the input chaps, this is most interesting. Gf is off to see him this weekend so hopefully should be able to coax some more info out of him. It’s quite fascinating that he was able to watch the V1/V2 launches from Peenemunde

Looking at the dates supplied by Alan and others here, it is probable that your girlfriends grandad may have been been moved from the Stalag Luft III near Peenemunde by the time it was bombed extensively (this was the 17th/18th August 1943), so one would assume he was out of the ‘danger area’ by then! A small bit of irony though, if he was at the POW camp is that 102 Sqn took part in the Peenemunde raid (with the loss of none of the aicrfat despatched).

Chris

The info on lostbombers is a direct copy of what is in Bomber Command Losses and the appropriate air britain serials book.

The purpose of the flight according to BCL is Op: Gelsenkirchen

The previous entry for another 102 Sqn Whitley says the target was a synthetic oil plant in the Buer district.

Think he was in Stalag luft III, but it was near Pena Munda(?) near
the
rocket firing test ranges because he could see the rockets going
off.

“

Mantog, that’s Peenemunde, although the rest of it is correct. If you can, lay your hands on a copy of MArtin Middlebrooke’s ‘The Peenemunde Raid’. I have a copy but haven’t read it for a while. It is, as with many of Middlebrooke’s books, excellently researched and presented and I’m sure it will mention Stalag Luft III as it mentions the labour camps nearby.

Cheers,

Chris

Fluffy, thanks for the heads up on that excellent website:
I’ve found this Serial Range N1405 – N1444. 40 Whitley Mk.V. Delivered by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft between 23Oct39 and 7Dec39. Contract No.75147/38. N1417 was one of two No.102 Sqdn Whitleys lost on this operation. See: N1376. Airborne 2000 19May40 from Driffield. Crashed 2330 on farmland belonging to Mr Wilbers at De Klef near the town of Milheeze (Noord Brabant), 20 km ENE of Eindhoven, Holland. F/O Cogman, who had recently returned from internment in Belgium was reported safe 20May40, but is believed to have been drowned following the sinking of the S.S.Abukir 28May40. He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. F/O W.C.G.Cogman Evd P/O L.Miller DFC PoW Sgt K.V.Thrift KIA LAC J.R.Nicholson PoW AC2 E.H.Bros PoW There is a report in which F/O W.C.G.Cogman is reported as F/L W.G.G Cognan and was killed in the crash. AC2 E.H.Bros was interned in Camps 8B/L6/L4. PoW No.13043. P/O L.Miller in Camps L1/L3, PoW No.24. LAC J.R.Nicholson in Camps 8B/L6/357, PoW No.13040. “

Well, this is the info I’ve got from my gf so far, and I quote, so you must excuse any inaccuracies:

“he was stationed at Driffield in the Northern Wing of Bomber Command
as
a radio operator. He thinks you’re right about it being 102
Squadron.

I’m not entirely sure about getting shot down on a leaflet raid
anymore.
Dad said grandad still has his log book of all his flights because
he
had previously done leaflet raids over France, but he couldn’t
remember
when it was he got shot down.

They got hit by a shell that fortunately went through the fuel tank.
He
thinks everyone at the front of the plane got out by climbing over a
wing strut to get to the escape hatch. Not so sure about the rear
gunner
through, nobody ever saw anything of him again.

Think he was in Stalag luft III, but it was near Pena Munda(?) near
the
rocket firing test ranges because he could see the rockets going
off.
Also nearly got shot by a guard whilst going to retrieve his
football
(not sure if the guard was a rubbish shot or just wanted to scare
him).

Apparantly grandad was mentioned by name in a recent RAF book on
Whitleys

“

Have you tried www.lostbombers.co.uk it might help you find what you are after.

The rank for J R Nicholson in Bomber Command Losses is LAC, for aircrew that does sound odd as you don’t see that too often

Hi,

From my list of RAF and Commonwealth POW’s I have a J R Nicholson service number 620766 being held in Stalag Luft 6, near Hydekrug, POW number 13040. The only problem is he is down as a Warrant Officer.

Alan, could you confirm the rank of J R Nicholson. Mantog says he was a navigator, which doesn’t sound right for a LAC, whereas it would fit for a Wt Off.

Alex

From www.rafweb.org

The squadron (102) was reformed from ‘B’ Flight on No 7 Squadron at Worthy Down on 1 October 1935 but it was the following March before it was able to operate as an independent squadron. Equipped with Heyfords, the squadron moved north to its new base at Finningley in Yorkshire in September 1936.

Moves followed to Honington (July 1937) and Driffield (Jul 1938), where in October 1938 it began to receive Whitleys. These were taken on operations, albeit leaflet dropping, on the first night of world War 2. A move to Leeming in August 1940 was short-lived as in September the squadron was attached to Coastal Command and began convoy patrols from Prestwick.

The squadron returned to Bomber Command in October 1940 when it moved into Linton-on-Ouse

So it looks much like he set off from Driffield – another bit of the jigsaw

Moggy

Thank you very much Alan, I think that may be the one.! ..I’d assumed leaflet raids only took place during 39 but I’ve since discovered they went into 1940 as well.

I checked later into 1940 and found Whitley Mk.V N1417 DY-B of 102 Sqn. Crashed 19th/20th May 1940 20km ENE of Eindhoven.

The pilot F/O W C G Cogman evaded capture (only to be killed on the 28th May in the sinking of the S.S. Abukir), one killed and three prisoners include an LAC J R Nicholson.

I have been through the rest of 1940 and saw no other people with the surname Nicholson.

I have found two Whitleys from 102 Sqn which were lost in that period where prisoners were taken. However there was no one with the surname of Nicholson.