archierafJames, it might be worth contacting Bob Body who runs the http://www.161squadron.org/ website. He has written a book about the loss of his uncle (a 161 Sqdn Hudson Pilot) and has talked to a good number of 161 veterans over the years.
archierafIan, maybe the Airship Heritage Trust boys could help you?http://www.aht.ndirect.co.uk/index.html
The guy who runs their website is very helpful.
archieraf2315 here and a balmy minus 8 degrees C with a dusting of snow on the ground but not nearly enough to have any fun in! Bah 😡
archierafSgt N Moores was onboard Whitley V Z6815 ZA-? of 10 Squadron which took off from Leeming at 2154 on an op to Kiel on the night of 8/9th August 1941. The aircraft crashed in the target area killing all onboard.
The other members of the crew were:
P/O M Littlewood
Sgt E Bayley
P/O J E Evans
Sgt R T Timms
Moore, Littlewood, Bayley and Timms are all buried in Kiel War Cemetery. P/O Evans has no known grave (in other words, his body was never recovered).
The Pilot, P/O M Littlewood was a Canadian. His brother, a Navigator with 410 Sqdn, also died during the war and is buried in the UK.
archierafHi Pathfinder.
The Squadron code for 61 Squadron was ‘QR’ – possibly the letter ‘R’ seen in the photograph is from part of the Squadron code on the fuselage?
Do you have names for any of the men killed in the Hampden? I can’t see a record of two brothers being killed on this date in my records. As far as I can see, there was only one man killed onboard Hampden X3127 and that was the Air Gunner, Sgt Nuttall RNZAF.
archierafPathfinder, what further information is it that you are looking for in particular?
archierafWhitley V Z6800 DY-? from 102 Sqdn on op to Hamburg. Hit by flack and crashed near Kiel (according to W R Chorley Bomber Command Losses 1941). As above, only one survivor, Sgt Williams.
My grandfather flew as 2nd Pilot on Z6800 on 31.8.41 op to Essen, Sgt Groom was also onboard on this op.
archieraf15/16th September 1941
35 Squadron Halifax I L9503 TL-P on op to Hamburg took off 1955 Linton on Ouse. P/O Brown (Pilot) killed. 6 members of the crew POW.
From W R Chorley Bomber Command Losses 1941
From the 35 Sqdn ORB
Four aircraft took off from Linton on Ouse to attack a target at Hamburg. The weather and visibility were excellent, with no cloud. Level attacks were delivered by three aircraft, from heights between 20,000 and 14,500 ft, bomb bursts and burning incendiaries being observed, and two fires started which were visible at eighty miles distant. Searchlight, but no A.A. fire opposition was encountered. Three aircraft returned safely to base. The fourth aircraft, Captain P/O Brown, was not heard of again and is now officially reported ‘Missing’.
On 19th October 1941 35 Squadron were informed by the International Red Cross that P/O H S Brown had been killed and that the remainder of the crew were POW’s.
archierafIn addition to the info provided by Flood from Bomber Command Losses, the following from For Your Tomorrow by Errol W Martyn.
Hampden I X3127 – Raid on Kiel by 54 aircraft, 5 lost. Brought down by flak after being coned by searchlights during its run in to target. Air Gunner, Sgt Alfred NUTTALL RNZAF – killed. Aircraft crashed with all onboard at Lindau, 11km SW of Kappeln to the NW of the target area. Sgt Nuttall was originally buried in the Garrison Cemetery at Keil and later reinterred in Kiel War Cemetery. The remaining three members of the crew were taken POW.
archierafHello Tom,
To follow on from Ian’s posting above, I have a catalogue of the Luftwaffe Photographs in the National Monuments of Scotland which features some of the Scottish airfields you mentioned. Contact details given in the publication for enquiries about the Luftwaffe Collection should be addressed to:
The Secretary
RCAHMS
John Sinclair House
16 Bernard Terrace
Edinburgh
EH8 9NX
Phone: 0131 662 1456 or e-mail [email]nmrs@rcahms.gov.uk[/email]
You might also try contacting Jim Hughes, author of A Steep Turn to the Stars. He has some photos of the airfields you require in his book but no source is mentioned. I expect he might be able to point you in the right direction.
archierafAww Wow! Thanks for sharing those. Really enjoyed seeing them.
archierafHi Chris and welcome aboard!
archierafThanks for posting the details about your weekend Dave and congratulations. It sounds like all your hard work for an extremely good cause paid off.
We always say we’ll not forget the war dead, or those who came home too, but I think it’s important to record as many individual stories as possible so that when they’re gone, there is still something tangible to remmeber, not just a few names on a stone cenotaph… This is why I really appreciate the work of people like Mark Crame (our Snapper), etc., who are doing similar
Couldn’t agree more with you about how important it is to record as many individual stories as possible. I wish more people were doing it.
I’ve been at a ceremony at our local war memorial this morning then came home and watched the Remembrance Day parade march past the Cenotaph in London – always brings tears to my eyes. I was absolutely thrilled to bits when the phone rang as the credits were rolling at the end and it was two of my veteran friends calling me from Horse Guards Parade (on their mobile!) having just completed their march past the Cenotaph. Both ex RAF POW’s and not in the best of health, I was so proud of them and told them so. They are a generation the likes of which I don’t think we will ever see again so we must treasure them and we must remember them.
archierafStunning photographs Guzzineil, thanks for posting them. I visited Runnymede in early October and it was a very moving experience.
For those who can manage a visit it is well worth the effort. Here is some further information about the Runnymede Memorial to accompany the excellent photographs posted by Guzzineil:-
The Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede is an awe inspiring and thought provoking place to visit. It sits perched on a hillside overlooking Runnymede, the Thames, and the meadows where magna Carta was sealed in 1215 by King John. The land on which the memorial was built was donated by Sir Eugen and Lady Effie Millington-Drake in 1949. Being under the flight path for Heathrow airport means that fittingly there is the ever present sound of aircraft engines in the air which adds to the atmosphere during a visit.
The Memorial was built to commemorate by name those who lost their lives during the Second World War while serving with the Air Forces of the Commonwealth at bases in the UK or in North West Europe and who have no known grave. They came from all parts of the Commonwealth or from countries of continental Europe which had been overrun and whose airmen continued to fight as members of the Royal Air Force. The number commemorated, over 20,000, is made up as follows:
Royal Air Force 15462
Royal Canadian Air Force 3050
Royal Australian Air Force 1397
Royal New Zealand Air Force 576
South African Air Force 17
Royal Indian Air Force 7
Woman’s Auxiliary Air Force 10
Ferry Command 9
Air Transport Auxiliary 8
British Overseas Airways Corporation 7
Air Training Corps 4
Designed by Sir Edward Maufe, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s principal architect for the UK after WW2, it comprises a shrine surrounded by a cloister in which the names of the dead are recorded, inscribed on stone panels. The coat of arms of the Commonwealth countries are represented on the cloister ceilings. The entrance, through a triple arched portico, gives access to the cloisters.
A large arched window – the great north window – is engraved with the words from the 139th Psalm, sometimes called the Airman’s Psalm.
If I climb up into Heaven, Thou art there;
If I go to Hell, Thou art there also.
If I take the wings of the morning
And remain in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there also shall Thy hand lead me;
And Thy right hand shall hold me.
Angels are engraved at either side of the text and above these are vapour trails taken from actual photographs of the sky during the Battle of Britain. The window was designed by John Hutton, who was also responsible for the painted ceilings of the shrine and lookouts which depict the four winds, the planets and the phases of the moon scattered with stars.
Two stone staircases lead from the shrine to a gallery above. Here, one of the small windows is engraved with a poem written by a student, Paul H Scott, shortly after the Memorial was completed. From the gallery the stairs lead upwards to the roof of the tower which is capped by an Astral Crown in blue and gold.
The first rays of the dawning sun
Shall touch its pillars,
And as the day advances
And the light grows stronger,
You shall read the names
Engraved on the stone of those who sailed on the angry sky
And saw harbour no more.
No gravestone in yew-dark churchyard
Shall mark their resting place;
Their bones lie in the forgotten corners of earth and sea.
But, that we may not lose their memory
With fading years, their monuments stand here,
Here, where the trees troop down to Runnymede.
Meadow of Magna Carta, field of freedom,
Never saw you so fitting a memorial,
Proof that the principals established here
Are still dear to the hearts of men.
Here now they stand, contrasted and alike,
The field of freedom’s birth, and the memorial
To freedom’s winning.
And, as evening comes,
And mists, like quiet ghosts, rise from the river bed,
And climb the hill to wander through the cloisters,
We shall not forget them. Above the mist
We shall see the memorial still, and over it
The crown and single star. And we shall pray
As the mists rise up and the air grows dark
That we may wear
As brave a heart as they.
The Runnymede Memorial was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 17th October 1953.
The Memorial is open during the hours of daylight every day except Christmas Day and new Years Day.
Information taken from http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/archie_bombercommand/runnymede_memorial.html
archierafAnd maybe, if you buy me a few beers, I’ll pass some of it on to you …
😉
Gem of a photograph of Vic hashdef, thanks for posting it, his face says it all. I know a couple of ex WW2 pilots who have been grounded in recent years for health reasons and it was a real blow to them – they live to fly and really miss being up there. What an inspirational generation they are, we should all be watching and learning from them.
Sign In
