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November 14, 2008 at 8:28 am in reply to: Help needed please on ww2 raf airman #1223394

archieraf
Participant

OneEighthBit, the aircraft was shot down over Norway and the crew evaded to Sweden on foot. Interesting looking book you’ve flagged up though, thanks.

Linzee

November 13, 2008 at 11:44 pm in reply to: In Memoriam #1223575

archieraf
Participant

Hi Mike,

Thanks for posting those pictures and bringing attention to the memorial in Braemar to the crew of Wellington R1646. It’s a memorial close to my heart having been involved in researching the loss of the crew prior to the unveiling.

On Tuesday 11th November at 11am in gentle rain I stood for two minutes at the memorial to pay my respects. There was one other person there, a tourist, who took the time despite there being several coach loads of visitors in the village at the time and the memorials being right in the centre.

Despite it being a training flight, some of those onboard had already completed a tour of ops and were flying as Instructors. F/O Thomson DFC from New Zealand completed a tour with 75 Squadron and Sgt Riley from Yorkshire had completed a tour with 218 Squadron.

You can read the story about what happened here http://www.archieraf.co.uk/scs/wellingtonr1646.html and follow the links from that page to read about each member onboard, the crash site as it is today and the story of the unveiling of the memorial by The Princess Royal in 2003.

The airmen killed came from NZ, Australia, Canada and the UK.

There were plenty of other losses in the mountains in that area, a few of them are covered on my website. The plaque on the memorial in Braemar actually mentions the fact that it is there to commemorate all airmen lost in the Cairngorm mountains too.

Hope you find it of interest.

Regards
Linzee

November 12, 2008 at 12:48 am in reply to: Help needed please on ww2 raf airman #1225457

archieraf
Participant

Here is a possible gleaned after a bit of googling with the info provided so far in this thread.

I took a punt at Pickering having possibly evaded from Norway so did a search on Liberator crashes in Norway. This led me to very helpful site

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Liberator-B-Mk-I
and in particular this loss:
AM924 (ex 40-2363) s/n 15. Delivered May 1941. Converted to Liberator GR I, assigned to 15 Group (CC) / 120 Squadron, and was assigned Squadron Code: OH aircraft D “Donald Duck”.
October 1941 attacked FW-200 Kondor
Attacked and fuel tank damaged on 5 April 1942 by an Arado float plane while escorting Convoy Skipper near 43° 36’N, 02° 07’W (Pilot P/O. Secord).
While on a sortie into the Bay of Biscay on 11 January 1942, attacked the German blockade runner: Elsa Essberger and the submarine U-373 (which was at the time alongside the German ship). The action took place near position 43° 55’N, 10° 15’W (Pilot Peter Cundy).
Attacked and shot down 28 May 1942 by three Bf 109Es of 9/JG1 (flying out of Lister) south of the Lofoten Islands, north Norway (Pilot S/L Rae Walton) (aircraft was shot down by Staffelkapitän Werner Gutowski).

Then a google on the serial number produced further results on the World War 2 Talk forum http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/war-air/15580-coastal-command-support-arctic-convoy.html see post #7 by Peter Clare which reads
“It was on one of these Artic patrols that 120 Squadron lost one of its aircraft, Liberator Mk.I AM924/D (S/L. Rae Walton and crew) on 28 May 1942, in support of the Russian convoys. The aircraft was shot down into the Norwegian Sea by three Me109’s. The Libs surviving crew managed to get ashore and eventually reached Sweden after a very long walk, where they were interned for a while. But that’s another story.”

No guarantee that I’m on the right track but it’s the right a/c type, the time of year fits, the squadron fits and we’ve got a crew evading to Sweden so it’s a possible match? Sending a line to Peter Clare on the forum mentioned might produce a crew list for the Liberator in question to see if Pickering was onboard.

Good luck
Linzee

November 10, 2008 at 6:13 pm in reply to: Help needed please on ww2 raf airman #1227135

archieraf
Participant

Hi, in addition to the souces checked by Kev, I’ve also tried the LG to no avail and had a look through Footprints on the Sands of Time by Oliver Clutton-Brock. I also had a few papers in my files in Swedish listing men from various nationaities (including airmen evading from the likes of Norway over the border to Sweden) but couldn’t see him there. I should mention that the Swedish papers were far from complete so the fact he wasn’t on the ones I have doesn’t mean he wasn’t on some somewhere.

Maybe try posting your request on RAF Commands forum to see the anyone there has different sources they could tap into – the fact that you mention he has a DFM should make him traceable you would think!

Good luck
Linzee

November 3, 2008 at 7:44 pm in reply to: Spectacular Mystery Accident (nobody hurt) – who's got the details? #1234576

archieraf
Participant

The chinook crash in November 1986 sticks in my mind as I was working my first trip offshore when it happened only a few days after I got onboard. I knew a couple of the guys who died and it was pretty grim reading the details of it offshore knowing that in a week or so you would have to climb aboard a helicopter and fly back to Shetland yourself.

The guys and girls out on the rigs deserve full credit for the jobs they do, it’s far from an easy life out there let alone getting to and from their place of work!

Regards
Linzee

November 3, 2008 at 12:31 am in reply to: Spectacular Mystery Accident (nobody hurt) – who's got the details? #1235119

archieraf
Participant

Could it be the one reported in The Scotsman newspaper? A Chinook ditched 125 miles north of Shetland in May 1984, all 44 passengers and 3 crew were rescued.

Makes me shudder looking at those photographs, nobody ever liked flying in those Chinooks. Come to think of it I don’t think anyone ever enjoyed the commute to/from work in any type of helicopter. Having to do the underwater helicopter escape training before going offshore certainly gave you food for thought!

Regards
Linzee

October 19, 2008 at 8:47 pm in reply to: 1940 Norwegian photo…….. #1170314

archieraf
Participant

Hei John,

I’m afraid we have no idea what that could be. Interesting looking museum though.

hilsen
Linzee og Morten

October 19, 2008 at 7:21 pm in reply to: 1940 Norwegian photo…….. #1170471

archieraf
Participant

I’m in Norway at the moment and my friend, Morten Moe, has the following comments about the photograph having consulted some of his books and files.

The Fokker 333 participated in the fighting in southern Norway. In the beginning of May 1940 it was transferred to the airfield at Bardufoss in northern Norway. It may have participated in the fighting there and was left at the airfield at the end of the campaign. Since the British also had Hurricanes based at Bardufoss and left some of them behind as they withdrew, I’m convinced this photograph was taken at Bardufoss.

Regards
Linzee og Morten

April 30, 2008 at 5:16 pm in reply to: Dambusters – The legendary Bomb Sight #1195260

archieraf
Participant

I have a feeling that there is one of those wooden bomb sights in the Barnes Wallis Collection at Elvington but it may be a replica rather than one that was used on the Dams raids. I remember one of the staff showing me how it was used during the op.

Regards
Linzee

April 9, 2008 at 6:00 pm in reply to: Blackburn Skua Recovered #1218054

archieraf
Participant

The serial no L2896 had been found on the back of the pilots seat apparently.

Some info about one of the Skuas (L2992) that crashed on land http://ktsorens.tihlde.org/flyvrak/geitastrand.html and also a mention about the one recovered today http://ktsorens.tihlde.org/flyvrak/orkdalsfjord.html

Linzee

April 9, 2008 at 3:25 pm in reply to: Blackburn Skua Recovered #1218209

archieraf
Participant

Some nice close up and detailed pictures taken this morning by Morten Moe of the Skua http://foto.vg.no/show_image.php?bid=95035858

For those unsure about where the recovery took place, it was in Orkdalsfjord which is a saltwater fjord that comes off the main Trondheimsfjord near Trondheim. Orkanger is the largest town on Orkdalsfjord if that helps anyone looking on a map 🙂

Linzee

January 8, 2008 at 11:14 pm in reply to: Gomersal Halifax Crash #1312595

archieraf
Participant

Tom Scotland, thank you so very much for all that you endured and all that you did through the war years so that we could enjoy living in a free country. I am so grateful to you and all the others who did the same and I don’t think we take the time to tell you often enough.

My grandfather was also a Halifax pilot but he died in March 1942. http://www.archieraf.co.uk

Take care 🙂
Linzee

December 18, 2007 at 9:22 pm in reply to: Gomersal Halifax Crash #1244468

archieraf
Participant

Could it perhaps have been the Halifax mentioned in this item? http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/31/a4523131.shtml

Regards
Linzee

November 21, 2007 at 6:03 pm in reply to: Help needed! #1273068

archieraf
Participant

Hi Simon,

I think you’ll find the info you require on this archived thread from the old RAF Commands website
http://www.rafcommands.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?forum=DCForumID6&mark=8237&az=previous_topic&archive=yes

Regards
Linzee

October 7, 2007 at 11:19 pm in reply to: Lancaster NF920 Easy Elsie Wreck In Laponia(2007) #1330172

archieraf
Participant

Just a thought, but has anyone actually considered that the local people in the area that the Lancaster crashed may feel that it is part of their history and may like to have the crashsite left just as it is?

Regards
Linzee
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