My ATC squadron have been asked to help with a WW2 exibition to be held in the Newtownards town hall from the 3rd to 21st of May. I have some photos of the local airfields Newtownards Ballyhalbert (HMS Corncrake) and Kirkistown,and a couple of 315 (Polish) Sqn at Ballyhalbert and of 231Sqn Lysanders out off Ards,If anyone has any photos or other information I can borrow or copy relating to th above stations would you please contact me .This was dropped on me last week so I am very short of time to organise this properly.
How many photos of 315 from Ballyhalbert you need?
#4
Wellington lC X9829 NZ 304 SqnF/o J T Kwak
P/O L Dzierzbicki
F/Lt S Wojcik
Sgt W Jankowski
Sgt L Wozniak
F/O S ZieleniewskiShot down by night fighter and crashed at 03:37 into the mouth of the river Ems. The crew are buried in the Sage War Cemetery
X9829 was coded NZ-O. I have a photo of this Wellington back home.
Thanks to VoyTech !
i have no see your posting with the picture from the side !
Do you have info about the crash? a location ? is it Kiel ?Regards
Nils
Unfortunately, I only have the scan, without any additional info.
Eames, Millar, Gill, Murphy & Booth as listed on the site linked to in previous post were onboard Lancaster I W4859 from 1662 HCU lost 12/12/44 during training.
Thanks for explaining the additional background info that you have relating to the crash, I still find it strange that the aircraft and bodies were only discovered in 1962.
Good luck with your continued research into this loss. You might find some more people that could help over on the RAF Commands forum here http://www.rafcommands.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=list&forum=DCForumID6&conf=DCConfID1
Thanks again!
Thanks!
Now, when I asked about “that crew”, I meant the British crew listed with JN967 on that website. When I started researching the Polish crew lost in 1662 HCU on 11/11/1944 I have checked the excellent book by Chorley, so I know he lists them with this serial no. of the Halifax. I wonder what serial he quoted for the other crew.
The crew were all buried at Newark-on-Trent Cemetery.
Two bodies were found in 1944 and buried at Newark in mid-November. Off the top of my head they were Wisniewski and Piwoda (I don’t have all my data at hand). IIRC it was believed they baled out but their parachutes failed to open.
The other five bodies were found with the wreckage in 1962, and buried at Newark in the autumn of that year (I do have the exact date in my files). That was the last burial at the Polish Air Force cemetery at Newark. Of the five men buried in 1962, four were Roman Catholics and one (Babiacki IIRC) was Jewish. As far as I know, there was a joint ceremony with a priest and a rabbi.
Having looked on a map to establish where the aircraft crashed, I personally find it hard to believe that the wreckage and bodies were not discovered until 1962. What is perhaps more likely is that additional wreckage was discovered in 1962 and possibly some human remains. Due to the destructive nature of aviation crashes it was not always possible to fully recover all bodies complete.
I have understood that the aircraft crashed into a lake/marsh and was discovered when the place was drained during major construction works in the area (supermarket, housing estate, motorway?).
Voytech, the Halifax crashed on fire at East Ferry, 8 miles SW of Scunthorpe, Lincs. According to HCU Losses by W R Chorley “such was the destruction of the Halifax that the cause of the blaze could not be determined”.
There should also be a crash report somewhere
Thanks. I don’t have a copy of the “HCU Losses” at hand at the moment. However, from what I have found out so far, most remains of the aeroplane with bodies of most crew members were not found until 1962. Would any crash report be filed by the RAF at that time?
It would appear that the local Parish Council are looking to erect a memorial to aircrews killed in the Parish http://www.worldwar2exraf.co.uk/Aircrewnoticeboard73.html they have Halifax JN967 listed as lost on 11/11/44 but with a different crew?!
Like I said, I can’t consult “HCU Losses” at the moment. Would you care to check what serial Chorley lists with that crew (if any?).
Archives from the local newspapers in the area might be able to help you or you could put a notice in the local press to find out if there is anyone who can provide more info.
Good idea. Can somebody here suggest any local papers to contact?
:confused:
1. the grey is a blue-grey getting to the silver-grey shades
So perhaps it is Light Mediterranean Blue, an officially approved alternative to Azure Blue. LMB was more greyish.
The second loudest was a diamond formation of nine Phantoms that overflew me just outside RAF Leuchars in August 1987.
But nothing beats a full regiment of Su-24 Fencers running up their engines prior to a mass departure.
Here is Bill on the right, weathered in at Fort Dodge in July 1990, en route to Oshkosh from Aspen, Colorado.
Mark,
While your aunt is on her way to you, wouldn’t you want that shadow line removed from above those two nice chaps?
Did the Mosquito ever wear the dark green/dark earth/sky camouflage colours?
Wasn’t this the standard RAF daylight bomber scheme throughout the war?
I will try to secure a scan of the picture to post here, but this may take a day or two.
Here it is.
I have some pictures of a crashed Wellington on 11.Sep. 1941, and search informations about this a/c. (Crew, ect.)
I have just seen another photo of the same Whitley, but taken at right angles. It shows that the aeroplane is T4134 GE-T. Your date is correct, but the year is 1940 not 1941.
I will try to secure a scan of the picture to post here, but this may take a day or two.
It seems 32 Typhoons were ‘presented’, including the following for which the s/n are unknown.
ASTRIDA
BELLOWS BRAZIL [7 others in addition to JP918 and JP919]
DE BRUYNE
FIJI CIVIL SERVICE
FIJI VIII and X
GAMBELA
HLABEZULU
KASAI
LOMANI
MATABELE
MOGI
REV GRENFELL
SAIO
VAN GELA
WINSTON CHURCHILL
I wonder if all these were presentation names, really.
“Winston Churchill” seems to ring a bell. Wasn’t there an ex-Typhoon pilot who flew a Spitfire named “Winston Churchill”?
And “Hlabezulu” – wasn’t it the motto of a Typhoon squadron?
For instance, Chaily(sp?) seems to have been a stunner last year by those who were there.
And by some who weren’t, too.
I certainly intend to repeat the experience this year. And hopefully Mark12 will leave Bucks the day before.