Further to my Post #4;

From the 7 Squadron Operations Record Book (RAF Form 540/541) your Grandfather completed 12 operational sorties from Oakington. His captain was Flying Officer D.T. Witt DFC DFM who completed 65 sorties by the beginning of September and then posted to Canada in October 1941. The targets included; Brest (Prinz Eugen- heavy cruiser), Huls, Dusseldorf, Borkum, Bremen, Le Trait on Seine (submarine pens), Bethune, Hanover, La Pallice (Battle Cruiser ‘Scharnhorst’) and Duisburg docks.

Your grandfather then joined another seasoned crew only to be shot down by night fighter on his next trip (7/8 Sept 1941), returning from Berlin. The aircraft (Stirling N.6046) crash-landed at Recklinghausen. All the crew survived with the engineer slightly wounded.

The crew on this fateful trip was:

F/Sgt A. Yardley – Captain
F/O C.M. Hall (RAAF) – 2nd Pilot
Sgt D. Owens – Engineer
Sgt J.H Boulton – Navigator
Sgt J.M. Sutton – Wireless Operator
Sgt L.E.J. Davenport – Front Gunner
Sgt A. Speakman – Rear Gunner

According to Ancestry and FindMyPast, your Grandfather (POW No 9553) was interned at Stalag Luft 6, Heydekrug, Lithuania. I believe F/O Hall (an Australian) was incarcerated in Stalag Luft III at Sagon Poland which was primarily for officers. The rest of the crew went to Stalag Luft XXA (Kopernikus 357) also in Poland.

Old Git, my pleasure.

I cannot assist on hard evidence for the Condor flights. From what I have read though, this would have been a very rare occasion. Thought they were mainly on maritime ops in 1940. But there again, longish flight, jettison load, oops!

Bob

From what I remember, ‘Royal Air Force Air Support Command’ titles lasted from 1967 until 1972 when Strike Command was formed. About this time the Herc started to lose its white cockpit roof replaced by brown as well as reverting to just ‘Royal Air Force’ titles. I cannot recall the camouflage scheme being titled NEAF as 48 Sqn were in Changi Singapore FEAF, (but I hope someone on here will correct me if I’m wrong)!:)

From my at hand records (the rest is somewhere in the loft) & Lars Olausson’s epic Herc production list (my latest is the 29th Edition), some of 70 Sqn aircraft carried the following:

XV 182 – 70 Sqn `Hector’ Nov 70
XV 192 – 70 Sqn `Horatius’ Nov 70
XV 211 – 70 Sqn `Homer’ Nov 70
XV 294 – 70 Sqn `Hephaestos’
XV 299 – 70 Sqn `Homer’ Apr 72
XV 305 – 70 Sqn `Hyperion’ 11/70

Bob

Now there’s a title you couldn’t forget!

Only for the ‘fags and matches’ to disappear and ‘wallet & watch’ now included in the more modern check list.

An interesting book, that is difficult to find, surfaced when researching one of my uncles career (3225 SC) in WWII.
‘A History of R.A.F. Servicing Commando’s’ by J P Kellett & J Davies

A possibility (with a large stretch of imagination) is WK136, Canberra B2, 26 Sep1955, 231OCU.

The aircraft came down east of Stowmarket, (which is some 25 miles from the coast of Suffolk). So a possibility of a splashdown.

“At a height of 21000ft the tail trim actuator ran away to fully nose up. The pilot, Squadron Leader SG Hewitt was able to retain some control whilst the crew abandoned the aircraft, although F/O E Bates snagged his harness whilst trying to get out of the cabin door. Whilst Hewitt and F/O DE Taylor were successful in their ejections, the student navigator (P/O PJ Leigh) didn’t separate from his ejection seat after leaving the aircraft and was killed.”

Source: ‘To Fly No More’, by Colin Cummings; ISBN 0-9526619-2-6.

Having a Great Grandchild who will never communicate with us let alone integrate in any way into society, I wish my Grandchildren well in their extremely difficult future. Having watched Nick Knowles & Chris Beardshaw recently create a new respite home (Children in Need) for over 800 disabled children humbles me. I but ask why hasn’t someone hasn’t asked the question why this is happening to so many children. Is it a new phenomenon or as someone told me today their severely disabled child is 25 years old this year.

Having been very closely involved with Ethiopia in 1985, airdrop from Hercules is an option but only if local distribution is closely monitored. Otherwise the clever bstd’s will overcome and sell to the highest bidder. The best option is to wait 7 – 10 days to get the correct resources on the ground, good organisation and proper management, this allows the proper distribution of water and food where it is desperately needed. Yes in that order. You can survive with little food but clean water is essential.

Aid in the first instance is great. Rebuilding the infrastructure is long term. Who in Politics is in for the long term? I rest my case.

Rant over! Over to you.

Bob

Just to add some more info from Air-Britian

X4613. 603/266. Lost wing and crashed, Gedney Hill, Lincs. 2.3.41
X4614. 66/92/53 OTU/501/53 OTU/58 OTU – Flew into hill in mist, Kingseat Hill, Clackmannan, 16.1.43
X4615. 610/602/61 OTU/ Cv VA/121/332/164/Cv PR.XIII. To Admiralty 5.3.44
X4616. 92/53 OTU/53 OTU/17 SFTS. SOC 23.11.44
X4617. 616/65/308. To Portugal 12.9.43
X4619. 58 OTU/73 OTU. SOC 27.7.44
X4620. 611/485/123/61 OTU/Cv PR. IV/8 OTU. SOC 25.8.44
X4622. 222. SOC 30.12.44
X4642. 609/66/57 OTU/303/306/61 OTU. Broke up in dive and abandoned, Bryneglwys, Denbigh, 5.8.42
X4643 72/485/61 OTU. To Admiralty 9.9.42

Abbreviations:
Cv.: Converted to (Mark)
OTU:- Operational Training Unit
SFTS: Service Flying Training School
SOC: Struck Off Charge

Source: Royal Air Force Aircraft X1000 to X9999 Air-Britain Publication. ISBN 0861301177 (1984)

Total Build according to Brian Barrymore Halfpenny (ISBN 0-85045-562-6) = 339
P.1A – 2 prototypes
P.1B – 3 prototypes
20 Development Batch aircraft
F.1 – 19
F.1A – 28
F.2 – 13 (5 converted to Mk 52s).
F.2A – 31
F.3 – 63 (1 converted to F.53, 2 to F6)
T. 4 – 21 (3 x prototypes)
T. 5 – 23 (1 converted to F.55)
F. 6 – 62
F.53 – 46
T. 55 – 8
By the way, the link in the above post shows 337 total build!:confused: