750,000 views – another milestone!

As always, I am so pleased to be able to announce another viewing milestone – doubly pleasurable as the number we have just reached includes the number 75!

It seems incredible that the site has now recorded 3/4’s of a million views and of course it’s entirely down to all of you who have visited and in most cases, contributed to the information now presented on it – thank you to you all!

As I have remarked a number of times previously, I am aware that the nature of the function of the blog has seems to have changed. It’s sad that the majority of posts recently have to been to record the passing of our Squadron veterans. My efforts seem now spread between a losing battle to keep up with email enquiries – I will get to you all eventually! – and the slow but highly rewarding activity of researching and adding to the Nominal Roll section of the site – the last ‘great project’.

I would request as I always do, to please, please, download the aircrew information form from the top menu bar – complete as much as you can and send it to me – there is a lot of information that I want to add to the entries that I simply have no way of accessing or knowing – but family and relatives do – even the smallest piece of information when undertaking an activity like this is gold dust.

Again, I must always single out Chris Newey and Kevin King for their continuing support and efforts not only in the Nominal Roll Project, but also generally regarding information found and passed on

750,000 views – wow! – there won’t be another on of these milestone announcements till we hit that magical figure of 1 million views!

Thank you all

Simon

Owen Joseph ‘Cookie’ Cook – 1921 – 2021

It is with true sadness that I must report the recent passing of Owen Cook. This news is doubly sad as it was only a few weeks that we were wishing Owen congratulations of reaching the magnificent age of 100 years old.

As part of his birthday celebrations Owen had received representatives from the Royal Australian Air Force (also celebrating their centenary) – to receive a plaque commemorating Owen’s service and also the fact that he was older than the RAAF itself. Sadly a few days later on the 14th of May, Owen left us.

I have simply decided to reproduce the post below that I made for the celebration of Owen’s 100th, this time as a celebration of his life.

Owen arrived with crew, at Mepal, on the 2nd of March 1945 and as it would transpire later, we discovered that in fact his 2^nd, 2^nd Dickie Op was with my own Father’s crew, during his 2^nd Tour with the Squadron.

Owen, flew 6 Ops before the War’s end and then undertook 2 Manna and 2 Prisoner Repatriation sorties, before finally posting out of the Squadron on the 3^rd of July 1945.

Whilst transcribing Bob’s tour and crew histories, early in my research on him, I hit a brick wall regarding the identity of a second pilot added to the Form 541 by hand for the Dessau Op of 7th March 1945.

On the Sunday morning of the summer reunion at Mepal 2012, my sister, mother and I went to the memorial garden so mum could see it and the plaque for Dad. while we were there, an old couple, their daughter and her husband arrived. A brief discussion about their whereabouts (i.e. that this was the memorial garden for 75(NZ) Squadron) led to a discussion in the garden and then the 3 Pickerels pub. The elderly gentleman was called Owen Cook and he had been at the squadron towards the end of the war. On returning home I looked through the nominal roll and the ORB and found Owen’s arrival and Op history. Finding his serial number suddenly made me realise that the Pilot that flew with the Zinzan crew on this raid was in fact, Owen Cook……..

I am pleased also to recall, that having met Owen and his family and posted about our meeting on the site, we were able to reconnect Own with his Navigator, Jack Mitcherson.

Owens recollections of the War and his time in the Squadron can be read in more detail here, on the Australian War Memorial website

I am sure you will all join me in passing our condolences to Owen’s family

Ake Ake Kia Kaha!

ANZAC Day 2021

“Those heroes that shed their blood
And lost their lives.
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies
And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side
Here in this country of ours.
You, the mothers,
Who sent their sons from far away countries
Wipe away your tears,
Your sons are now lying in our bosom
And are in peace
After having lost their lives on this land they have
Become our sons as well.“

 In 1934, Kemal Atatürk delivered these words to the first Australians, New Zealanders and British to visit the Gallipoli battlefields. They were later inscribed on a monolith at Ari Burnu Cemetery (ANZAC Beach) which was unveiled in 1985. The words also appear on the Kemal Atatürk Memorial, Canberra, and the Atatürk Memorial in Wellington.

Let us take this day to remember all those, from Australia and New Zealand who gave their lives, not only in 75(NZ) Squadron RAF, but in every conflict before and after.

We shall remember them………….

AHE AKE KIA KAHA

Owen Joseph ‘Cookie’ Cook – Birthday celebrations – 100 years young!

Perhaps now a silver lining to the recent sad cloud of the losses of some of our veterans

I am pleased to report, albeit a little belatedly that Owen Cook, Pilot with 75(NZ) Squadron reached, on Saturday the 27th of March, the magnificent age of 100!

Owen arrived with crew, at Mepal, on the 2nd of March 1945 and as it would transpire later, we discovered that in fact his 2^nd, 2^nd Dickie Op was with my own Father’s crew, during his 2^nd Tour with the Squadron.

Owen, flew 6 Ops before the War’s end and then undertook 2 Manna and 2 Prisoner Repatriation sorties, before finally posting out of the Squadron on the 3^rd of July 1945.

Whilst transcribing Bob’s tour and crew histories, early in my research on him, I hit a brick wall regarding the identity of a second pilot added to the Form 541 by hand for the Dessau Op of 7th March 1945.

On the Sunday morning of the summer reunion at Mepal 2012, my sister, mother and I went to the memorial garden so mum could see it and the plaque for Dad. while we were there, an old couple, their daughter and her husband arrived. A brief discussion about their whereabouts (i.e. that this was the memorial garden for 75(NZ) Squadron) led to a discussion in the garden and then the 3 Pickerels pub. The elderly gentleman was called Owen Cook and he had been at the squadron towards the end of the war. On returning home I looked through the nominal roll and the ORB and found Owen’s arrival and Op history. Finding his serial number suddenly made me realise that the Pilot that flew with the Zinzan crew on this raid was in fact, Owen Cook……..

I am pleased also to recall, that having met Owen and his family and posted about our meeting on the site, we were able to reconnect Own with his Navigator, Jack Mitcherson.

Owens recollections of the War and his time in the Squadron can be read in more detail here, on the Australian War Memorial website

So, I am sure you will all be happy to raise a glass to Owen on reaching this fantastic milestone!

Ake Ake Kia Kaha!

We will Remember Them……….

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Poem by Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943), published in The Times newspaper on 21^st September 1914.

This year, Remembrance Sunday will stick in our minds I suspect for no reason other than it either feels as if it did not happen or happened in a very different way to what we are used to. As always however, it is a point in the year where we take time to pause and reflect on those who have fallen for the defence of their country. This is, quite rightly, an intensely personal moment and gesture and I am sure we all do it in our own ways, in some respects necessarily cocooned from those around us for those minutes and that silence – and it is this that makes this Sunday so important and resonant for all those who remember those who have fallen.

And so as a way allowing the act of remembrance to take place – some stories…..

Many of you will know Kevin King, either personally or by repeated mentions of him on this site. Chairman of the UK 75(NZ) RAF Squadron Association and probably the most knowledgeable person on the Squadron. Always at Mepal for Remembrance Sunday and always playing the Last Post, suddenly this year he is not going…… Kevin’s solution and a beautiful one I think, was to produce and display the following, I assume in his front garden, as a tribute and marker for the Squadron.

I met Mark Rae a good few years ago when he attended a Remembrance weekend reunion for the Squadron Association, which was also the debut of a song that he wrote and produced to honour the memory of his Grandfather, John Bell, Navigator with Ronald Gordon’s crew, one of 3 aircraft lost on the 20th November 1944 on one of the trips to what is widely recognised as 75(NZ) Squadron’s ‘bogey’ target, the Fischer Tropsch oil refinery at Homberg. I noticed Mark had paid a vist to the Lincolnshire Aviation Museum recently to take as I have done a taxi ride in their Lancaster NX611 ‘Just Jane’. Mark filmed the event and you can see it below.

I recently did a request for information/ contact post about Keith McGregors’s crew, with the simple objective of trying to reach out to and possibly hear back from relatives of his crew, 6 of whom were lost on the night of 30th of August 1943 whilst on War Ops to Berlin. Perhaps at the time my reasons other than important were a little guarded, as I was keen and I felt it fit to try first to talk to relatives before announcing as follows that I have been gifted, very kindly by Gerald a large number of pieces of wreckage from their Stirling Mk.III  Bomber, EF501, AA-K.

I must confess, after the first email contact form Gerald I was left a little cold, albeit flattered that he had thought to contact me having, himself come by the items from a German gentleman who had recovered the wreckage. I asked for some time to consider his offer. I have always been deeply uncomfortable with images particularly in some Facebook groups of boxes of wreckage jammed into cardboard boxes by enthusiastic crash hunters from all over Europe – I don’t damn them for it, certainly not, but personally I think crash sites, especially when in the ground are best left as they are, especially if the site is potentially and I hate the term – ‘wet’.

I mulled it over and on balance decided to take up Gerald on his very generous offer – now in the wild as it were, I think it was best I have them, given my links to the Squadron and through the blog it seems a perfect opportunity to return, if wished, the wreckage to the surviving relatives of the crew.

Having no reason whatsoever to doubt Gerald’s assertion that the wreckage was from EF501, I did some digging anyways and was happy when, after posting some pieces with manufacturing numbers on the Stirling Society Facebook page, received confirmation that not only were they from a Stirling, but that the part numbers identified it as being from the tail section of the aircraft. The images of these parts are below and show the serial numbers. The two parts both have serial numbers on them and both seem to be either mirror or perhaps each end of a larger part. They are double skinned aluminium and seem both to have a strip of wood/ plywood sandwiched between each pressing

I include some other parts now, simply perhaps to spark further debate discussion as to the position/ function of the pieces. Firstly, and perhaps most interestingly, a metal component with what is clearly fragments of plexiglass set into it – at this point my conjecture is possibly that this is a frame component of the Rear Turret – based on the previous 2 parts.

Next and possibly related is an iron, or perhaps heavily corroded steel rack – the teeth are clearly visible, and the depth of the teeth are about ¼ of an inch – perhaps again a part of the rear turret?

I have no means of identifying any functional aspect of this piece, however I include it simply to show the shocking concertinaing that an impact with the ground at speed and from altitude has on an airframe.

Finally, simply a fascinating example of multi-sheet construction utilising what in the day, was the main method of holding an airframe together – rivets. I would imagine though I have no proof that this is possibly a main member or possibly surface junction, possibly of the tail plane or rear wings. The following 2 pictures show the front and reverse of the same part.

I must confess when I had thought of this post and the presentation of this wreckage, I had lofty plans, however, handing and inspecting them, bought home to me 2 things. Firstly, that they are wreckage – broken, twisted, unidentifiable parts on the whole, of what was once a massive aircraft. Secondly that 6 allied airmen died in this aircraft and their bodies were never found. I am familiar with these pieces now, but still handle them with the respect that at least I think they deserve. I intend to continue to research the parts, document them all photographically and then, if and where possible return the pieces to family members of the crew. I am nothing more than a custodian of these remains, until ownership can be offered.

For the 6 McGregor crew and the other 1,133 members of the Squadron who were lost.

We will Remember Them

Ake Ake Kia Kaha!

700,000 views – and amazing new milestone!

We have reached another incredible viewing milestone – now over 700,000 views and almost 1,500 followers!

I find myself always saying the same at these points – but it still amazes me and also makes me incredibly proud that the viewing figures continue to rise – a single proof that there is still massive interest in the Squadron and support for it.

It’s been a strange and very testing time for all over us in the last 12 months or so. I must confess, the number of posts has perhaps reduced, but as a necessary need to enhance the website as a resource, I have found my attention almost completely dominated with the Nominal Roll project – but it has been worth it. Subject to revision and corrections, we now have a definitive list of all operational aircrew that flew with 75|(NZ) Squadron RAF during the War period. The first stage, listing all individuals alphabetically with text holders for their biographies is complete. Next will come the addition of these biographies and also where they exist, photographs of the individuals. I have to congratulate Chris Newey and Kevin King at this point for a herculean effort and forensic search to provide to date, photographs of almost 25% of those individuals listed on the Roll. My gratitude also to all of those that have so far downloaded, completed and returned the aircrew information sheets – they have, in all cases, added to our knowledge of those airmen.

By its nature the Nominal Roll project will still take a very long time to complete. I still have a lot of information to add that I hold and there is, I am pleased to say, an almost daily flow of new information that has to then be added to the database, output and either added or updated to an existing entry. I am also pleased that in this search, I and others are forming new links with other Squadron groups, whilst searching out the personal stories of the Squadron and through this new channels and exchanges of information are taking place – all incredible useful to all parties concerned.

It’s already becoming, I am sure a broken record, but please if you see this post, or are a regular reader of the blog, do consider downloading the aircrew information form and completing as much as you can – even small pieces of information such as date and place of birth add to the boy’s story.

Once again, thank you to all of you, both contributors and readers – you have all played a part in getting 75nzsquadron.com to where we are today!

Simon

The McGregor Crew on this day, 77 years ago – a search for relatives…….

Today marks the 77^th anniversary of the loss of 5 of the McGregor crew, whilst undertaking operations against Berlin. It is perhaps serendipity at play, that recently I have come by something that means that I need, if possible to reach out and hopefully, connect with any relatives of the crew that might be out there.

I have my fingers crossed – 7 years ago I was contacted by the great-nephew of the Pilot, Keith McGregor and I have been able to reconnect with him and his family again, just the day before last.

I am very keen to try to widen this circle of contact with other relatives of the crew and share with them, what I shall describe at this point as a very interesting find indeed.

The McGregor crew arrived at Mepal on the 29^th of July. On the 30^th of August the crew engaged with a an ME110 on a sortie to Munchen Gladbach – ‘The aircraft captained by F/S McGREGOR, K. sighted an ME110 astern, the rear-gunner fired a long burst, the Stirling corkscrewed and the Mid-upper gunner fired a long burst. The enemy aircraft replied and dived away with smoke pouring from its engine. It is claimed as possibly destroyed’.

The following day, the McGregor crew took off with 17 other Stirlings from Mepal to join a force to attack Berlin. Early in the hours of today,  77 years ago, Stirling Mk.III EF501, AA-K was, it is believed, attacked by a German night fighter. The attack was short and catastrophic, forcing an almost immediate dive which resulted in it crashing into the ground, south of Potsdam. Five of the seven crew were killed. The Flight Engineer and Mid-upper Gunner, were able to escape the aircraft whilst still airborne and it was a letter later sent by Geoffrey Bond, the Flight Engineer to Keith McGregor’s Mother, that shed light on the final moments of the crew and AA-K that night.

F/S Keith Alexander Mcgregor, RNZAF NZ415770 – Pilot.
Lost without trace age 21.
Son of Matthew Alexander Mcgregor and Jeanie Mcgregor, of Waikouaiti, Otago, New Zealand.
Commemorated Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, England..
Grave location – Panel 199.

F/O James Benjamin Lovelock, RNZAF NZ416324 – Navigator.
Lost without trace age 26.
Son of John Edward Jones Lovelock and Ivy Evelyn Lovelock.
Commemorated Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, England..
Grave location – Panel 197.

F/S William Adam Kilby, RNZAF NZ415261 – Air Bomber.
Lost without trace age 40.
Son of Henry John Kilby, and of Christina Kilby, of Ngaio, Wellington, New Zealand; Husband of Alice Kilby.
Commemorated Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, England..
Grave location – Panel 199.

F/S James Guthrie Baker, RNZAF NZ41142 – Wireless Operator.
Lost without trace age 27.
Son of Henry and Charlotte Baker; Husband of Ellen Baker, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Commemorated Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, England..
Grave location – Panel 198.

Sgt. Geoffrey Alec Arthur Bond, RAFVR 1801229 – Flight Engineer.
P.o.W
Prisoner of War Number: 43256
Prison Camps: Dulag Luft, Stalag Luft VI/357
Date of return to United Kingdom: not known

Sgt. George Frank Dummett, RAFVR 1377778 – Mid Upper Gunner.
P.o.W
Prisoner of War Number: 12730
Prison Camps: Dulag Luft, Stalags Luft VI and Luft IV
Date of return to United Kingdom: not known

Sgt. Terence Grange, RAFVR 1323448 – Rear Gunner.
Lost without trace age 22.
Son of John and Ellen Grange; Husband of Esther Grange, of South Lambeth, London.
Commemorated Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, England..
Grave location – Panel 151.

I’ll take this opportunity to not only remember the boys who were killed this morning, but again, cast out a hope that I might now be able to connect with any other relative of the crew – however distant, so I can share with them what I have found.

I would ask any of you who read this post to try to spread it further, through any means possible to try to make a connection.

many thanks

Ake Ake Kia Kaha!

Ronald Desmond Mayhill DFC, KLH 1924 – 9.7.2020

Very sad news was received recently of the death of Ron Mayhill DFC KLH, distinguished 75(NZ) Squadron veteran and past President of the New Zealand Bomber Command Association. 

Ron leaves behind a very significant legacy, not only from his long service with the Association, but in the form of a significant historical record of his time with the squadron. Ron was the Bomb Aimer in John Aitken’s crew, arriving at Mepal just one day after D-Day, June 1944.

Photo: The Aitken crew, 75(NZ) Squadron, Mepal, 1944
L-R: William Monk, Gordon Grindlay, Duncan Hodgson, Jake Aitken, Taffy Taylor , Ron Mayhill and Henry Monk.
– NZ Bomber Command archives, Ron Mayhill collection.

Ron and his skipper Jake Aitken shared a camera and between them captured many of the images that would come to define our memory of those times. Their regular “kite” was Lancaster ND782, “U-Uncle”. Ron survived 27 operations before their Lancaster was hit by flak when just about to drop their load on a flying bomb supply depot at Pont Remy. Ron was wounded in the eye and face by splinters of perspex and since he had missed the target indicators, they had to go around again.  For completing the bombing run, despite his injuries, he was awarded the DFC. “Once you’re in a war there’s no way out. It’s not just courage — you’re on a treadmill and you know what you’re facing and we just decided: right, if you’re going to get killed we’re going to sell our lives dearly and we’re going to fight.”
– Ron Mayhill DFC, “Memories Of Service”, NZ On Screen. By the time he had recuperated, the rest of his crew had completed their tour and been posted to No.3 Lancaster Finishing School as instructors, so Ron’s tour of operations was also over.

He became a school teacher after the war, apparently a very good one, at Pukekohe High School and later at Auckland Grammar, where he taught for 27 years.

During that time he wrote books on geography, and after he retired, together with and encouraged by his old crewmates, decided to write a memoir of their wartime experiences. 

He eventually found a publisher in England, but frustratingly was told to cut the book down to half the size! Published in 1991, “Bombs On Target” by Ron Mayhill FC (Patrick Stephens) is one of the two definitive books covering the Lancaster years at Mepal (“Luck and a Lancaster” by Harry Yates DFC being the other).

With Ron’s insightful writing, sense of humour, Kiwi perspective and Bomb Aimer’s technical detail, the book is a mine of information, and it immerses the reader in the life of an airman at Mepal in 1944.  It’s one of those books that you don’t want to end … and we are very grateful that men like Ron and Harry Yates took the time to record their experiences in such wonderful detail.

Photo: Ron talking about his 1991 book, “Bombs On Target”. 
– “Memories Of Service”, NZ On Screen.

In 2012 he travelled to London as part of the official RNZAF veterans group to attend the unveiling of the Bomber Command Memorial. Ron was very happy to share his great knowledge of Bomber Command and was very generous with his time – he recorded several interviews and spoke often at functions, services and schools. He made many memorable addresses at Bomber Command services, thought-provoking and well-researched.

He gave this excellent interview in 2015 as part of a series called “Memories of Service”
: https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/memories-service-ron-mayhill-2015  
In 2015, Ron was awarded the Croix de Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur, for his part in the air war over Normandy.

https://75nzsquadron.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/scczen_271015nzhjolegion01_480x270.jpg

Photo: Ronald Mayhill (left)  receives his Legion of Honour medal from the French Ambassador Florence Jeanblanc-Risler. 
– Jason Oxenham,  New Zealand Herald.

Ron had been fit, sharp and active and it was only a deterioration in his eyesight and hearing that caused him to step down as President of the New Zealand Bomber Command Association in late 2018, a role that he performed admirably right up to the age of 94.

Ronald Desmond Mayhill passed away on Thursday 9 July 2020.

A great man and a very nice man – he will be sadly missed. 

Ake Ake Kia Kaha.

Nominal Roll – another update!

I am pleased/ relieved to announce that the Nominal Roll for the Squadron is now complete! Possibly, this sounds a lot better than it actually is, but it represents a significant point as I now have an individual Op history attached to every individual who flew Operationally with the Squadron. As I have observed many times previously, this was never going to be a quick or easy project. Starting with a blank sheet of paper and interrogating my original crew history spreadsheet, I have now, over a number of years, generated a basic list of names and then to these, attached Operational histories. Additionally, I have begun to add extra information to individual records from published sources and the extensive, if patchy historical records that exist and that are accessible.

The size of the basic list, when extracted from the spreadsheet into a Word document is 1249 pages – if laid out end to end, it would be 370 meters long…….

The histories I now have are are highly variable in size, both by duration and Op count, ranging from a number of individuals who completed 2 tours with the Squadron to, too many, who excruciatingly only have a single Op recorded, on which they were lost…..

Soberingly, based on the arrived figure of 3,480 individuals who flew operationally, based on total losses for the Squadron of 1,139, the maths shows an almost exact 1/3 chance of not surviving the Squadron, once you had arrived. Clearly, not simply by fancy, the unofficial moniker of “The Chop Squadron” was chillingly true.

I am keen to try (eventually) to provide as detailed a record for all individuals as I can. For some this will be a proud point of reference for a family, for others it will be simply a record of their contribution and a permanent statement of their commitment and bravery through the War.

The database has been built to be flexible and to accept whatever information I am able to gather on an individual. In truth, a lot of this information I have no way of gathering without the help of all the readers of this site. Without being unnecessarily wordy, I am keen that these records have a narrative feel to them – after all, it is these boy’s story that is being told – a small thing like a date of birth allows me through the database to have an age for the individual airman when he arrived at the Squadron. A service record allows their journey prior to Operational duties to be known and also the date of arrival and departure from 75(NZ) Squadron, as well as where they went afterwards. Working through Errol Martyn’s breathtaking record of all RNZAF losses – “For your Tomorrow” I have been able to add to all RNZAF aircrew lost on Operations, small details of life – whilst known on this site as a Pilot, an Air Bomber or Rear Gunner, it’s touching to discover that they were also clerks, shepherds, plumbers, plasterers and teachers. The extensive records held and accessible in the Australian National Archives, for those RAAF aircrew that flew with the Squadron provides the same personal insight into an individuals life before service and in many cases the pain when they were lost.

I am also pleased to say that WordPress have recently provided an alternative method of creating pages. One addition is a 2 column block, which means that, where it exists, a photograph of the individual can also be included. A sneak peek of what I envisage for the Nominal Roll when it becomes live can be seen here – this is ‘Z’, mercifully small, but it let’s you see the planned layout and the wonderful visual addition to a record that a picture makes – by coincidence Vernon Zinzan, my Father’s 2nd Tour Pilot.

I have also produced a pro forma for submitting individual information, which can be downloaded here

request-for-information-form-for-nominal-rollDownload

I still have a lot of information to add to the database and I hope I might receive more based on this request! – at a point in the next month or so I will begin uploading information in the format previously mentioned…………

Jimmy Ward meets the Prime Minister

Image from the Jack Way personal album collection. A group of, believed to be No. 75 Squadron aircrew, gathered in front of a Wellington to meet the New Zealand High Commissioner Bill Jordan. Unknown location. NB. The Wellington is not a No. 75 Squadron aircraft. – Air Force Museum of NZ ref. ALB88125123b098.

From Chris…..

Just recently the Air Force Museum of New Zealand’s Keeper of the Photographs, Matthew O’Sullivan has published a wonderful online collection of beautiful photographs from the Museum’s archives:

https://fotoweb.airforcemuseum.co.nz/fotoweb/archives/5003-Search-the-Collection/

Amongst them is this photo, showing a visit by NZ High Commissioner Bill Jordan to 75(NZ) Squadron at Feltwell.

However, the gentleman in the dark suit shaking hands right of centre is clearly the New Zealand Prime Minister of the time, Peter Fraser. Jordan appears to be at far left, also in a dark suit.

A bit of searching of newspaper reports from 1941 has revealed more information.

NZ Prime Minister the Right Hon. Peter Fraser NZ and High Commissioner Bill Jordan visited the NZ Bomber Squadron at Feltwell on 13 August 1941, as reported in The Press:

“Arriving at their station a few hours after their aeroplanes returned from plastering Hanover, Mr Fraser visited the New Zealand bomber squadron.

Among the men he saw was Sergeant Pilot J. A. Ward, V.C..

Mr Fraser said: “New Zealand is very proud of you. I congratulate you heartily on your well deserved honour.”

Mr Fraser was introduced to members of Sergeant Pilot Ward’s crew, including Sergeant Gunner A. R. T. Box, D.F.M., of Auckland, and Sergeant Observer L. A. Lawton, of Wellington.

The squadron paraded in a hangar, and Mr Fraser walked down the lines, shaking hands with every man. He talked with the men in the sergeants’ mess. His audience included more than a dozen winners of D.F.C.’s and D.F.M.’s, who have distinguished themselves over Germany.”

In the photo, Bill Jordan is 2nd to left, and next to him is Sgt James Ward V.C., and then two of his crew mates, skipper S/L Reuben “Ben” Widdowson DFC RCAF (with moustache) and rear gunner Sgt Allan “Shorty” Box DFM RNZAF. Another crew mate, navigator Sgt Joe Lawton RNZAF is identifiable five along from Box, standing at the rear.

In the official party in the foreground, 2nd from left is Station Commander W/C Maurice Buckley, performing one of his final duties before being posted out from Feltwell. PM Fraser (in dark suit) is shaking hands with an unknown airman.

Several other airmen are identifiable – Sgt Joe White (Wireless Specialist, in front of Joe Lawton, looking back towards Ward & Jordan), unknown, F/O Graham Parker (pilot), Sgt Alec Rowe (rear gunner, Parker crew), and (F/O?) Ted Williams (squadron Signals Leader, with moustache, behind W/C Buckley).

Mr Jordan had also been at Feltwell two nights earlier, when the squadron held a special smoking concert in Jimmy Ward’s honour.

New photo – ‘C’ Flight Pilots, June to September 1945

© Simon Sommerville/ 75nzsquadron.com

© Simon Sommerville/ 75nzsquadron.com

I am really pleased to present what I think, is a ‘never seen before’ photograph of ‘C’ Fight Pilots taken, sometime between June and and September 1945. A quick pass around between Chris and Kevin has suggested some ideas, but at this stage I am happy to present it and add it to the ‘Group Photographs’ section as a numbered version to aid identification of individuals.

I have often resisted the urge to search Ebay for Squadron memorabilia, partly as I know if I started I would not be able to stop! Having said this, I came across this image and despite no response from the seller regarding provenance, I thought it was worth a punt. Thus, I have the original and for anybody who comes across a relative I am happy to supply a ridiculously high resolution digital file for printed output.

Personally, I think the image is that more fascinating, as it’s apparent date places it during the period that 75(NZ) Squadron was transitioning from Bomber Command to “Tiger Force”. We can, obviously be assured that at least one of the Pilots is James Sutherland.

Jimmy completed 2 Post War sorties on the 14th and 25th of June and was then retained to join the ‘new ‘ Squadron. In the absence of any substantial details in the Squadron ORB’s, this period is really a black hole, regarding aircrew details – it might perhaps have been taken just at the transition – I do not know, and until perhaps we have identified some of the individuals in the photograph we shall have to wait to see.

I look forward to any suggestion as to the identities of the airmen in the photograph!

View the numbered, identification version of the photograph here

Victory in Europe – 8th of May 1945

A wonderful opportunity today, to remember the cessation of hostilities in Europe, on this date, 75 years ago. I am sure we are all sat here today, having perhaps expected to engage with these anniversary celebrations in a way significantly different to how and where we find ourselves on this Friday.

The report of this momentous day was recorded in the Mepal Station Log, with, typically understated, yet factually precise manner as can be seen below:

One assumes that there was the odd beer and celebrations a plenty, though, the Squadron was still tasked with flying responsibilities, perhaps fittingly, it was this day that saw the final ’Manna’ sortie flown from Mepal in support of humanitarian efforts for the Dutch people.

Strangely, I have found no specific recollections of this day, though one must assume for many it represented a massive release, but perhaps also the start of the collective burden that many of the boys would carry to varying degrees for years after.

It was not long before attentions turned from the smouldering devastation of the defeated Third Reich to the Far East, where the War continued and as such, plans were made to reconfigure the Squadron to support these intended needs – 75(NZ) Squadron was to join ‘Tiger Force’. I was perhaps a cruel irony that these plans did not include the RAF aircrew of the Squadron, the Squadron being crewed exclusively by RNZAF aircrew.

75(NZ) Squadron RAF finished the War with highest number of sorties flown in all of Bomber Command, the second highest number of operational aircraft loses and the second highest number of aircrew loses in the Command – a total of 1,139

 

AKE AKE KIA KAHA!

Sad news…….

It gives me great sadness to report the passing of 2 75(NZ) Squadron veterans – Leonard Cooper and Charles Green

I received an email from Leonard’s son the day before last letting me know that Leonard passed on the 30^th of March, aged 97. Yesterday I learnt through a post Vic Jay had made on his ‘The Mallon crew’ Facebook page that we had also lost Charles on the morning of the 8^th, aged 98 years.

Leonard Cooper – Mid Upper Gunner
Leonard arrived first at Mepal, on the 17^th of August 1944, as Mid Upper Gunner with Ken Southwards crew. The crew’s first Op together was on the 6^th of the following month, attacking targets at Harqueoc, Le Havre. A further 5 Ops followed, until the crew took off on the 6^th of October to attack targets at Dortmund.

Twenty nine aircraft were detailed to attack Dortmund, but one of these was withdrawn owing to a technical failure. Twenty six aircraft attacked the target in good weather and a very accurate and concentrated raid was reported, large fires being left burning. A.A. Fire was moderate, but fighters were active and the aircraft captained by NZ427798 F/S W. Farr, had a series of combats during which the enemy aircraft was claimed as being destroyed. One aircraft returned early and landed at Woodbridge owing to a technical failure and another (Captain NZ411048 F/O K. Southward) failed to return.

Lancaster Mk.I LM104 JN – K,  was at 22,000ft, probably en route to the target, when it was brought down by an enemy night-fighter SW of Monchengladbach, 50 miles south west of Dortmund, crashing near Willich. The Pilot was able to control the aircraft long enough to enable his crew to bailout successfully but was unable to do so himself and he bravely died in the crash. He was buried at Willich but later reinterred at the Rheinberg War Cemetery. All of Southward’s crew were captured as prisoners of war.

Taking prisoner number, 1060, Leonard was initially interned at Dulag Luft, before arriving at Stalag Luft VII, in Silesia, Germany (now Bąków, Opole Voivodeship, Poland). During his stay at Luft VII, he was promoted to Flight Sergeant.

On the 19th of January 1945, Leonard was one of the 1,500 RAF, RNZAF, RCAF and RAAF prisoners who were marched out of camp in the bitter winter cold. They crossed a bridge over the river Oder on 21^st of January, reached Goldberg on 5^th of February, and were loaded onto a train. On 8^th of February they reached Stalag III-A located about 32 miles south of Berlin.

Leonard was liberated by the Russian on 22^nd of April 1945 – his date of return to the UK is not known.

Charles Frederick Green – Mid Under Gunner
Charles Frederick Green arrived at Mepal on the 16^th of January 1945, along with Gwyn Duglan, both as Mid Under Gunners.

Charlie was born in Peckham in October 1921 and volunteered to join the air force in January 1941 while still only nineteen. In September 1943 he was posted to No. 429 Squadron at R.A.F. Leeming, North Yorkshire.

He went on to complete 34 operations as a Halifax mid-upper gunner before becoming ‘tour expired’ in July 1944.

After further training at RAF Feltwell in the use of the 0.50 calibre machine gun as a Mid Under Gunner. Whilst at Mepal, he completed 13 more operations, all in the same aircraft, AA-L (HK562), but with 6 different crews, including 3 ops with the Mallon crew and 1 Op with my Father’s crew (Zinzan).

Charles married Marjorie, whom he originally met at Mepal, in the Officer’s Mess, in 1947 and moved from his home in Dagenham to the village of Dore, near Sheffield. In 1960, after a holiday in Blackpool, they decided to move to Poulton-le-Fylde.

When V.E. Day cut short his second tour, Charles had completed a total of fifty operations and, on the 25th September 1945, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He always insisted he was not a hero: ‘I was only doing what everyone else was doing’ he said, ‘We all did our bit’.

Our condolences extend to both families at this sad time

Ake Ake Kia Kaha!

Update to Nominal Roll – B

Before you all get excited, the apparently quick arrival of ‘B’ to the Nominal Roll section of the site is more to do with the built up reservoir of gathered individual Op histories for this section, than an indication of the speed that the whole list might appear.

A few little tweaks to the database – I realised when I updated ‘A’ that there was no way to automatically differentiate between a single Op and multiple ones, regarding ‘Op’ or ‘Ops’ – a little bit of extra code and that’s been solved. Whilst a small detail perhaps, it looks tidier and saves me from having to manually check and correct prior to up loading.

The surname Brown has been quite problematic, I must confess. A large number of RAF aircrew of this surname have no differentiating initials and a certain amount of conjecture has had to be performed to arrive at what will probably be refined and corrected over time. As always and particularly with this project, I welcome comments, corrections and suggestions regarding the accuracy of the records and especially with individuals where only a surname and therefore possible errors or discrepancies exist.

View the updated section B of the Nominal Roll here.

Update to the Nominal Roll

Personal circumstances have forced me away from broad research, emails and general site activities recently, owing to Mum’s health taking a dip and the family having to take it in turn’s to go down and be with her – but for 97, she’s still going strong!

The time has at least allowed me to push on with the data entry for the Nominal Roll. As I have noted in previous posts, this is a colossal task and will potentially dwarf the Crew Op History database, when it is finally (if ever) completed. Aside from the gathering and researching of information on the individuals in the roll, it’s entry into the database and the subsequent generation of entries for the NR section of the site has proved to be quite problematic – some individuals, such as Dad, flew with just one crew for each of his tours – others have (so far) flown with 8 during their stay with the Squadron.

Initially I had arranged the database with a series of repeated sections to record each crew that an individual might have been part of – resulting in a series of ‘blank’ lines which would contain joining text such as “Flew with xxxx for xxx Ops as xxxx” but no actual data as they were extra to that individual. Initially, I was happy with this and thought I could just delete the empty rows of each entry when I added the information to the relevant page. Of course, as this project has continued, the individual secondary editing of entries prior to publishing is a completely ridiculous strategy, given there are approximately 3,500 individuals contained in the list.

At the start of the new year I decided I had to dig deeper into the database and give it the intelligence to understand presence and absence of data and give it the ability to subsequently gather the separate pieces of information in a presentable format, automatically. 3 months later I am pleased to present the next stage of the NR project – All of the A’s have been updated to the next level of data completion – this will steadily increase as repeated sweeps are performed or new information comes in on individuals, but as you will see, it s shows a significant upgrade from the basic name and trade position that remains for the time, for the rest of the NR section. Perhaps a little smugly, I would draw your attention to the fact that the entries added have been added as is, straight from the database – the only work I have done is to bold the surname and add a divider line between each individual’s entry.

I have also taken the decision to generate a ‘completion’ rate for each individual. In discussion with Chris, it seems that at least the post war “Manna” flights were counted as a third of an Op, however in the absence of confirmation for the other post war sorties, the CR figure is based on completed operational sorties undertaken during the War. Broadly, an Op that resulted in the individual’s death, capture etc have been not counted, but an entry of this kind does reflect the event – the individual in question having for example 7 Ops as completed, but killed on the 8th Op. I am aware that there are instances where an aircraft would have been bought down after bombing and thus the sortie would count – these will be identified and corrected accordingly in time.

View the new updated ‘A’ section of the Nominal Roll here.

Leslie Edgerton, 1921 – 2020

by David Yates

My father-in-law Leslie Edgerton passed away in Conquest Hospital, Hastings in the early hours of Tuesday 14th January.  Another 75 man, and another of the dwindling band of Bomber Command veterans, has quit us.

Leslie photographed on the occasion of his 98th birthday on 23rd April – St George’s Day – 2019.

 

 

 

 

Leslie volunteered for RAF service in the autumn of 1942 hoping, as they all did, to be a pilot.  It wasn’t until spring of 1943, as the Battle for Berlin was hitting the headlines, that things began to get going for him.  A reserved, unassuming, and thoughtful man, Leslie was not selected for pilot training but was sent to No2 Radio School, Yatesbury.  He gained his first air experience on 6^th April 1943.  He was then sent on a gunnery course at RAF Manby, and on to AFU at Millom.

A transfer to No.11 OTU Westcott followed, and after an ab initio course in which he was subjected to the usual night vision and decompression tests, he had his first taste of crewing a medium bomber.  On 3^rd September 1943 he flew for the first time with F/S C.E. Armstrong, with whom he had crewed up.  The fateful eight-month journey to Dortmund had begun.  The Armstrong crew was signed off on 24^th October 1943 and despatched to Wratting Common for conversion to Stirlings.  After little more than 40 hours flying and then two-weeks’ leave the Amstrong crew mustered at Mepal for operational duty with 75 RNZAF Squadron, Mepal.  They had arrived on the front line.

They had a good initial run, starting on 14^th January 1943 with laying six mines in the Fresians area.  The squadron was untroubled by losses until 24^th February 1943.  But then on their seventh op, laying mines in Kiel Bay, Stirling EH984 captained by PO H.H. Bruhns crew went down.  They were all killed.  Leslie and the Armstrong boys came safe home.

The next day Leslie was asked to fill in for the absent w/op of the Willis crew, who were down for mine-laying in Copenhagen Bay.  Their Stirling was attacked head-on by a flight of six JU88s.  The aircraft was riddled with canon-fire, and Leslie later reported actually seeing the tracers scorching by him as he sat at his station.  Everyone survived and the aircraft landed safely back at Mepal.

No doubt gratefully, Leslie returned to his crew mates.  A couple of quiet mine-laying ops followed and then on 4^th March they were sent on a special French op where another Stirling was lost, captained by the New Zealander PO S.L. Watson.  The Mid-Upper was taken prisoner.  Watson and the other crew members were killed.  But the ops, either mine-laying or targets in France, continued to tick quietly by for Leslie.  Then, suddenly, the great change finally came to 3 Group and Mepal, and the conversion from Stirlings to Lancasters was begun.  The Armstrong crew were among the first shipped off to Feltwell for conversion, followed back at Mepal by a series of preparation flights in the beautiful, shining new machines.  Then on the evening of 9^th April their first 75 op was mounted.  The Armstrong crew were given ND768 F-Freddie.  In the words of my father Harry:

“Eleven of them were sent to attack the railway yards at Villeneuve St.Georges.  They had all bombed successfully in clear weather, though one had been damaged by friendly bombing and landed at Ford, a fighter station conveniently situated on the coast across from Selsey Bill.”

After the Villeneuve raid the crew flew three ops to Germany – first Karlsruhe, then Essen, then Friedrichshaven; and it was on the latter that another loss occurred.  FO R.W. Herron and his crew were all killed.

By this point Leslie had flown 22 ops and would not have been blamed for beginning to look forward to the end of his tour.  But in early May he began to feel unwell and was diagnosed with a contagious childhood disease most unwelcome at the advanced age of 22.  He was whisked off to the Princess of Wales Hospital in Ely and put in isolation.  It quite likely saved his life.  On 22^nd May, Armstrong and his boys, with Sgt C.A. Warburton replacing Leslie, flew F-Freddie to Dortmund and never came back.

Again in my father’s words:
“Knowing nothing of this, a fully recovered F/Sgt Edgerton returned to Mepal resigned to the fact that his crew mates would have completed their tour, but nevertheless hopeful of hearing something of them.  In fact, nothing was offered.  He managed to discover that they were logged FTR, but that was all.  As a pool w/op he went dicing with scratch crews to the end of his tour,”

I have told the story, on this site, of how Harry was able to inform Leslie of the fate of his crew, and how that came to happen fifty years after the event itself, and anyone who would like to read about that can do so here:

Leslie went into the pool, and flew seven more ops with the Crawford, Adolph, and Lethbridge crews.  His last but one op was to Bremen on the night of 18^th August 1944, when Harry’s crew were given such a fiery time; and his finale was to the Kamen refinery in daylight on 11^th September 1944, when Harry’s R-Roger lost its nose and Harry himself was consigned to Littleport Eye Hospital for seven weeks.

Tour-expired and with other things on his mind, Leslie married Joan Underwood, a Red Cross nurse, on 21^st September 1944 at St Mary’s Church, Sanderstead.  The church had been damaged at some point by a stray bomb, and workmen on ladders stopped their repairs and took off their caps to peer benignly down, the most earthly of angels, while the ceremony proceeded.  The couple would have four children over the ensuing ten or so years, the third of them my wife Geraldine.  Leslie worked as an accountant in the post-war years, and did pretty well for himself, living a life of respectable, quiet prosperity in Purley, Surrey and, in retirement, on the south coast near Eastbourne.   But I don’t think he was ever free from the sense of guilt and loss which consumed him that day he returned to Mepal to find his crew mates missing.

Leslie and Joan’s elder daughter Helen and her husband Andrew McGillivray have kindly forwarded me photographs of the crew’s graves, including that of Sgt Warburton, which we hope will serve as an on-line memoir of those brave boys as long as this website is active.

Andrew writes:
“In 2012, on one of Helen’s visits to Seaford, Leslie had mentioned that the name of the wireless operator who stood in for him on the Dortmund trip was Warburton.  Out of interest I visited the Commonwealth Graves Commission website and found that he and the other members of the crew were buried in a large military cemetery in Germany, close to the Dutch border.  As it happened, we had been invited to a 60th birthday party in a town close by and we decided whilst we were there to visit Arnhem and the cemetery on the same trip. As with all of the Commonwealth Grave cemeteries that I have visited it is beautifully maintained and very moving when you see the perfectly aligned white headstones stretching out in all directions. What makes it all the more saddening is the ages of these young men most of which were in their early twenties. The entire crew are buried beside one another including Leslie’s replacement.”

In old age Leslie, who kept his wits about him till the end, thought more and more about those times at Mepal.  He was the lucky one.  Now he is gone one wonders how many others are still with us.

Another milestone – 600,000 views!

Just to let everybody that we have just passed the latest big viewing milestone – 600,000 views!

Almost 13 months to the day since we passed the half a million mark, you, the blog audience have added another 100,000 views to our tally and with it we get another small step closer to the magic figure of 1 million views. I think the passing of this new milestone, in the time it has happened is all the more remarkable given my silence regarding posts for essentially 1/4 of the year owing to the self inflicted loss of my laptop!

I have received questions over the years regarding what has been claimed to be my unnecessary emphasis on statistics and particularly the total viewing figures. In the past, I have tried to explain, but now I simply refute these queries. Put simply, this website has become, the largest single resource for 75(NZ) Squadron RAF in the world. It has achieved this by having the most comprehensive collection of records, information and images on the Squadron, which is freely accessible to all. This complete open door policy regarding information is vindicated by the volume of visitors and views that are recorded.

Frustratingly I am picking my way through the busiest part of my professional year – assessment, the awarding of Degrees, the preparation for our annual London show and planning for next academic year means that I am waiting for a clear gap in the next few months to present new material that has come to me over the last 6 months or so – all of you have have contacted me, please be patient – it will all be presented as soon as I can!.

Without sounding like a broken record – please can everybody share the site – so many relatives of the boys who flew with the Squadron have made contact over the years, that it makes me think that there are still many more that have yet to find the site. Please, share the site address, on social media, through the facebook groups you are members of – we need to find these people and we need to encourage them to share what they have or might know.

Also, please, please, please apply for your relatives service records! I cannot overstate the value and importance of the contents of these records to me and the site. Many dates and locations, because of the points of formation of a crew and their subsequent training means that details supplied for one person means that the same details of movement and training can be added to up 6 other individuals. As soon as I can, I will make a downloadable template available to hopefully streamline the transfer of personal details etc that I need for the database.

Here’s to the next 100,000 views!

Ake Ake Kia Kaha!

D-Day

75(NZ) Squadron RAF Operations log for the 5th/6th of June 1944.
The Air Force Museum of New Zealand.

Thanks to Chris for this piece, on the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Allied liberation of Europe.

The Air Force Museum of New Zealand in Christchurch holds a copy of the 75(NZ) Sqn Operations Log, a document which we were not previously aware of, and which gives us a much more detailed insight into 75 (NZ) Squadron’s contribution to D-Day. On the night of 5th of June 1944, 75(NZ) Squadron had prepared twenty-six Lancasters (a record at that point), and they took off either side of 0330hrs in the morning of the 6th to attack the coastal battery at Ouistreham. They were timed to reach the target at first light, and, on arrival, found a layer of cloud at 7,000 feet, with occasional gaps, through which some crews were able to see the markers. The bombing appeared to be fairly concentrated, no opposition was met, and all aircraft returned safely to Mepal after a round-trip of less than four hours. 

Ouistreham was at the eastern end of the invasion area, where Sword and Juno Beaches would be the scene of the Anglo-Canadian landings. However Mepal crews had not been told of the invasion, but they knew something was up as they were told that more than a thousand aircraft would be operating throughout the night, and that they must adhere to assigned flight routes, heights and times, and not jettison bombs over the Channel.  

From the 75(NZ) Sqn Operations Log: 
At 0730hrs,15 minutes after the last aircraft had landed back at Mepal, one of several ‘top secret’ messages came through from Waterbeach:

 ”D-Day is 6-6-44,  H Hour 0600” 

There were also messages about the distinctive markings of aircraft, and tight restrictions on the use of I.F.F. 

At 0810hrs Waterbeach advised the Colours of the Day: 
1400 – 2000 RY – Q – O
2000 – 0200 RG – J – I   Chaffinch OX
0200 – 0800 GG – C – D
0800 – 1400 GY – H – W 

Duty Beacon 62 – 285

 At 1105hrs Group requested 24 Lancasters be made available for an attack that night, Bomb Loads 18 x 500, petrol 1250 (gallons). 

W/T call signs were advised:  A & B Flt  M.K.H. and C Flt  P.O.K. 

At 1130hrs Target and Aiming Point coordinates were advised and an amendment to the Bomb Load, specifying 90% .025 fusing and 10% long delay (spread evenly over a period of 6 to 36hrs). H Hour 0235hrs. 

At 1610hrs W/C Leslie put the petrol up to 1366 (gallons). 

At 1620hrs Waterbeach advised the route coordinates (there and back). They also advised a bomb jettison location and repeated the instructions not to jettison in the Channel, mentioning “a very considerable volume of shipping”. 

At  1935hrs the target was altered to one of two possible targets (Lisieux one of them) and new route coordinates were advised.  

“Note: The alteration in route is to avoid low flying airborne forces, which are again operating tonight”. 

“A/C in two waves … 75 Sqdn 12 A/C in 1st wave, 12 2nd wave”. 

I.F.F. not to be used except in real emergency – sets were to be sealed in the “Off” position. “Window” and photography instructions given.  

2130hrs – target confirmed as Lisieux.
Strict adherence to routes and times required. Crews to fly below any bad weather over England, up to Thames Estuary, then climb through clouds to 7 or 8000 ft. Keep that height over enemy coast if weather fine, but if 5/10 cloud or more, drop below cloud and bomb below. Be prepared to come down below cloud over the target if markers are not visible. Balloon locations advised. PFF Aiming Point marking colours advised (Red & Green at H-3 to H-2, followed by Yellow & White) 

Master Bomber call sign “Wastepipe 1”
Deputy M/B call sign       “Wastepipe 2”
Cease Bombing call sign  “Sugar-plum”
B/C Frequency 5105 Kc (B); 6440 Kc (D) 

At 2250hrs new instructions came through from BC HQ: 

– no Window- if crews can’t visually identify the target must not bomb any other target
– if any light flak received do not fire back (could be ours)
– route coordinates confirmed, H Hour brought forward to 0135hrs. 

At 2344hrs the first of 24 Lancasters took off from Mepal to attack the railway junction in the town of Lisieux, some twenty miles to the east of Caen.. They reached the target to find a thin layer of cloud at 5,000 feet, which obscured the aiming-point, but the Oboe markers could be seen clearly, and the bombing was considered accurate and concentrated. All returned home safely, the last landing at 0359hrs early on the morning of the 7th.

Pilot Officer Ted Wilcox and the famous “soda siphon spitting bombs”

Many thanks to Joan and Michael Wilcox who have generously passed on the story of Ted Wilcox and the ‘Bomb spitting soda syphon’ artwork that adorned R1162 AA-Y “Yorker.

Edward (Ted) Thomas Wilcox was born in Durban, South Africa on 8 March 1913. His family moved back to England in 1914, later moving to Birmingham where his father was employed at the Austin Motor Works. 

From an early age Ted had shown a talent for painting and drawing and in 1924 he went to the Birmingham School of Art where he studied art, design and silver working. In 1930 he started work for a company making stained glass and later worked for the Austin Motor Works. Subsequently, he left Birmingham and worked in London as a commercial artist. His artwork was often used in technical publications, advertising literature and car owner manuals.

Ted was granted an emergency commission with the RAFVR on 12 April 1939, gazetted on 14 May 1939 as an acting Pilot Officer and began training as an Air Gunner.

He married Mary Dalton on 3 May 1940 and three days after the wedding, reported to 9 Bombing and Gunnery School at RAF Penrhos, Wales for a further three weeks training.

On 1 June he was posted to 11 Operational Training Unit (OTU), RAF Bassingbourn, training on Wellingtons.

On 14 August 1940, Ted was posted to 75 (NZ) Squadron at RAF Feltwell as an Air Gunner. Ted and Mary lived at Laburnum Cottage, Hockwold.

Ted flew with several crews – S/L “Breck” Breckon, P/O Charles Pownall (5 op’s), P/O Ian Gow and F/O Peter Kitchin (6) – before settling into the crew of P/O Edgar Lockwood as rear gunner.

He flew ten operations with Lockwood between November 1940 and January 1941.

Meanwhile, Mark 1C Wellington R1162 was received on 19 December 1940 from No 9 MU, Cosford, allocated the code AA-Y “Yorker”.

Wellington R1162 AA-Y “Yorker” being serviced in the snow, Feltwell, early 1941.
– NZ Bomber Command Assn. archives, Ron Mayhill collection.

The Lockwood crew picked up the new aircraft and flew their first op’ in her on 1 January 1941.

We don’t know why, but the crew decided to personalise the Wellington and Ted was commissioned to create a piece of nose art for “Yorker”. The story has become part of family legend. How he acquired some aircraft linen fabric, using his own hand as model and making free with Mary’s kitchen table, created a beautifully detailed ‘R.A.F’-branded soda-water siphon, with bombs spraying from the nozzle. The completed painting was then fixed to the side of Yorker by the application of aircraft dope.

Unofficial emblem painted on the side of a Vickers Wellington of No. 75 (New Zealand) Squadron RAF at Feltwell, Norfolk, depicting an ‘R.A.F’ soda-siphon spraying bombs.
IWM (CH 2718).

Ted only got to fly four air tests and three operations in the plane he had decorated. Having completed his tour at 25 op’s, Ted left the squadron on 2 February 1941.

However, his artwork, “Yorker” and her crew would soon become famous, in England and back in New Zealand, when they featured in a series of publicity photos taken at Feltwell, several of which appeared in the newspapers of the day. It was one of the most striking pieces of nose art of its time and is still admired today.

The photographer was Mr PHF “Bill” Tovey, the same official RAF photographer who took the iconic “airmen walking past Wellington” photo that came to represent the public face of 75 (NZ) Squadron.

We know that Tovey took that photo at Feltwell on the 10^th of May 1941.

It seems likely that he was also the photographer when another set of publicity photos was taken at Feltwell on 9 April 1941, showing preparations for a raid on Berlin. According to information on the back, these were syndicated through Fox Photos (a London press agency). Both sets feature Yorker’s nose art.

Ted kept one of these, an original, black and white photograph showing the Wellington with his artwork, the pilot inside the aircraft and crew member outside looking up. Newspaper captions stated that it was “an RAF pilot and his observer” with a “’siphon and bombs’ mascot on their Wellington.” The pilot is P/O Oliver Rayner Matheson DFC RAF and the observer is P/O George Eric Fowler DFC RAF.

“An R.A.F. Pilot and his observer”. P/O Oliver Matheson (pilot) in cockpit and P/O Eric Fowler (observer) below. New Zealand newspapers dated the photo 9 April 1941.
– Michael Wilcox.

As it appeared in an English newspaper. “An R.A.F. Pilot and his observer at the sign of the bombs and siphon check-up on their Wellington before setting out on the R.A.F.’s 39th raid on Berlin – the heaviest the German capital has had.”
– Michael Wilcox.

Matheson had taken over the crew and aircraft after Edgar Lockwood had completed his tour.

It was Matheson’s last operation – he and the crew took a different Wellington to Berlin that night, R1409 AA-N “Nuts”, but apparently R1162 “Yorker” made a much more photogenic subject.

As it turned out, Matheson and Fowler were each awarded an immediate DFC for their photo of Tempelhof aerodrome and making a second run over the target to deliver their load that night, despite having sustained flak damage.

After that, 2^nd pilot Sgt Bob Fotheringham took over the crew.

Vickers Wellington 1C R1162 AA-Y “Yorker”.
– NZ Bomber Command Assn. archives, Jack Wakefield collection

In June, a photo of the Fotheringham crew in front of Yorker’s nose art appeared in the NZ newspapers:

“Dominion Bomber Crew: A crew of the New Zealand Bomber Squadron. Their machine has a significant insignia.” The Fotheringham crew in front of R1162 AA-Y “Yorker”, May 1941. Front, Sgt Bob Fotheringham (skipper), behind him, P/O Eric Fowler DFC, navigator. Top is Jack Wakefield, rear gunner.
– NZ Bomber Command Assn. archives, Jack Wakefield collection.

From 75(NZ) Squadron Ted had gone to 18 Operational Training Unit (18 OTU) at RAF Bramcote where he continued as an Air Gunner until 27 April when he was posted to 27 OTU, RAF Lichfield.

Amazingly, his old “kite” followed him!

R1162 was transferred to 27 OTU on the 16^th of August 1941 and Ted’s logbook records one more flight in her on 26 October 1941, piloted by a F/L Denton. She failed to return from the third One Thousand Bomber raid on Bremen, on the night of the 23rd/24^th of June 1942, one of 23 OTU aircraft and crews lost that night.

Ted’s wife, Mary, died in January 1966 whilst Ted was stationed at RAF St Athan, some three months before he retired from the RAF.    Ted Wilcox died peacefully on 7 July 1995, aged 82, and is buried in Llywel Church, Trecastle, Powys, South Wales, alongside his daughter Gaywood Patricia (nee Wilcox, Chaffer) Griffin.

Ake Ake Kia Kaha!

New crew pictures

The Curr crew:
L-R: Sgt Leslie Kennedy (front gunner), F/Sgt Ken Crankshaw (rear gunner), Sgt Frankie Curr (skipper), P/O Ronald Hull (wireless operator) and Sgt Ivan “Sully” Sullivan (navigator).
With their regular Wellington BJ721 AA-A “Achtung ANZAC”.
NZ Bomber Command Assn. archives, Ken Crankshaw collection. 

Chris has come up trumps – massively, with a huge collection of crew photographs that have been added to the respective crew pages on the site. The majority come from the New Zealand Bomber Command Association Archive and as always I must give sincere thanks to the Association and Peter Wheeler. Also massive thanks to everyone else who has passed on photographs to Chris and to those that have given images that have been previously presented in posts, that have now also been added to the crew pages.

Perhaps as I am yet to find a crew picture containing Bob, I find myself always drawn to these photographs. To see a group of the boys together, usually smiling at the camera, despite the situation they found themselves in makes me think that what we see shining out of these pictures is true spirit and camaraderie – caught in a split second of time, but now persisting forever.

This is a significant addition not only to the crew pages but to the site as a whole and I am sure that some visitors are going to find, perhaps for the first time, a picture of a loved one. Please take the time to have a look via the links below – there are some remarkable examples – and if you can identify anybody in them – as always, please contact us!

New photographs have been added to the following crew pages:

V.A. Adolph
J.K. Aitken
K.E. Amohanga
B.L.D. Anderson
A. Ashworth
J.M. Bailey (1st Tour)
R.B. Berney
E.V. Best
I.E. Blance
A.A.N. Breckon
E.F. Butler
I.S. Carroll
F.L. Curr
A.G. Daly
F.H. Denton
J.A. Emslie
J.F. Fisher
R.C. Flamank
R.E.E. Fotheringham
A.A. Fraser
C. Glossop
D.V. Hamer
W.L. Hardy
N.J.N. Hockaday
D.G.G. Horgan
J.Joll (2nd Tour)
C.E. Kay
J.R. Layton
R. Leggett
F.J. Lucas
F.J. Lucas (2nd Tour)
R.D. Max
C.A.G. McKenzie
I.G.E. McPhail
C.A. Megson
E.L.K. Meharry
H.A.D. Meyer
A.G. Osborne
G.N. Parker
W.G. Reay
R.W. Russell
D.L. Thompson
H.J.D. Treewheela
L.G. Trott
F.H. Turner
R.J. Urlich
E.E.D. Ware
White
N. Williams
S. Wilson
E.F. Witting
J.H.T. Wood
J.L. Wright
J.L. Wright (2nd Tour)
J.S. Young

80 years ago today – the story begins……

New Wellingtons near completion at the Vickers Weybridge factory, NZ 302 second-closest to the camera.
”Flight”, July 6 1939 issue.

Many thanks to Chris for the following post that commemorates the 80th anniversary, of what is essentially the start of the 75(NZ) Squadron story……..

80 years ago (today), on the 4th of May 1939, New Zealand government representatives in England took ceremonial delivery of the first of thirty Wellington bombers ordered from Vickers-Armstrongs Limited and being built at their Weybridge factory. The government had made the purchase to establish a long range bomber capability – maritime reconnaissance & defence, potential air co-operation with Australia, and the ability to assist in the defence of Singapore.

Mark 1 Vickers Wellington Type 403 serial number NZ 300 was the first of these to come off the production line, and a photo of her dual-control cockpit has survived, probably taken at the time of the official hand-over.

Cockpit of Mark 1 Vickers Wellington, serial number NZ 300, the first Wellington built for the RNZAF.
From “The Aeroplane” archives, via the Aeroplane Illustrated publication, “Vickers Wellington – The Backbone of Bomber Command”, Key Publishing, 2013.

Detail: data plate of NZ 300, behind the right-hand (dual) control column: “Type 403, No. NZ 300. Built at Weybridge Works. Date April 1939 England”.
From “The Aeroplane” archives, via the Aeroplane Illustrated publication, “Vickers Wellington – The Backbone of Bomber Command”, Key Publishing, 2013.

RNZAF personnel were assembling at RAF Marham under the command of S/L Maurice William Buckley, MBE, RNZAF to train for the unprecedented long-distance ferry flights back to New Zealand, supplemented by a small group of RAF technicians with experience in servicing Wellingtons. Marham was home to two Wellington squadrons, 38 and 115 Sqdns, allowing sharing of facilities.

Squadron Leader Maurice William Buckley, MBE, RNZAF
From “Return At Dawn”, by Hilary Saunders.

The first NZ Wellington arrived at Marham on the 24th of May, flown in from Weybridge by S/L Buckley, P/O Arthur Rose-Price (a pilot on loan from 38 Squadron) and S/L Sid Wallingford (NZ Liaison Officer, and nominated to lead one of the ferry flights).

Curiously, the first Wellington received was NZ 301, and for some unknown reason, NZ 300 was never delivered to the squadron. A second Wellington, NZ 302, was flown in the following day.

“New Zealand’s Modern Bombers Undergo Trials”. New Zealand Squadron Wellington taking off at Weybridge.
Otago Daily Times, 12 June 1939.

The New Zealand Squadron, the entity which would train the groups of pilots, airmen and technicians selected to fly the bombers back to New Zealand, was officially formed on the 1st of June. Three more Wellingtons arrived that month. S/L Buckley was nominated to lead the “1st New Zealand Mobile Flight”, the first of five planned ferry flights of six aircraft each and due to leave on 1 October.

Only one Flight was ever formed. With the outbreak of war, the New Zealand Government decided that the men and five aircraft of the New Zealand Squadron would be “placed at the disposal” of the RAF, and eventually agreed that they would form the basis of a new squadron in the RAF.

Eleven months later, on the 4th of April 1940, 75 (Bomber) Squadron ceased to exist and it’s number plate was taken over by the New Zealand Squadron, to form 75 (New Zealand) Squadron RAF.

ANZAC Day 2019

“Those heroes that shed their blood
And lost their lives.
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies
And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side
Here in this country of ours.
You, the mothers,
Who sent their sons from far away countries
Wipe away your tears,
Your sons are now lying in our bosom
And are in peace
After having lost their lives on this land they have
Become our sons as well.“

 In 1934, Kemal Atatürk delivered these words to the first Australians, New Zealanders and British to visit the Gallipoli battlefields. They were later inscribed on a monolith at Ari Burnu Cemetery (ANZAC Beach) which was unveiled in 1985. The words also appear on the Kemal Atatürk Memorial, Canberra, and the Atatürk Memorial in Wellington.

Let us take this day to remember all those, from Australia and New Zealand who gave their lives, not only in 75(NZ) Squadron RAF, but in every conflict before and after.

We shall remember them………….

AHE AKE KIA KAHA

The Evans crew – and a bit of a mystery………

I t was lovely to meet up with Kevin two Sundays ago for the November Remembrance Ceremony at Mepal. Kevin mentioned that he had received a photograph from a lady, who had found it in the processions of her late mother. Her assumption was that her mother had perhaps been a pen-pal to the crew pictured in the photograph.

At the time, I was slightly confused by Kevin’s comment that I didn’t have anything on the crew, but when I got back home, I realised a slight faux-pas on my part, I had accidentally overlooked actually adding the history to the crew page!

Referring to the Squadron database, I suddenly became very confused. The Evans crew were returned as flying 5 Ops with the Squadron, their first being a gardening sortie to the Frisian Islands on the 16th of December 1943, their last on the 15th of February 1944, again mining, this time to Kiel, (Roy Evans flying as 2nd Pilot with Osric White on the 18th of November to Mannheim).

Imagine my surprise when looking at the scan of the back of the crew photograph:

Clearly there is a slight discrepancy in totals. One might summise that the crew had already been posted elsewhere, however, all seem to have come to Mepal straight from 1657 Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Stradishall.

I would be fascinated to hear from anybody who might have anymore information on the Evans crew, or any of its members and their 27 Ops completed…………

For the Fallen – Lest we forget

Poem by Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943), published in The Times newspaper on 21 September 1914.

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Laurence Binyon composed his best known poem while sitting on the cliff-top looking out to sea from the dramatic scenery of the north Cornish coastline. A plaque marks the location at Pentire Point, north of Polzeath. However, there is also a small plaque on the East Cliff north of Portreath, further south on the same north Cornwall coast, which also claims to be the place where the poem was written.

The poem was written in mid September 1914, a few weeks after the outbreak of the First World War. During these weeks the British Expeditionary Force had suffered casualties following its first encounter with the Imperial German Army at the Battle of Mons on 23 August, its rearguard action during the retreat from Mons in late August and the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August, and its participation with the French Army in holding up the Imperial German Army at the First Battle of the Marne between 5 and 9 September 1914.

Laurence said in 1939 that the four lines of the fourth stanza came to him first. These words of the fourth stanza have become especially familiar and famous, having been adopted by the Royal British Legion as an Exhortation for ceremonies of Remembrance to commemorate fallen Servicemen and women.

Laurence Binyon was too old to enlist in the military forces but he went to work for the Red Cross as a medical orderly in 1916. He lost several close friends and his brother-in-law in the war.

Bevis Harpham, Wireless Operator – Good crew

As always, many thanks for Kevin for passing on the sad news of the passing of another 75(NZ) Squadron veteran.

Bevis Harpam, Wireless Operator, arrived as part of Tom Good’s crew on the 11th of February 1945. The crew flew their first Op with W/Cdr Mac Baigent 11 days later, reforming with Tom Good to undertake their first Op as a crew on the 23rd of February to Gelsenkirchen.

Bevis completed another 7 Ops with the Good crew, his last being on the 17th of March to Auguste Viktoria. Inexplicably, at this point, Bevis never flew with the Good crew again, but did fly another Op on the 24th of April to Bad Oldsloe with Matthew Watson’s crew.

I am sure you will all join in wishing condolences to Bevis’ family at this sad time for them.

Ake Ake Kia Kaha!

A request for help – and information!

The majority of my time over the last 6 years or so, has been spent completing a number of large scale projects which have resulted in sizeable amounts of information being added to the site.

To date, the largest has been the creation of a database to enable me to list an Op history for every crew that flew with the Squadron during the War. I was also able to relatively recently announce the completion of the transcription of the entire collection of Form 540 documents for the Squadron. In addition to this, the Roll of Honour has been dramatically expanded, all available air combat reports have been catalogued and added and a large number of MI.9 debriefing interviews are currently being processed and added to the Evaders, Escapers and P.o.W sections  of the site.

The final, and largest piece of the jigsaw is a record of all individuals that flew with the Squadron, or as it is often referred to, a Nominal Roll.

Those of you that have followed the blog form the beginning, might recall a very brief period when a Nominal Roll was available, which had been passed onto me form the 75 Association in New Zealand. This had to be removed not long after publishing, owing to what I will simply describe as a misunderstanding, more within the Association, regarding the apparent sense of making the list public to correct and expand it.

Aware of the sensitivities surrounding this Nominal Roll document and owing to the apparent reluctance on the part of the NZ Association to make public any information that they hold, I have come to the simple conclusion that the only way to proceed is to create from scratch, our own Nominal Roll.

I have spent the last few months reviewing the information held on the blog, the National Archives and London Gazette and am satisfied that, in principle this is entirely possible.

The scope of the document will be from the point the ‘New Zealand Flight’ was formed in the United Kingdom in June 1939 through to the point the Squadron was disbanded at Spilsby in October 1945.

Based on available information, I have reluctantly decided at least initially, to focus the Nominal Roll on Aircrew only. I am not comfortable with this decision, but the simple fact of the matter is that I seem so far to have found no sources of information that lists any useful records, regarding Ground crew and as such barely have a starting point for a basic list, let alone, sadly a Nominal Roll document.

A gross list of Aircrew names can be extracted from the Form 541 ‘diary of work carried out’ that already exists in database format and this will form the first ‘impression’ of the Roll. Additional information contained in the Form 540 regarding postings in and out of the Squadron and promotions will add to this. Six years of contact with relatives, plus a summer going through the AIR 78 personnel list documents, has generated a significant amount of new information regarding RAF aircrew christian/ middle names and service numbers.

What follows is a theoretical Nominal Roll entry based on my own Father. I have used Bob as an example because all I have on him comes from publicly  accessible  documents, information held in my database and his service records obtained from the RAF.

By way of trying to explain the composition of Bob’s record, the following colours have been used:

Blue = Database
Green = Service record
Red = Personal/ anecdotal information

SOMMERVILLE
Robert Douglas ‘Jock’ Sommerville, DFC. RAFVR 1562617/ 161049
42 Ops
2 tours with Squadron, 1943 & 1945. Crewed with Allan Johnson Mayfield (1^st tour) and Vernon John ‘Taffy’ Zinzan (2^nd tour).

Born 1^st of November 1922, Irvine, Ayr, Scotland
Previous occupation, Clerk, Ayr County Council, Public Assistance Department.
Enlisted, 9^th of October 1941 at Aircrew Selection Board (ACSB), Edinburgh – Recommended for training as Pilot/ Observer.
23/3/42 Reserves to No.1 Aircrew Reception Centre (ACRC), St. Johns Wood.
11/4/42 No.11 Initial Training Wing (ITW)
14/7/42 No.3 Elementary Flying Training School (E.F.T.S)
10/8/42 Recommended for re-mustering to Unit
29/8/42 Re-mustered to Unit
10/11/42 No.2 (O) Advanced Flight Unit (Course 87). Millom, Cumbria
6/4/43 No.11 Operational Training Unit, Oakley (11 O.T.U)
24/6/43 No. 1651 Conversion Unit, Waterbeach (1651 C.U.)

Posted to Mepal on the 21^st of July 1943 from 1651 Heavy Conversion Unit, Waterbeach.
1562617.  SGT.A/B.  SOMMERVILLE, R.  Posted from No.1651 Con. Unit, w.e.f. 21/7/43.  (Authy.P/N.3G/855/49 dated 19/7/43).

Completed 21 Ops between 30/07/1943 and 19/11/1943 with Mayfield crew

30/07/1943 – Mining off the Frisian Islands, 02/08/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Hamburg, 06/08/1943 – Mining in the Gironde Estuary, 10/08/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Nurenburg, 12/08/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Turin, 16/08/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Turin, 17/08/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Peenemunde, 27/08/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Nuremburg, 30/08/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Munchen-Gladbach, 31/08/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Berlin, 05/09/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Mannheim, 08/09/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Boulogne, 15/09/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Montlucon, 16/09/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Modene, 22/09/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Hanover, 23/09/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Mannheim, 03/10/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Kassel, 04/10/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Frankfurt, 08/10/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Bremen, 18/11/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Mannheim, 19/11/1943 – Attack Against Targets at Leverkusen.

Arrived on Station as Sgt. Promoted to P/O with effect from 20/10/43 (Gazetted 14/12/43). Promoted to F/O 20/4/44. Promoted to F/L 20/10/45 (Gazetted 25/9/45). Commission relinquished 1/7/59

Posted from Mepal to No.3 Lancaster Finishing School, Feltwell on the 15^th of December 1943.
P/O Sommerville, R. D. 161049 (GD) Posted to No.3 L.F.S. w.e.f. 15/12/43. Auth: P/N 3G/3398/43 dated 10/12/43.

4/3/44 – 11/10/44 No. 1 Air Armament School (AAS), Manby – Bomb Leaders Course Assessed as 5 – Category B Bomb Leader
11/10/44 – 9/11/44 Hereford. Air Crew Officers School (A.C.O.S) 58% (below average)
Posted to Mepal on the 25th of January 1945 from No.3 Lancaster Finishing School, Feltwell.

25.1.45
Administration. 161049 P/O R. Sommerville A/B arrived on posting from No. 3 L.F.S.

Completed 21 Ops between 01/02/1945 and 14/04/1945 with Zinzan crew

01/02/1945 – Attack Against Munchen Gladbach, 02/02/1945 – Attack Against Wiesbaden, 09/02/1945 – Attack Against Hohenbudburg, 13/02/1945 – Attack Against Dresden, 14/02/1945 – Attack Against Chemnitz, 16/02/1945 – Attack Against Wesel, 19/02/1945 – Attack Against Wesel, 20/02/1945 – Attack Against Dortmund, 02/03/1945 – Attack Against Cologne, 04/03/1945 – Attack Against Wanne Eickel, 06/03/1945 – Attack Against Salzbergen, 07/03/1945 – Attack Against Dessau, 09/03/1945 – Attack Against Datteln, 10/03/1945 – Attack Against Gelsenkirchen Buer, 12/03/1945 – Attack Against Dortmund, 14/03/1945 – Attack Against Heinrich Hutte, 20/03/1945 – Attack Against Hamm, 23/03/1945 – Attack Against Wesel, 29/03/1945 – Attack Against Salzgitter, 04/04/1945 – Attack on Meresburg, 13/04/1945 – Attack on Kiel, 14/04/1945 – Attack on Potsdam.

* For an unexplained reason did not fly with the crew on 17/03/1945 – Attack Against Auguste Viktoria

5/5/45 – Posted from Mepal to Aircrew Allocation Centre.
16/6/45 – RAF Halfpenny Green, Birmingham.
16/7/45 – 26/8/45 RAF Flying Control School, Shawbury(?)
27/9/45 – No.7 Air Navigation School, Bishops Court, Northern Ireland.
23/4/46 – No.7 Air Navigation School, Bishops Court, Northern Ireland – Flying Control Officer.
10/8/46 – No. 100 Personnel Dispersal Centre, Uxbridge.

Awarded DFC (Non Immediate)
Citation DFC (24 Sep 1945):
“This officer, as Air Bomber, has completed many successful operations against the enemy, in the course of which he has invariably displayed high skill, fortitude and devotion to duty”.

Passed away through illness 29^th of August 2011. Ashes scattered in 75(NZ) Squadron Memorial Garden, Mepal Cambridgeshire.

Now, you can see from this that it gives a good record of the individual, and also that the information comes really from the database and the individuals RAF Service Records.

I must therefore put out a request for you all to apply for your relatives Service Records. My understanding is that still, as next of kin the service is free (though I stand to be corrected).

Whilst this is a MASSIVE task, there exists an opportunity to complete the final section of the site and then make it the utterly definitive resource for the Squadron.

Information on how to apply can be accessed here:

For RAF – click here
For RNZAF – click here
For RAAF – click here
For RCAF – click here

Squadron Leader Garth Reginald Gunn – MiD, RNZAF NZ411397

Many thanks indeed to Ian for having the presence of mind to research the above item, having come across it during a house clearance. One shivers at the thought of the countless items that have been literally thrown away since the War.

This small, folded thank you card, one surmises a reply to an expression of condolence, commemorates the death of S/L Garth Reginald Gunn, who died of injuries on the 21st of September 1944, 3 days after his aircraft crash landed at RAF Hawkinge, having received damage during an Op to Boulogne on the 17th of that month. The thank you card was sent by Mrs Alice Melva Gunn, Garth’s Wife.

S/L Gunn and crew, received a direct hit, from 30mm shell fire, which severely damaged the aircraft necessitating both starboard engines to be shut down. The Captain and Flight Engineer had difficulty in maintaining control of the aircraft returning across the Channel. A decision was made to carry out an emergency landing at RAF Hawkinge, an airfield with a short runway. The Lancaster overshot the runway and crashed. The Captain, Navigator and Air Bomber were injured, two seriously. The Flight Engineer was killed in the crash. The other three crew escaped uninjured.The Pilot, S/L L G Gunn (‘B’ Flight Commander) died three days later from his injuries.

It was the crew’s 20th sortie with the Squadron and the 4th for Garth, as Squadron Leader of ‘B’ Flight.

The thank you card was found by Ian in a property in Herne Hill, South East London. The owner of the property was a  George Lackford, who Ian informs me, was a Naval Wireless Operator during the War.

S/L Gunn’s death was recorded on the 20th of October 1944 by the New Zealand Evening Post as follows:

DIED OF INJURIES
Flight Lieutenant G. R. Gunn, who has died of injuries received over enemy country, joined the Air Force in March, 1941, and gained his commission in August of that year, sailing immediately afterwards for overseas service. , He served through the African campaign, and after 12 months’ service in the Middle East was sent to England, from where he was flying when he received his injuries. He was 26 years of age, the elder son of Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Gunn, of Lower Hutt, and was born in Masterton.

An enthusiastic sportsman, he was a senior member of the Hutt Football and Athletic Clubs. He was educated at Miramar South and Eastern Hutt Schools and Wellington Technical College, and was senior sports champion of his college in 1934, 1935, and 1936, and head prefect in 1936. In 1934-35 he was junior champion of the Lower Hutt Athletic Club.

Flight Lieutenant Gunn was attached to Bomber Command,. and was acting Squadron Leader, flying a Lancaster bomber, when he received the injuries from which he later died. He leaves a wife, Mrs. A. M. Gunn, of Dolly Varden Bay, Plimmerton. His brother Sergeant C. H. Gunn, is at present in New Zealand on furlough, and his sister is Mrs. T. E. Mason, of Milford, Auckland. He was well known in the building trade, and prior to enlisting in the Air Force was on the staff of the Fletcher Construction Company, Wellington.

Garth Gunn was laid to rest in Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey, England. Grave location – 8. AA. 10

Whilst I have received this item from Ian and will hold it accordingly, I am also happy to pass it on to any relatives of Garth, if they see this and wish to have it.

 

The Wainwright crew 1944

Johnny Wainwright and the “Dead-Beat crew”.
Back row, (L to R): Harold Howard Bell (Rear Gunner), John Francis Schofield ‘Johnny’ Wainwright (Pilot) andMelvin Russell Bloomfield (Air Bomber).
Front row (L to R): Sydney Clement Woolley (Wireless Operator), John Francis Richards (Navigator), Stanley Starling (Mid Upper Gunner) and Noel Vernon Roberts (Flight Engineer).
Image provided by Lindsey Wainwright.

The “Dead-Beats” re-mustered at Oakington with No.7 P.F.F. in October 1944.
Image supplied by Lindsey Wainwright

Many thanks to Lindsey for providing these 2 fantastic pictures of her Father and his crew for the Wainwright crew page. Johnny and the boys arrived at Mepal from 1657 Conversion Unit on the 27th of December 1943, flying their first Op on the 2nd of January 1944, Gardening in the Frisian Islands. The crew completed 23 Ops, including 3 SOE sorties, initially flying Stirlings, before converting with the rest of the Squadron to Lancasters in March 1944.

The “Dead-Beats” last Op with the Squadron was on the 24th of May with an Op to Aachen. The crew later re mustered at Oakington to fly with No.7 Squadron (P.F.F.)

Lindsey has admitted that, inspired by our very own Vic Jay’s remarkable research into his Father Bob, she has been incredibly lucky to make contact with the son and daughter of Syd Woolley, the crew’s Wireless Operator and also the son of Navigator, John Richards.

Bitten with the bug, she is really keen to try and make contact with other relatives of the crew – particularly those of the two Canadians in the crew  – who knows? – it’s happened before after a blog post!

See the Wainwright crew history page here.

Half a million views!

Half a million views!

I must take this opportunity to let everybody know, that today, 75nzsquadron.com passed the incredible milestone of 500,000 views. This amazing figure has taken almost 7 years to reach, but it has truly been worth the wait, given the amazing journey that many others and I have enjoyed in the mean time.

The growth and success of the blog has really been remarkable – I have said it before – but I certainly never dreamt that it would grow the way it has and been able to engage so many people – as I write, the blog contains 721 posts, is followed across all platforms by 852 people and has been visited over 123,000 times.

The interest in the Squadron seems unabated and it’s my plan to get back to the old days of regular posts – we have a lot of new material in the pipeline which will all be share in due course. We have now complete all the large structural projects, so as new information appears, it can all be added to what is possibly the most detailed record of an RAF Bomber Squadron that exists.

This wonderful event in the site’s history is perhaps a timely point to make another important announcement:

Project ORB is complete!

Five and a half years ago I began the slow transcription of the Squadron’s Form 540 “Operations Carried Out” for the duration of 75(NZ) Squadrons existence. Many have contributed, but special thanks must go to Hubert, David and Brian for their protracted efforts to complete certain years. In recent months I have turned my attention to 1942, and the latter months of 1940 – finally it is finished.

Whilst other Squadrons have already had their diary documents transcribed in whole, this is the first time that it has been achieved for 75(NZ) Squadron – an other first for the site!

I have also added a little navigation to make the reading of the individual months a little easier. Clicking in the “75(NZ) Squadron RAF Records” section in the top menu and then clicking on any specific year will give you a page with links to all months in that particular years (as opposed to holding on a year to get the jump off menu that will take you to a certain month).

In addition, at the foot of each month is a link which will take you automatically to the next month – at December you will progress to the following year.

For ease of entry to the records, please click below to go to the relevant year sets:

1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945

Neville Selwood

Flying Officer Wynn Russell (Pilot) RNZAF left and Flying Officer Neville Selwood (Nav) RNZAF with PB418 AA-C. ,br. New Zealand Bomber Command archive/ Neville Selwood.

Kevin has passed on the sad news of the passing of Archdeacon the Venerable Neville Selwood, on the 19th of April, aged 93.

Neville flew with Wynn Russell’s crew as Navigator in 1945. The crew flew 22 Ops with 75(NZ) Squadron RAF, before twice contributing to humanitarian food drops to the Dutch people and 4 flights to repatriate Prisoners of War. His tour with the Squadron concluded with 3 further flights over Germany.

After the War, Neville  was ordained, relatively late in life at the age of 38. He cited a specific experience when flying with 75(NZ) Squadron RAF;

(from The Otago Times)
The catalyst for that move occurred some years before when he was serving with the No 75 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and a wing commander and his bomber crew were killed over France.

“Morale had dropped pretty low. But at a briefing, the acting wing commander said: ‘Good luck boys, hope to see you at breakfast, and by the way, the padre is going to be up there with you tonight’.”

“Sure enough there he was with his parachute harness on, and it made me realise here is a fellow who hated what we were required to do, but he put his life on the line to show that he cared for us.”

Deacon Selwood said it took him years to relate that selfless act with those of Jesus, so he decided to become a deacon.

“Looking back it was a big change for my family, as we were used to a sort of lifestyle.””But if you dream to do something, press on with it.”

His first parish was in Balclutha, before he moved with his family and served Northeast Valley and Mornington before his semi-retirement in 1988.

He was involved with parishes in Central Otago before returning to Dunedin 12 years ago, where he has assisted at the Holy Cross parish and at Montecillo Veterans Home “I just take things one day at a time,” he said.

Our condolences to Nevilles family and friends.

AKE AKE KIA KAHA