RAF Remembrance Day - remembering crew of ND360 - 100 Squadron.

In June 2013 I had the great pleasure to meet Derek Fenton, the younger brother of Bob Fenton, the sole survivor from cousin Jim Ives' aircraft ND360. Derek told me how the loss of his crew-mates and his own survival had deeply affected his brother Bob. I had managed to make contact with Bob himself early on in my research, at which time he was suffering with ill health, even so, he kindly recounted what had happened when their Lancaster had been attacked on their bombing run into Berlin by a German night-fighter.

As detailed in 'Does Life Hold Any More in Store?' another account of the loss of ND360 came to me via 100 Squadron veterans Douglas Hudson and Terry Cook.

Last year a fresh account came to me, by a somewhat circuitous route, with a satisfying connection to 625 Squadron. Iain Sutton, son of Reg Price's rear gunner Francis (Frank) Sutton, has business premises close by Alan Cornes' home, Alan being the younger brother of Jim Ives' flight engineer - Sgt Denis Cornes – quite a coincidence!

The account is the most detailed of Bob's three accounts as it was told so soon after the traumatic event. Bob had been incarcerated as a prisoner-of-war and had suffered the cruelty of the 'run up the road' incident and had survived where his crew-mates had not.

Very many thanks to Alan Cornes and Iain Sutton. The letters speak for themselves:-

W/O R G Fenton

NZ 414972

12 (RNZAF) P.D.R.C.

Grand Hotel 

 

24^th July 1945 Brighton

Dear Mr Cornes,

I Trust that you will excuse me for not having written to you sooner, but let me now send my deepest sympathy in your sad loss. I can only say that it was a great privilege to fly alongside your son Dennis, always one of the best of fellows. 

 

I can assure you that there was no suffering for any of my crew as everything took place over Berlin in a matter of seconds. There is an old saying with us RAF boys that “the good die young”, and I believe in that now. Although I have had a partial lapse in memory, I can remember certain details of 30^th Jan '44 enough to be able to tell you that the action took place over the north-west district of Berlin after an attack from a fighter.

I shall be returning to New Zealand about the end of August, but before I go I shall be hoping to hear from you. I only wish that I could have met you all, but time does not permit me. Before I return I am to be married to a Scottish girl, whom I became engaged to last week. On the other hand, if my repatriation to NZ is delayed in any way I shall do my utmost to visit you. I have a full list now of the crews' people if you would like a copy of it, just let me know! I wrote to Dennis' girl in the WAAFs, but so far have had no answer. If you have her present address at her home I would appreciate it very much.

I hope you will excuse this short letter, but then again I hope I shall be able to see you later.

All the very best, sincerely,

R G Fenton (Bob)

                                    *****                      *****                        *****

W/O R G Fenton

NZ 414972

12 (RNZAF) P.D.R.C.

Grand Hotel

July 31^st (crossed out) Aug 1st 1945 Brighton

Dear Mr Cornes,

Thanks for your reply to my letter, and I shall do my best to answer fully all you have asked for. The first indication any of us had of our danger that night was when the fighter fired at us. Apparently the gunners were caught unawares & usually the period of a fighter attack is no more than five seconds. I heard our wireless operator Don Savage, call out that we were hit, & as there was no word from the gunners, I gave immediate evasive action to the Pilot, but our controls must have been shot clean away as the plane just went into a tight spin. At this stage no-one had their parachutes on to my knowledge; the Pilot gave us orders to abandon the aircraft, and in a matter of seconds I had my chute on & had also jettisoned all of the bombs. I was then thrown out of the aircraft, right through the nose, & the last thing I remember was Dennis right behind me. I think he had his chute on, but I don't think he could have made it in time. I did not even see the plane after I came to, & I had no information given from the Germans to rely on. I landed in the centre of the city of Berlin & was taken prisoner immediately.

I 'passed out' twice before I left the aircraft & I can only surmise that the rest of the crew lost consciousness in the spin. When I left the aircraft we must have been up at 12 or 15 thousand feet.

I feel sure that you will hear later from the War Office as to where the boys are buried.

I shall have to close this letter now, but I shall write again later.

All the very best,

Bob. 

                                     *****                      *****                        *****

Denis Cornes, unknown, Harold Johnson, Don Savage

Bud Ruppel

Derrick Sissons

Bob Fenton

Jim Ives

RAF Bomber Command - Happy memories of Frank Law - 'The Count of Elsham Wolds' and his crew-mates.

Sincere apologies for having gone AWOL for a little while, but work has (thankfully) been dominating proceedings. I haven't been totally idle on the research front though and have plenty of new 'gen' lined up. My web-man 'the boy genius' is planning all manner of updates to the main website including the addition of many photographs - including cousin Jim's 'Arnold' pilot cadet class 42G which is getting its own gallery. If you have any links with 42G please get in touch, similarly let me know if you recognise any names, faces or postings mentioned in 'Does Life Hold Any More in Store?'.

 

Armistice Day is approaching rapidly – please donate generously for your poppies and spare a thought during the silences for all our servicemen, past and present, who have served to keep us all safe.

A recent contact regarding a gentleman's teenage memories of Frank Law's 103 Squadron crew not only enhanced Law's story but has opened up a fresh line of research.

*** *** ***

Mick was a lad of about fiftee

Frank Law

n years old when he first met Frank Law and his crew-mates. He recalls that the date was 13^th October 1943 when an entire bomber crew turned up at his sister's twenty-first birthday party – her friend knew one of the crew and invited them all.

'We were astonished when a full bomber crew came through the door ! Astonished and privileged I might say as we were well aware of the job they were doing. We would watch the bombers in their hundreds flying down the Trent valley in the evening.'

It was evident that the crew enjoyed the family's hospitality as whenever flying allowed they visited several times over the next few weeks and got to know Mick and his family pretty well.

'I think they enjoyed being able to be themselves'.

Mick remembers that Australian bomb aimer Les Kay seemed to be quieter than the others but kept an eye on the rest of his crew-mates although there was nothing more to watch over than high spirits. Ron Johnstone 'was the life and soul of the lads but Frank played his part also, being nicknamed "The Count of Elsham Wolds" because of the elegant cigarette holder he sported ! Happy memories!'

It says something about the tumultuous events of the time and the people involved, that those visits to Mick's family home, made over a few weeks during the winter of 1943/44 are still memorable over seventy years later.

'I was a lad of about 15 at the time and pretty impressionable I suppose. But I will never forget those brave lads.'

l-r in flying gear:-

Johnny Daniel – m/u, Dave Mackay - nav, Frank Law - pilot, Ron Johnstone - w/op, Cyril Plampton - r/g,

 Bert Stocks – f/eng, Les Kay - b/a

Very many thanks to Mick for sharing his memories of Frank Law and crew and for identifying who's who in the crew photo.

I would urge everyone to search family photograph albums for photos of relatives who served in the Second World War. That old flying log-book may contain answers to someone else's research – take a look at the postings listed on the inside cover and google them (other search engines are available of course) – they will be of interest to someone, somewhere.

WW2 RAF - Crossing paths, familiar names - Malcolm McKiggan, Fred Perry, Roy Gallop, Frank Wadge, et alia.

A little more has come to light about F/Sgt Albert Patrick Jones, mid-upper gunner in F/Sgt Roy Fennell's 166 Squadron crew. Many thanks to Ian for confirming that Sgt A P Jones, home address 77 Strathnairn Street, Roath Park Cardiff served with 40 Squadron in the Middle East. A quick check of squadron records places him in Egypt from August 1942 flying in the crew of 1^st pilot Sqn/Ldr F J Steel, operating Wellington medium bombers against the Tobruk battle area. Alan Jones also flew on occasions with Sgt F Perry's crew.

Incidentally – the initial 'F' may have been a typographical error or an example of the RAF penchant for rather unsubtle nicknames - as in Jim Ives' and Geoff Yates' cases - 'Ginger' and 'Curly' respectively- which carried through into the squadron ORB. 1177568 F/Sgt John Clifford Perry received the DFM, gazetted 22^nd January 1943 – for 'gallantry and devotion to duty in air operations' – Perhaps it was inevitable that Perry would be known as 'Fred' in homage to the tennis star. Fred Perry became a naturalised US citizen in 1938 having won Wimbledon in 1934, 1935,1936, US Open 1933, 1934, 1936, Australian Open 1934, French Open 1935. The 'real' Fred Perry joined the US Air Force in 1942.

Other familiar names on 40 Squadron at that time :- Sgt M McKiggan - who appears in Jim Ives' log book instructing at 27OTU, and RCAF pilot Anton Van Rassel who would later fly Lancasters with 405 Squadron where he was a contemporary of P/O Doug Hackett who died on the Berlin raid on January 30^th 1944 (who himself served in the Mediterranean with 424 Squadron).

Having completed his duty in the Middle East, Australian pilot Malcolm McKiggan returned to the UK for his stint as an instructor. He lost his life on the evening of 6^th November 1943 in a flying accident during a night cross-country exercise when Wellington 3637 of 27OTU and a Stirling of 1657CU, engaged on a 'bullseye' collided near the Essex/Suffolk border. A contemporary accident report suggests that the aircraft crossed each-others paths at about 7,000ft with the Wellington passing close beneath (presumably taking evasive action) the other, its tail fin hitting the fuselage of the Stirling and tearing away in the air, rendering the Wellington uncontrollable. P/O McKiggan, the novice crew of five men and two other screened instructors, all RAAF personnel, died when the aircraft crashed on farmland near the hamlet of Little Walden, Essex.

It is always fascinating to receive documents and photos which place certain airmen with others who have cropped up elsewhere - demonstrating how intertwined were the existences of Bomber Command aircrews.

Very many thanks to cousins Mike & Leslie for this photo dating from the end of March 1943 – of No9 Pre-AFU Course, 11EFTS, RAF Perth (Scone) which has the priceless annotation of names on the reverse. Leslie & Mike's uncle, Roy Gallop is the primary subject of interest - second from right, third row back. Gallop was skipper of 625 Squadron Lancaster JB122, another casualty of the 30^th January 1944 Berlin raid, his rear gunner was W/O Davey Johnson DFC, late of Jimmie Ives' crew.

Fourth from left, back row is F/Sgt Frank Wadge who would in February 1944 receive an immediate DFM award after a collision with a German night-fighter severely damaged his 100 Squadron Lancaster ED749. His aircraft lost a large chunk of wing, suffered major damage to propellers, fuselage and control surfaces, but F/Sgt Wadge brought his aircraft and crew home safely from the Stuttgart operation of 20^th/21^st February 1944. Very sadly on Wadge's next op - Schweinfurt 24^th/ 25^th February - he and the crew of ND593 were lost without trace over the North Sea.

Third from right, back row, Sgt (later P/O) Stanley W G Neighbour was a contemporary of Roy Fennell's at 166 Squadron, RAF Kirmington before being posted to 156 Squadron (8 Group, Pathfinders) in December 1943. P/O Neighbour died when ND454 was shot down, also on the Schweinfurt operation.

The clarity of the photograph (apart from a few blemishes on the print) really takes you to the moment it was taken, the expressions, new blousons, brevets and caps, collars up, proud and keen to get on with things.

I would be very grateful to receive information about any of the pilots and observers/ navigators in this iconic photo.

Many thanks.

letter from F/Sgt Jones' mother - 1944

The CWGC entry for F/Sgt Albert Patrick Jones records that he was the twenty-one year-old son of David and Margaret Jones and husband of Irene May Jones of Aberdeen. Jones was mid-upper gunner in 166 Squadron Lancaster ME624 of F/Sgt Roy Fennell, lost on the Nuremberg raid 30^th/31^st March 1944. A very sad record, but as ever, a little research tells more.

Genealogy records suggest that Albert Jones and Irene May Robson married on 1^st January 1944 in Aberdeen. The likelihood must surely be that Jones had been stationed at an RAF establishment in the proximity of Aberdeen with Irene living near at hand or perhaps, Irene had been in the forces – a WAAF maybe and it was she who was stationed in the Aberdeen area? Perhaps Jones had been instructing at RAF Lossiemouth (20 OTU) or RAF Kinloss (19 OTU) - hence his arrival without crew-mates at 166 Squadron for a new operational posting. Had the prospect of flying operations prompted their marriage? By 5^th January F/Sgt Jones A P found himself in the mid-upper turret of

Lancaster W4376 on his way to Stettin.

Albert Patrick Jones (birth records have him as – Patrick Albert) was born in June 1922 in Cardiff to Dai and Margaret Jones (née Griffin) – apparently the youngest of their four children. Soon after her son was posted missing Margaret Jones wrote to pilot Roy Fennell's mother from her home at 77 Strathnairn Street, Roath, Cardiff.:-

Dear Mrs Fennell,

I am Mrs Jones, I had the sad news

that my son F/Sgt Jones was killed

on 31^st March. He was on

the same Lancaster as your

son. He was a mid upper gunner.

Well my dear what news

have you had I hope it

is good. Will you please let

me know if you have heard

anything as I can't believe

it. Please excuse bad writing

as I am in a dream and

a muddle. I don't know

2

what I am doing. I will

close now awaiting some

good news from you.

I remain yours truly,

Mrs M Jones.

Many thanks to Wayne in Vancouver for the letter which I think completely encapsulates the feelings of a mother bereft at the loss of her son.

Can anyone supply more information about Albert Patrick Jones please?