Would very much appreciate information on my late Uncle MacPhee's air crew I have dicovered the following: MacPhee, John, Goodwill Flying officer Navigator - from Toronto Ontario, Canada - killed in action October 6, 1944 - age 22 - target Sterkrade, Germany - Julien, Joesph, Albini Flying Officer Bomb Aimer from Montreal - age 25 was other Canadian killed. Both buried in Reichswald Forest Cemetery, Kleve, Germany.- Would really appreciate finding out names of five other British crew members lost, mission number, details of this and other missions etc. The info I have so far is from a book titled " They Shall grow Not Old" found many years ago in Brandon Manitoba, Canada - published by Commonwealth Air Training Plan - Look forward to getting a reply
Stephen

Hi Stephen and welcome to the forum.

I have consulted a reference book on my shelf called RAF Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War 1944 by W R Chorley.  It lists all Bomber Command losses of a/c flying from UK bases in 1944.

This is what is says about the loss of the a/c your uncle was onboard.  Please note the a/c serial number differs from the one you quoted.  Hopefully someone should be able to confirm which is correct.

Halifax III MZ925 C8-F on op to Sterkrade, took off 1429 Leaconfield.  All onboard killed.  Five of the crew are buried in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, while panel 228 of the Runnymede Memorial perpetuates the memory of Sgt Davies and Sgt Dryburgh.

F/L P Hetherwick +
Sgt R M Davis +
F/O J G MacPhee RCAF +
F/O J A G Julien RCAF +
Sgt W R Dryburgh +
Sgt L Kilvington +
F/Sgt A S Nairn +

End of info from Chorley.

You can look up each of the airmen listed above on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website to try and obtain further info such as first names, service numbers, grave number, possibly where they came from  http://www.cwgc.org/debt_of_honour.asp?menuid=14

Hope some of the above is helpful for you.

As an aside, I've typed the serial number and code letters exactly as per Chorley but I've never seen numbers used in the code letters before.  Would anyone care to enlighten me?

Regards

Linzee

Hi Linzee

C8 is correct

Letters were not unusual

C6 - 51 Sqn
A2 - 514 Sqn
2P - 644 Sqn

There are lots more of them

Cheers

Eddie

Thanks for enlightening me Eddie! Amazing how you just keep on learning new stuff in this game.

Enlightened Linzee! :)

Stephen

F/Lt. Hetherwick also flew the following missions

25/8/44 - Watten
31/8/44 - La Pourchinte
3/9/44 - Soesterburg Airfield (Landed Spilsby)
11/9/44 - Le Havre
12/9/44 - Scholven
15/9/44 - Kiel
30/9/44 - Bottrop

6/10/44 - Missing

I can't however let you know whether MacPhee was present on all although he was a regular member of this crew.

Source: No. 640 (Halifax) Squadron. A Diary of Wartime Operations by Bill Norman

Bill has recently published an enlarged edition.

See

http://www.billnorman.co.uk/

for further information.

Cheers

Eddie

Eddie,
Appreciate your info as well - next time will include all names in one single reply.
Take Care
Stephen

Linzee,
Sorry I have not thanked you earlier - hard to believe such a wealth of information is still available from 1944.
Stephen

STEPHEN

I HAVE OUR UNCLES LOG BOOK

IT CONTAINS ALL THE MISSIONS HE FLEW WITH
INFO ON OPERATION TYPE OF AIRCRAFT AND
PILOT
IF YOU WISH PLEASE CONTACT ME AT
SASHABED@YAHOO.CA






























@

Hi Stephen

I was born and spent the first 25 years of my life in Wetwang, East Yorkshire UK. Lewis Kilvington was a Wetwang lad and I remember playing in the churchyard as a youngster and reading his and other names on the war memorial.

I now work on Sledmere estate a few miles north of Wetwang.

Today, Lewis' sister lent me her folder of photos and letter of Lewis.

There is one photo of his crew, which you may or may not have.

Obviously these are personal belongings of his sister but I'm sure that she would be pleased for me to put you in touch with her.

Best wishes

Graham

PS never used a forum before so not sure what I'm doing. Hopefully you are reading this.

Hi Graham,

Welcome to this forum. This is a quiet forum with not a lot of postings. We used to even have a couple of veterans who posted but they are sadly no longer with us. It is a shame as the Halifax is such an important aircraft.

It is a small World. I too am a Wetwang lad, born in 1961. My parents remember Lewis. They say that the sad thing is that he never wanted to go and was convinced that he would not come back. Unfortunately that proved to be true.

The other airmans name on the war memorial is Walter Bean who would have been my only Uncle. In contrast to Lewis he was very keen to fly. Studying at evening class to get the neccessary qualifications. He too ended up on Halifaxes. 578 squadron at Burn near Selby. As a Flight Engineer he was lost on 20th February 1945.

My Grandad ran the Black Swan pub during the war and used to get lots of airmen from Driffield when they were not on ops.

Regards,

Paul.

Hi Paul

What a coincidence!.... Wetwang lads ... I was born 1958. I lived on Weeton Drive (Shanghai)

My Mum was asking if your Mum and Dad are Ron and Nancy? If so she went to school with them.

Regarding Walter..I have a photo of his grave in my possesion which was left to me by his friend Brent Hood (from Wetwang). Brent and his German wife Herta visited his grave on at least two occasions that I know of. Lewis and Walter are buried in the same cemetery, as you probably already know.

I also have a letter from Walter to Brent which was written in 1944. I would be very happy to pass these on to you if you so wish.

Best wishes

Graham

Hi Graham,

Yes that is my parents... I'll send you a an email off the forum.

Regards,

Paul.