50 Sqdn Hampdens 1941 AE427 Howett, Boreham, Bloomfield & Fewkes

Discussion in 'The War In The Air' started by Zattlebone, Jul 8, 2012.

  1. Zattlebone

    Zattlebone Junior Member

    50 Sqdn Hampdens operating from RAF Waddington/Swinderby/Wick
    1941 AE363/AE427 Howett, Boreham, Bloomfield & Fewkes

    Hi there.

    I'm trying to find out more about my grandfather Sgt John (Jack) Howett and his buddies. I have a few photos of him and his crew and thought here would be a good place to share them.

    From the now defunct Lost Bombers website:
    50 Sqdn AE363 were converted to Hampden TB (Torpedo Bomber) and transferred to the USSR. Airborne 0115 7Nov41 from Swinderby for a mine-laying operation in Oslo Fjord (Onions region). Shot down by Flak and crashed into Oslo Fjord. All are buried locally in the city's Western Civil Cemetery. Sgt J.Howett KIA P/O P.F.J.Boreham KIA Sgt M.G.Bloomfield KIA Sgt H.W.Fewkes KIA.

    I have a copy of the operations book from him time at Waddington or Swinderby or maybe Wick (not sure which) detailing 24 BOMBING and GARDENING missions. The last one 7/11/1941 "GARDENING: The aircraft was detailed to plant a veg in the ONIONS area. After setting course nothing more was heard from this aircraft." Contrary to the Lost Bombers site, the aircraft was AE427

    Looking forward to hearing from err... anyone.

    Cheers,

    Simon
    Grandson of Sgt J.Howett (d. 7/11/41 Age 23)
     

    Attached Files:

    nicks likes this.
  2. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

    Found this image on the IWM website:
    Aircrews of No. 50 Squadron RAF gather in front of their Handley Page Hampdens at Waddington, Lincolnshire, shortly after returning , from Kinloss, Morayshire, from where they mounted a raid on the German fleet in the Bergen Fjord, Norway, on 9 April 1940.
    Your grandfather and crew could be in this picture if he flew on that op.

    Cheers
    Mark

    PS Great set of pictures, thanks for sharing them.
     

    Attached Files:

  3. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    Hello Simon, welcome to the forum. Thanks for the great photos.

    The Onions Gardening area was Oslo Harbour.

    The following is taken from RAF Bomber Command Losses Vol.2 - W R. Chorley....

    6-7 November 1941

    50 Squadron
    Hampden I AE427 VN-
    Op. Gardening.

    Took off from Swinderby at 0115 hrs. Hit by flak and crashed into Oslo Fjord. All are buried locally in the city's Western Civil Cemetery.

    Crew.

    Sgt. J. Howett +
    P/O. P F J. Boreham +
    Sgt. M G. Bloomfield +
    Sgt. H W. Fewkes +

    The Lost Bombers web sit was an almost identical copy of Chorley's RAF Bomber Command volumes, but with mistakes.
     
  4. David Layne

    David Layne Well-Known Member

    My father would have know these men as he was with 50 Squadron at that time but not on that op. Great pictures!

    He was probably in this squadron photo taken at Swinderby.

    [​IMG]
     
  5. BC610E

    BC610E Junior Member

    Hi Simon,

    Found us OK then? There's several of those photos I've not see before, so very good to see them here.

    Will be watching with great interest,

    Regards

    '610E - Roger Basford
     
  6. Zattlebone

    Zattlebone Junior Member

    Hi Roger, only 12 posts in 5 years?

    There are a few more pics of Jack on his own which I have not posted. It will be interesting to see if anyone can tie names to faces in any of the group images. For info. in the first image Jack Howett is the third chap. The other three I presume (assuming the photo is close to his last mission) are Boreham, Bloomfield & Fewkes.

    Does anyone know if the new Bomber Command Memorial has the names of the fallen? I'm sure his great-grand-children would enjoy hunting for Jack and his chums if we made the trip.

    Simon
     
  7. Zattlebone

    Zattlebone Junior Member

    I have the operational books detailing 25 of my Grandfather missions. Courtesy of my Cousin. Please PM me if you would like to see them.
     
  8. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    Superb photographs of the Hampden and its crews.

    Just a small point, the first photograph shows two pilots,one is Sgt Howett while P/O Boreham's designation is shown as Observer in his CWGC record.While it was not uncommon for a pilot to act as an Observer on Hampden squadrons,one would have thought irrespective of duties undertaken,the casualty record would indicate an airman's correct designation. So if the crew in the first photograph is the crew that was lost in AE 427,one would have expected to see two pilots in the casualty list.

    Interesting point on the conversion of Hampdens to TB 1s.This was done in early 1942 when Harris was under pressure to loan Bomber Command aircraft to Coastal Command.Harris reluctantly loaned some four engined jobs for undertaking C.C roles.But the fact is that Hampdens had run their course as being a B.C front line aircraft and were obsolescent.A start was made in April 1942 when Nos 144 and 455 Squadrons were transferred to C.C with Nos 408,415 and 489 Squadrons following them.All TB 1s which served in Coastal Command until 1944.However in early September 1942,Nos 144 and 455 Squadrons left Sumburgh with a total of 32 aircraft to operate from Vaenga to protect the Russian convey passage in the Berents Seas but had little success.After losing 9 aircraft, the two squadrons parted from air operations in Russia and left their remaining 23 Hampdens as a gift to the Russians, leaving on HMS Argonaut on 22 October 1942.

    No 50 Squadron served in B.C No 5 Group.The Group dead are remembered, I believe, by a Roll of Honour in Lincoln Cathedral which was dedicated a couple of years ago.
     
  9. BC610E

    BC610E Junior Member

    Hi Roger, only 12 posts in 5 years?

    There are a few more pics of Jack on his own which I have not posted. It will be interesting to see if anyone can tie names to faces in any of the group images. For info. in the first image Jack Howett is the third chap. The other three I presume (assuming the photo is close to his last mission) are Boreham, Bloomfield & Fewkes.

    Does anyone know if the new Bomber Command Memorial has the names of the fallen? I'm sure his great-grand-children would enjoy hunting for Jack and his chums if we made the trip.

    Simon

    Hi Simon,

    Yes, more a lurker than a poster!

    One query I have is that I thought the ORBs show the Onions Op as having been made from Wick, not Swinderby, but I may have mis-read the entries.

    Just to clarify my interest in this thread to other members, my mother was Jack Howett's widow who later remarried.

    Yes, I think Lincoln would be the place to look for a memorial entry rather than the new memorial.

    Cheers

    Roger Basford
     
  10. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    I must say that on reading this thread,I was surprised that the op was mounted from Swinderby direct rather from Scotland as was usually the norm from the point of range considerations.The Hampden was notorious as regards range and it did not take the slightest navigational error to find a Hampden on a homeward leg running out of fuel and abandoned or worse, as interrogation of Lincolnshire Hampden crashes will testify.

    So when I looked up the detachments for No 50 Squadron it agrees with the op being mounted from Swinderby.Up to 10 July 1940,when it moved to Lindholme from Waddington,the squadron was involved in detachments to Lossiemouth,Wick and Kinloss.
     
  11. BC610E

    BC610E Junior Member

    I must say that on reading this thread,I was surprised that the op was mounted from Swinderby direct rather from Scotland as was usually the norm from the point of range considerations.The Hampden was notorious as regards range and it did not take the slightest navigational error to find a Hampden on a homeward leg running out of fuel and abandoned or worse, as interrogation of Lincolnshire Hampden crashes will testify.

    So when I looked up the detachments for No 50 Squadron it agrees with the op being mounted from Swinderby.Up to 10 July 1940,when it moved to Lindholme from Waddington,the squadron was involved in detachments to Lossiemouth,Wick and Kinloss.

    Hello Harry,

    If you look at the ORB summary file Simon has posted (with the suffix 75115809), you'll see that on 6th Nov '41 11 a/c left for Wick. AE427 went missing the following night and on the 8th the remaining operational a/c returned to Swinderby. That is why I thought that they had operated out of Wick, not Swinderby.

    Regards,


    Roger
     
  12. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    Thanks Roger,

    I unable to see the ORB fine detail on the small screen of my laptop.Its a pity that there is not a "zoom in" facility.Probably best for me to print them off to make them clearer.

    Looking deeper into the ORBs might reveal the identity of the pilot who is shown carrying out the duties of the Observer in the early images.

    From the point of range considerations and advanced airfields,it makes sense for the north of Scotland being used as a staging post for the operation as it was when the heavies were involved in targeting the Tirpitz.Similarly the Channel Islands,before they fell to the Germans, were used to refuel Whitleys when the RAF raided Turin and Genoa for the first time after Mussolini entered the war.

    I think detachments should be regarded as a temporary relocations of squadrons which would involve technical support from their groundcrew in order for the unit to be operated independently.So No 50 Squadron in this case was not detached but at Wick for the single op.

    As regards the Hampdens equipped for laying sea mines,the Hampdens would have been converted to carry these mines on their home airfield.Each aircraft would be be carrying 2 x 1800 lb sea mines, the sea mines themselves being particularly hazardous to handle and whilst recovering from the bomb dump and loading the aircraft.From this point of view I would expect that the sea mines would be loaded at Wick to avoid carrying the weapon on the long route from Swinderby to Wick.

    Interesting to see Sgt Howett's story being revealed.
     
  13. BC610E

    BC610E Junior Member

    Thanks Roger,

    I unable to see the ORB fine detail on the small screen of my laptop.Its a pity that there is not a "zoom in" facility.Probably best for me to print them off to make them clearer.

    Looking deeper into the ORBs might reveal the identity of the pilot who is shown carrying out the duties of the Observer in the early images.

    From the point of range considerations and advanced airfields,it makes sense for the north of Scotland being used as a staging post for the operation as it was when the heavies were involved in targeting the Tirpitz.Similarly the Channel Islands,before they fell to the Germans, were used to refuel Whitleys when the RAF raided Turin and Genoa for the first time after Mussolini entered the war.

    Interesting to see Sgt Howett's story being revealed.

    Harry,

    I converted the ORB pages to a PDF and although it's rather a large file it gives the facility to enlarge the photos.

    A quick scale-off gives the route Wick-Oslo as being about 250 miles round trip less than Swinderby-Oslo. Would that be significant given the Hampden's endurance? A lot depends on the route, as I doubt they would have overflown the mountainous terrain in south Norway and would have routed over sea until the final approach on both routes.

    As regards the ID of the P/O, looking at Simon's photos I don't think he is shown. The official photos (the top three or four) seem to show sergeants stripes on all four crew-men. I wonder if one of those pictured is Sgt Campbell, who appears in the pre-loss ORB records and who did several flights in different a/c with Jack Howett's crew? Looking at the more amateur photos, probably taken by one of the crew, the trees behind are in full leaf and so could point to the photos being taken some months prior to the loss of AE427 in early November '41. The official photo with the crew in flying gear with bombs and ground crew is included in Harry Moyles "The Hampden File" as an unidentified 50 Sqdn crew.

    Roger Basford
     
  14. Zattlebone

    Zattlebone Junior Member

    Found this: 50 Squadron History - Copyright Larry Wright, 1995 http://www.lancaster-archive.com/bc_sqn-50.htm

    Not sure how accurate it is, but it appears to confirm Swinderby as the base in Nov 1941. Six months later the Squadron were flying Lancasters.

    03 May 1937 Reformed at Waddington with Hawker Hind
    Dec 1938 re-equipped with Handley Page Hampden with detachments to Lossiemouth, Wick, Kinloss
    10 Jul 1940 to Hatfield Woodhouse/Lindholme
    20 Jul 1941 to Swinderby
    26 Nov 1941 to Skellingthorpe
    Apr 1942 re-equipped with Avro Manchester Mk.I/IA
    May 1942 re-equipped with Avro Lancaster Mk.I & III
    20 Jun 1942 to Swinderby
    16 Oct 1942 to Skellingthorpe
    16 Jun 1945 to Sturgate
     
  15. Zattlebone

    Zattlebone Junior Member

    My father would have know these men as he was with 50 Squadron at that time but not on that op. Great pictures! He was probably in this squadron photo taken at Swinderby.

    [​IMG]

    I think I might have an original copy of this photo. I might see if I can scan it in at a higher resolution and upload it. I'm sure there will be faces to recognise.
     
  16. David Layne

    David Layne Well-Known Member

    Below is a copy of my father's log book for September 1941 with 50 Squadron.

    It will be seen that on the afternoon of 6 September they departed Swinderby for Lossiemouth.

    At 2200 they left Lossiemouth for the Oslo Fiord, returning at approximatly 0615.

    After breakfast and refuelling they departed Lossiemouth at 0940 hrs. to return to Swinderby.

    [​IMG]
     
  17. BC610E

    BC610E Junior Member

    Hi David,

    Very interesting to see your Dad's log. Do you know what N.F.T. stands for? I'd guess it refers to an air test of the R1155/T1154 radios ("sets") but I've not seen it before.

    Regards,


    Roger Basford
     
  18. David Layne

    David Layne Well-Known Member

    Hi David,

    Very interesting to see your Dad's log. Do you know what N.F.T. stands for? I'd guess it refers to an air test of the R1155/T1154 radios ("sets") but I've not seen it before.

    Regards,


    Roger Basford

    I always understood it to mean "night flying test" however as take off time for the first two was 12.30 and 11.05 that cannot be right but you are correct in your assumption that it was an air test of the radios prior to operations.
     
  19. Zattlebone

    Zattlebone Junior Member

    I think I might have an original copy of this photo. I might see if I can scan it in at a higher resolution and upload it. I'm sure there will be faces to recognise.

    Found the critters, two official Squadron photos (taken at the same time) and an official dinner.

    Enjoy.

    Simon
    Grandson of Sgt J.Howett (d. 7/11/41 Age 23)
     

    Attached Files:

  20. AlanW

    AlanW Senior Member

    Simon,
    Nice photo's, the last one appears to be a special function in the Sergeants Mess.
     

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