Thank you for the welcome. Yes, I am aware of that thread. It was posted for me a few years ago. I just hoped that things may have moved on since then.
all details including maps here: 16 May 1940 - Aviation AOI Pilot Thornleys body was initially buried somewhere at a road between Rosieres and Tombeek The A4 Highway changed the landscape a lot, hence I used an GSGS map from 1944. The blue circle marks a probable burial site. On Google maps it´s here: Google Maps
Hi Olli Yes, that's the sketch that I have. What is the colour map? Am I able to obtain a copy of it from somewhere? Charlie
G.S.G.S. No. 4040. Sheet 66 from the 115-sheet map series: France and Belgium 1 : 50,000. download hi res: http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/france_and_belgium/txu-pclmaps-oclc-6624543-louvain-56.jpg also online as overlay: Compare maps
1/8 Bn THE LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS WAR DIARY, 16/5/1940: As Spiers could identify Thornley by his ID card I would assume he literally fell close to Spiers and wasn´t inside his A/C who surely went on flames aft impact. Would interprete the sources as F/O Thornley either bailed out too low or his chute failed to open. Anyway, in Terlanen are 9 unknown soldiers. Would ask the CWGC for any burial records there as you have a probable location
I have raised the matter with the CWGC and they have asked for further details of LTWT, which I have provided to the best of my ability: I'm now waiting for their considered reply. I have also noticed that he is now mentioned on several web pages that I hadn't previously seen - maybe sites that have been constructed since the file from Kew has become available. His accident report on the Aviation Safety page has also been updated with a level of information that I have so far been unable to obtain - however the references on his page seem mostly to relate to other airmen or other incidents, so I don't really know how accurate they are. One curiosity: someone has updated the page to indicate the squadron code for his plane (KW-J), but none of the references I can access give that detail. A reference I can't read on line, however is: "Royal Air Force Aircraft N1000-N9999 "(James J Halley, Air Britain, 1977), which I understand to be a paperback book. Does anyone know if this ties serial numbers to squadron codes, or does it simply list aeroplane types?
