Ive had a request for help with with Wellington Mk III DF614 of 29 OTU The resercher is trying to locate any photogrpahs of the aircraft and her crew. The crew : The crew of WELLINGTON Mk III DF614 Sgt Ernest Alexander KELLY, Sgt George William Brothwell, Sgt Donald Cecil NELSON, Sgt Albert Stanley GROVE, Sgt Stanley COOKSON. Op Nickle T/O North Luffenham and set course for Namcy. Belived shot down between Baromsenil and St-Remy-Boscrocourt, http://baromesnil.canalblog.com/archives/2011/05/20/21182177.html Dom
No photo but further details on this excellent site http://harringtonmuseum.org.uk/Aircraft%20lost%20on%20Allied%20Forces%20Special%20Duty%20Operations.pdf (scroll to page 56) Details shown include Sgt Ernest Alexander Kelly RAF - Pilot - died Sgt George William Brothwell RAFVR - Navigator - died Sgt Donald Cecil Nelson RAFVR - Air Bomber - died Sgt Albert Stanley Grove RAFVR - Wireless Op / Gunner - died Sgt Stanley. Cookson RAFVR - Gunner - died Sgt Groves buried in Baromesnil Communal Cemetery, France Sgt Cookson was buried in St-Remy-Boscrocourt Churchyard, France Sgt Kelly, Sgt Brothwell & Sgt Nelson are buried in Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery, Hautot-sur-Mer, France T/O North Luffenham and set course for Nancy on nickelling operation. DF614 Wellington Mk II (ordered as a Mk III the bomber was converted to Mark X standards prior to being issued to 29 OTU) Nickelling operations were used for propaganda leaflet dropping and usually counted as "half a raid" which causes confusion when crews seem to have done more than the required 30 ops yet still remain on operations.
So long after the event it's hard to say, my guess would be they came down in the sea and were swept to different parts of the coast by wind and tide. Could be some baled out earlier and therefore fell in different areas, looking at a map of these two places they could have been heading for the coast, strong winds could have blown each parachute several miles from the next, even into the Channel... They all have individual graves, so could be identified, which not always possible if the crash impact was high or on fire. With widely scattered bodies, the Germans would not necessarily have been able to link them to a specific aircraft.
Morning all Many thanks for the replies, As fdor why differnet cemeteries as stated all depends where the crewman was found, And when MREU recovered and formally identifed them. I have ben lucky and located one photograph of Sgt Ernest Alexander Kelly & possibly a family member, search for the rst of the crew and aircraft continues ... Dom
I am the nephew of Albert Stanley Grove and have photo but little further info . I have visited his grave and would be interested to know who locally looks after his grave and the organisation who commemorated in 2016.