Halifax MZ 651

Discussion in 'The War In The Air' started by adz929, Feb 13, 2013.

  1. adz929

    adz929 Junior Member

    Greetings!

    This is a thread dedicated to the memory of the crew of Halifax MZ651 which came down in flames approximately 2km NE of the French village of Autheuil-Authouillet on the night of June 11/12 1944.

    My great uncle Flt Sgt Phillip Allan Robson (RAAF 418571) was the aircraft's wireless operator.

    I am hoping to use this thread as a central repository for all information pertaining to this aircraft and its crew, not only for me, but anyone else who may need it. Whenever I feel the urge to do a little research, anything I find will be stored here and in my personal archive.

    Let me begin by replicating some info from another thread, kindly added by spidge...


    Aircraft Type: Halifax
    Serial number: MZ 651
    Radio call sign: DY – Z
    Unit: ATTD 102 SQN RAF

    Summary:

    Halifax MZ651 took off from RAF Pocklington at 2204 hours on the night of 11/12th June 1944, detailed to bomb communications at Massy-Palaiseau, France.

    Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base.

    Crew:

    RAAF 426696 Flt Sgt R P Singleton, Captain (Pilot) †
    RAF Sgt H R Smith, (Flight Engineer) †
    RAF Sgt S J Thomas, (Navigator)†
    RAAF 426685 PO McNamara, M F J (Air Bomber) †
    RAAF 418571 Flt Sgt P A Robson, ((Wireless Air Gunner) †
    RAF Sgt N Lishman, (Mid Upper Gunner) †
    RAF Sgt J D Francis, (Rear Gunner) †

    A Missing Research & Enquiry team later reported“ the aircraft crashed in flames on a hillside near Autheuil approx 8 miles north east of Everaux, Department of Eure, France.

    All the crew were killed and they are buried in the Autheuil Communal Cemetery,

    Locality Eure, France. Autheuil is a village and commune 14kms north east of Everaux on the N316 road from Everaux to Gaillon and Les Andelys, France.

    Source:

    AWM 237 (65) NAA: A705, 166/26/479 Micro Film No 463 OAFH
    Commonwealth War Graves records W R Chorley: RAF Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Page 273, Volume 1944.
     
  2. adz929

    adz929 Junior Member

    John Dann from Dedicated to the crews of 462 and 466 Squadron. emailed me the following link:

    Recherche de France-Crashes 39-45

    Contains some details of the crash and a complete set of grave photographs.

    I emailed John regarding Halifax MZ 299 as one of its crew, P/O T. L. Williams (wireless operator), was a friend of my great uncle and was mentioned in a letter from my great grandmother to the Department of Air (see attachment). I was hoping to gather some more knowledge of the story I was told about my great uncle as a child, that line of investigation is still open, I will append this post as I discover more.
     

    Attached Files:

  3. adz929

    adz929 Junior Member

    Homepage for 102 Squadron:

    102 (Ceylon) Squadron Web Page

    I had a bit of a glance at this page a while back, not really had the time to look too far in, hopefully I'll find some contacts there.
     
  4. adz929

    adz929 Junior Member

  5. ltdan

    ltdan Nietenzähler

    Probably shot down by Ju 88, Hauptman Gerhard Raht, Stab I./NJG 2

    12.06.44: 4-mot Flzg Franz. Küste 1.500m 00.53h

    Hope this helps
     
  6. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    Attached Files:

  7. adz929

    adz929 Junior Member

    Probably shot down by Ju 88, Hauptman Gerhard Raht, Stab I./NJG 2

    12.06.44: 4-mot Flzg Franz. Küste 1.500m 00.53h

    Hope this helps

    Certainly worth more investigation, I've added it to my to-do list, thanks for your input :)
     
  8. weremember

    weremember New Member

    There were some Australians in the Crew. The Service Records of Australians are being progressively digitised (hopefully all done by end of June 2023). One of them Phillip Robson's has already been digitised and you can view it for free using National Archives of Australia Record Search. Some of the Australian records can be quite lengthy and sometimes can provide details about other crew members. It can also help identify other avenues of potential research.

    Also keep a look at out for the AIR81 records at the National Archives in the UK. They are progressively releasing files on crashes in date order. It'll be some years till they get to releasing this crash probably.
     

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