Royal Air Force War Grave Photos for Reference.

Remembered West Ham cemetery London
FLIGHT SERGEANT FREDERICK JAMES FLETCHER
Service Number: 1415518
Regiment & Unit/Ship
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

215 Sqdn.

Date of Death
Died 26 November 1943

Age 22 years old

Buried or commemorated at
CHITTAGONG WAR CEMETERY, CHATTOGRAM

3. H. 2.

Bangladesh

• Country of Service United Kingdom
• Additional Info Son of Frederick James Fletcher and Rose Mary Fletcher, of Stratford, Essex.
• Personal Inscription I LEARNT TO FLY, I WONDER WHY "WHO DIES IF ENGLAND LIVE?"

 

Flight Sergeant ( Air Bomber ) Frederick James...

 

215 Sqdn flew Wellingtons (Mk X at this point) out of Jessore in what was then Raj India. Sgt (sic) Fletcher was killed in an accident on return from a night op to the marshalling yards at Rangoon, where his aircraft had dropped illumination flares for the raid. The target was at the extreme range for Wellingtons, and Fletcher's plane ran out of fuel just short of home. A trawl through the ORB shows that Fletcher didn't fly operationally in November except on this occasion, nor in October or September; without further evidence we might speculate that, perhaps, the poor lad was killed on his first op. The other casualty was F/Lt Cowling, the pilot; he didn't seem to fly with a particularly fixed crew, going by the ORBs. He is commemorated on the war memorial of the town of his birth, Holsworthy in Devon.

from the Forms 540 & 541 of 215 Sqdn (courtesy of TNA):

 

F/Sgt Sullivan was Wop/AG of a 166 Sqdn Lancaster lost in the Bristol Channel while on an exercise; the pilot's body was recovered, and three more crew bodies a couple of days later.


The Barlow crew were:


I have the 166 Sqdn Form 541 for April and May 1945: F/Sgt Barlow is shown twice as 2nd pilot towards the end of the month: 22/04/45 daylight raid to Bremen with the Keyte crew (Lancaster LM689); 25/04/45 daylight raid to Berchtesgaden(!) with the King crew (Lancaster ND857). He and his crew flew two ops (as part of Operation MANNA, dropping food to Dutch civilians) before the end of the war, on 4th and 7th May 1945. He was commissioned sometime beyween then and his death in July.


The Barlow crew subsequently flew two EXODUS flights in May, repatriating POWs.

 

Sgt Kemp was a pilot with 58 OTU (RAF Grangemouth/RAF Balado Bridge). An online 58 OTU Role of Honour here says he was killed in a Miles Martinet (a gunnery drogue towing aircraft, with a crew of two): "The aircraft in which they were target towing crashed killing the crew." There is a possible candidate for his crewman/drogue operator buried in Edinburgh:

 

FLYING OFFICER MAURICE JACK MOULDER
Service Number: 166650
Regiment & Unit/Ship
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Date of Death
Died 19 July 1945

Age 24 years old

Buried or commemorated at
CHESHAM BURIAL GROUND

Sec. J. Grave 91.


United Kingdom

• Country of Service United Kingdom
• Additional Info Son of Charles and Alice Mary Moulder, of Chesham

 

Name Maurice Jack Moulder
Rank Fg Off
Death Age 24
Birth Year abt 1921[abt 1921]
Death Date 19 Jul 1945
Military Base Elmdon, Warwicks
Service Number 166650
Unit 14 Elementary Fts
Command Flying Training Cmnd
Ship Tiger Moth Ii
Occupation Pilot
Casualty Killed whilst flying
Residence Place Chesham, Buckinghamshire
Burial Place Chesham Bg, Bucks
Notes Stalled and Crashed During A Loop Over Allesley Northwest of Coventry, Warwicks When Performing Unauthorised Aerobatics on A Training Flight

 

PILOT OFFICER ANDREW MCDOUGALL MELVILLE
Service Number: 82707
Regiment & Unit/Ship
Royal Air Force

83 Sqdn.

Date of Death
Died 27 February 1941

Buried or commemorated at
CHESHAM BURIAL GROUND

Sec. N. Cons. Grave 417.
Country of Service United Kingdom

 

Name Andrew McDougall Melville
Rank Pilot Officer
Death Date 27 Feb 1941
Military Base Scampton, Lincs
Service Number 82707
Unit 83 Squadron
Command Bomber Cmnd
Ship Hampden I
Occupation Pilot
Casualty Killed in action
Residence Place Rutherglen, Lanarkshire
Burial Place Chesham Bg, Bucks
Notes Crashed Into High Ground At Derrington Cross Near Stafford After Straying Off Track When Returning From A Raid on Cologne

 

Remembered St James Bushey Herts


SERGEANT EDWIN THOMAS PORT
Service Number: 655703
Regiment & Unit/Ship
Royal Air Force

115 Sqdn.

Date of Death
Died 16 October 1942

Age 26 years old

Buried or commemorated at
RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL
Panel 91.

United Kingdom

• Country of Service United Kingdom
• Additional Info Son of Harry and Mary Emmaline Port; husband of Kathleen Alice Port, of Fulham, London.

 

According to this 115 Sqdn website, Sgt Port (rear gunner) and the other 4 members of the Huntley crew were lost on a minelaying op to the Biscay ports. Their a/c was Wellington MkIII X3946 KO-Q, one of two the squadron lost that night (the other was Wellington MkIII BK312 KO-G, Mandeville crew, also all killed).

Pilot 413408 Sgt Gordon Huntley RNZAF aged 20, buried Isle de Re
Observer 1375544 Sgt David Buchanon, buried Isle de Re
WOP 1290986 Sgt Cyril Robert aged 30, no known grave
AG 1189810 Sgt Cyril Parr, aged 29, buried Isle de Re
AG 655703 Sgt Edwin Port, aged 26, no known grave

According to Air Britain's list, Sgt Port's service number comes from a block issued from January 1939 onwards to men joining from the Army.

 

In the 83 Sqdn ORBs, this loss (and the loss of all crew members) is noted in the Summary records, but oddly no mention at all is made of the aircraft or the crew in the Record of Events (the other 83 Sqdn aircraft and crews on the operation are listed as normal). W/Cdr Stainthorpe isn't shown as flying in February 1941 otherwise - I only have the ORBs for this month, though - and P/O Melville is recorded as flying regularly with F/O Thompson as captain. It's possible that for some reason W/Cdr Stainthorpe took F/O Thompson's place, perhaps at the last minute - a fatal decision.

Edit (from Find A Grave) W/Cmdr Stainthorpe AFC was the CO of 83 Squadron, having previously been Director of Institutional Flying. He was 31 and had been in the RAF since 1933. He was appointed to command 83 in early 1941. The full crew lost in Hampden X3124 OL-H was:

26214 Wing Commander William Walter Stainthorpe AFC (Pilot)
82707: Pilot Officer Alexander McDougal Melville (Navigator/Bomb Aimer)*
936208: Sergeant Leslie Emmerson (WOp/Air Gunner) and
755301: Sergeant Douglas Vincent Weaving (Air Gunner)

*I think that that in Feb 1941 the muster was still "Observer"

 

Pat, he was Royal Artillery from his marriage certificate.

 

I took these photographs 12-05-2026 at Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire.

 

Name Stanley Charles Sharp
Rank Corporal
Death Age 34
Birth Year abt 1910[abt 1910]
Death Date 5 May 1944
Military Base Spittlegate, Lincs
Service Number 1212227
Unit 12 (P) Advanced Flying Unit
Command Flying Training Cmnd
Ship Blenheim I
Occupation Fitter
Casualty Killed whilst flying
Residence Place Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire
Burial Place Aston Clinton St Michael Church, Buckinghamshire
Notes Dived Into the Ground At Hough-On-The-Hill Near Gelston Grange, Lincs When Control Was Lost During A Weather Test, Flying As Passenger

 

From aviation-safety.net: Blenheim L1224 Take off at 07:50 hrs for a Weather Test. 05/05/1944
Departed Spitagate (aka Spitalgate) 07:50hrs. and betweeen 3000 - 5000ft, dived vertically into the ground at Hough-on-the-Hill, near Gelson Grange. Investigators considered that the aircraft might have caught in the slipstream of a passing B-24 formation and the fitter on board as a pax secured by only a lap harness could have been thrown from his seat and become wedged between it and the controls.
Crew killed:
F/O Clifford Wilmore ABBOTT (NZ414570) Pilot RNZAF killed
Cpl Stanley Charles SHARP (1212227) Fitter/pass. RAFVR killed

 

Auckland Museum online cenotaph: F/O Clifford Wilmore ABBOTT (NZ414570)

 

I used to do some deliveries to Hough-on-the-Hill and Grantham from 1991 - 2006 and Never knew anything about this. I had most of my customers 'Well Trained' to keep any WW2 Newspaper articles for me, which they did, still have many of them now. But nothing about this !

 

According to the Aviation Safety Network website, P/O White was killed along with his pilot in the crash of Beaufighter MkIF X7772 near Tangmere; they had taken off from Ford which is nearby. The men were members of the Fighter Interception Unit, which operated against night raiders (among others) using cutting-edge technology (aircraft interception radar, etc.) The crew was:

25059 W/Cdr Jeffrey McDOUGALL DFC (pilot) RAF
129445 P/O Gordon Frederick WHITE (Nav.) RAFVR

According to Olympedia McDougall was a Regular Army officer (DCLI) and an Olympian pentathlete who competed in the Berlin Olympic Games; a few weeks after that, he was seconded to the RAF. Earlier in the war he had served with Army cooperation in the Middle East.