Operation: Gardening

Date: 09/10th January 1943 (Saturday/Sunday)

Unit: 419 Squadron

Type: Halifax II

Serial: W7857

Code: VR-O

Base: RAF Middleton St. George, County Durham (then North Yorkshire)

Location: North Sea west of Vlieland

Pilot: W/O II. Frank Harvey Barker R/103678 RCAF Age 22. Killed

Fl/Eng: Sgt. Ronald Edmund Sackville-Golden 967831 RAFVR Age 26. Killed

Nav: Fl/Sgt. Harvey Adam Dunn R/99798 RCAF Age 21. Killed

Air/Bmr: Fl/Sgt. Vincent Armand Hugli R/90778 RCAF Age 26. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: W/O II. Donald Alexander Watson R/74057 RCAF Age 22. Killed

Air/Gnr (M/Upper): Sgt. William Douglas Cameron R/140390 RCAF Age 20. Killed

Air/Gnr (Rear): Fl/Sgt. William Gorman Murphy R/92790 RCAF Age 20. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off from RAF Middleton St. George in County Durham at 16:32 hrs with five other crews form the squadron. Laying mines (gardening) in the Schiermonnikoog and Simonsand areas. Visibility was recorded as good with light flak form German ships in the area. All the other aircraft from the squadron returned safely.

Others lost on this operation this night:

Halifax II W7751 NP-F from 158 squadron flown by 20 year old Fl/Sgt. Roger Owen 1174901 RAFVR from Worcester was lost together with 5 other crew, 1 died later form his injuries, another taken PoW.

Halifax II DT622 NP-P from 158 squadron flown by Fl/Lt. A. Woolnough crashed just 5 minutes after take off, apparently caused by the accidental lowering of the bomb doors - all crew survived.

Wellington IV R1535 GR-G from 301 Squadron (Polish) flown by 32 year old, F/O. Tadeusz Tyrała P-1128 from Kraków, Poland killed with 3 other crew, i member survived when their aircraft crashed on return after being hit by a night fighter at Dunmoor Hill in Northumberland.

Crew photo taken on 06th January - just 3 days before they were all sadly lost. Rear L-R: Don Watson, Bill Cameron, Ron Sackville-Golden, Bill Murphy. Front: Fuzzy Dunn, Frank Barker, Ince Hugli. (courtesy Tim Turner)

Halifax W7857 was shot down over the North Sea some 20 km west of Vlieland by the luftwaffe ace Oblt. Hans-Joseph Jabs (1) of II./NJG1 at 22:15 hrs - interception taking place at some 2,400 mtrs His 24th abschüsse of the war from which he survived.

Left: (1) Oblt. Hans-Joseph Jabs - born in Lübeck in 1917 - died 26th October 2003, Jabs joined the Luftwaffe in 1937. Originally trained as a Messerschmitt Bf109 pilot, Jabs was posted to Zerstörergeschwader 76 (ZG 76), flying the Messerschmitt Bf 110, in March 1940. Jabs became a businessman in Westphalia after the war. He was a vice-president of the Gemeinschaft der Jagdflieger (German Air Veterans Federation).

Burial details:

W/O II. Frank Harvey Barker. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 179. Son of Frank and Flora Barker, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Sgt. Ronald Edmund Sackville-Golden. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 163. Son of Edward John and Francis Mary Louisa Sackville-Golden, of Faversham, Kent, England.

Fl/Sgt. Harvey Adam Dunn. Sage War Cemetery. Grave 7.E.6. Understood to be from Fordwich, Ontario, Canada - next of kin details not available - are you able to assist?

Fl/Sgt. Vincent Armand Hugli. Sage War Cemetery. Grave 7.D.12. Son of Armand Joseph Hugli (1887 - 1946) and Margaret Ann Hugli (née Deir, 1888-1972), of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. Enlisted March 1941. Body recovered by the Germans on or about the 8th February 1943, he had two sisters, Mary and Dorothy, two bothers, Phillip and Theo of Front Street.

W/O II. Donald Alexander Watson. Kviberg Cemetery. Grave 3.A.6. Son of William Watson Understood to be from 145 Fourth Avenue, Carp, Ontario, Canada - other details not available - are you able to assist?

Sgt. William Douglas Cameron. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 186. Nephew of Mr and Mrs A. Shaw of Drumheller, Carbon, Alberta, Canada - next of kin details not available - are you able to assist?

Fl/Sgt. William Gorman Murphy. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 185. Understood to be from Macleod, Alberta, Canada - next of kin details not available - are you able to assist?

Researched for relatives of the crew with thanks to Tim Turner who discovered this wonderful crew photo when going though the papers of his Grandparents - relative of Sgt. Ronald Edmund Sackville-Golden. Other sources as quoted below.