Operation: Convoy escort

Date: 23rd June 1941 (Monday)

Unit: No. 53 Squadron (Coastal Command)

Type: Blenheim IV

Serial: V5647

Code: PZ-S

Base: RAF St. Eval, Cornwall

Location: Strait of Dover off Calais

Pilot: P/O. David Malcolm Bolton 61493 RAF Age 20. Missing - believed killed

Obs: Sgt. Kenneth Edward Corrie 918536 RAFVR Age 22. Missing - believed killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Gordon Kenneth Kircher 976992 RAFVR Age 21. Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

After taking off at 10:20 hrs from RAF St. Eval.

During a convoy patrol attacked and shot down by Uffz Karl Heinz Rotte (1) of 6.JG2 - aircraft crashed into the English Channel at 12:46 hrs.

The Squadron lost another crew during this operation:

Blenheim IV V6125 PZ-F Flown by P/O. E. Hewson 87400 RAFVR taken PoW (PoW Number 3724-Stalag Luft Sagan) with all his crew (the others held at Stalag Luft Heydekrug) - also shot down in the English Channel.

(1) Uffz Karl Heinz Rotte was killed just the following month, on the 13th July 1941 at Belleville near Dieppe - cause not known. Flying a BF109f KI-35B-1 Werk No: 1616 (details via Kracker Archive on this website)

Burial details:

P/O. David Malcolm Bolton. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 31. Son of David Colfox Bolton and Katherine Bolton, of Oakamoor, Staffordshire, England.

Sgt. Kenneth Edward Corrie. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 41. Son of Thomas Edgar and Frances Campbell Corrie, of Woking, Surrey, England.

Sgt. Gordon Kenneth Kircher. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 46. Understood to be from Cornwall, England. No further details - are you able to assist?

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to Peter Howell, distant cousin of the pilot who contacted us in July 2017. Further information from sources indicated below.