Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.

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23/24.05.1940 No. 44 Squadron Hampden I L4171 Sq/Ldr. Charles E. Johnson

Operation: Railway Communications

Date: 23/24th May 1940 (Thursday/Friday)

Unit: No. 44 Squadron

Type: Hampden MkI

Serial: L4171

Code: KM-?

Base: RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire

Location: Broichweiden, Aachen, Germany

Pilot: Sq/Ldr. Charles Edward Johnson 37290 Age ? RAF Killed

Pilot/Air/Bmr: P/O. David Conquest Barker 42043 RAF Age 19. Killed

Obs: Sgt. Harold George Collins 517528 RAF Age 26. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Cpl. William Crook 532528 RAF Age 23. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off from RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire tasked to bomb rail communication in tactical support of the British Expeditionary Force in France.

A further 72 other aircraft were sent to bomb roads and major junctions.

Hampden L4171 was hit by flak and crashed at Broichweiden near Aachen, Germany - all the crew were lost.

Burial details:

Sq/Ldr. Charles Edward Johnson. Rheinberg War Cemetery, Rheinberg. Grave: 5.E.24. Son of Charles Frederick and Catherine Mary Johnson. Grave inscription reads: ‘In Loving Memory Of My Dear Brother. RIP’

P/O. David Conquest Barker. Rheinberg War Cemetery, Rheinberg. Grave: 5.E.22. Son of Alan Oscar Barker, and of Norah Stancomb Barker (née Conquest), of Selsey, Sussex, England. Grave inscription reads: ‘We Will Remember Them.’

Sgt. Harold George Collins. Rheinberg War Cemetery, Rheinberg. Grave: 5.E.23. Son of Joseph William and May Annie Collins, of Beckenham, Kent, England. Grave inscription reads: ‘There’s Some Corner Of A Foreign Land That Is Forever England.’

Cpl. William Crook. Rheinberg War Cemetery, Rheinberg. Grave: 5.E.25. Son of John Nally Crook and Alice Crook, of Wigan, Lancashire, England. Grave inscription reads: ‘The Memory Fades And Life Departs. He Will Live Forever In Our Hearts.’

Researcher - Michel Beckers. With thanks to Des Philippet for grave photographs, others from the collection of Michel Beckers. For further details our thanks to the sources shown below.

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