AR banner
Search Tips Advanced Search
Back to Top

Info LogoAdd to or correct this story with a few clicks.
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.

We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.
Our only wish is to honour and respect sacrifices made and to record historical facts: but if in so doing any of our content is inadvertently inappropriate, please contact us via Helpdesk and we will correct the matter.
44 Squadron Crest
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 and Richard Johnson. For further details our thanks to the sources shown below.

MB - 14.11.2016

Acknowledgements: Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and MWO François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
Click any image to enlarge it

Click to add your info via ticket on Helpdesk •Click to let us know via ticket on Helpdesk• Click to buy research books from Amazon •Click to explore the entire site
If you would like to comment on this page, please do so via our Helpdesk. Use the Submit a Ticket option to send your comments. After review, our Editors will publish your comment below with your first name, but not your email address.

A word from the Editor: your contribution is important. We welcome your comments and information. Thanks in advance.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2021 Last Modified: 15 July 2018, 21:52

Monitor Additions/Changes?Click to be informed of changes to this page. Create account for first monitor only, thereafter very fast. Click to close without creating monitor