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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07/08.06.1944 115 Squadron Lancaster I LL864 A4-H P/O. Ronald P. Maude

Operation: Chevreusse (communications)      

Date: 07th/08th June 1944 (Wednesday/Thursday)

Unit: 115 Squadron        

Type: Lancaster I

Serial: LL864      

Code: A4-H      

Base: RAF Witchford

Location: Giverny, France      

Pilot: P/O. Ronald Peter Maude 174531 RAFVR Age 21. Killed. 

Fl/Eng: Sgt. Alan Herbert Anderson 1590890 RAFVR Age ? Killed.                    

Nav: F/O. Ronald William Tovey 55041 RAF Age ? Killed.

Air/Bmr: P/O. Harold Arthur Foster 177401 RAF Age 31. Killed. 

W/Op/Air Gnr: Sgt. Jack Leslie Fyfe 1340922 RAFVR Age 22. Killed.

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Robert Donald John Sutherland 1567609 RAFVR Age 20. Killed.

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Kenneth Penton 1607978 RAFVR Age 20. Killed.

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 00:27 hrs from RAF Witchford to bomb communications. Shot down by ‘probably’ Maj. Walter Borchers (1) of Stab NJG5 at 02:21 hrs and crashed between 150/200 metres off the Giverny to Vernon road, France. 

Right: Crew of LL864 seen here with another 115 Sqdn Lancaster LL695, on return from another operation. (Back row) Maude, Anderson, Tovey, Foster. (Front row) Fyfe, Sutherland, Penton.

This aircraft was just one of six lost by 115 Squadron this night on the operation to Chevreusse, the others:

Lancaster I HK548 KO-W Flown by P/O. Law - evaded capture with 4 other crew, 2 others killed.

Lancaster I HK552 KO-J Flown by 28 year old, Fl/Sgt. John Edward Todd AUS/41889 RAAF - From Victoria, Australia - Killed with 5 other crew, 1 PoW.

Lancaster III ND760 A4-K Flown by 28 year old, P/O. Charles Henry Quinton 175619 RAFVR - From Longton, Staffordshire - killed with all 6 other crew.

Lancaster III ND761 A4-C Flown by Fl/Lt. Peter Wingate Norbury 87027 RAF - killed with all 6 other crew.

Lancaster III ND790 KO-H Flown by P/O. Sydney Frederick Francis 54718 RAF - killed with all 6 other crew.

Note: LL695 (shown on the crew photo) was a Lancaster Mk II, the Mk II unlike other Mk's was fitted with Bristol Hercules engines. This aircraft served with 115 Squadron but was later transferred to 514 Squadron. It was lost on a raid to Duisburg 22nd May 1944, the aircraft crashed at Geldrop, 6km east south east from Eindhoven, shot down by the Night-fighter of III/NJG1 Ace, Hptm. Martin Drewes. 3 of the crew were killed, 2 became PoW, and 2 evaded capture.

(1) This was the 22nd abschüsse for the ace nightfighter pilot Hptm. Walter Borchers (Total of 27-28 night kills/13-17 day kills) before he was shot down and killed on the 5/6th March 1945 between Salditz and Osgau by a 239 squadron Mosquito NT361, flown by W/Cmdr. Gibb DSO. DFC. and F/O. Kendall DFC.

Left: Walter Borchers (courtesy Kracker Archive)

The crews collective grave and memorial at Giverny Churchyard (courtesy Amanda Perkins)

Burial Details:  

Giverny is a village about 3 kilometres south-east of Vernon. The church is north of the village. In the north-western part of the churchyard, a few yards from the western wall and 20 yards from the northern wall which divides it from its extension, is the collective grave of the seven aircrew from Lancaster LL864.      

P/O. Ronald Peter Maude. Giverny Churchyard. Collective grave. Son of Edgar Ringrose Maude and Elsie Boyfield Maude, of Gloucester, England.

Sgt. Alan Herbert Anderson. Giverny Churchyard. Collective grave. Son of Herbert and Florence Hilda Anderson, of North Shields, Northumberland, England.

F/O. Ronald William Tovey. Giverny Churchyard. Collective grave. No further information - are you able to assist?

P/O. Harold Arthur Foster. Giverny Churchyard. Collective grave. Son of Arthur and Alice Lily Foster, husband of Joan Rosamund Foster, of Coventry, England.

Sgt. Jack Leslie Fyfe. Giverny Churchyard. Collective grave. Son of William and Isabella Leslie Fyfe, of Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire, Scotland.

Sgt. Robert Donald John Sutherland. Giverny Churchyard. Collective grave. Son of John Macpherson Sutherland and Helen Sutherland, of Golspie, Sutherland, Scotland.

Sgt. Kenneth Penton. Giverny Churchyard. Collective grave. Son of Charles and Evelyn Penton, of Southampton, England.

Researched for relatives of the crew with thanks to sources as quoted below.

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