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.
Check our Research databases: Database List

.

We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.

No 203 Squadron
28.03.1941 No. 203 Squadron Bristol Blenheim IV T2255 F/O. Peter Moller

Operation: Reconnaissance, Awash-Adama area, Ethiopia

Date: 28th March 1941 (Friday)

Unit: No. 203 Squadron

Type: Bristol Blenheim IV

Serial: T2255

Base: RAF Khormaskar, Aden

Location: Awash area, Ethiopia

Pilot: F/O. Peter Moller 42318 RAF Age 25 Killed (1)

Nav: Sgt. George Edward Salisbury 751754 RAFVR Age 20 Killed (2)

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. William Alexander Davidson 749590 RAFVR Age 24 Killed (3)

REASON FOR LOSS:

Blenheim T2255 took of from RAF Khormaksar on a reconnaissance operation in the Awash-Adama area of Ethiopia. It is beleived that the aircraft was hit by flak and crashed near Awash, Ethiopia.

Burial details:

Alamein Memorial, Egypt (courtesy Commonwealth War Graves Commission)

The Air Forces panels commemorate more than 3,000 airmen of the Commonwealth who died in the campaigns in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Greece, Crete and the Aegean, Ethiopia, Eritrea and the Somalilands, the Sudan, East Africa, Aden and Madagascar, who have no known grave. Those who served with the Rhodesian and South African Air Training Scheme and have no known grave are also commemorated here.

F/O. Peter Moller. Alamein Memorial. Column 241. Son of Laurits Peter Leopold Moller and Jennie Moller of Frederikshavn, Denmark (1) Peter was born on the 15th January 1916 in Denmark. Peter spent four years at Cheltenham College, Gloucestershire. After enlisting Peter was granted a short service commission as Acting Pilot Officer on probation on 8th July 1939 and was confirmed as Pilot Officer on the 15th May 1940. Peter was promoted to Flying Officer on the 20th February 1941. Flying Officer Peter Moller is remembered on the Cheltenham College Roll of Honour.

Sgt. George Edward Salisbury. Sgt. Salisbury back row 3rd from the left. (both pictures courtesy Mrs Betty Ash, George's sister)

Sgt. George Edward Salisbury. Alamein Memorial. Column 243. Son of John and Florence Salisbury of Portchester, Fareham, Hampshire (2) George Edward Salisbury was born on the 17 August 1920 in Winchester, he moved to Portchester at the age of two, and completed part of his education at Castle Street school, Portchester.

George volunteered for the RAF just after the war broke out in 1939 and he completed part of his training at RAF Weston-Super-Mare. George's first flight with No 203 Squadron on 17th January 1941 flying with pilot F/Lt. Whittal in Blenheim IV T1821. This was followed by a further six combat patrol flight with the last on the 28th February 1941. From the 6th March 1941 Sgt. G E Salisbury was the Navigator on nine further operation which undertook flights on Escort duties, Fighter Patrols, Shipping reconnaissance and Air Firing in named areas of Ethiopia.

Mrs Betty Ash and the late Mrs Molly Burton twin sisters of George Salisbury (courtesy Mrs Betty Ash)

Memorial plaque returned to war hero's family (courtesy InTouch Magazine 2006)

Several plaques once hung on the walls of the Civic Office reception area before the reconstruction of the ground floor. Oldest of the plaques, which used to be on the wall in the old Westbury Manor council chamber was instituted by NALGO soon after the wa to commemorate George Salisbury, a member of the former Urban Council's treasury department, who was killed in action. George had been a choirboy at St Mary's Church, Portchester, and on the outbreak of war volunteered for the RAF and qualified for aircrew as an observer. He was posted to the Middle East and was lost flying on a mission from Aden on March 28, 1941. George's twin sisters, Mrs Molly Burton and Mrs Betty Ash, still live in Portchester and when the ground floor of the Civic Office was stripped, they asked if their brother's memorial could be given to the family. Councillor Ernest Crouch was pleased to return it to Molly and Betty who will ensure that it will remain in the family as a proud and honoured memory of a gallant young man.

Right: Fareham War Memorial

Sgt. George Edward Salisbury's name was not added to the Fareham War Memorial until Monday 3rd November 2014.

Sgt. William Alexander Davidson. Alamein Memorial. Column 242. Son of William and Winifred Davidson of Exmouth, Devon (3) William is remembered on the Exmouth War Memorial.

Special thanks to Mrs Betty Ash and the late Mrs Molly Burton (sisters of George Edward Salisbury) and their families.

Researched by: Kate Tame Aircrew Remembered and for all the relatives and friends of the crew and the resources listed below.

KT. Page added 18.12.2016

Pages of Outstanding Interest
History Airborne Forces •  Soviet Night Witches •  Bomber Command Memories •  Abbreviations •  Gardening Codenames
CWGC: Your Relative's Grave Explained •  USA Flygirls •  Axis Awards Descriptions •  'Lack Of Moral Fibre'
Concept of Colonial Discrimination  •  Unauthorised First Long Range Mustang Attack
RAAF Bomb Aimer Evades with Maquis •  SOE Heroine Nancy Wake •  Fane: Motor Racing PRU Legend
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', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. 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 - 2024
Last Modified: 14 March 2021, 18:40

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