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.

97 Squadron Crest
14/15.01.1944 No. 97 Squadron Lancaster III ND421 OF-S Fl/Lt. Kenneth M. Steven DFC

Operation: Brunswick

Date: 14th/15th January 1944

Unit: No. 97 Squadron

Type: Lancaster III

Serial: ND421

Code: OF-S

Base: RAF Bourn, Cambridgeshire

Location: Fonteinsnol, Texel Island, Netherlands

Pilot: Fl/Lt. Kenneth Munro (Steve) Steven DFC 125906 RAFVR Age 30. Killed 

Flt/Eng: Fl/Sgt. Albert C (Ace) East RAFVR PoW No: 270026 Camp: Stalag Mühlberg-Elbe (4b)

Nav: Fl/Sgt. Samuel Brown (Paddy) Stevenson DFM 1480507 RAFVR Age 22. Killed

Air/Bmr: P/O. Ridley R. Brown RAFVR PoW No: 3298 Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan and Belaria (L3)

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. William Charles (Bill) Gadsby 1445080 RAFVR Age 22. Killed. (1)

Air/Gnr: W/O. Clifford John (Jack) Skinner 912689 RAFVR Age 22. Killed

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Leslie Norman John Laver 1808343 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

Reason for Loss.

Took off at 16.46 hrs from RAF Bourn. On the return from the target, S Sugar was either hit by flack or was the subject of a night fighter attack. 

Different versions of the incident are inconclusive. Even the two survivors were unable to confirm the real reason for the crash. 

Webmasters note: It has been discovered that the Lancaster was in fact shot down at 20.33 hrs by Lt. Kürt Matzak (2) of 12./NJG1.

                   

Above Fl/Sgt. William Charles (Bill) Gadsby and right, with his wife, Marjorie (courtesy Anthony Walton)

A monument to S Sugar has been placed in the pine forests at Fonteinsnol where the aircraft came down. 

The pine forest is roughly 100 years old, even in 2010 it was possible to see the track the plane took as younger trees have been planted, which of course are lower than those of the original forest.

(1) Bill Gadsy’s age is incorrectly shown as 27 in most documentation and even on his grave in the War Cemetery on Texel.

(2) This was the 2nd abschüsse for Kürt Matzak. He survived the war after becoming an ace with 19 confirmed abschüsse. 

He went on to fly for Lufthansa - no further details.

Burial details:

Fl/Lt. Kenneth Munro (Steve) Steven DFC. Texel (Den Burg) Cemetery Plot K, Row 6 Grave 143. Son of Arthur and Wilhelmina Davina Steven, of Ilford, Essex, husband of Dorothy Margaret Steven, of Ilford, Essex, England.

Fl/Sgt. Samuel Brown (Paddy) Stevenson. DFM. Texel (Den Burg) Cemetery. Plot K, Row 6 Grave 144. Son of S.B. and Helen I. Stevenson, of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Left: Grave of Fl/Sgt. Gadsby - showing incorrect age. (courtesy Anthony Walton)

Fl/Sgt. William Charles (Bill) Gadsby. Texel (Den Burg) Cemetery. Plot K, Row 7 Joint Grave 146-147. Son of Mr. William Henry Gadsby and Mrs Eliabeth Victoria (née Potter) Gadsby, husband of Marjorie Vivien Gadsby, of Greenwich, London, England.

W/O. Clifford John (Jack) Skinner. Texel (Den Burg) Cemetery. Plot K, Row 7 Joint Grave 146-147. Son of John Robert and Lilian Skinner, husband of Edith Mary Jean Skinner, of Worsborough Dale, Yorkshire, England.

Sgt. Leslie Norman John Laver. Texel (Den Burg) Cemetery. Plot K, Row 7 Grave 145. Son of William Henry Laver, and of Jenny Laver, of Sydenham, London, England.

Researched by Anthony Walton for Aircrew Remembered on behalf of his wife's father, Fl/Sgt. William Charles (Bill) Gadsby and dedicated to all the crew and relatives. 

For further details our thanks to the following, Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vol's. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', 'Kracker Luftwaffe Archives'. Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries (Updated 2014 version), Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Above: Details of the crash at the Texel War Museum.

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: 31 August 2015, 20:21

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