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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29.05.1941 No. 59 Squadron Blenheim IV V6447 TR-R F/O. John G.R. Sturrock

Operation: Convoy Escort

Date: 29th May 1941 (Thursday)

Unit: No. 59 Squadron (Coastal Command)

Type: Blenheim IV

Serial: V6447

Code: TR-R

Base: RAF Thorney Island

Location: Not known - English Channel

Pilot: F/O. John George Ramsey Sturrock 74691 RAFVR Age 22. Missing - believed killed (1)

Obs: Sgt. Neil Loraine Conrade 963798 RAFVR Age 24. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. William Albert Smallbone 909986 RAFVR Age 23. Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 09:25 hrs on escort duties to a convoy. Failed to return with 2 of the crew remembered on the Runnymede Memorial. The body of the Observer, Sgt. Conrade was washed ashore we understand at Hove in Sussex.

We welcome any further information and indeed contact from any of the relatives. The grave of Sgt. Conrade was visited by members of the Smallbone family, leaving a poppy and a short note.

(1) The pilot, F/O. John Sturrock had only been posted to the Squadron on the previous day to this operation.

Burial details:

F/O. John George Ramsey Sturrock. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 30. Only son of Sir John Christian Ramsay Sturrock CMG (OC) and Lady Blanche Elizabeth Sturrock née [Houston] Walker of Herne Bay, Kent, England. Attended Charterhouse 1932 - 1937. After Oxford he joined the RAFVR and served with 59 Squadron.

Sgt. Neil Loraine Conrade. Birmingham Cemetery (Lodge Hill) Plot 20B. Grave 41. Son of Harold George and Isabella Conrade, of Harborne, Birmingham, England.

Sgt. William Albert Smallbone. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 52. Born on the 21st February 1918 the son of Albert Henry and Elizabeth Smallbone, of Hampton, Middlesex, England.

Researched by James Walker - relative of Sgt. Smallbone - dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to additional sources indicated below.

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