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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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142 Squadron Crest
19.05.1940 No. 142 Squadron Fairey Battle I K7696 QT-I P/O. 'Squizzy' Taylor

Operation: Laon, France

Date: May 19th 1940 (Sunday)

Unit: No. 142 Squadron

Type: Fairey Battle MkI

Serial: K7696

Code: QT-I

Base: Faux-Villecerf, France

Location: near Bosmont-sur-Serre, east of Marle France

Pilot: P/O. Howard Hamilton ‘Squizzy’ Taylor 36153 RAF Age 21. PoW No. 584 Camp: Stalag Luft 3 (1)

Obs: Sgt. Stanley Lang MiD 561779 RAF Age 29. PoW No. 2692 Camp: Stalag 357 (2)

Air/Gnr: LAC. Herbert Long 615961 RAF Age 20. PoW No.2665 Camp: Stalag 357 (3)

REASON FOR LOSS:

3 aircraft from 142 Squadron left to attack targets west of Laon - none were to return!

Battle I L5226 Flown by Sgt. A.J. Godsell - shot down - 2 crew PoW, 1 killed.
Battle I P5238 Flown by Sgt. George Ebert (4) - hit by ground fire, crash landed - 2 crew safe, The observer, 29 year old Sgt. Tom Jones 561183 RAF from Merton in Oxfordshire, England was injured and died later that day. LAC R.J. Utteridge (5) was safe.

Brought down by ground fire during attack on targets west of Laon and belly-landed near Bosmont-sur-Serre, east of Marle at 10:45 hrs. All the crew taken PoW.

(1) Howard Hamilton Taylor was born on 29th August 1918. Address is quoted as "6 baird Avenue, Nedlands, Perth, Western Australia". Joined the RAAF on the 21st August 1938 - transferred to the RAF on the 25th July 1938 then transferred back to the RAAF on the 23rd August 1943. Promoted to Fl/Lt. on the 23rd August 1943 - arrived back in Australia on the 22nd November 1945. Awarded the 1939-45 Star, War Medal 1939-45. Australian Service Meal 1939-45. Returned from active service badge. Left the RAAF on the 20th February 1946.
(2) Stanley Lang, 561779, born 26th February 1911, joined 30th June 1927, wartime address station house, bridgerule, near Holsworth, Devonshire. Captured in the Hirson district, France 19th May 1940. Later promoted to F/O. on the 14th November 1946 - retired in 1948.
(3) Herbert Long, 615961, born 7th January 1920, joined July 1938, wartime address 94 Woolmere road, Nottingham, captured near Hirson on 19th May 1940.
(4) Sgt. George Henry Ebert DFC. 49993 RAF was later killed on the 06th January 1944 - serving with 207 squadron - crashing at Stettin whilst piloting Lancaster I ED586 EM-F - all 8 crew were lost.
(5) LAC. R.J. Utteridge DFM was taken PoW less than a month later when he was shot down in another Fairey Battle on the 19th June.

Note: This aircraft, previously coded QT-M, had only returned to the squadron six days earlier following repair by No.1 S and RS to damage suffered in an unrecorded night-landing accident at Berry-au-Bac on the 5th or 6th March 1940.

Burial details:

None - crew survived.

Researcher Michel Beckers for Aircrew Remembered - November 2016. Photographs from the Michel Beckers collection.

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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.
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