Operation: Circus 210

Date: 28th August 1942 (Friday)

Unit: No. 401 Squadron, RCAF (motto: Mors celerrima hostibus - 'Very swift death for the enemy')

Type: Spitfire IXb

Serial: BR628

Code: YO-?

Base: RAF Biggin Hill, Kent

Location: Near Amiens, France

Pilot: Fl/Lt. James Whitham DFC, J/15281, RCAF, Age 23 - Killed

We are extremely grateful to François Dutil (438 Squadron Archivist) for supplying photographs and information to Aircrew Remembered in October 2017. All photographs shown on this page are available to relatives at a higher resolution (as are those of most of the people named on this page), courtesy of François.

Reason for Loss

Circus 210 - the squadron was detailed to provide an escort for 12 Fortresses en route to bomb Méaulte in France. They encountered opposition from Luftwaffe fighters over Amiens and engaged at 13:30 hrs.

It is thought probable that Fl/Lt. Whitham was shot down during this encounter. The Luftwaffe ace Oblt. Wilhelm-Ferdinand Galland, Staffelkapitän of 5./JG 26, submitted a claim that is believed to relate to him. (Galland-shown right)

Another Spitfire was also hit on this operation: Spitfire IXb BS180, flown by Fl/Sgt. Andrew Lloyd Sinclair, J/17656, RCAF. He managed to return to base, the aircraft having suffered Category B damage.

Above L-R: Sgt. John Richards "Tuck" Tucker (KIA 1942-07-26), Fl/Lt. Eugene Lawrence "Jeep" Neal (passed away 1997-08-27), Fl/Lt. James Russell Courtney Tyre (KIA 1942-07-13), Sgt. Hugh Pope, F/O. Don Blakeslee (passed away 2008-09-03), Sgt. Ian Roy MacLennan DFM (passed away 2013-11-06). Kneeling in front: P/O. Jim Whitham DFC (KIA 1942-08-28).

Above L-R: Fl/Sgt. Jim Whitham, Fl/Sgt. Deane MacDonald (KIA 1943-11-30), Fl/Lt. Hugh John Lynch Merritt, P/O. George F. Newton, Fl/Sgt. Charles Gerry Denancrede.

Above: Fl/Lt. James Whitham DFC with P/O. Gerald Bickle Whitney, J/15189, RCAF, from Fort Worth, Texas, USA (KIA 1942-04-28).

Burial Details

Fl/Lt. James Whitham DFC. St. Pierre Cemetery, Amiens. Plot 1. Row B. Grave 12. Born on 13th May 1919 aboard the troopship S.S. Scandinavia in the middle of the Atlantic. Son of Charles Henry Whitham (died 1954, age 67), from Long Stratton, Norfolk, England, and Lilian Craggs Whitham (née Kirby, died 1978, age 82), a dressmaker from Sunderland. His parents later moved to Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada. Husband of Margaret Craig Whitham, of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

In September 1947 a lake was named after him: Whitham Lake, a fishing lake near Beaverlodge, Alberta. It was Alberta's policy to name geographical features after war heroes, and dozens of service personnel were remembered in this way. The practice was discontinued in the 1950s, as the names were often found to be meaningless to local people.

(Note: His widow later married Fl/Lt. Donald Campbell "Chunky" Gordon, a decorated RCAF fighter pilot and later squadron leader. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, on 25th February 1920 and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Gordon enlisted in 1940 and trained in Canada and the UK. He flew Spitfires with No. 65 Squadron from late 1941, fought in the Ceylon/Indian Ocean and Middle East campaigns in 1942, later serving with Nos. 274 and 601 Squadrons, and then returned to Europe.)

He was wounded by flak while flying with No. 442 Squadron, crash-landing his Spitfire. He was promoted to Squadron Leader in April 1945 and commanded No. 402 Squadron that year. His decorations included the DFC and Bar and a US DFC.

After the war he was appointed to the Permanent Force as Flight Lieutenant on 1st October 1946, served with No. 14 (Photo) Squadron until December 1947, then with AFHQ and the Canadian Joint Staff in Washington, returning to AFHQ on 25th April 1948. Sadly, Gordon died at the Montreal Neurological Institute on 26th June 1949, following brain surgery for the war wounds caused by flak.

Supplement - Additional Research

The operation

Circus 210 escorted the USAAF's VIII Bomber Command Mission No. 7. The 97th Bomb Group dispatched 14 B-17s, of which 11 bombed the Avions Potez aircraft works at Méaulte, about 20 miles north-east of Amiens. The factory was an important repair depot for German fighters, and this was the Eighth Air Force's first attack on an aircraft factory. No B-17s were lost. 3. The aircraft

Spitfire IX BR628 (Merlin 61) first flew on 10th July 1942. It went to No. 39 MU, then No. 72 Squadron on 24th July 1942, and was taken on charge by No. 401 Squadron on 27th July 1942, only a month before its loss. Spitfire BS180, damaged on this operation, was later lost over the English Channel on 23rd September 1943 while flown by Wiktor Kempka of No. 303 (Polish) Squadron, who was rescued.

Distinguished Flying Cross

Fl/Lt. Whitham's DFC was gazetted on 18th September 1942, three weeks after his death, and is associated with Operation Jubilee, the Dieppe raid of 19th August 1942. The citation describes him as an excellent flight commander who had flown a large number of sorties over enemy-occupied territory, led his section well in attacks on enemy targets, worked tirelessly on the ground, and was an inspiration to the squadron.

Memorials

• St. Pierre Cemetery, Amiens: CWGC grave, Plot 1. Row B. Grave 12. The cemetery lies on the north-eastern outskirts of Amiens, on the north side of the road to Albert.
• Canadian Second World War Book of Remembrance: commemorated on page 124 (Peace Tower, Ottawa).
• St. George's RAF Chapel of Remembrance, Biggin Hill: his name appears on the panels surrounding the altar.
• Whitham Lake, Alberta: named in his honour in 1947 (see above).Saxlingham 
• Nethergate, Norfolk: his father, Charles Henry Whitham (1886-1954, Canadian Expeditionary Force no. 114067), is recorded among the men of the parish who served in the First World War. This explains the Saxlingham War Memorials source.

Others named on this page

• Ian Roy MacLennan DFM: born in Regina, Saskatchewan, on 4th April 1919. He left No. 401 Squadron for Malta in 1942, where he flew with No. 1435 Flight, became an ace and was awarded an immediate DFM. He later joined No. 443 Squadron as a flight commander, was shot down and held in Stalag Luft III. He died at White Rock, British Columbia, on 6th November 2013, aged 94.
• P/O. Gerald Bickle Whitney: killed on 28th April 1942 when his Spitfire AB917 of No. 401 Squadron crashed near Folkestone after enemy action over the French coast (National Archives, AIR 81/13904).
• Fl/Lt. Harry Deane MacDonald: lost over the North Sea in Spitfire MJ115 on 30th November 1943 and commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 172.
• Ranks in the photo captions: Whitham appears as Fl/Sgt., P/O. and Fl/Lt. These reflect his rank when each photograph was taken.

Sources and Acknowledgements

• Saxlingham War Memorials
• Aces of WW2 - Donald Campbell "Chunky" Gordon
• Paradie-Dutil RCAF Archive
• National Archives, Kew
• Aircrew Remembered Archives
• Kracker Luftwaffe Archive
• Christian König - Luftwaffe pilot image
• Find A Grave
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)
• Canadian Virtual War Memorial - Veterans Affairs Canada
• CASPIR - Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum
• American Air Museum in Britain - VIII Bomber Command Mission 7 (supplement)
• All Spitfire Pilots - Spitfire BR628 (supplement)
• TracesOfWar - James Whitham DFC; Wilhelm-Ferdinand Galland; D.C. Gordon (supplement)
• Aces of WW2 - Ian Roy MacLennan (supplement)
• IWM Lives of the First World War - Saxlingham Nethergate community (supplement)