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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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21/22nd July 1941 17 OTU Blenheim IV L9412 Sgt. Andrews

Operation: Training

Date: 21/22nd July 1941 (Monday/Tuesday)

Unit: No. 17 Operational Training Unit 7 Group

Type: Blenheim IV

Serial: L9412

Code: -

Base: RAF Upwood, Huntingdonshire

Location: North Sea

Pilot: Sgt. Charles William Andrews NZ/402155 RNZAF Age 25. Missing - believed killed

Obs: P/O. Ronald Thomas Franklin 67592 RAFVR Age 21. Missing - believed killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Leonard Roy Palmer 922977 RAFVR Age 23. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off for a night navigation exercise. Route instructions: Base - York - Helmsley - Marker Rasen - Base.

Soon after take off they called base and three minutes later sent another signal advising that it was switching to the Andover Direction Finding frequency.

Nothing further was heard from them.

Some time later the body of Sgt. Palmer washed ashore into a dyke at Bensersiel opposite the German island of Langeoog.














Above: 17 Operational Training Unit at RAF Upwood. This aircraft L1359, was written off after a taxying accident with L6808 (courtesy I.W.M)

Burial details:

Sgt. Charles William Andrews. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 63. Born on the 20th May 1916 at Wellington. Accounts clerk prior to service with J.C. Hutton Ltd. Enlisted on the 28th July 1940. Son of Charles Herbert and May Isabel Andrews (née Harper), of Remuera, Auckland, New Zealand.

P/O. Ronald Thomas Franklin. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 32. Son of Herbert and Ethel Franklin, of Poltimore, Devon, England.

Sgt. Leonard Roy Palmer. Sage War Cemetery. Grave 4.a.1. Son of Robert Archibald Stanley Palmer and Florence Maude Palmer, of Petts Wood, Kent, England. Grave inscription: 'All Service Ranks The Same With God'.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to Jenifer Lemaire and to the extensive research by Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”, Auckland Library Heritage Collection, Weekly News of New Zealand, other sources as quoted below:

KTY 18-01-2021

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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 Captain 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', Andrew Mielnik: Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Polish graves: https://niebieskaeskadra.pl/, PoW Museum Żagań, 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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