AR banner
Search Tips Advanced Search
Back to Top

• Kracker Archive
• Allied Losses
• Archiwum Polish
• Paradie Canadian
• RCAF
• RAAF
• RNZAF
• USA
• Searchable Lists

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.

RAF
25.10.1942 1 OADU Beaufort I DW834, Fg Off. Richard A. Bendwig

Operation: Ferry flight, Middle East

Date: 25th October 1942 (Sunday)

Unit No: 1 Overseas Aircraft Despatch Unit (OADU)

Type: Beaufort I

Serial: DW834

Code: Unknown

Base: RAF Portreath, Cornwall

Location: Mediterranean Sea North of Tobruk

Pilot: Fg Off. Richard Alanson Bendwig J10157 RCAF Age 22. MiA

Observer: Fg Off. Millard Meyer Liebeck J9774 RCAF Age 30. MiA

Wireless Operator/Air Gunner: Fg Off. Fred Edward Wickstrom J9642 RCAF Age 23. MiA

Air Gunner: Sgt. George Aubrey Bushnell 1357687 RAFVR Age 26. MiA

Above left Fg Off. Bendwig and right Fg Off. Liebeck from their service files

REASON FOR LOSS:

DW834 took off with a second Beaufort on the morning of the 25th October 1942 from Luqa, Gibraltar and headed for Cairo, Egypt. It is believed that the two Beauforts were destined for 47 Sqn at Gianaclis.

Research carried out by historian Chris Goss has determined from the Air HQ Malta's Diary which recorded Arrivals, Departures and Casualties for 25 October 1942, that two Beauforts had departed and that one was missing in transit between Malta and LG-224 (Ref 1, p 86)

LG-224 was an Air Base located to the west of Cairo, Egypt.

DW834 was claimed by Hauptmann (Capt) Peter Paul Habicht from10./ZG 26, flying a Ju88 C-6 over the Mediterranean north of Tobruk. This was his 2nd Abschuss.

Burial details:

Above: Malta Memorial

Fg Off. Richard Alanson Bendwig. Malta Memorial, Panel 4, Column 1. Born on the 30th September 1920 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Son of Richard M. and Florence Mae Bendwig (née Cole) of Newark, New Jersey, USA.

Fg Off. Millard Meyer Liebeck. Malta Memorial, Panel 4, Column 1. Born on the 31st October 1911 in Chesley, Ontario. Son of William and Katherine Sophie (née Meyer) Liebeck, of Chesley, Ontario, Canada. His brother Kenneth William Liebeck also fell.

Plt Off. Kenneth William Liebeck J4255 RACF Age 23. He was KiA on the 23rd August 1941 when his Whitley V T4234, from 10 Sqn, crashed into high ground enroute on an operation to Le Havre. He was laid to rest at the Leeming (St. John The Baptist) Churchyard Grave G.8.

Fg Off. Fred Edward Wickstrom. Malta Memorial, Panel 4, Column 1. Born on the 28th April 1919 in Erickson, Manitoba. Son of Olaf Albin and Jennie Christine (née Ostrom) Wickstrom of Erickson, Manitoba, Canada.

Sgt. George Aubrey Bushnell. Malta Memorial, Panel 3, Column 2. Born in 1st Qtr of 1916 in Camberwell, Greater London. Son of George Fredrick and Elizabeth Emily (née O’Grady) Bushnell; husband of Florence May (née Watson) Bushnell, of Wandsworth, London.

Researched by Ralph Snape and dedicated to the family of this crew. Thanks to Wolf-Ingo Seidelmann for the German fighter claim.

Other sources listed below:

Reference:


“Junkers Ju88 Day and Nightfighters, Development – Equipment – Operations 1940 -1945” - Chris Goss and Martin Streetly (to be published on 31st March 2023).





RS 26.03.2023 - Initial upload

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 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: 26 March 2023, 12:12

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