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.

101 Squadron Crest
27/28.08.1942 101 Squadron Wellington III X3649 Flt Sgt. Brown

Operation: Kassel, Germany

Date: 27th/28th August 1942 (Thursday/Friday)

Unit No: 101 Squadron, 3 Group

Type: Wellington III

Serial: X3649

Code: SR:?

Base: RAF Stradishall, Suffolk

Location: North Sea off East Anglia

Pilot: Flt Sgt. George Thirlwell Brown 411364 RNZAF Age 25. MiA

Obs: Flt Sgt. George Lionel Downer 130207 RAFVR Age 21. Survived (1)

WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. Alfred Kenneth Bonser 976336 RAFVR Age 22. MiA

WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. Gordon Leonard Otter 402493 RNZAF Age? Survived (2)

Air Gnr (Rear): Sgt. Farnham Hill 134661 RAFVR Age? Survived (3)

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 20:45 hrs on an operation to Kassel, however shortly afterwards the aircraft suffered an engine fire which then failed. Despite jettisoning its bomb load and ammunition the Wellington continued to lose height.

The pilot was forced to ditch at 22:40 hrs at Lat/Long 52 22N, 02 06E (about 16 miles due east of the coast). All the crew survived the ditching, however, their dinghy failed to inflate and they decided to attempt to swim to the shore. Three were picked up by a trawler after swimming for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, but Flt Sgt. Brown and Sgt. Bonser were lost to the sea.


A correction to the circumstances of the rescue of the crew has been submitted by the grandson of Merville Matthews, who was a signalman aboard HM Rescue Tug “Attentif “- W68 commanded by Temp Lt. Stanley Wilfred Potter Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) (He was later to lose his life on HM Rescue Tug “Adherent” - W108). He left the following testimony in his post-war letters in trying to trace members of this aircrew.

Above: HMS Attentif (Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum © IWM (A 15503)

"We were engaged on convoy duty from the Thames to the Firth of Forth at the rear of the convoy. Sea conditions were smooth as we proceeded northwards along the wartime swept channel on a moonlit night. I was on watch with the 2nd Officer in addition to the helmsman on the bridge. In the stillness of the night I heard the faint (far away) sound of a whistle signalling SOS in morse code. I alerted my two colleagues and we listened. I heard it again, but my colleagues did not and were sceptical. I called the skipper Lt. Potter to the bridge. Engines were called to a 'stop' as all of us listened out into the night. We were about to get underway again when all heard the SOS.

Despite the hazardous nature of our work, lurking E boats etc. the 'Attentif' glided to the position and we came across four or five aircrew in the water. We lowered our motor boat and hauled three of them to safety. One crew member had drowned just as rescue was imminent. Our position at the time of the rescue was somewhere between the Shipwash off Harwich and Newark light vessel. The time was between 23:00 hrs and 02:00 hrs on the night of 27th/28th August 1942. Later at daybreak, we transferred the survivors to a HM Motor Launch of Coastal Forces, which made contact with us off the Humber".


Above: 101 Squadron in front of Wellington X3670 SR:F - Missing on the 31st May 1942 with all five crew.

Rear row: Air Gnr. John Skipsey, WOp/Air Gnr. Rogers, WOp/Air Gnr. Mullin, Air Gnr. Tracey, WOp/Air Gnr. Skinner, Air Gnr. Sundberg, WOp/Air Gnr. William Harry Armold, Obs. Mullan, Obs. Downer, Air Gnr. Ferguson.
Middle Row: WOp/Air Gnr. Matheson, Air Gnr. Sime, Pilot. Foxcroft, WOp/Air Gnr. Kilwyn, Pilot. Keen, Pilot. Richards, WOp/Air Gnr. Garland, Pilot. Llewelyn, Obs. Baker, Obs. Clark, Obs. Calhoune, WOp/Air Gnr. Sibbald, W/Op/Air/Gnr. Sauve, Pilot. Machin, Air/Gnr. Spooner, WOp/Air Gnr. Brace.
Front Row (sitting): WOp/Air Gnr. Hart, Pilot. Marney, Air Gnr. Wigham, Air Gnr. King-Scott, WOp/Air Gnr. Ward, Obs. Menage, WOp/Air Gnr. Young, Pilot. Diemer, WOp/Air Gnr. Artham, WOp/Air Gnr.. Jones, Air Gnr. Angelo, WOp/Air Gnr.. Pollock, WOp/Air Gnr. Oakley, WOp/Air Gnr. Cormack, WOp/Air Gnr. Bott, Air Gnr. Mackay, Pilot. Early, Pilot. Williams, WOp/Air Gnr.. Tattoh, WOp/Air Gnr.. Woodgate, Air Gnr. Urwin, Obs. Pearson, Air/Gnr. Charles, Pilot. Attwood, Pilot. Brown, Air Gnr. Murray, WOp/Air Gnr.. Burgess, WOp/Air Gnr.. Jaggers, WOp/Air Gnr.. Stewart, Air Gnr. Wade, Air Gnr. Symonds.

(1) Fg Off. George Lionel Downer then a holder of the DFC was killed on the 14th January 1944 whilst with 115 Squadron, Lancaster II LL673 KO:G flown by 25 year old, Flt Lt. John Horace Christiansen 413551 RNZAF. 3 o†her RNZAF crew and 4 RAFVR crew all lost their lives and are now buried at the Hanover war Cemetery.

(2) Sgt. Gordon Leonard Otter was back in action very soon afterwards. On the 21st/22nd September 1942 he was a member of Wellington III X3815 crew on a gardening operation when they were shot down by a night fighter. The pilot, 26 year old Sqn Ldr. Victor Robertson Paterson DFC 37478 RAF was killed along with 2 other crew members. The remaining two were taken PoW. Sgt. Otter Pow No. 27157 was held at Stalag Lamsdorf. The other Plt Off. C.H. Mitchell J9768 RCAF PoW No. 716 was held at Stalag Luft 3, Sagan. (see below photograph and details)

Front row: 405311 WO. William Kevin Charles O'Byrne, either 416637 WO. Jack Edwin Hyde - or - 413420 WO. Galbraith Mickle Bullen Hyde, Grimsby - no RNZAF chap with this surname in WWII, 404550 Flt Lt Bruce Alexander McKenzie, 412349 WO. Edwin Burton Mossman, 41708 WO. William James Stanley Voice, 405327 WO. Denis Butler Scoble, 41596 WO. Norrice John MacKenzie.
Centre row: 414564 WO. John Douglas Hardie, most likely 41565 WO. Leslie Sydney Bevan - otherwise - 44772 (but previously RAF as 959593 until Jun 44) WO. Stephen Henry Rossfield Bevan, 413470 WO. Derek Cecil Pitts, 402174 WO. George Emmerson, 411057 WO. John William Filda Atkin,, 411745 WO. Thomas William Devine, 405310 WO. Uila Nicolson, most likely 413423 WO. Eric William Peter Johnson, otherwise - RAF 43643 (later 2473 in 1945) Flt Lt Theodore Faire Storrier Johnson, 404559 WO. Gordon George Whitla.
Rear row: 403290 WO. Carlye Arthur Powel, 412369 WO. Raymond Herbert Thom, 404535 Flt Lt William Edmund Gibbes, 402493 WO. Gordon Leonard Otter, 403819 WO. Noel Stuart Craddock , 41135 Fg Off Aynsley Stuat Forbes, 41164 WO. Roden Barnsdale Pickford, 412222 WO. Douglas Cecil Giddings. (Identified by Erroll Martyn - see credits)

(2) On the 16th/17th February 1943 Lancaster ED374 crash landed on return from an operation to Loient. The aircraft caught fire, five of the crew managed to escape from the aircraft. However, the Flight Engineer was trapped. Details:

London Gazette 14th May 1943: Sqn Ldr. Geoffrey Wilson O'Neill Fisher, DFC. 42560 RAF OBE - Plt Off. Farnham Hill, DFC. 134661 RAFVR MBE:

"One night in February 1943, a bomber aircraft crashed in a field on return from an operational night during which damage had been sustained to the elevator controls. The aircraft broke in two at the rear of the mid-upper turret, and the whole wreckage caught fire. Five members of the crew were able to step out through the gap where the fracture took place, whilst the pilot escaped through his window. Sqn Ldr. Fisher and Plt Off. Hill, who had both landed in another aircraft just before the crash, having been on an operational sortie of 5.5 hours duration, were in the immediate vicinity and rushed to the aircraft. Aircraftman (AC). Fletcher, who was on duty with the airfield controller, and LAC Miles, who was engaged at a dispersal point some 100 yards away, also hurried to the scene.
AC. Fletcher was the first to arrive and he entered the fuselage, thinking that all members of the crew had been trapped therein. He was joined by Sqn Ldr. Fisher and Leading Aircraftman (LAC) Miles, but owing to the intense heat, all were forced to retire.
The flight engineer was then found hanging from the pilot's window and unable to move owing to a broken thigh. AC. Fletcher climbed along the port wing in order to render assistance to him. Sqn Ldr. Fisher, Plt Off. Hill and LAC. Miles all helped, the work being directed by SqnLdr. Fisher.
Despite the intense heat and the danger from exploding petrol tanks and ammunition they succeeded in extricating the flight engineer, who had been trapped in the pilot's cockpit. The initiative and heroic efforts displayed by these officers and airmen undoubtedly saved their comrade's life."
1544738 LAC. Arthur George Miles. RAF and 1047210 AC2 Herbert Fletcher, RAF were also awarded the BEM for their part in this action.

Note: It is thought that following this, Plt Off. Farnham Hill, DFC, no longer took part in operations, perhaps due to injuries received or at the end of his tour.

Burial details:

Flt Sgt. George Thirlwell Brown. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 117. Son of Thomas John and Agnes Johnston Brown, of Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand.

A total of 386 flying hours logged and thought to be on his 9th operational sortie.

Sgt. Alfred Kenneth Bonser. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 78. Son of Alfred George and Emily Susan Bonser, of Aigburth, Liverpool, England.

Researched by Kelvin Youngs (Webmaster) and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to the research by Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Weekly News of New Zealand (Jul 2018). Thanks to Simon Matthews for providing a correction to the circumstances of the crew rescue (May 2024).

Other sources as quoted below:

RS 19.05.2024 - Update to circumstance of the rescue

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: 19 May 2024, 07:24

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