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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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44 Squadron Crest
17/18.01.1943 No. 44 Squadron Lancaster I ED318 KM-X Sgt. Richard Calcutt

Operation: Berlin

Date: 17/18th January 1943 (Sunday/Monday)

Unit: No: 44 Squadron (Rhodesia)

Type: Lancaster I

Serial: ED318

Code: KM-X

Base: RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire.

Location: Not known, probably over North Sea.

Pilot: Sgt. Richard Calcutt 778483 RAFVR Age ? Missing

Fl/Eng: Sgt. Colin Patrick Mitchell 778210 RAFVR Age 22. Missing

Nav: Sgt. Stanley Allen 1023445 RAFVR Age 32. Missing

Air/Bmr: Sgt. Richard Dowding Perkins 953431 RAFVR Age 28. Missing

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Roy Cook Fenton R/75877 RCAF Age 22. Missing

Air/Gnr (mid upper): Sgt. Robert Douglas Bradbury 1610166 RAFVR Age 20. Missing

Air/Gnr (rear): Sgt. Vincent Lawrence 1266105 RAFVR Age 21. Missing

REASON FOR LOSS:

Take off from Waddington at 17.09 hrs. This Lancaster was lost without a trace with all of its crew remembered on the Runnymede Memorial. Sergeants Calcutt and Mitchell were Rhodesians. 

13 of the 187 bomber force were shot down over the North Sea, it is ‘probable’ that ED318 was one of these as no remains were recovered.

                                           

Sgt. Richard Dowding Perkins with his fiancee Hilda (courtesy Gill Rudge)

                    

Sgt. Richard Dowding Perkins understood to be centre row, 2nd from right (courtesy Gill Rudge)

Burial details:

Sgt. Richard Calcutt. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 144. From Southern Rhodesia. N.o.K details currently not available - are you able to assist completion of these and any other information?

Left: Runnymede Memorial (A.R. visit, 2013)

Sgt. Colin Patrick Mitchell. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 159. Son of Mr and Mrs E.C.Mitchell of Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia.

Sgt. Stanley Allen. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 140. Son of Robert and Sarah Ellen Allen and husband of Margaret of Chaddesden, Derbyshire, England.

Sgt. Richard Dowding Perkins. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 161. Son of Thomas Burgoyne and Alice Maude Mary Perkins of Shrewbury, Shropshire, England, fiancé of Hilda. Known as ‘Billy’ by his friends and family.

Sgt. Roy Cook Fenton. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 180. Son of Roy Gordon and Ethel of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Sgt. Robert Douglas Bradbury. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 143. Son of Thomas and Mary Bradbury and husband of Gwendolen Dorothy Bradbury of Harpenden, Hertfordshire, England.

Sgt. Vincent Lawrence. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 156. Son of Francis and Winifred Lawrence of Handsworth, Yorkshire, England.

Researched by Aircrew Remembered, researcher and specialist genealogist Linda Ibrom for relatives of this crew. Special thanks to Gill Rudge for the photo’s and personal information on Sergeant Perkins.

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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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