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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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17.07.1941 No. 13 OTU Blenheim IV R3805 Sgt. Calderone

Operation: Training

Date: 17th July 1941 (Thursday)

Unit: No. 13 OTU. (Operational Training Unit)

Type: Blenheim IV

Serial: R3805

Base: RAF. Finmere, Buckingham, Oxfordshire

Location: Shelswell Park, Buckingham, England.

Pilot: Sgt. Dominico Guiseppe Calderone R/54294 RCAF Age 22. Killed (1)

Obs: Sgt. George Devereux Davies 924555 RAFVR Age 27. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Griffiths RAFVR Survived, injured

REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off from RAF Finmere on a navigation exercise. Whilst still in the circuit both engines cut out, the Blenheim stalled and spun in at Shelswell Park at 17.45 hrs. This is located south west of the airfield and near the villages of Cottisford and Hethe.

This OTU passed out 217 pilots, 240 observers and 273 air gunners during its first year of training. By the second year, the unit turned out nearly 300 Blenheim aircrews.

Blenheim IV's

RAF Finmere, Buckingham, Oxfordshire 2008


In June 1943, No 13 OTU left Bomber Command and was placed in the Fighter Command training scheme, still at Bicester, for the future mobilisation of the 2nd Tactical Air Force. During this period, Blenheims were still being used for pilot training and operational conversion and the last Blenheim flying training finished in February 1944.

(1) Some sources list his name as Dominic 'Joseph' Calderone.

Sgt. George Devereux Davies and family grave. (courtesy Owen Vaughan)

Burial details:

Sgt. Dominico Guiseppe Calderone. Kensal Green (St. Mary's) R/C/ Cemetery. Lower Catacomb. Grave 63. Son of George I. Calderone and Antonina Calderone of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Sgt. George Devereux Davies. Haverfordwest (Prendergast) Cemetery. Grave 376. Son of Austin George and Mary Ann Davies, of Haverfordwest, Wales.

Researched for relatives of the crew. With information from Owen Vaughan and Graham Warner - 'The Bristol Blenheim'.

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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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