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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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83 Squadron Crest
26/27.04.1941 No 83 Squadron Hampden I AD796 OL-D P/O. Richard H. Crush

Operation: Hamburg Germany

Date: 26/27th April 1941 (Sunday/Monday)

Unit: No. 83 Squadron

Type: Hampden MkI

Serial: AD796

Code: OL-D

Base: RAF Scampton

Location: Averlak North of Brunsbüttel Germany

Pilot: P/O. Richard Hope Crush 43027 RAF Age 26. Killed

2nd Pilot: Sgt. Gilbert Townsend Hall 903968 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. William Keith Thompson 654088 RAF Age 21. Killed (1)

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Eric George Norman 935299 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off from RAF Scampton at 21:10 hrs to bomb the port of Hamburg. Some 28 Hampdens and 22 Wellingtons taking part in the operation.

44 Aircraft claimed to have bombed bur other reports state that just 19 bomb loads were delivered. 6 people reported killed on the ground with 121 bombed out of their homes.

Probably shot down by Flak over the target as no night fighter claims made for this operation.

(1) Sgt. William Thomson had a lucky escape when the Hampden L4104 ran out of fuel on return from an operation to Hamburg - crew all baled out safely.

Burial details:

P/O. Richard Hope Crush. Kiel War Cemetery, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Plot: 3.D.4. Born 31st January 1915, the son of Ernest Hope Crush and Irene Crush, husband of Kathleen Low Crush (née Fletcher).

Sgt. Gilbert Townsend Hall. Kiel War Cemetery, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Plot: 4.H.12. Son of William Townsend Hall and Eva Martha Hall, husband of Muriel Sadie Hall, of Wantage, Berkshire, England.

Sgt. William Keith Thompson. Kiel War Cemetery, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Plot: 4.H.13. Son of William Wyllard Thompson and Jane Welsh Thompson, of Barnes, Surrey, England.

Sgt. Eric George Norman. Kiel War Cemetery, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Plot: 4.H.11. Son of Horace and Annie Elizabeth Norman, of Forest Fields, Nottingham, England.

Researched by Michel Beckers for Aircrew Remembered - July 2016. For further details our thanks to the sources as quoted below. Grave photographs courtesy Bob Boston - others the collection of Michel Beckers.

MB - 18-07-2016

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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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