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.
59 Squadron Crest
22.03.1941 No 59 Squadron Blenheim IV T2433 TR-X P/O. Date

Operation: EMRO Patrol

Date: 22nd March 1941

Unit: No. 59 Squadron (Coastal Command) (motto: Ab uno disce omnes - 'From one teach all')

Type: Blenheim IV

Serial: T2433

Code: TR-X

Base: RAF Bircham Newton, Norfolk

Location: North Sea

Pilot: P/O. David William Date 86661 RAFVR Age 26. Missing - believed killed

Obs: P/O. Eric Percival Moore 79752 RAFVR Age ? Missing - believed killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Basil John Overton Watkins 633030 RAF Age 21. Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off from RAF Bircham Newton in Norfolk at 03:15 hrs. on a 'EMRO' Patrol (a patrol between Emden and Rotterdam, generally during the hours of darkness)

During the patrol he was intercepted and shot down by Oblt. Paul Stolte (1) of 3./Jg1 flying the Bf 109E over the North Sea west of Katwijk aan Zee.

No additional details, although we welcome further information.

(1) Hptm. Paul August Stolte became an ace with over 40 claims before he was shot down and killed on the 18th October 1943. (courtesy Kracker Archives)

Burial details:

P/O. David William Date. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 32. Son of William and Edith Beatrice Date, of Old Basing, Hampshire, England.

P/O. Eric Percival Moore. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 33. No further details - are you able to assist?

Sgt. Basil John Overton Watkins. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 33. Son of Harold Overton Watkins and Iris Mary Watkins, of Aldershot, Hampshire, England.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to sources indicated below.

KTY 24.05.2019

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 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.
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 - 2025 Last Modified: 15 March 2021, 19:11

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