Operation: Haamstede Airfield, Netherlands

Date: 2nd August 1940 (Friday)

Unit No: 18 Squadron, 2 Group, Bomber Command

Type: Blenheim IV

Serial: L9422

Code: WV:?

Base: RAF West Raynham, Norfolk

Location: De Boer Schouwse Hotel, Haamstede, Netherlands

Pilot: Sgt. John Harold Davies 742518 RAFVR Age 24. KiA (1)

Obs: Sgt. Kenneth Roy Bryant 755318 RAFVR Age 21. KiA

WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. Warren Seymour Barrett 905832 RAFVR Age 20. KiA (2)

Above the crew of L9422 Left to Right: Sgt. Warren Barrett, Sgt. John Davies and Sgt. Kenneth Bryant (courtesy Stuart Chaplin and Jon Whight)

REASON FOR LOSS:

No less than thirty-six (36) Blenheims taking off from various airfields, to attack several airfields over Holland. L9422 taking off from RAF West Raynham, Norfolk at 09:35 hrs. Only twenty-four (24) planes carried out the attacks on the specified targets at, Soesterberg, Leeuwarden, Schiphol, Waalhaven and Haamstede.

Haamstede was bombed by three aircraft, dropping 6 x 250 lbs, 30 x 40 x 4 lbs and 60 lbs. One burst was seen on the aerodrome but others were not observed. Two of the aircraft were attacked by Me109's. One evaded into the Cloud, the other was seen to emit smoke and disappeared.

'The Bristol Blenheim’

Further details can also be found on the Wings to Victory website.

The Dutch Airwar Studygroup claimed that Lt. Bernhard Malischewski from 4./JG 54 shot down the aircraft at 12:00 hrs which crashed at Haamstede near De Schouwse Boer, Zeeland.

The OKL (Luftwaffe High Command) Fighter Claims Lists records three Blenheims as having been shot down on this day, two of which were claimed by pilots from JG 54 but neither of which were by Lt. Malischewski. Additionally the locations were nowhere in the vicinity of Haamstede.

The OKL Fighter Claims Lists, records Lt. Malischewski as having 3 Abschuss claims albeit that the 3rd in the list for the 27th September 1940, is annotated as his 4th Abschuss. It is possible that his 3rd Abschuss was indeed L9422 but is missing from the Fighter Claims List.

Graham Warner’s publication, ’The Bristol Blenheim - A Complete History’, does describe L9422 as being lost to a pilot from JG54

Lt. Malischewski whilst with Stab II./JG54 was flying Bf 109-E Black .

Note: Operating with 92 Squadron RAF from RAF Biggin Hill on 12 October 1940 whilst on leave from 257 Squadron RAF, acting Sqn.Ldr. Roland RS "Bob" Tuck reported on the encounter with Bf 109E-4 Black Chevron and Bar over Tenterden at 10.15 resulting in the capture of Lt Bernhard Malischewski of Stab II./JG 54 at Chapel Holdings, Small Hythe.

Blenheim L9422 is understood to have come down behind the De Boer Schouwse Hotel as shown above, in 2014.

(1) John Harold Davies enlisted in the RAFVR during 1938 prior to which he worked at Coventry Gauge and Tool Co. Ltd.

John Harold Davies' Mother's maiden name was Roberts. (She was my Husband's Granddad's Sister born in Chirk, Wales). I am able to confirm that John Harold Davies married Edna May Thompson in 1940 in Cirencester. Edna's Father was a Policeman. When he retired he took The Black Horse Hotel, Castle Street. The couple lived with them after they were married. Servicemen sometimes stayed there and I am told that they often scratched their initials/names on to the glass window panes of their rooms. The immediate family visited John Harold's grave in the Netherlands shortly after the war where there was only a cross bearing his name to mark it. Edna has revisited since. John Harold had a baby daughter born early 1941, the year following his death. (Submitted by Janet Roberts - March 2017)

(2)

The great series of photographs and details of the operation were sent to us by Stuart Chaplin and Jon Whight - relatives of Sgt. Warren Barrett. (Shown above and right at the Gt. Yarmouth Treasurer's office, Norfolk, England, where he worked prior to enlisting - courtesy Mrs Doreen Schei née Barratt, Stuart Chaplin and Jon Whight))

Warren Barrett with his mother outside 413 Spring Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, England - right, same house - 2014 (courtesy Mrs Doreen Schei née Barratt,Stuart Chaplin and Jon Whight)

Newspaper cuttings from the day. The other local chap mentioned, Sgt. John Lansdale was KiA flying with 607 Squadron. Hurricane I P3860 was shot down by Hptm. Neumann from 1./JG27 at 15:40 hrs on Tuesday, 17th September 1940. The aircraft crashed at the 'Bell Inn' Beltring, Kent.

Sgt. John Lansdale. Hempnall (St. Margarets) Churchyard, Norfolk. Son of William Albert and Ellen Sarah Lansdell, of Great Yarmouth. Note: John Lansdale held a first class honours degree in aeronautics and was a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society)

Medals given to the sister of Warren Barrett and treasured. (courtesy Stuart Chaplin and Jon Whight, Mrs Doreen Schei née Barratt)

Burial Details:

The funeral for the crew of L9422 - showing the enormous respect the Luftwaffe held to allied aircrews (courtesy Stuart Chaplin and Jon Whight, Mrs Doreen Schei née Barratt)

Buried initially at a temporary military cemetery in Haamstede prior to reinterment at Bergen-Op-Zoom cemetery after the end of the war.

Sgt. John Harold Davies. Bergen-Op-Zoom War Cemetery. Grave 20.A.10. Grave inscription: "YOUR MEMORY HALLOWED IN THE LAND YOU LOVED". Born on the 2nd September 1915 in Newport, Monmouthshire. Son of John and Hannah Davis. Husband to Edna May Davies.

He is also commemorated with a plaque in Coventry Crematorium. The plaque and tree cost £2/5s in 1947.

Sgt. Kenneth Roy Bryant. Bergen-Op-Zoom War Cemetery. Grave 20.A.5. Grave inscription: "IN CHERISHED MEMORY. GOD BLESS YOU". Born in the 3rd quarter of 1919 in Hayes, Bromley. Kent. Son of Thomas Benjamin and Elizabeth Martha (née Attwood) Bryant, of Hayes, Bromley, Kent, England. His father predeceased him in 1928.

Sgt. Warren Seymour Barrett. Bergen-Op-Zoom War Cemetery. Grave 20.A.11. Grave inscription: ’NOT A DAY DO WE FORGET, IN OUR HEARTS, YOU ARE ALWAYS NEAR, DAD, MUM AND DOREEN.’ Son of William Frederick and Emma Edith Barrett, of Burgh Castle, Suffolk, England.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to Stuart Chaplin and Jon Whight, relatives of Sgt. Barrett for their extensive research, Aircrew Remembered, researcher and specialist genealogist Kate Tame. Janet Roberts who contacted us in March 2017. Thanks to Thanks Graham Warner for the link to the video. Updated by Aircrew Remembered (Sep 2020). Thanks to Trevour Harkins for the additional Next of Kin details for Sgt. Davies (Mar 2025).

Other sources listed below:

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