AR banner
Search Tips Advanced Search
Back to Top

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.

No 9 Squadron
19/20.08.1941 No. 9 Squadron Wellington Ic R1455 WS-D Sgt. Cecil Thomas Everitt

Operation: Kiel, Germany

Date: 19/20th August 1941 (Tuesday/Wednesday)

Unit: No. 9 Squadron

Type: Wellington Ic

Serial: R1455

Code: WS-D

Base: RAF Honington, Suffolk

Location: Tidal area 2km South of Hojer Sluse, Denmark

Pilot: Sgt. Cecil Thomas Everitt 918270 RAFVR Age 23 Killed

2nd Pilot: Sgt. Patrick John Brady 921388 RAFVR Age? Killed (1)

Obs: Sgt. Henry Bruce Stirling Johnston 913313 RAFVR Age 21 Killed (2)

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Thomas Whalley 751097 RAFVR Age? Killed

Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. Thomas Armstrong 637491 RAF Age 20 Killed (3)

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Herbert Edward Temple 800532 RAF (Auxiliary Air Force) Age? Killed

 

                                                      RAF Honington (courtesy of FOLD3) Vickers Wellington Ic (courtesy of IWM)

REASON FOR LOSS:

Sgt. Cecil Thomas Everitt and crew took off from RAF Honington at 21.14hrs for a bombing operation on Kiel railway targets. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after take-off. The aircraft was hit by flak at 00.35hrs and crashed in the tidal area some 2km South of Hojer Slyse 

108 aircraft took off on this operation, but only 67 aircraft claimed to have bomb the target are. The weather that night was thick cloud and icing conditions which caused the other aircraft not to bomb in the target area. Little damage was caused to the city of Kiel and the airfield at Holtenau just North of Kiel was also bombed. Three Wellingtons and one Hampden lost

Burial details:

                                                                              Tonder Cemetery, Denmark (courtesy of CWGC)  

 

In memory of the Johnston brothers. The memorial in St. Peter's churchyard,Portesham and part of the memorial plaque in the                                                                                       church (courtesy of Rev. Margaret Preuss-Higham)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
All the crew were buried with full military honours on the 23rd October 1941 with a Wehrmacht band in attendance

Sgt. Cecil Thomas Everitt. Tonder Cemetery, Denmark. Grave Ref: Coll. Grave A. M. 37. 7. Son of Charles William and Rose Everitt. Husband of Edith L. Everitt of Ealing, Middlesex

Sgt. Patrick John Brady. Tonder Cemetery, Denmark. Grave Ref: Coll. Grave A. M. 37. 7. Son of Luke and Rebecca Mary Brady of Palmers Green (1) Patrick is remembered on the Cambridge University Peterhouse War Memorial plaque

Sgt. Henry Bruce Stirling Johnston. Tonder Cemetery, Denmark. Grave Ref: Coll. Grave A. M. 37. 7. Son of Robert Hector and Kathleen Hariot of Putney, London (2) Henry was born on the 10th April 1920 and is remembered in the Church of St. Peters, Portesham, Dorset. Henry's older brother Robert Alan Johnston was killed in action on the 9th July 1941 while flying (Spitfire Vb W3325) Dorothy Robinson aunt of Alan and Bruce Johnston put up a memorial for her family in Putney Vale Cemetery in June 1945

Sgt. Thomas Whalley. Tonder Cemetery, Denmark. Grave Ref: Coll. Grave A. M. 37. 7. No information about next of kin. Can you help?

Fl/Sgt. Thomas Armstrong. Tonder Cemetery, Denmark. Grave Ref: Coll. Grave A. M. 37. 7. Son of Thomas and Ethel Armstrong of Willington Quay, Northumberland (3) Thomas is remembered on the Wallsend Slipway and Engineering Co. Ltd. plague, Wallsend

Sgt. Herbert Edward Temple. Tonder Cemetery, Denmark. Grave Ref: Coll. Grave A. M. 37. 7. No information about next of kin. Can you help?

Researched by: Kate Tame Aircrew Remembered and for all the relatives and friends of the crew. With special thanks to Martyn and Anne Gardiner and Rev. Margaret Preuss-Higham, St Peters, Portesham


KT 15 July 2015

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 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.
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 buy research books from Amazon •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 - 2023
Last Modified: 15 July 2015, 13:16

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