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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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44 Squadron crest
19/20.07.1940 No. 44 Squadron Hampden I L4087 KM-C Sgt. Farrands

Operation: Gardening, Frederikshaven.

Date: 19/20th July 1940 (Friday/Saturday)

Unit: No.44 Squadron 

Type: Hampden I

Serial: L4087.

Coded: KM-C 

Base: RAF Waddingron

Location: In the sea off Jutland. 

Pilot: Sgt. E.L. Farrands 740864 RAF PoW No: 136 Camp: Stalag Luft Heydekrug

Observer: Sgt. Percy Dryden Nixon 580671 RAF Age ? Killed.

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Reginald Talbot Miller 551536 RAF Age 20. Killed.

W/Op/Air/Gnr: P/O. B. Green MC. 76904 RAF PoW No: 121 Stalag Luft Sagan and Belaria

REASON FOR LOSS: 

Took-off from RAF Waddington for a minelaying operation off Frederikshaven, hit by flak and crashed into the sea at Tannis Bay off Kandestedern, the rear gunner P/O B. Green together with the pilot Sgt. E.L.Farrands swam to shore, both becoming p.o.w.

Sgt. Green and Sgt. Farrands were sent to Dulag Luft at Oberursel in Germany for interrogation and arrived on 21 July 1940.  

After interrogation Sgt. Farrands was sent on the 23rd July to Stalag Luft I Barth and other Stalags throughout the rest of the war. Sgt.Green was also moved to Stalag Luft I Barth and eventually ended up at Stalag Luft III, Sagan. He was one of the 75 who took part in the “Great Escape” on the 24th/25th March 1944. However his freedom didn’t last long, he was recaptured in Oberöhrsdorf later that day and returned to the camp. 

He was liberated on the 24th April 1945 and died on the 2nd November 1971.

On the 21st May the body of W/Op/Air/Gnr. Sgt Reginald T.Miller was found on the beach with the body of Observer Sgt Percy D. Nixon being discovered on the 24th May, both were laid to rest in Skagen cemetery.

        

Members of the Kriegsmarine investigating the wreck of L4087.


Burial Details:

Sgt. Percy Dryden Nixon. Skagen Cemetery, Denmark. Coll. grave M. 2. NoK Details not currently available.

Sgt. Reginald Talbot Miller. Skagen Cemetery, Denmark. Coll. grave M. 2. Son of Talbot William and Lily Miller, of Winsley, Wiltshire, England.

With thanks to the following: Terry McSweeney, Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vol 1',  the CWGC. 

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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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