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.

10 Squadron Crest
13/14.11.1940 No. 10 Squadron Whitley V T4230 ZA-R W/Cdr. Kenneth F. Ferguson

Operation: Merseburg - Oil plant

Date: 13/14th November 1940 (Wednesday/Thursday)

Unit: No. 10 Squadron

Type: Whitley V

Serial: T4230

Code: ZA-R

Base: RAF Leeming, Yorkshire

Location: North Sea - lost without trace.

Pilot: W/Cdr. Kenneth Francis Ferguson 32099 RAF Age 29. Missing

Obs: Sgt. Charles Stanley Rogers 741897 RAF Age? Missing

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Walter Fraser 747914 RAFVR Age 29. Missing

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Alexander Watson 551877 RAF Age ? Missing

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Kenneth Frederick Weston 903273 RAFVR Age 20. Missing

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 21:46 hrs and last heard of at 01:55 hrs. Believed to have been lost over the North Sea. 72 aircraft detailed to bomb 5 various targets in Germany, only 15 aircraft bombed the primary targets.

Whitley V, with right, pilot W/Cdr. Kenneth Francis Ferguson (courtesy Sherborne School archives - see credits)

On the 14/15th September 1940 Sq/Ldr. Ferguson (with two of this crew, Sgt. Charles Stanley Rogers and Sgt. Walter Fraser abandoned the aircraft after engine failure and took to the dingy with 3 other crew. They were rescued some four hours later by a fishing trawler off Spurn Head. All five crew survived.

Then, on the 14/15th October 1940 with the same crew, after eleven hours flying on an operation to Stettin - abandoned the aircraft, when low on fuel and flying into a blanket of low cloud. All the crew landed safely.

Note: Serial Range T4200 - T4239. 40 x Whitley Mk.V. Delivered by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft between 30th August 1940 and 2nd October 1940. Contract No.38599/39. 

Above - Runnymede Memorial - from the inside (Archives)

Sherborne School, Dorset - Any further information that you are able to assist them with fallen former pupils from all wars, we would be pleased to pass onto them. 

Burial details:

W/Cdr. Kenneth Francis Ferguson. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 3. Further information courtesy Sherborne School Archives: Born 7th June 1911, son of Capt. C. A. Ferguson and Lady Edith Ferguson, Swindon. Attended The Wells House school, Malvern Wells. Attended Sherborne School (Lyon House) May 1925-December 1929; 1st XI cricket team, 1929; 1st XV rugby football team 1929. Borneo Company, 1930-1931. Royal Air Force, 1931.

Obituary in 'The Shirburnian', December 1944: 'Kenneth Francis Ferguson was in the Cricket XI and the Football XV and Squash Racquets team. He could play all games well and represented the Army in Egypt and elsewhere, but he had far more in him than mere games ability, a modesty which was delightful and an outlook which was never unkind or over-critical. After a time with the Air Ministry he was allowed to fly again to his great delight. After a number of successful raids he went over Germany again and the last that was heard of him was a wireless message which stopped suddenly. He was the best type of Officer.'

Sgt. Charles Stanley Rogers. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 19. Next of kin details unavailable, are you able to assist?

Sgt. Walter Fraser. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 14. Son of Mr. and Mrs. T. K. Fraser, of Kinghorn, Fife, Scotland. Solicitor.

Sgt. Alexander Watson. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 20. Next of kin details unavailable, are you able to assist?

Sgt. Kenneth Frederick Weston. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 20. Son of Frederick and Sarah Ann Weston, of West Wickham, Kent, Englandq.

With thanks to Sherborne School Archives for additional information. For further details our thanks to the following sources shown below.

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: 11 March 2015, 23:53

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