Operation: Gardening (1)

Date: 28/29th April 1941 (Monday/Tuesday)

Unit: No. 50 Squadron (motto: Sic fidem servamus - 'Thus we keep faith' - squadron badge states From Defence to Attack)

Type: Hampden I

Serial: AD728 (The squadron ORB mistakenly states as AD782)

Code: VN-D

Base: RAF Lindholm, Yorkshire

Location: North Atlantic Ocean, off Brest, France

Pilot: Sq/Ldr. Duncan Charles Frederick Good 39459 RAF Age 24. Missing - believed killed

Obs: P/O. John George Embleton Willis 88228 RAFVR Age 26. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Albert Charles Evans 648973 RAF Age 20. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Horace Cuthbert Page 908004 RAFVR Age 22. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at around 20:00 hrs on a 'Gardening' (1) operation in the ‘Cinnamon’ area with 4 others. The route out Chesil Beach - Qyuberon and then to the drop area at La Rochelle. Only one aircraft successfully mined the area (Fl/Lt. George Ernest Weston NZ/41885 RNZAF flying Hampden I X3145) (2). Two other returning to base with their bomb load were unable to locate the target due to very poor visibility with clouds extending from 3,000 ft to 9,500 ft.

No opposition was encountered over the drop zone but returning aircraft reported accurate flak over Lorient and the Channel Islands.

2 aircraft failed to return, the other:

Hampden, I AD834 flown by 24 year old, F/O. James Alexander Whitecross DFC 41888 RAF transmitted a message at 23:59 hrs stating that they had dropped their mines but were having a problem with the port engine. Nothing further was heard and the aircraft crashed near at Quilliampe near Louseac. 2 of the crew were killed, Sgt. James Edwin Martin 581157 RAFVR baled out but suffered a broken leg and was taken PoW (605) and detained in Stalag Kopernikus. The pilot also baled out but evaded capture (despite a reward of 3,500 francs being offered by the Germans for his capture) and managed to return on the the14th July via Spain and Gibraltar. Sadly he was to lose his life on the 15th of August 1941 flying Hampden I P4408 on a daytime air sea rescue operation, his 3 other crew companions also lost their lives (see below).

AD728 was hit by flak on the return trip by flak an fell into the sea off Brest.

(1) Gardening - RAF name for dropping of sea mines, details here.

(2) Fl/Lt. George Ernest Weston was killed on the 02nd September 1942 flying Lancaster I R5703 QR-D over England. Details here.

Burial details:

Sq/Ldr. Duncan Charles Frederick Good. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 28. Son of William Duncan Good (died 1955, age 76) and of Magdalen Good (née Innes - died 22nd May 1956, age 76) Dunrobin Rad, Brighton, Australia and husband of Elsie Good (née Betts), of Worcester Park, Surrey. His brother W/O. Christopher Marshall Good Aus/417476 RAAF was also lost on the 13th of November 1945

P/O. John George Embleton Willis. Chatelaillon-Plage Communal Cemetery. Plot C. Grave 54. Also remembered on the family grave at Pitsea Cemetery, Basildon. Son of Herbert John and Dorothy Beatrice Easton Willis, of West Brompton, London, England. Epitaph: 'Son Of Herbert John And Dorothy Beatrice Willis Of Hampstead, London'.

Sgt. Albert Charles Evans. St. Martin-De-Re Communal Cemetery. Row 3. Grave 4. n of Thomas and Minnie Evans, of Aldershot, Hampshire, England. Epitaph: 'What Matters Now Grief's Darkest Day! Our God Has Wiped Those Tears Away'.

Sgt. Horace Cuthbert Page. Pornic War Cemetery. Grave 1. AB. 10. Prior to the war, he was a Foreman in Department 324 of the Rubber Factory Bata Shoe Factory. He had initially worked on the Conveyors but had been promoted to Manipulator, then chief manipulator in Department 300. His father and sister were also employed by the Bata Shoe Company at East Tilbury. Son of Walter James William Page (died 26th February 1951 age 67), and of Frances Mary Page (née Delph - died 09th October 1963, age 79), of 11 Church Park Drive, Billericay, Essex, England. Epitaph: 'In Life, One Of The Best; In Death, One Of The Brave Much Beloved By All At Home'.

Other - Hampden I AD834:

A memorial to the two lost aircrew was later erected near the crash site in Quilliampe.

Fl/Sgt. Douglas Frederick Ross. Loudeac Communal Cemetery. 543012 RAF W/Op/Air/Gnr - No further details, are you able to assist?

Sgt. Joseph Francis O'hare. Loudeac Communal Cemetery. 976138 RAFVR W/Op/Air/Gnr - No further details, are you able to assist?

Later - Hampden I P4408 Taking off from RAF Swinderby, presumed lost over the North Sea after reporting at 15:30 hrs that both engines were failing:

F/O. James Alexander Whitecross DFC. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 30. 41888 RAF Pilot. Born on the 03rd March 1917 at Winnipeg, Canada. Educated at R.H. Smith public school and then with St. John's College. At the time he enlisted he was studying at the University of Manitoba. Enlisted in the RAF on the 04th January 1939. Son of James (died 1967, age 86) and Isabella Jane Whitecross (née Anderson - died 1975, age 89), of 183 Ash Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Note: No. 6 'Jim Whitecross' squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets was named after him on the 29th of September 1941.

Whitecross Lake, west of Baralzon Lake was named after him in 1987.

Sgt. Michael Oakley Fisher. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 43. 1152463 RAFVR Observer. - No further details, are you able to assist?

Fl/Sgt. Norman Gray. Sage War Cemetery. Grave 13.D.6. 751951 RAFVR Age 22. W/Op/Air/Gnr - Son of George and Helen Gray, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, England.

Sgt. Ronald Taylor. Sage War Cemetery. Grave 11.E.1. 957728 RAFVR Age 20. W/Op/Air/Gnr - Son of John Rowland Taylor and Mary Jane Taylor, of Lower Broadheath, Worcestershire, England. Epitaph: 'Rest Eternal Grant Him, O Lord; And May Light Perpetual Shine Upon Him'.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to National Archives Air 27-486-6/7, Dr Theo Boiten Nachtjagd Combat Diaries The rally years part 1, Justin Good - a relative of the pilot, Manitoba War Dead, other sources as quoted below:

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
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