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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07.09.1939 No. 234 Squadron Hudson I N7247 QX-G F/O. Green

Operation: Search operation

Date: 07th September 1939 (Thursday)

Unit: No. 224 Squadron (Coastal Command)

Type: Hudson I

Serial: N7247

Code: QX-G

Base: RAF Leuchars, Scotland

Location: North Carr Rocks, North Sea

Pilot: F/O. Harry Dale Green 39155 RAF Age 32. Missing - believed killed

Obs: P/O. Cedric Nicholas Whittington 36184 RAF Age 21. Missing - believed killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: LAC. John Lawrence Calpin 531154 RAF Age 23. Missing - believed killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: AC.1. Archibald Macrae Rodger 543962 RAF Age ? Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 17:10 hrs. on a search operation over the North Sea.

The aircraft dived into the North Sea at 22:10 hrs some 4 miles North North East of the North Carr Light Vessel.

Despite a lengthy search by the Broughty Ferry Lifeboat and Anson aircraft from 233 Squadron no trace was found of the aircraft or crew.

Two months later a cowling panel from the Hudson ws recovered from the sea in the crash area All the crew are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. (Information via Ross McNeill, author of Coastal Command Losses of the second world war)

Above: Hudson T9277 QX-W from 224 Squadron - The pilot F/O. Leslie Murphy 41196 RAF and crew all lost after being shot down on the 09th December 1940 - operation to Norway.

Above: P/O. Cedric Nicholas Whittington - front row, 3rd from left (courtesy of Richard Whittington and Peter Huntly)

The Lockheed Hudson: 224 Squadron were the first to have this aircraft in the RAF (Although later outclassed by larger bombers, the Hudson achieved some significant feats during the first half of the war. On 8 October 1939, over Jutland, a Hudson became the first Allied aircraft operating from the British Isles to shoot down an enemy aircraft. (earlier victories by a Fairey Battle on 20 September 1939 over Aachen and by Blackburn Skuas of the Fleet Air Arm on 26 September 1939 had been by aircraft based in France or on an aircraft carrier). Hudsons also provided top cover during the Battle of Dunkirk. Normally carried a crew of 6. Max speed 246 mph - 2 x Wright Cyclone 9-cylinder radial engines - range of 1,960 miles - 2 x .303 browning machine guns in dorsal turret, 2 x .303 browning machine guns in nose - 750 lb. of bombs or depth charges.

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With many thanks to Andrea Ruddick who has taken high resolution photographs of each of the panels at Runnymede for this crew - September 2017. (You are invited to contact us for copies in return for a Donation)

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Burial details:

F/O. Harry Dale Green. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 1. Son of Harry Dale Green and Eileen Ellen Green and husband of Barbara Bowes Green, of St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. Commissioned P/O. 3rd July 1937

P/O. Cedric Nicholas Whittington. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 1. Son of Charles Coates Whittington and of Annie Elizabeth Whittington (née Fryday), of Ebute Metta, Nigeria. Native of New Zealand.

LAC. John Lawrence Calpin. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 2. Son of Lawrence and Monica Mary Calpin, of Bradford, Yorkshire, England.

AC.1. Archibald Macrae Rodger. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 3. Son of George Greig Rodger, and of Annabella Macrae Rodger, of 4 Tulloch Street, Glasgow. Attended Pollokshields Senior Secondary School.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to Richard Whittington Peter Huntly and relatives of the family of P/O. Cedric Nicholas Whittington, Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”, Auckland Cenotaph, Weekly News of New Zealand, Ross McNeill, author of Coastal Command Losses of the Second World War and other sources indicated below.

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