Operation: SOE, 'Bob 325'

Date: 31st August/1st September 1944 (Thursday/Friday)

Unit No: 138 (SD) Squadron (motto: 'For Freedom'), 38 Group

Type: Stirling IV

Serial: LJ503

Code: NF:P

Base: RAF Tempsford, Bedfordshire

Location: Lombard, France

Pilot: Fg Off. Robert Blackburn Hardie 415649 RAAF Age 34. KiA

Flt Eng: Sgt. George McPherson Jack 1822606 RAFVR Age 19. KiA

Nav: Flt Sgt. Morris Stanley 427160 RAAF Age 19. KiA

2nd Nav: Sgt. John Campbell Alexander 1672382 RAFVR Age 30. KiA

Bomb Aimer: Flt Sgt. Gordon Wesley McLeod 422658 RAAF Age 26. KiA

WOp: Flt Sgt. Norman Edward Barnes 424554 RAAF Age 20. KiA

Air Gnr (Mid Upper): Flt Sgt. Stuart James Hayes 432172 RAAF Age 19. KiA

Air Gnr (Rear): Flt Sgt. Robert Alexander Ashton 436598 RAAF Age 22. KiA

Above left to right: Fg Off. Robert B. Hardie, Flt Sgt. Morris Stanley, Flt Sgt. Gordon W. McLeod.

Flt Sgt. Norman E. Barnes, Flt Sgt. Stuart J. Hayes, Flt Sgt. Robert A. Ashton (From their Service Records)

Above Norman E. Barnes (courtesy Vicki Barnes-Scott - February 2020)

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 22:00 hrs on a Special Operation Executive (SOE) operation 'Bob 325' which was a supply drop for members of the French Resistance.

The aircraft encountered a severe storm which caused it to clip some trees on a mountain and crashed in the village of Lombard.

Above as described (courtesy Geoff Swallow)

A second aircraft from the squadron failed to return. Stirling III LK131 NF:T on 'operation merit' to Holland flown by Flt Lt. Alfred Jerry Wallace J272564 RCAF was KiA with six other crew and Sgt. Clarence Bowker 2211810 RAFVR became PoW No. 764 at Stalag Luft 7.

The airfield at Tempsford was located in a relatively remote part of the Bedfordshire countryside. It was built on the land of the Gibraltar Farm, which was situated across a low bog. The airfield was developed in 1940 under the specifications of a Class "A" airfield, though it was kept clandestine.

Class "A" airfields comprised three runways laid out at 60 degree angles to each other in a triangular pattern, and a perimeter track which circled the field's dispersals. The longest landing strip was designated the main landing strip and aligned SWto NE wherever possible, this being chosen to allow aircraft to take off and land into the prevailing wind. The other two runways were to allow safe take off and landing from either end when the wind was blowing from other directions.

They were also characterised by standardised technical site requirements for repair, maintenance, and storage of aircraft. Two T2-type metal hangars; 240 by 115 by 29 feet (73.2 by 35.1 by 8.8 metres), were the standard for most airfields, although a few pre-1942 bases had three T2 hangars.

The locals knew there was an RAF station down a little side-road marked “This road is closed to the public”, but they knew little else. Since the flights were all undertaken at night, the local farmers saw very little of the aircraft that operated out of Tempsford. Built over a bog, this became telling later when fog proved a recurring significant hazard to landing aircraft. The airfield lay largely dormant until the arrival of the Special Duties (SD) squadrons in 1942. 138 Squadron moved to Tempsford on the 11th March 1942. 161 Squadron followed on the 10th April 1942. The first covert supply mission flown from Tempsford was carried out by 138 Squadron on the 18th March, a moon period, to a drop zone in northern France.

Underdeveloped, Tempsford was not a typical RAF airfield. Hugh Verity, the former commanding officer of 161 Squadron's “A” Flight, described it as "Not much of an RAF station". RAF Tempsford was designed to look like an ordinary working farm. Special Operation Executive (SOE) agents were lodged in a local hotel before being brought to Tempsford's farm buildings. No one was allowed to see, let alone speak to, the agents being ferried to France. One of the buildings was brick built, but had wood siding framed around the structure to disguise it. This structure was commonly referred to as the Gibraltar Farm. It was very unusual for any structure to be standing within the perimeter track of an RAF airfield, but at Tempsford the Gibraltar Farm and a number of other farm buildings were located there. After final briefings and checks at the farm, the agents were issued firearms in the barn and then boarded onto an awaiting aircraft flown by one of a team of pilots.

Though keen to discover the source of the SD flights, the Germans were never able to determine where the Special squadrons were based, though twice a German agent was picked up lurking about near the airfield.

Burial details:

All the crew were buried at the Arc-Et-Senans Communal Cemetery, which the only commonwealth graves in the cemetery. Local resistance built a memorial to the crew and the villagers attend a memorial service every year honouring the crew.

Above: Local French villagers at the annual remembrance service to crew (Courtesy of Geoff Swallow)

Above memorial to the crew as placed by the French Resistance in 1944 (courtesy Vicki Barnes-Scott - February 2020)

Fg Off. Robert Blackburn Hardie. Arc-Et-Senans Communal Cemetery, Grave 1. Grave inscription: 'LOVED SON OF MR. AND MRS. J. HARDIE OF ALBANY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA'. Born on the 25th August 1910 at Albany. Son of John and Sarah Hardie, Albany, Western Australia.

Sgt. George McPherson Jack. Arc-Et-Senans Communal Cemetery, Grave 8. Grave inscription: 'PROUD, WE SALUTE OUR DEAD WHERE THEY LIE GATHERED, EACH TO HIS SLEEPING'. Son of George and Isobella Hay Jack of Liberton, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Flt Sgt. Morris Stanley. Arc-Et-Senans Communal Cemetery, Grave 2. Grave inscription: 'EVER REMEMBERED'. Born on the 30th November at Fremantle. Son of Edgar Hugh and Nessie Venetta Stanley, of Claremont, Western Australia.

Sgt. John Campbell Alexander. Arc-Et-Senans Communal Cemetery, Grave 3. Grave inscription: 'IT'S ONLY THOSE WHO HAVE LOST CAN TELL THE PAIN OF PARTING WITHOUT FAREWELL'. Son of William and Margaret Alexander of Glasgow. Husband of Isabella McM. Alexander, of Glasgow, Scotland.

Flt Sgt. Gordon Wesley McLeod. Arc-Et-Senans Communal Cemetery. Grave 4. Grave inscription: 'HE IS NEAREST GOD WHO SERVED HIM BEST. EVER REMEMBERED'. Born on the 24th November 1917 at Macksville. Son of William Gordon and Violet May McLeod of Macksville, New South Wales, Australia.

Flt Sgt. Norman Edward Barnes. Arc-Et-Senans Communal Cemetery, Grave 5. Grave inscription: 'THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD; I SHALL NOT WANT" EVER REMEMBERED. MUM AND DAD'. Born on the 5th November 1923 at Speers Point. Son of Albert Leslie and Winifred Graham Barnes of Belmont, New South Wales, Australia.

Flt Sgt. Stuart James Hayes. Arc-Et-Senans Communal Cemetery, Grave 6. Grave inscription: 'DEARLY LOVED SON OF MR. AND MRS. M. HAYES OF SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA'. Born on the 29th September 1924 at Marrickville. Son of Matthew and Isabel Hayes of Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia.

Flt Sgt. Robert Alexander Ashton. Arc-Et-Senans Communal Cemetery, Grave 7. Grave inscription: 'LOVED SON OF WILLIAM AND LAURA ASHTON OF MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA'. Born on the 28th February 1922 at Melbourne. Son of William Arthur and Laura Rosena Ashton of Brighton, Victoria, Australia.

Researched by Kelvin Youngs (Webmaster) for Vicki Barnes-Scott, a relative of Flt Sgt. Norman Edward Barnes, and dedicated to the relatives of this crew, with thanks Geoff Swallow for various photographs, Wikipedia for RAF Tempsford text (Jan 2020). Reviewed and updated by Aircrew Remembered (Sep 2025).

Other sources listed below:

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