Operation: 'Instep'

Date: 22nd December 1942 (Tuesday)

Unit: No. 234 Squadron (motto: Ignem mortemque despuimus - 'We spit fire and death')

Type: Spitfire Vc

Serial: EE688

Code: AZ-A

Base: RAF Portreath, Cornwall

Location: Celtic Sea

Pilot: Fl/Lt. Jack Henderson DFC. 106193 RAFVR Age 23. Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 15:10 hrs leading 3 others as 'Red' section. The squadron had been ordered to carry out shipping protection for the day.

Three Fw.190 were spotted flying at 1,000 ft. 20 miles WNW of Ushant, the section broke away and engaged the enemy.

After the combat with no damage or loss to the section Red 1 who was flying slightly behind the others gave the order to reform. Rad 1 (Fl/Lt. Henderson) then appeared to approach Red 3 who was leading the other two. Red 3 (Lt W.H. Christie), flying Spitfire Vc EE717 (*) was at this time flying very low and after about 30 seconds flying on course for RAF Portreath noticed Red 1 was missing.

The section, Red 3, Red 2 (P/O. J.H. Taylor flying Spitfire Vc EE687 (***) and Red 4 (F/O. M. Randrup flying Spitfire Vc E618 (*) ) looked around but there was no sign of Red 1. The remains three landed back at base at 17:05 hrs. Lt. W.H. Christie together with W/Cdr, O'Brien (listed in the ORB's as Red 5 - but no further details) reported that one of the Fw190 that had been attacked by Fl/Lt. Henderson saw it trailing black smoke before diving into the sea.

The theory was that Fl/Lt. Henderson after giving the order to reform, had dived under Red 3 and a wing clipped the water and EE688 went straight into the sea.

The following day at 08:45 hrs five aircraft from 234 squadron led by Sq/Ldr. George Craig Banning-Lover AFC together with five aircraft from 19 squadron searched the area for Fl/Lt. Henderson but nothing was found.

(**) Spitfire Vc EE717. Lost on the 03rd August 1943 P/O. Zbigniew Makowski of 317 (P) squadron at Plouvien France, pilot killed. Further details here.

(***) Spitfire Vc EE687 - Lost on the 26th February 1943 Sgt. George Selwyn Holme of 601 squadron off Lizard Point, pilot missing - believed killed,

(*) Spitfire Vc E618 - Lost on the 08th April 1943 whilst with 602 squadron, F/O. James Cowpe Yates 122429 , pilot missing - believed killed near Brest.

Notes:

F/O. Michael Randrup was born on the 20th April 1913 in Moscow. The son of Søren Revsgaard Randrup (died on the 23rd November 1935, age 59) and Alexandra Randrup (née Piatkoff - died 16th March 1929, age 49). His cousin, Ivan Christian Randrup, who became a pilot in the ATA pilot during WW2. (Died of a self inflicted gunshot on the 29th January 1941, age 26) at Edzell Aerodrome, Fettercairn, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Michael Randrup survived the war as a Lt/Col. In March 1946 he is offered a position as Chief Test Pilot for D. Napier and Son Ltd, In 1946 and remained so until 1960. On the 28th August 1957 he pilots Canberra B.2 (WK163) setting a new world aircraft altitude record of 70,310 ft. From 1966-1973 Michael Randrup worked as manager of the British Aircraft Corporation, Saudi Arabia. He passed away on the 03rd February 1984, age 70.

Lt. Werner Hosewinckel Christie was born on the 13th December 1917 in Vang, Hedmark. The son of professor Werner Hosewinckel Christie (died 29th April1927, age 49) and Baronesse Karen Amalie (née Wedel-Jarlsberg - died on the 10th November 1952, age 66) .Husband of Elisabeth Marie Cathrine (née Hille - died 21st October 2013, age 91). Lt. Christie after 244 operational operations he was shot down over Germany on the 18th April 1945 and held as a PoW until the end of the war. After the war, Christie wanted to continue in the air force. He graduated from the RAF Staff College in 1946, worked for the Scandinavian Airlines System from 1947 to 1949 and as the aerial attaché at the Norwegian embassy in Stockholm from 1949 to 1951. He was appointed as head of the Norwegian Air Force High Command (Luftforsvarets overkommando) in 1951, with the rank of major, but did not stay for long. He worked at the military airport at Gardermoen from 1952 to 1954 and at the air force staff academy from 1954 to 1956. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1953. From 1956 to 1959 he was the secretary-general of Norsk Aero Klubb. He then returned to the Air Force, and was promoted to colonel in 1962 and major general in 1968. He left the air force in 1977. Worked for the clothing company Helly Hansen for a year, and then for the Norwegian Red Cross from 1978 to 1982. He was also a member of the gentlemen's skiing club SK Fram from 1963. He passed away on the 29th December 2004, age 87.

Burial details:.

Fl/Lt. Jack Henderson DFC. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 65. Son of Stanley Henderson, and of Sarah Jane Henderson, of Little Bispham, Lancashire, England.

DFC Citation - September 1942:
This officer has participated in numerous sorties over enemy occupied territory in several shipping reconnaissance’s and took part in the combined operations at Dieppe. Throughout, he has displayed coolness and determination. He has destroyed 1 and probably another 2 hostile aircraft

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of these pilots with thanks to the National Archive. Kew, Air-27-1439-63/64. Nordic aircrew losses.

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