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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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439 Squadron Crest
05.10.1944 No. 439 Squadron Typhoon Ib MN765 F/O. Royce A. Johns

Operation: dive Bombing and strafing double track railway Germany

Date: 5th October 1944 (Thursday)

Unit: No. 439 Squadron

Type: Hawker Typhoon Mk1b

Serial: MN765

Code: 5V-?

Base: RAF Eindhoven (B.78), Belgium

Location: Zevenaar, near Emmerich, Germany

Pilot: F/O. Royce Allen Johns J/21959 RCAF Age 25. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

F/O. Royce Johns was hit by flak while flying on a sortie towards Speelberg, near Emmerlch. His aircraft was seen to explode when it crashed into a steeple in the town of Zevenaar.

Above family images - used with permission courtesy Dru W. Johns - April 2017


Above as shown, Below: Zevenaar Steeple after Typhoon MN765 crash (courtesy Liemers Museum - Gelders Schuttersmuseum Zevenaar)


Believed to be the last photograph taken before his death (courtesy François Dutil)

Burial details:

F/O. Royce Allen Johns. Zevenaar Roman Catholic Cemetery, Zevenaar, Gelderland, Netherlands. Grave 52. Born on the 12th July 1919 at North Battleford, the son of Charles and Lenora Johns, husband of Bernice Johns of Loon Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada. His grave is the only CWWG within the cemetery. F/O. Johns was one of the Squadrons leading pilots at the time and after over 70 operations was due to become the Station Commander. Epitaph reads: “Greater Love Hath No Man Than This That A Man Lay Down His Life For His Friends.”

Research for Aircrew Remembered by Michel Beckers. With thanks to Shelley Pershick for photographs of the pilot and also to Paul Moerenhout for grave photo. Others from the Michel Beckers collection.


Also thanks to Bob Gerritsen and the Liemers Museum - Gelders Schuttersmuseum Zevenaar - April 2017.

KTY 28.04.2017 - New photos added. SY 2020-10-11 Correction to B.78 and photo courtesy François Dutil (Paradie Canadian Archive)

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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.
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