- Home
- Maps▾
- FAQ▾
- About/Donate▾
- News▾
- Obits
- Contact/Help▾
- PersonalHistories▾
- Cross Reference Research Lists ▶
- Recent Archive Reports
- Profiles in Courage
- 1914 -1918 WW1 Material
- Royal Air Force + RAFVR ▶
- WAAF/WRAF
- Australia
- Belgium
- Canada
- Site honouring Czechoslovak RAF
- Holland: LOST Rob Philips Memorial Archive
- New Zealand
- Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland
- Poland
- Archiwum Mielnika: Polish Air Force Archive
- USAAF & USAF
- USA WASP Flygirls
- USA - Co de Swart Gallery: Baker Crew 95th BG
- USA - Co de Swart Gallery: Geyer Crew 98th BG
- Axis Powers
- Russia/Soviet Union
- RCAF 409 The Nighthawks
- Hore-Kennard RCAF
- Zenon Bartkowiak PAF
- Charles Dills USAAC
- Gerald Schwartz USAAC
- Soviet Women 'Night Witches'
- Full Story of Lancaster Z-Zebra
- First Air Raid Victim
- 1914 -1918 WW1 Material
- Databases▾
- Databases Master List
- Consolidated Names: includes 500K+ names from all our databases
- Cross Reference Research Lists
- Research Sources
- MULTI-NATIONAL DATABASES
- Aces and Aviators International WW1 - 3000+
- Vitz Archive: War Crimes Victims of Axis
- NEW! USAAF & Allies Non Combat Incidents and Losses
- ALLIED DATABASES
- Allied Losses and Incidents: all Commands
- Aircrew Deaths & Resting Places Worldwide 1939 - 47 120,000+
- Alamein Allied Air Forces Memorial 3000+
- Allied Non-British Graves in Europe managed by CWGC
- Battle of Britain: Enhanced and Extended
- Glider Pilot Regiment Casualties
- Korean War UN Forces Database
- LOST Rob Philips Memorial Archive Dutch/2TAF Losses
- Malta Memorial Database
- Nordic Allied Database
- Ottawa Allied Air Forces Memorial Database
- Paradie RCAF Archive
- Archiwum: Polish Air Force Archive
- Polish Honour Roll
- RAAF Honour Roll
- RCAF Notes - 9000+
- Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm
- Runnymede Memorial Database
- Soviet Aces Database 1941 - 1945
- US Aces and Aviators WW2
- US Air Service Victories WW1
- USAAF Allies NonCombat Losses
- USAAF Operations WWll
- US Marine Corps Squadrons WWll
- Vitz Memorial Archive: War Crimes Victims of Axis
- AXIS DATABASES
- Kracker Luftwaffe Archive
- Deutsches Kreuz in Gold
- German Graves in UK
- German WW2 Aces
- Luftwaffe Graves Managed by CWGC
- Luftwaffe Victories by Name/Date
- Archives ▾
- Archiwum: Polish Air Force Archive: Data on 17,000
- Kracker Luftwaffe Archive
- LOST Rob Philips Memorial Archive: Holland
- Paradie Canadian Archive
- Paul McGuiness RAAF Archive WW1 & WW2
- Profiles in Courage
- Vitz Memorial Archive: War Crimes Victims of Axis
- USAAF Combat Operations 1941-45 Worldwide
- 409 RCAF: The Nighthawks
- Detailed Personal Archive RCAF Officer
- Charles Dills Archive
- Gerald Schwartz Archive
- RAF Coastal Command Patrol Areas
- US Intelligence Analysis German Anti Aircraft
- Allied Mine Laying Map (Gardening)
- Airborne Forces - a short history
- More ▾
- de Swart Gallery: Baker Crew, Geyer Crew
- Guide to Complete Site
- Helpdesk
- Donate
- Lay a Wreath
- Your relative's CWGC grave explained
- CWGC War Graves in USA
- Doing Your Own Research
- Research Sources
- US Assistance to Warsaw Uprising
- Our support for charities
- Axis Awards Descriptions
- Stolperstein: Permanent Remembrance
- Who fought for Britain 1939 - 1945
- Aerotoxic Syndrome
- Bermuda Triangle Mystery
- Cross Reference Research Lists
- Not Many People Know That
- Image Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations Used by Forces
- Poetry of Direct Personal Experience
- Staggering Cost in Lives of WWll
- Animated Map All Allied Bombing WW2
- USAAF Combat Operations 1941-45 Worldwide
- Polish Airmen Fighting (Video)
- Important Links
- Canada Memorial Project
- Remembering Banica
- Book Reviews
- 1 BFTS Texas
- Veterans Appeals
- Korean Conflict
- Vietnam Conflict
- Other Conflicts
- Commercial Aviation
- Bush Flying
- Nose Art
- Military Humour
- Airborne Forces - a short history
• Kracker Archive
• Allied Losses
• Archiwum Polish
• Paradie Canadian
• RCAF
• RAAF
• RNZAF
• USA
• Searchable Lists
Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.
Check our Research databases: Database List
.
We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.
Operation: Gardening
Date: 18/19th September 1942 (Friday/Saturday)
Unit: 15 Squadron
Type: Stirling I
Serial: N3759
Code: LS-Q
Base: RAF Bourn, Lincolnshire
Location: Kattegat area
Pilot: P/O. James Edward Land J/85241 RCAF Age 22. Missing - believed killed
Fl/Eng: Sgt. Robert Frederick Lowrie 575843 RAF Age 19. Missing - believed killed
Nav: Sgt. George Hayes 1377993 RAFVR Age 32. Missing - believed killed
Air/Bmr: Fl/Sgt. William Douglas Probert R/74972 RCAF Age 24. Missing - believed killed
W/Op/Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. Frank Edward Davidson R/62936 RCAF Age 21. Missing - believed killed
Air/Gnr: Sgt. Gordon Frederick Eldridge 911677 RAFVR Age 21. Missing - believed killed
Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. Charles Frederick Bee R/98141 RCAF Age 22. Missing - believed killed
REASON FOR LOSS:
Taking off for a Gardening operation at 20:00 hrs from RAF Bourn in Lincolnshire to lay mines in the Undergrowth and Yew Tree areas (Kattegat) (code names for RAF Mine laying areas see here) 115 aircraft taking part in this operation dropping mines in various areas. 5 aircraft were lost, 2 Stirlings, 2 Lancasters and 1 Wellington.
The aircraft was reported to have been to hit by Marine Flak and 2/lei Flak Abt 844, II/1/lei Flak Abt 836 and Alarm Flak Battery 11/XI. The aircraft crashed into the sea 70km North West of Esbjerg at 0100 hours. (Nachtjagd Combat Archives The Early Years Part 3 - Theo Boiten).
Also lost from the Squadron on this operation:
Stirling I R9351 LS-R Flown by P/O. John miller Steel 126588 RAFVR taken PoW at Stalag Luft Sagan and Belaria with PoW number 720. He was knocked unconscious when the aircraft hit the water, quickly recovered and swam to the surface. Picked up by a passing ferry. Sadly the remaining 6 crew were posted as missing - believed killed.
Burial details:
P/O. James Edward Land. Runnymede Memorial, Surrey. Panel 100. Son of John Frank and Beulah Ellison Land, husband of Helen Louise Land, of Baldwyn, Mississippi, USA.
Sgt. Robert Frederick Lowrie. Runnymede Memorial, Surrey. Panel 88. Son of John Robert and Florence Gertrude Lowrie, of Halstead, Kent, England.
Sgt. George Hayes. Runnymede Memorial, Surrey. Panel 85. Son of George and Lilian Beatrice Hayes; husband of Lilian Mary Hayes, of Cheam, Surrey, England.
Fl/Sgt. William Douglas Probert. Runnymede Memorial, Surrey. Panel 106. Son of William and Elsie May Probert, of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Fl/Sgt. Frank Edward Davidson. Runnymede Memorial, Surrey. Panel 103. Son of James S. and Elsie Davidson, of Debert, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Sgt. Gordon Frederick Eldridge. Runnymede Memorial, Surrey. Panel 82. Son of Sidney Eldridge, and of Beatrice Eldridge, of Ewell, Surrey, England.
Fl/Sgt. Charles Frederick Bee. Runnymede Memorial, Surrey. Panel 102. Son of Earle R. and Dora L. Bee, of Leamington, Ontario, Canada.
Researched for Garrett Kalem. Thanks to John Jones for the Theo Boiten information. Sources as quoted below.
RS 15.08.2019 - Update with loss information
History Airborne Forces • Soviet Night Witches • Bomber Command Memories • Abbreviations • Gardening Codenames
CWGC: Your Relative's Grave Explained • USA Flygirls • Axis Awards Descriptions • 'Lack Of Moral Fibre'
Concept of Colonial Discrimination • Unauthorised First Long Range Mustang Attack
RAAF Bomb Aimer Evades with Maquis • SOE Heroine Nancy Wake • Fane: Motor Racing PRU Legend
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.
Click to add your info via ticket on Helpdesk •
Click to let us know via ticket on Helpdesk• 
Click to explore the entire site
A word from the Editor: your contribution is important. We welcome your comments and information. Thanks in advance.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember
them. - Laurence
Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed
by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior
permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2024
Last Modified: 17 March 2021, 15:50