Operation: Aerodromes, Northern France

Date: 6th/7th December 1940 (Friday/Saturday)

Unit: 49 Squadron

Type: Hampden I

Serial: X3028

Code: EA:S

Base: RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire

Location: Welton, Lincolnshire

Pilot: Sgt. J.A. Barrier 741469 RAFVR Age? Injured - survived

Obs: Sgt. Garton Vincent Davenport-Jones 653259 RAF Age 19. Killed

WOp/Air Gnr: Fg Off. Kenneth William Michie 41723 RAF Age 24. Killed

WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. Thomas Goldie 631889 RAF Age 19. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

X3028 took off from RAF Scampton at 17:28 hrs along with nine other aircraft from the Squadron on operations against enemy occupied aerodromes in Northern France. Two aircraft were missing from this operation.

X3028 aircraft was destroyed on return when it crashed at Welton at 00:10hrs after the pilot lost control whilst looking for the airfield flarepath. The pilot was unaware of the change in barometric pressure which caused the altimeter to read 300 feet too high.

Fg.Off. Kenneth Michie, who as a Pilot was a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner on this operation, had a lucky earlier escape on the 20th July when the Hampden I L4077 ran out of fuel on return from a gardening operation. The aircraft crashed at 04:35 hrs at Beacon Hill near Hunstanton, Norfolk - all the crew escaped with various injuries.

The other two missing aircraft from this operation were:

Hampden I P4404 EA:R flown by 23 year old Sgt. John Cecil Shaw 742749 RAFVR from Hayes, Middlesex - taken PoW with all his crew.

Hampden X3050 EA:N Flown by Sgt. Stuart Gordon Greeves 740008 RAFVR. The aircraft was hit by flak of II.Flakkorps and crashed in the sea off Oostende Belgium. There were no survivors and the crew are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. (Nachtjagd War Diaries Volume 1 (September 1939 - March 1944) - Dr Theo E.W. Boiten). Sgt. Greeves is thought to have been one of the first pilots to be trained within the pre-war RAFVR scheme.

Burial details:

Sgt. Garton Vincent Davenport-Jones. Scampton Churchyard (St. John the Baptist) Grave 16. Grandson of Mr. and Mrs. G. Bacon, of Deolali, Bombay, India.

Above: Credit of The Ottawa Journal, dated Tuesday December 10th 1940.

Fg Off. Kenneth William Michie. Scampton Churchyard (St. John the Baptist) Grave 15. Born during 1916 in Medicine Hat, Cypress, Alberta. Son of Mr and Mrs William Michie from Medicine Hat, Cypress, Alberta. Husband to Florence May (née Williams) Michie from Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Wales. He enlisted in the RAF during December 1938.

Sgt. Thomas Goldie. Lesmahagow Cemetery. Plot 1. Grave 63. Son of John and Julia Goldie, of Coalburn, Lanarkshire, Scotland.

For further details our thanks to the following sources shown below. Corrections and update by Aircrew Remembered (Jun 2021).

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