AR banner
Search Tips Advanced Search
Back to Top

• Kracker Archive
• Allied Losses
• Archiwum Polish
• Paradie Canadian
• RCAF
• RAAF
• RNZAF
• USA
• Searchable Lists

Info LogoAdd to or correct this story with a few clicks.
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.
Check our Research databases: Database List
.
We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.
414 Squadron Crest
05.11.1943 No. 414 Squadron Mustang I AMIII Sq/Ldr. Herbert P. Peters DFC

Operation: Ranger - South Holland / Belgium

Date: 5th November 1943

Unit: No. 414 Squadron

Type: Mustang I

Serial: AM111

Base: RAF Gatwick, England

Location: English Channel off the Dutch coast

Pilot: Sq/Ldr. Herbert Peter Peters DFC J/3512 RCAF Age 25. Missing

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taken from the ORB’s for the Squadron:

‘The squadron were called out on 12 operational sorties this day. Weather was described as cloudy and foggy for the entire day with visibility between 500 - 1000 yards. Sq/Ldr. Peter and F/O. Wonnacott carried out a ranger in the area described above. They damaged trains and several pylons. When leaving the Dutch coast 

Left: Sq/Ldr. Herbert Peter Peters DFC (courtesy Christopher Clarke and Esther Jones - daughter of Sq/Ldr. Peters)

Sq/Ldr. Peters attacked a small vessel just off-shore. He encountered heavy flak and was hit in several places. The aircraft started to burn - climbed steeply and then lost height quickly. Sq/Ldr. Peters was seen to jettison the hood and jump from about 20 ft from the mud bank into which his aircraft also crashed.

F/O. Wonnacott circled the spot and saw the body of the C.O in the mud. He was not sure if he was alive or dead, but since the report he was classed as ‘missing - believed killed’. The C.O was very popular with the boys and everyone had hoped for the best and that he had been made a PoW.

A bad day for the squadron!’

Burial Details:

Sq/Ldr. Herbert Peter Peters DFC. Runnymede Memorial Panel 172. Son of Peter and Esther Peters, of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, husband of Joan Peters (née Rowell)

With thanks to Mr Christopher Clarke in Canada and also Esther Jones (née Peters), the daughter of Sq/Ldr. Peters DFC for the supply of information and photographs.

Pages of Outstanding Interest
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
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 Captain 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', Andrew Mielnik: Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Polish graves: https://niebieskaeskadra.pl/, PoW Museum Żagań, 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 any image to enlarge it

 Click to add your info via ticket on Helpdesk •Click to let us know via ticket on Helpdesk• Click to explore the entire site
If you would like to comment on this page, please do so via our Helpdesk. Use the Submit a Ticket option to send your comments. After review, our Editors will publish your comment below with your first name, but not your email address.

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 - 2025 Last Modified: 26 May 2014, 21:05

Monitor Additions/Changes?Click to be informed of changes to this page. Create account for first monitor only, thereafter very fast. Click to close without creating monitor