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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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64
14th January 1944 64 Squadron Spitfire IX EP549 Fl/Lt. Poulton

Operation: Ramrod

Date: 14th January 1944 (Friday)

Unit: No. 64 Squadron (motto: Tenax propositi - 'Firm of purpose')

Type: Spitfire IX

Serial: EP549

Code: SH-?

Base: RAF Coltishall, Norfolk

Location: English Channel off Dieppe

Pilot: Fl/Lt. Harry Robert Godfrey Poulton 742582 RAFVR Age 25. PoW Stalag Luft Barth Vogelsang

REASON FOR LOSS:

During a patrol on the morning of the 14th January engaged in combat and hit. The pilot baled out very low with the Spitfire crashing into the English Channel.

He suffered a broken leg and was quickly captured by the Germans. Taken to the hospital at Amiens for further treatment where he remained for a couple of months, sent to Dulag Luft at Frankfurt, moving soon afterwards to Stalag Luft 1 at Barth.

The leg didn't heal properly so the Red Cross Commission passed him for a rare Repatriation Exchange. He left Berlin in January 1945 and after an operation in England he was released from the RAF in 1946.

Earlier on the 15th January 1942 whilst engaged on an Army Co-Operation exercise, the propeller of his Spitfire P9500 severed the tail of Spitfire AR249 flown by 21 year old, F/O. John Harcourt Pickering. F/O. Pickering 80821 RAFV was killed. F/O. Poulton managed to make a wheels up landing suffering only bruises. Both pilots were Battle of Britain veterans and instructors at 53 Operational Training Unit.

DFC Citation 25th May 1943:

'Fl/Lt. Poulton has completed a very large number of sweeps over enemy territory in the course of which he has destroyed at least two enemy aircraft and damaged others'.

Burial and other details:

None, Fl/Lt. Harry Poulton survived the war. Born on the 19th September 1918 at Dorking in Surrey. Son of Harry Poulton (killed 8th October 1918, age 28) and Sylvia Olive Poulton (died 1974), of Abinger Hammer, Dorking, Surrey, husband of Nancie Dallyn. Retired on the 19th September 1968, passed away May 1998, age 70.

Other:

F/O. John Harcourt Pickering. Llantwit Major Cemetery. Sec. C. Grave 24. Born on 28th October 1920. Son of Albert Edward and Gladys Elsie Pickering, of Reading, Berkshire. Grave inscription: 'Resurgam'. (I shall rise again)

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of these pilots with thanks to sources as quoted below:

KTY 08-11-2021

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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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