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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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Bomber Command Crest
18.04.1945 No 640 Squadron Halifax IV RG564 C8-P F/O. Pugh

Operation: Heligoland

Date: 18th April 1945 (Wednesday)

Unit: No. 640 Squadron

Type: Halifax VI

Serial: RG564

Code: C8-P

Base: RAF Leconfield, Yorkshire

Location: No details - probably North Sea

Pilot: F/O. Harold Kenneth Pugh AUS/415916 RAAF Age 24. Missing - believed killed (1)

Fl/Eng: Fl/Sgt. Ronald Thornley Jaques 1522705 RAFVR Age 21. Missing - believed killed

Nav: Sgt. John Whittenbury 1805467 RAFVR Age 21. Missing - believed killed

Air/Bmr: Fl/Sgt. William Probert 1566612 RAFVR Age 23. Missing - believed killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: W/O. Harold Kendall Franklin AUS/427782 RAAF Age 23. Missing - believed killed

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Archibald Rowan Lishman 1595712 RAFVR Age 23. Killed

Air/Gnr: Sgt. George Alfred Knowles 3040961 RAFVR Age 19. Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

The end of the war was just 18 days away with Germany surrendering. You may wonder why 617 Lancasters, 332 Halifaxes and 20 Mosquitoes were detailed to mount such a huge operation against a tiny island with just a population of 2000 civilian persons - many of whom had moved to the mainland or had moved into tunnels and various caves. The Islands had a small airfield that hardly posed any threat, the naval base had the facility to hold a maximum of a few U-Boats. The island did have various costal gun and flak emplacements.

Some say it was to destroy stock piles of ammunitions falling into the hands of the Norwegians and being handed over to larger German garrisons in Norway and others say that it was to that Hitler along with others with the imminent collapse of the third Reich may use this area to escape by U-Boat. Others feel that perhaps a local uprising against German forces may go wrong - which in fact it did with several being arrested and shot some three days later at Cuxhaven!

Operation Heligoland 18th April 1945

Three aircraft were lost on this operation (4 others lost either during take off or landing but with no loss of life), the others:

408 Squadron Halifax VII NP776 EQ-R. Flown by 21 year old, Fl/Lt. Albert James Cull J/92246 RCAF from Toronto, Canada - Seven crew lost.
420 Squadron Halifax III NP946 PT-L. Flown by 21 year old, P/O. William John Dunnigan J/95525 RCAF from Merritt, British Columbia, Canada - Seven crew lost.

Above: Runnymede Memorial. Note: We do have high resolution images for each panel that these crew members have their names inscribed and are happy to send them to relatives at no charge.


(1) F/O. Harold Kenneth Pugh was the sole survivor from a mid air collision the previous year. Further details available but a memorial to the two crews, 13 of whom were killed, was placed at Morchard Bishop, Devon on November 06th 1994.

Burial details:

F/O. Harold Kenneth Pugh. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 283. Born on the 25th May 1920 at Perth, the son of Frank Reginald Hendy Pugh and Lavinia May Pugh and husband of Edith Myrtle Pugh, of Leederville, Western Australia. (Muresk Diploma of Agriculture - Honours 1937).

Fl/Sgt. Ronald Thornley Jaques. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 271. Son of Joseph and Millicent Gertrude Jaques, of Irlam, Manchester, England.

Sgt. John Whittenbury. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 277. Son of Joseph Henry and Ethel Agnes Whittenbury, of Nairobi, Kenya.

Fl/Sgt. William Probert. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 272. Son of William A. and Hannah Probert, of Dunoon, Argyllshire, Scotland.

W/O. Harold Kendall Franklin. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 283. Born on the 23rd December 1921 at Koorda, the son of Arthur Edgar and Euphemia Margaret Chambers Franklin, of Koorda, Western Australia.

Sgt. Archibald Rowan Lishman. Hamburg Cemetery. Grave 6A.B.3. Son of Thomas B. and Elizabeth Ann Lishman, of Keighley, Yorkshire, England.

Sgt. George Alfred Knowles. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 275. Son of Joseph and Mary Knowles, of Normanton, Yorkshire, England.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to sources as shown.

KTY - 27.04.2018

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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 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.
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