Operation: Mülheim/Ruhr, Germany

Date: 22nd/23rd June 1943 (Tuesday/Wednesday)

Unit No: 90 Squadron

Type: Stirling III

Serial: BK804

Code: WP:J

Base: RAF West Wickham, Suffolk

Location: Meiderich/Beeck, Duisburg, Germany

Pilot: Flt Sgt. James Allan Robson 1044114 RAFVR Age 23. MiA

Flt Eng: Sgt. Newell Graham 1289237 RAFVR Age 33. Murdered (1)

Nav: Sgt. Guy Kipling 657159 RAFVR Age 24. MiA

Bomb Aimer: Sgt. Jack Picton 658095 RAFVR Age 25. MiA

WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. Daniel Sanders 1196410 RAFVR Age 23. Murdered (1)

Air Gnr (Mid Upp): Sgt. Clifford Richard Fenwick 522339 RAFVR Age? MiA

Air Gnr (Rear): Sgt. Reginald Hammond 1335044 RAFVR Age 21. Murdered (1)

Note: RAF West Wickam was renamed RAF Wratting Common on the 21st August 1943.

REASON FOR LOSS:

Eighteen Stirlings from the Sqn were detailed to join a force of 557 aircraft to bomb Mülheim. The aircraft took off from RAF West Wickham on the night of the 22nd June 1943 between 23:15 and 23:47 hrs. One Stirling returned early with an oxygen system failure.

The attack was carried out over a 10 min period starting at 01:29 hrs. Two aircraft failed to return.

During the years 1943 and 1944 the city was the targeted several times by air raids. The most severe one took place during this night. The main targets were the inner city, the railway lines, the Deutsche Röhrenwerke, the Schmitz-Scholl firm (food supplier for the Wehrmacht), the Reichsbahn Repair Shop and the harbour. The raid claimed 530 dead among the city inhabitants, and 1,630 buildings were destroyed or damaged. As a consequence, about 40,000 inhabitants had to be evacuated.

The post-war British Bombing Survey Unit estimated that this one raid destroyed 64% of the town.

BK804 was hit by 4./schw. Flak Abt. 444 (Eisenhahn = Railway guns), 1. and 2./schw. Flak Abt. 447, 4./schw. Flak Abt. 546, 4./schw. Flak Abt. 401 and 3./schw. Flak Abt. 902. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive (23 June - 22 September) 1943 Part 2 - Theo Boiten)

The second aircraft from the Sqn that failed to return was BK665 WP:D which was claimed by Hptm. Heinrich Wohlers, his 12th Abschuss, from Stab IV./NJG4 detached to 3./NJG1, 2km south of Appeldorn at 2.800 m, at 01:35 hrs. (4 KiA, 3 PoWs) (Nachtjagd Combat Archive (23 June - 22 September) 1943 Part 2 - Theo Boiten)

It was recorded that the Stirling was shot down on the 23rd March 1943 [sic] at 01:36 hrs and crashed near a railway embankment on Friedrich-Ebert-Straße in the Beeck borough of Duisburg.

(1) The Field Investigation Section, of the War Crime Group (NWE) carried out two investigations, in 1947 and in 1948, into the deaths of three airmen later believed to be Sgt. Graham, Sgt. Sanders and Sgt. Hammond.

It was determined that the three were murdered and the main perpetrator was a petty Nazi party official, a man named Willi Lügger. Two others, a Willi Henk and Gerhard Böllert, were also implicated in the murders.

Willi Lügger was a former Ortsgruppenleiter (Nazi party Local Group leader). He was killed during an air-raid on the 14th October 1944;

Willi Henk was a former deputy Ortsgruppenleiter;

Gerhard Böllert was labelled a top-ranking Nazi but his actual position has not been determined.

The first investigation did not get off to a good start as it was thought, falsely, that there were no Allied casualties over Duisburg during the month of June 1943.

One witness when questioned stated that the following day he was present when he overheard a conversation between Lügger, Henk and Böllert when Lügger boasted that he had shot three airmen who had bailed out of a plane during the night. Böllert said that was what they deserved but Henk said that he thought that it was unnecessary for them to be shot.

The witness in question was deemed not to be of good character and in view of the fact no confirmatory statement had been obtained it was recommended that the case be closed.

The second investigation found no concrete evidence to support the suspicion that Henk and Böllert, were implicated in the murders. Several other suspects were investigated but again there was not enough evidence to prove their involvement.

It was concluded that as the crime had been committed in 1943 and owing to air-raids and post war development, the population of the district having fluctuated considerably, it would have been improbable to procure witnesses against possible co-perpetrators. The recommendation was for the case to be closed.

Sgt. Graham, Sgt. Sanders and Sgt. Hammond where initially buried at the Nordfriedhof, Düsseldorf and reinterred at the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery on the 9th October 1946.

Burial details:

Flt Sgt. James Allan Robson. Runneymede Memorial Panel 139. Born in the 3rd Qtr of 1920. Son of Henry and Mary (née Anderson) Robson, of Wooler, Northumberland, England.

Sgt. Newell Graham. Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, 6.A.1. Grave Inscription: "AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM". Born on the 2nd October 1907 in South Shield, Durham. Son of Graham Alexander and Marie Louise Graham; husband of Evelyn Graham, of Cullercoats. Northumberland, England.

Sgt. Guy Kipling. Runneymede Memorial Panel 156. Born on the 12th January 1918 in Midhurst, Hampshire. Son of Robert and Rosa Kate (née Knight) Kipling; husband of Peggy (née Lucas) Kipling, of Chelmsford, Essex, England.

His twin brother, Sgt. Bernard Kipling 754444 RAFVR was KiA on a mission to Ludwigshafen aboard 77 Sqn Whitley V Z6559 on the 9th/10th May 1941. (5 crew KiA);

His father served on a home posting during WW1 in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). He passed away on the 28th October 1943, four months after the loss of his second son;

Another brother, Cpl. Peter Neville Kipling T83578 Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was killed in a motorcycle accident on the 22nd June 1944;

A fourth brother, Robert Edward Kipling also served during the war in the RAFVR Technical Branch, became a SNCO (551140) and retired from the RAF in August 1961 as a Flt Lt. (57943).

Sgt. Jack Picton. Runneymede Memorial Panel 161. Born on the 4th November 1917 in Yorkshire. Son of Horace and Lucy (née Tasker) Picton, of Wath-on-Dearne, Yorkshire; husband of Olive May (née Vicoars) Picton, of Wath-on-Dearne, Yorkshire, England.

Sgt. Daniel Sanders. Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, 5.H.17. Grave Inscription: "HE GAVE HIS LIFE THAT WE MIGHT LIVE. MOM AND DAD". Son of Daniel T. and Minnie (née Oakley) Sanders, of Stockland Green, Birmingham, England.

Sgt. Clifford Richard Fenwick. Runneymede Memorial Panel 149. No Further information available.

Sgt. Reginald Hammond. Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, 5.H.18. Grave Inscription: "ALL TIMES OF PAIN ARE OVER NOW. PEACE OF HEAVEN YOUR RESTING PLACE". Son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Hammond, of Arundel, Sussex, England

Researched by Ralph Snape and Traugott Vitz for Aircrew Remembered. With thanks to Traugott Vitz for his work on the ‘VitzArchive’

Other sources listed below:

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