Operation: Armed reconnaissance

Date: 19th April 1943 (Monday)

Unit: No. 13 Squadron (motto: Adjuvamus tuendo- 'We assist by watching') 326 Wing, Tactical Bomber Force, Northwest Africa

Type: Bristol Blenheim V (1)

Serial: BA727

Code: OO-?

Base: Oulmene, Algeria

Location: Mediterranean Sea

Pilot: F/O. David Ross Scrymgeour NZ/414687 RNZAF Age 27. Missing - believed killed

Obs: Sgt. Charles Kingsley Davis 1263332 RAFVR Age ? Missing - believed killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Dennis William Arthur Crowley 1295033 RAFVR Age ? Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off ar 02:45 hrs on a armed reconnaissance flight between Tunis and Cape Serat when they were shot down by Fw. Fritz Hobusch (2) of 4,/NJG 2. flying u 88C-6 36037.

Another Blenheim from the squadron that had taken off 15 minutes earlier was also understood to have been attacked by Fw. Hobusch. Blenheim V BA 990 flown by F/O. Broughton. Despite severe damage he managed to return to base uninjured, the air gunner, Sgt. A.A Smith suffered wounds to his leg after his turret was shattered (by the 21st April he was back on operation!)

(1) The Bristol Blenheim was a Versatile Fighter or Bomber depending on its Configuration. When it was Introduced it was faster than the RAF’s fighters, but by 1941 was Obsolete and suffering Severe Losses. It had a Crew of 3; Pilot, Observer and Gunner / Wireless Operator. Typically fitted with a single Dorsal Power-Operated Turret with 2 x .303s as well as 1 or 2 fixed Forward-Firing .303s. It too was all-Metal and its Maximum Speed was 266-mph, it could carry 1,000-lbs of Bombs for 1,460-miles and had a Maximum height of 22,000-ft. The Blenheim Pilot certainly did not give any Arm Signals – the Tips of the Propellers were only a Foot or so away from the Cockpit Side Windows.

(2) Fw. Fritz Hobusch- MIA with unnamed crew 15th July, 1943, Mediterranean Sea, off Sicily (Magnus & Ju 82 Loss List - Kracker Archives).

L-R: Rear; Allan Thomas Condon NZ/414962 died 01st July 2007, age 83, G.W Honey, Patrick Montague Boyle NZ/414955 died 05th April 1999, age 80, Thomas Fraser Munro NZ/415005 RNZAF - Killed on the 10th September 1942 whilst with 11 Operational Training Unit returning from an operation to Dusseldorf Wellington IC DV930 Crashed in Suffolk on return, G.H Myers, Charles Millard Tapper NZ/415038 died 29th January 2003 age 81.

Centre; Laurence John Kirkpatrick NZ/414990 RNZAF - Killed on the 23rd September 1943 whilst with 75 Squadron during an operation to Mannheim, Ian Roderick McKenzie NZ/426335 died 09th May 1983 age 73, Henry James Bennett NZ/414722 - Killed 03rd February 1945 whilst with 22 squadron on a Rhubarb operation in Burma, Beaufighter TF.X NE445, Kenneth George Edgington NZ/414969 , John Basil Martyn NZ/415001 - killed on the 30th March 1943 with 428 squadron on Wellington X HE175 on an operation to Bochum, A NZ/, David Ross Scrymgeour NZ/414687 - killed with 13 squadron flying Blenheim BA727 on the 19th April 1943 off Tunisia,.Owen Henry Glengarry NZ/404358 killed on the 03rd September 1941, flying Master W8539 during a training exercise, R.H Nimmo.

Front; Murray Archer Legg NZ/415071 RNZAF - Killed on the 24th January 1943 whilst with 58 Squadron, Halifax II DT684 during a transit flight., Lawrence Alfred Idle NZ/415191, Athol George Greentree NZ/414974 RNZAF - Killed on the 12th November 1943 whilst with 42 Squadron Beaufighter TF.X LX912 during a torpedo strike off Crete., Allan Henderson Smith NZ/411947 died 01st June 2004 age 83, Francis Henry James Pheloung NZ/415012, Peter Sydney Watt tt NZ/415046 - Killed on the 02nd January 1944

Burial details:

F/O. David Ross Scrymgeour. Malta Memorial Panel 12, Column 1. Born on the 10th August 1915 in Dunedin. Educated at Wellington College. Studied law at Victoria College, and was successful in passing ten subjects for his Batchelor of law degree. Prior to service worked at Mazengarb, Hay and Macalister, Solicitors of Wellington. Enlisted at the InitialTraining Wing, Levin on the 07th September, 1941 and on completion of his Ground Training Course, proceeded to No. 1 Elementary Flying School. On the 29th November posted to No. 1 Flying Training School at Wigram where he completed his training on Oxford aircraft, and was awarded the Flying badge on the 10th January, 1942. Received his commission on the 28th February 1942.

Embarked for England on the 08th March, After further training joined 297 Squadron at Thruxton for conversion to Whitley aircraft. On the 12th December he was posted to 'A' Flight Ferry Training Unit, Nyneham, Wiltshire until the 25th December when he was the Captain of a Bisley aircraft which took off from Portreath, Cornwall for Gibralta, this being his first operational flight. From Gibralta he piloted a Bisley aircraft to Blida, North Africa, and on January 05th, 1943 joined No. 18 Squadron Canrobert, North Africa.

With this Squadron he carried out seven operational flights as the Captain of Bisley aircraft, the targets including Massicault. On the 4th March Flying Officer Seyygeour was posted to No. 13 Squadron, Oulmene, North Africa, and from this base he undertook a further twelve raids bringing his total to nineteen. A total of 413 flying hours logged. (note: the CWGC incorrectly list the pilot as belonging to 18 squadron)

Son of William Kincaid Scrymgeour and of Agnes Ross Scrymgeour (nee Kerr), of Island Bay, 7 Dover Street, Island Bay, Wellington, New Zealand. Fiancée of Margaret Grove (Engaged March 1942)

Above: Ross and Margaret on their engagement (courtesy Linley and Bruce Denson - used with written permission)

Notes from Margaret's later children; Margaret - who moved to Australia immediately after the war - never mentionemd him to us. Only after her death in 1976 did we come across a few photos.
Our father George (himself a British ship’s radio operator throughout the war) explained who Ross was, and that he had been a law graduate in Wellington, and sadly an only child.
George also told us that an older New Zealand couple who once visited our family in Australia in the mid 1960s were not (as we children thought at the time) distant Ogilvie relatives

Manawatu Standard 06th March 1942
Engagement
Scrymgeour—Ogilvie.—The engagement is announced ol Margaret Grove, eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs S. A. Ogilvie, Lower Hutt, and granddaughter of Mrs A. Grove. Palmerston North, to Pilot-Officer David Ross Scrymgeour, R.N.Z.A.F., only son of Mr and Mrs W- K. Scrymgeour, Island Bay, Wellington

Evening Post 01st June 1943

Pilot Officer David Ross Scrymgeour, who is reported missing, was a wellknown athlete in this city.
He was an old boy of Wellington College and studied at Victoria University College, where he took the degree of LL.B. He was afterwards associated with the firm of Mazengarb, Hay, and Macalister.
As a member of the Victoria College Amateur Athletic Club, he Gistinguished himself in both provincial championship and New Zealand University competition.
A longdistance man, he was several times runner-up in the local three-mile championship, and in 1940 he ran third to L. V. Dickison and W. J. Potter in the national event. He won New Zealand University titles at three miles and across country

Sgt. Charles Kingsley Davis. Malta Memorial Panel 8, Column 1. No further details - are you able to advise?

Sgt. Dennis William Arthur Crowley. Malta Memorial Panel 8, Column 1. Son of William and Beatrice Crowley, of Merton, Surrey. No further details - are you able to advise?

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to the extensive research by Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”, New Zealand Cenotaph, Weekly News of New Zealand, Air Museum of New Zealand, Museum of Transport and Technology, Auckland, Kracker Archives, National Archives Kew AIR-27-181-35/36. Papers Pat New Zealand (Stuff) Also to Linley and Bruce Denson (children of Margaret, fiancée of F/O. David Ross Scrymgeour).

Other sources as quoted below:

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