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.

83 squadron badge
14/15.08.1941 No. 83 Squadron Hampden I AE131 OL-W P/O. Slater-Eiggert

Operation: Braunschweig railway station 

Date: 14/15th August 1941 (Saturday/Sunday)

Unit: No. 83 Squadron

Type: Hampden I

Serial: AE131

Code: OL-W

Base: RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire

Location: Pattensen, Germany

Pilot: P/O. Peter Henry Slater-Eiggert 102591 RAFVR Age 23. Killed

Pilot 2: Fl/Sgt. Leonard Samuel Thorrowgood 905008 RAFVR Age 24. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Frank Stephens 983447 RAFVR Age ? Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: F/O. Walter Charles Rasbary 81413 RAFVR Age 38. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the evening of 14th August 1941, Hampden AE131 of No. 83 Squadron with a crew of four took off from RAF Scampton, at 21.10 hrs to take part in a bombing raid on the city of Braunschweig (Brunswick), Germany. 

Seven out of the 17 aircraft that returned successfully to Scampton said they had bombed Hannover instead of Brunswick due to thick cloud cover over the target. It seems highly likely that AE131 did the same as the plane crashed near Pattensen, which is a town about 12 kilometres south of Hanover. Hannover was known to have a heavy flak belt. The aircraft was shot down by flak killing all crew members. Three were recorded as being killed on the 14th August 1941 and the fourth member of the crew, Walter Rasbary, is recorded as dying on the 15th August 1941.

                    

                   83 Squadron crews in front of Hampden I (courtesy wikipedia)

They are all now buried in the Hanover War Cemetery pictured left (courtesy CWGC)

Burial details:

P/O. Peter Henry Slater-Eiggert. Hanover War Cemetery. Plot 2. Row C. Grave 11. Further information: Son of William Henry and Florence Alberta Slater-Eiggert, of Hampstead, London, England.

Fl/Sgt. Leonard Samuel Thorrowgood. Hanover War Cemetery. Plot 2. Row C. Grave 13. Further information: Son of Charles Francis and Martha Mary Jane Thorrowgood, of Purbrook, Hampshire, England.

Sgt. Frank Stephens. Hanover War Cemetery. Plot 2. Row C. Grave 12. Further information: Next of Kin details not currently available.

F/O. Walter Charles Rasbary. Hanover War Cemetery. Plot 2. Row C. Grave 14. Further information: Son of William George and Harriet Annie Rasbary, husband of Harriet Gordon Rasbary, of Aspenden, Hertfordshire, England.

Researched by Nick Watson (related to Peter Henry Slater-Eiggert). Acknowledgements: Aviation Research Neustadt

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: 07 August 2014, 22:34

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