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.

107 SQUADRON BADGE
13.06.1940 No. 107 Squadron Blenheim IV R3616 P/O. Stidston

Operation: Vernon

Date: 13th June 1940 (Thursday)

Unit: No. 107 Squadron

Type: Blenheim IV

Serial: R3616

Code: OM-?

Base: RAF Wattisham, Suffolk

Location: Caugé, West of Evreux, France.

Pilot: P/O. Arthur Frank Stidston 42448 RAF Age ? Killed

Obs: Sgt. Francis Charles Higgins 580577 RAF Age 25. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. John Raymond Browning 537351 RAF Age 21. Killed

We would appreciate contact from relatives of this crew who maybe able to supply further information / photographs

REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off from RAF Wattisham, Suffolk to bomb strategic bridges over the Seine near Vernon, France.

This followed a message from Winston Churchill to the French Premier Raynaud and to General Weygand that the RAF would assist them as much as possible with 'maximum effort'. During the daylight hours of the 13th June all available Blenheims will be ready to attack and that heavy bombers from England will also be available during the night of 13/14th June.

Weather hampered the available 60 Blenheims and the longer distance meant it difficult to provide fighter cover. The raids were concentrated upon various targets from the advancing Panzers to the bridges across the Seine to try and delay the rapidly advancing German army.

During the day the RAF lost some 11 Battles and 6 Blenheims. 19 Crew members were killed, 8 injured and a further 15 made Prisoners of War. 107 squadron lost R3616 after it was was shot down by Uffz. Konrad Nellescamp (1) of 5./JG3 in the battle area at about 15.45 hrs.

(1) This was the 2nd kill for Uffz. Konrad Nellescamp who went on to claim one more before he was killed when shot down by a Spitfire and a Blenheim over the North Sea, north west of Haarlem on the 15th March 1942.

Crew graves at Cuage Coomunal Cemetery (courtesy Jean-Claude Langevin)

Burial details:

This crew are the only Commonwealth graves in the cemetery at Caugé, France.

P/O. Arthur Frank Stidston. Cuagé Communal Cemetery. Grave 3. No further details as yet, are you able †o assist?

Sgt. Francis Charles Higgins. Cuagé Communal Cemetery. Grave 1. Son of John and Hetty Kate Higgins, of Hanworth, Middlesex, England. Grave inscription reads: "We Shall Always Remember His Kind And Faithful Ways. Mum, Dad, Helen And All The Boys".

Sgt. John Raymond Browning. Cuagé Communal Cemetery. Grave 2. Son of John Henry and Edith May Browning. Grave inscription reads: "Into Thy Keeping".

Researched by: Jean-Claude Langevin for relatives / friends of this crew. With thanks to the following: Graham Warner - 'The Bristol Blenheim', Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vol. 1', the CWGC, other sources as shown below.

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 - 2024
Last Modified: 11 March 2021, 13:17

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