Operation: B.S (Bomber Support)

Date: 04/05th July 1944 (Tuesday/Wednesday)

Unit: No. 192 Squadron (motto: 'Dare to Discover') 100 Group (1)

Type: Halifax B III

Serial: LW621

Code: DT-Q

Base: RAF Foulsham, Norfolk

Location: English Channel

Pilot: P/O. David Mcnab Thomson Aus/4211181 RAAF Age 22. Killed

Fl/Eng: Sgt. Eric Arthur Padley 1604035 RAFVR Age 19. Killed

Nav: Fl/Sgt. William Birkin 169533 RAFVR Age ? Killed

SpeLOp: F/O. Ronald Leonard Smith 57915 RAFVR Age ? Killed

Air/Bmr: P/O. Aidan Aiston 176489 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgy. Tom Charlesworth 1459565 RAFVR Age 21. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. George Richards 979317 RAFVR Age ? Killed

Air/Gnr: Sgt. William Frank Schofield 1812070 RAFVR Age 19. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 23:49 hrs as Bomber Support using radar counter-measures.

Nothing further was heard from the crew since take off but thought to have been brought down by a night fighter over the English Channel off Berck.

According to some reports the Germans captured P/O. Aiston on the 05TH July 1944 but later succumbing to his injuries on the 16th July, some eleven days later.

Initially, he was buried in the cemetery at the hamlet of st Quentin en Tourmont, but, unusually, his remains were not re-interred in a CWCG cemetery during concentration post war. He was reburied just a few kilometres away, as the sole Allied military burial, at Fort Mahon Plage municipal cemetery. (The only CWWG casualty in that cemetery)

Initially the pilot was recorded as missing and remembered on the Runnymede Memorial. However his remains were recovered in 1960 and buried as described below.

The crew are remembered on a brass engraved rose vase at St. Mary and St. Thomas Aquinus Church, Stella, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.
Inscription:
'In loving memory of P/O Aiston A. and the crew of a Halifax Bomber who gave their lives for King and Country 4th July 1944'

(1) 192 Squadron was formed on 4 January 1943 as a radar counter-measures squadron. It was essentially a research unit, involved in identifying the types of radar being used by the Germans. This was by no means a safe role, for the research flights had to take place over Germany and occupied Europe, where the German radar was operating against Bomber Command. The squadron also operated over the Bay of Biscay. In November 1944 the squadron attempted to find the radio signals believed to be controlling the V-2 rocket, as the Allies were then unawa

Brief history of 192 squadron

Burial details:

P/O. David Mcnab Thomson. Calais Canadian War Cemetery, Leubringhen. Grave 8.G.4. Born on the 28th November 1921 in Kogarah, New South Wales. Enlisted on the 07th December 1941 and trained as a pilot in Australia and Canada under the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS). Son of David Thomson and Marion Cowan Thomson, of Yarraville, Victoria, Australia; husband of Meriel Joyce Thomson, of Summertown, Oxford. Epitaph: 'To Live In The Hearts Of Those We Leave Behind Is Not To Die'.

Sgt. Eric Arthur Padley. Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery, Hautot-Sur-Mer. Grave L.39. Son of Albert John and Catherine Padley, of Barnet, Hertfordshire, England. Epitaph: 'Into The Mosaic Of Victory We Gave A Precious Jewel, Our Son'.

Fl/Sgt. William Birkin. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 204. Former service number 925013. No further details, are you able to assist?

F/O. Ronald Leonard Smith. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 209. No further details, are you able to assist?

P/O. Aidan Aiston. Fort-Mahon-Plage Cemetery. Also remembered on the ton War Memorial, Station Bank, Ryton on Tyne, Co. Durham. Son of Aidan and Nellie Aiston, of 12 Runhead Gardens, Ryton, Co. Durham. Epitaph: 'Always In Our Hearts'.

Fl/Sgy. Tom Charlesworth. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 216. Son of Frank and Nellie Charlesworth, of Brighouse, Yorkshire, England.

Sgt. George Richards. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 236. No further details, are you able to assist?

Sgt. William Frank Schofield. Runnymede Memorial. Panel237. Son of William Edward and Elizabeth Ada May Schofield, of Kentish Town, London, England.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to the Government of Australia WW2 Service Records, IBCC of Lincoln, Ryton War Memorial Co. Durham, Paul Mguiness Australian Archives

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