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.

49 Squadron Crest
17/18.08.1943 No. 49 Squadron Lancaster III JA851 EA-P P/O. Tomlin

Operation: Peenemünde

Date: 17/18th August 1943 (Tuesday/Wednesday)

Unit: No. 49 Squadron

Type: Lancaster III

Serial: JA851

Code: EA-P

Base: RAF Fiskerton, Lincolnshire

Location: West of Nordborg, Denmark

Pilot: P/O. Thomas Edwin Tomlin DFC. 145156 RAFVR Age 22. Killed

Fl/Eng: Sgt. Kenneth Ernest Watson 1433407 RAFVR Age 33 Missing - believed killed

Nav: P/O. William James Rooke AUS/414089 RAAF Age 26. Missing - believed killed

Air/Bmr: Fl/Sgt. William Arthur Davies MiD. 937521 RAFVR Age 23. Missing - believed killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Cecil Stancliffe 1130080 RAFVR Age 23. Missing - believed killed

Air/Gnr: P/O. Thomas Tonkin DFM. 156045 RAFVR Age 23. Missing - believed killed

Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. George Bernard Silvester DFM 977392 RAFVR Age 26. Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off from RAF Fiskerton in Lincolnshire at 21:43 hrs. on an operation to destroy the secret research centre at Peenemünde where the Germans were developing the V2 rocket.

The raid was a success and delayed production of the V2. After Lancaster JA851 had bombed the target, it was attacked by a Bf-110G night-fighter. Flown by Fw. Hans Meissner (1) of 6./NJG3 at 02:56 hrs. His 6th claim of the war. (Crew: Uffz Josef Krinner, Fritz Pieper) Lancaster JA691 from the squadron was also claimed by him this nigh, also Lancaster EE117 from 619 Squadron.

49 Squadron lost two other crews this night. The others:

Lancaster III JA961 Flown by F/O. Harry John Randall 119813 RAFVR - killed with all 6 other crew.
Lancaster III ED805 Flown by 27 year old, Sq/Ldr. Richard Nevil Todd-White 37388 RAF from Woodford Wells, Essex, England - killed with all 6 other crew.

Above L-R: The Bf-110G night-fighter crew: Fritz Pieper, Hans Meissner and Josef. (courtesy Kracker Archives on this site)

(1) Fw. Hans Meissner, then a Luftwaffe ace went on to claim a total of 20 claims of the war from which he survived.

Burial details:

P/O. Thomas Edwin Tomlin DFC. Aabenraa Cemetery. Allied Military Plot. Row 3.2. Son of Edwin and Hilda Gertrude Tomlin, of Mutley, Plymouth, England.

Sgt. Kenneth Ernest Watson. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 168. Son of William Miller Watson and Helen Jane Watson.

P/O. William James Rooke. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 191. Born on the 15th June 1917 in Coraki, Queensland, the son of Franklin Richard and Vivian Grace Rooke, of Blackall, Queensland, Australia.

Fl/Sgt. William Arthur Davies MiD. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 136. Son of Charles William and Florence May Davies, of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England.

Sgt. Cecil Stancliffe. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 165. Son of J. A. and Elizabeth Ann Stancliffe, of Norton, Malton, Yorkshire, England.

P/O. Thomas Tonkin DFM. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 133. Son of Thomas and Margaret Tonkin, of Rose Green, Sussex, England.

Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. George Bernard Silvester DFM. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 139. Son of Alfred and Emily Silvester, of Binfield, Berkshire, England.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to Andrea Ruddick for visiting the memorial stone for Fl/Sgt. George Bernard Silvester, Mogens Jensen for grave photo of pilot.

KTY - 11.08.2017

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: 24 March 2021, 13:12

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