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.

426
25th April 1945 426 Squadron Halifax VII N820 OW-W P/O. Tuplin

Operation: Wangerooge

Date: 25th April 1945 (Wednesday(

Unit: No. 426 Squadron (motto 'On Wings of Fire'). 6 Group

Type: Halifax VII

Serial: NP820

Code: OW-W

Base: RAF Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire

Location: North Sea

Pilot: P/O. James Chester Tuplin J/95526 RCAF Age 22. Missing - believed killed

Fl/Eng: Fl/Sgt. Ronald Roberts 1698482 RAFVR Age 24. Missing - believed killed

Nav: F/O. John Douglas Carlisle Ross J/41679 RCAF Age 21. Missing - believed killed

Air/Bmr: W/O. Reginald Gordon Evans 1339158 RAFVR Age 22. RAFVR Missing - believed killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: P/O. Dennis Rupert Humphrey Curzon J/95236 RCAF Age 20. Missing - believed killed

Air/Gnr: P/O. Earl William Hicks J/95285 RCAF Age 21. Missing - believed killed

Air/Gnr: P/O. Stanley James Teskey J/95517 RCAF Age 19. Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off at 15:04 hrs from RAF Linton-on-Ouse to bomb various gun position on Wangerooge, East Frisian Islands.

The operation consisting of some 482 aircraft was intended to destroy the coastal batteries which controlled the approaches to Bremen and Wihelmshavaen. The weather for the attack was clear and the bombing was accurate until the target area became covered in smoke and dust.The guns were hardly damaged and were in operation within a few hours of the bombing.

Some 306 people died on the ground, including 59 civilians, 20 prisoners of war from Morocco and France

Above: Rear L-R: W/O. Reginald Evans, P/O. Dennis Curzon, F/O. John Ross and Fl/Sgt. Ronald Roberts. Front: P/O. Earl Hicks, P/O. James Tuplin and P/O. Stanley James Teskey

Of the 7 aircraft that were lost on this operation no less than 6 were due to collisions!

Halifax NP820 OW-W collided with Halifax NP796 EQ-M from 408 squadron. (crew details here) All 14 crew from both aircraft lost their lives.

Burial details:

P/O. James Chester Tuplin. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 281. Born on the 19th September 1923 at Prince Edward Island, Canada. Son of James Profitt Tuplin and Catherine Tuplin (nee Lowther) and husband of Mary Sheila Tuplin, of Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Fl/Sgt. Ronald Roberts. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 276. Son of Arthur and Mabel Roberts and husband of Nora Roberts, of Foulby, Yorkshire, England.

F/O. John Douglas Carlisle Ross. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 279. Born on the 01st September 1923 in Ontario, Canada. Son of John James Ross and Martha Anne Ross (nee Maxwell) of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.

W/O. Reginald Gordon Evans. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 269. Son of Reginald B. and Nance Evans, of Plymouth, England.

P/O. Dennis Rupert Humphrey Curzon. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 280. Born on the 28th August 1924 in Guelph, Ontario. Son of William Rupert and Vera Florence Curzon, of Guelph, Ontario. Husband of Mary Joan Curzon of Guelph, Ontario.

P/O. Earl William Hicks. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 280. Son of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Hicks of Chisholm Avenue,Toronto, Ontario

P/O. Stanley James Teskey. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 281. Born on the 15th December 1925 in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. Son of Charles Joseph and Mary Elizabeth Teskey (nee Peers), of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew. Sources as quoted below:

KTY 07-06-2021

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 June 2021, 17:00

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