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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.
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107 Squadron Crest
09.10.1941 107 Squadron Blenheim IV Z7644 Fg Off. Walders

Operation: Anti-Shipping Sweep, south coast, Italy

Date: 9th October 1941 (Thursday)

Unit No: 107 Squadron, 2 Group, Bomber Command

Type: Blenheim IV

Serial: Z7644

Code: OM:E

Base: RAF Luqa, Malta (On detachment from RAF Great Massingham, Norfolk)

Location: Near Capo Sant’ Alessio, Sicily

Pilot: Fg Off. Neville Whitford Walders 41758 RAF Age 24. KiA (1)

Obs: Sgt. Stanley Jones 1053361 RAFVR Age 26. KiA

WOp/Air Gnr. Flt Sgt. William Karl Hunting R62717 Age 20. KiA

REASON FOR LOSS:

Four Blenheims took off on a shipping sortie off the south coast of Italy. Two of these aircraft returned shortly afterwards with engine trouble. The other two Blenheims failed to return from the operation

The next evening a report was picked up from an Italian wireless station stating that two aircraft at the approximately the estimated position of the two Blenheims, had collided in mid-air, and that they crashed in flames. One aircraft coming down on land and one in the sea near Capo Sant’ Alessio, Sicily. It is thought that at the time the aircraft were being attacked and during the combat they collided at 14:00 hrs.

The three crew of the other Blenheim Z7638 flown by Wg Cdr. Frazer Apsley Harte DFC 70839 RAFO. A passenger, Lt. Ellis Edward Arthur Talbot GC, MBE, 100411 serving with the Royal Engineers attached to the Squadron also perished.

Fg Off. Walders’ aircraft crashed on land and Wg Cdr. Harte’s in the sea.

(1) Neville Whitford Walders applied to, and was accepted, into the RAF on a Short Service Commission in 1938.

Burial details:

Fg Off. Neville Whitford Walders. Catania War Cemetery, Collective grave 1.H.19. Grave inscription: 'NOT DEAD TO THOSE WHO LOVED HIM. HIS EVERLOVING WIFE AND SON MICHAEL'. Born on the 16th December 1916 at Palmerston North, Manawatu, New Zealand. Son of Edward (died 1938) and Hilda Walders of Nelson, South Island, New Zealand. Husband to Jane W. Walders of Criccieth, Caernarvonshire, Wales.

Sgt. Stanley Jones. Catania War Cemetery. Collective grave 1.H.19. Grave inscription: 'DEARLY LOVED ONLY SON OF MADGE AND ALUN JONES'. Son of Walter Alun Jones and Margaret Jones, of Lytham, Lancashire, England.

Flt Sgt. William Karl Hunting. Catania War Cemetery Collective grave 1.H.19. Grave inscription: 'IN THE GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE WE WALK AND TALK WITH YOU'. Born on the 7th February 1921 in Huntingville, Province of Quebec. Son of Kenneth William and Alice Maud (née Call) Hunting of Huntingville, Province of Quebec, Canada.

Researched by Kelvin Youngs (Webmaster) with the assistance of Jenifer Lemaire and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to the research by Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”,Auckland War Memorial Museum, Weekly News of New Zealand, also to Auckland Library Heritage Collection for the use of the photo of the pilot (AWNS194111105-34-9) (Apr 2019). Thanks to Antonio McDonald for the update to the aircraft code. Other updates by Aircrew Remembered (May 2025)

Other sources listed below:

RS 09.05.2025 – Update to aircraft code and other updates.

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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.
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