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.

7 Squadron crest
21/22.06.1943 No. 7 Squadron Stirling I R9272 MG-W Fl/Lt. Watt

Operation: Krefeld, Germany

Date: 21/22nd June 1943 (Monday/Tuesday)

Unit: No. 7 Squadron (motto: Per diem, per noctem - 'By day and by night')

Type: Stirling I

Serial: R9272

Code: MG-W

Base: RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire.

Location: 10 KM South of Gilze-Rijen, Holland

Pilot: Fl/Lt. James Stanley Watt DSO. DFC. 110643 RAF Age 21. Killed

Fl/Eng: Sgt. David Stuart Donaldson 1127694 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

Nav: Fl/Lt. Frederick Arthur George Tompkins DFC. 137665 RAFVR Age 28. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Arnold John Sutton 1434193 RAFVR Age 22. Killed

Air/Gnr: F/O. James Hector Ross DFM. 137667 RAFVR PoW No: 1704 Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan and Belaria

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Frederick James Benjamin Dukes 1090679 RAFVR Age 21. Killed

Air/Gnr: F/O. M.P. Ellis 137306 RAFVR PoW No: 1696 Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan and Belaria

REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off at 23:40 hrs. from RAF Oakington to attack Krefeld, Germany. 705 aircraft taking part - 262 lancasters, 209 Halifaxes, 117 Stirlings, 105 Wellingtons and 12 Mosquitoes.

Krefeld was hit very badly with the loss of 1,056 people on the ground killed, 4,550 injured, 72,000 people lost their homes. 47% of the city was burnt out following the dropping of 2,306 bombs.

Not without huge losses to the allies though with 44 aircraft lost, mostly due to German night fighters. 214 crew members were killed and a further 65 being made PoW.

Crew of Stirling R9272 (courtesy Claudio Meunier)

Stirling R9272 was shot down by a German night fighter. Hptm. Walter W. Milius of Stab III./NJG3 (On detachment from 2./NLG1) combat took place at 4,200 Mts. at 01:14 hrs and the Stirling crashed at Alfen, 10 KM South of Gilze-Rijen. Hptm. Milius survived the war with 8 kills on his record.

Pilot of R9272, 21 year old Argentinian, Fl/Lt. James S. Watt DSO DFC. (courtesy Claudio Meunier)

Burial details:

Fl/Lt. James Stanley Watt DSO DFC. Runnymede Memorial Panel 122. Son of Charles Alexander Morgan Watt and of Hattie Burdell Watt (née Benitz), of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Sgt. David Stuart Donaldson. Runnymede Memorial Panel 147. Son of David Stuart Donaldson and Louisa Nelson Donaldson, of Newtownards, Co. Down, Northern Ireland.

Fl/Lt. Frederick Arthur George Tompkins DFC. Runnymede Memorial Panel 121. Son of Frederick and Alice Maude Tompkins, husband of Edna Madge Tompkins, of Morden, Surrey, England.

Sgt. Arnold John Sutton. Runnymede Memorial Panel 166. Son of Charles Henry and Losis Sarah Sutton, of Long Eaton, Derbyshire, England.

Sgt. Frederick James Benjamin Dukes. Bergen-Op-Zoom War Cemetery Grave 27.A-7. Son of Elizabeth Brown, of Hull, England.

Researched by Claudio Gustavo Meunier (Argentina) and webmaster for relatives of the crew.

Left: Claudio Gustavo Meunier has published 4 books on WW2 Argentinian aviation - others are being prepared.

With thanks to the following, 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.

KTY Updated 16.11.2019

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 MWO 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', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, 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: 25 March 2021, 15:02

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