Operation: Rostock, Germany

Date: 23rd/24th April 1942 (Thursday/Friday)

Unit No: 77 Squadron, 4 Group, Bomber Command

Type: Whitley V

Serial: Z9363

Code: KN:H

Base: RAF Leeming, Yorkshire

Location: Grevenkrug, Germany

Pilot: Sgt. Bryan Whitham 1175416 RAFVR Age 26. KiA (1)

Obs: Flt Sgt. Allan Wilson Johnson 400118 RAAF Age 31. KiA

WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. Arthur Whitaker 1105947 RAFVR Age 22. KiA

WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. Reginald Wilde 1051977 RAFVR Age 21. KiA

Above: Sgt. Arthur Whitaker

REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off from RAF Leeming to join one-hundred and sixty (160) other aircraft to bomb the medieval port city of Rostock.

Z9363 was coned by searchlight batteries of M.Flak Abt .241 and 251 at 01:07 hrs. Hit by Flak of M. Flak Abt. 241 and 251. The aircraft crashed at 01:09 hrs at Grevenkrug, 4km NNW of Bordesholm. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive The Early Years Part 2 -Theo Boiten)

This was the first in a series of four (4) incendiary raids on this city on consecutive which resulted in its almost total destruction.

Reports after the series of operations list: 1,765 building totally destroyed, 513 suffering severe damage with 204 people on the ground killed. This casualty figure would have been far higher if the local population had not fled the city after the first raids. This was the first time that the Germans used the words "Terrorangriff" (terror raid) and Goebbels wrote in his diaries that "community life in Rostock is practically at an end!"

(1) Sgt. Bryan Whitham

Above: Sgt. Bryan Whitham, whilst undertaking aircrew training (Courtesy of Peter Goldsborough)

Above: Sgt. Bryan Whitham, on the extreme right whilst undertaking aircrew training. The other airmen are unknown (Courtesy of Peter Goldsborough)

Burial details:

Originally buried in a communal grave at Bordesholm, the crew finally laid to rest in Hamburg Cemetery at Ohlsdorf on the 11th July 1947.

Above The Hamburg War Cemetery (Courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission)

Grave markers (Courtesy of The Dark Poet - FindAGrave)

Sgt. Bryan Whitham. Hamburg Cemetery, Grave 10A.L.6. Born on the 28th February 1916 in Chorlton, Lancashire. Son of Fred and Jessie (née Metcalfe) Whitham of Brooklands, Cheshire, England.

Flt Sgt. Allan Wilson Johnson. Hamburg Cemetery, Grave 10A.L.7. Grave Inscription: “GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THAT HE LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS”. Born on the 3rd May 1910 at Terang, Victoria, Australia. Son of James David and Normana Johnson of Derrinallum, Victoria, Australia.

Allan Wilson Johnson enlisted in the RAAF at Melbourne on the 27th of May 1940.

Allan Wilson Johnson was a Presbyterian Minister in Derrinallum and is remembered on the Derrinallum war memorial.

Grave markers (Courtesy of The Dark Poet - FindAGrave)

Sgt. Arthur Whitaker. Hamburg Cemetery, Grave 10A.L.8. Grave Inscription: “GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS”. Born on the 6th March 1920 in Leeds, Yorkshire. Son of Fred Harrison and Martha Alice (née Staveley) Whitakerof Guisley, Yorkshire, England.

Arthur had five siblings, Fred, Elsie, Harry, Mary and Edwin. In letters from the Air Ministry to the family, it would appear that they had no information till the beginning of 1948 as to where Arthur was buried. An earlier letter of the 8th of November 1946 was never received.

Sgt. Reginald Wilde. Hamburg Cemetery, Grave 10A.L.9. Grave Inscription: “MUCH LOVED SON OF HERBERT AND MARY WILDE. ALWAYS IN OUR THOUGHTS”. SBorn on the 18th June 1920 in Birkenhead, Merseyside. Son of Herbert and Mary Wilde of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England.

Researched by Aircrew Remembered, researcher and specialist genealogist Linda Ibrom and dedicated to Joyce Armitage and all the relatives of this crew. Special thanks to Joyce Armitage, niece of Sergeant Whitaker for the photo and family information. Also to Mr. Graeme Saunders for the photo of the Derrinallum War memorial plaque (dates unknown). Thanks to John Jones for the aircraft loss information (May 2019). Reviewed and updated with new information and images by Aircrew Remembered (Nov 2025). Thanks to Peter Goldsborough for the photographs of Sgt. Whitham (Jan 2026).

Other sources listed below:

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