AR banner
Search Tips Advanced Search
Back to Top

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.

R.A.F. Crest
06.10.1942 No. 19 OTU Whitley V BD213 Sgt. John A. Williamson

Operation: Training

Date: 05/06th October 1942 (Monday Tuesday)

Unit: No. 19 OTU (Operational Training Unit)

Type: Whitley V

Serial: BD213

Base: RAF Kinloss, Scotland

Location: East of Castletown, Scotland

Pilot: Sgt. John Alwyn Williamson 1133614 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

Nav: Fl/Sgt. Moses Charton R/96359 RCAF Age 22. Killed

Air/Bmr: P/O. John Malcolm Sinclair 125605 (656062) RAFVR Age 23. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Geoffrey Charles Roper 1293105 RAFVR Age 21. Killed

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Ernest Samuel William Hatch 1162515 RAFVR Age 21. Killed (1)

REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off at 20:30 hrs from RAF Kinloss on a night navigation exercise.

The last wireless signal, in response to a QDM (2) from the Whitley being made at 00:53hrs - "I will call you back later".

Just five minutes after this call the aircraft crashed 2 miles east of Castletown and 5 miles east of Thurso, bursting into flames - killing all five crew members.

This crew were on the last leg of the exercise and proceeding on track. No further details available to date.

(1) Ernest Hatch was also a well known boxer in the Norwich area and known as "Tiger Hatch". A member of the well known Norwich Lads Club.

(2) Q.D.M - A magnetic bearing to take the aircraft back to the base.

Left, a young Ernest Hatch (courtesy of his family)




Burial details:

Sgt. John Alwyn Williamson. Gateshead Cemetery. Div. 6. Grave 8905. Son of Charles and Mary Williamson, of Sherriff Hill, Gateshead, England.

Fl/Sgt. Moses Charton. Kinloss Abbey Burial Ground. Grave 47. Row B. Born on the 8th November 1919 in Poland. Son of Marcus and Annie Charton, of 336 Woodland Avenue, Verdun, Province of Quebec, Canada. Enlisted in June 1941, receiving his observers wing in March 1942.

P/O. John Malcolm Sinclair. Kinloss Abbey Burial Ground. Grave 45. Row B. Son of Charles Leonard and Rose Ellen Sinclair, of Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey, England.

Sgt. Geoffrey Charles Roper. Caterham and Warlingham Burial Ground Sec. M. Grave 25. Son of Charles William and Violet Mary Roper, of Upper Caterham, Surrey, England.

Sgt. Ernest Samuel William Hatch. Norwich Cemetery. Sec. 54. Grave 512. Son of Samuel A. Hatch and Florence A. Hatch, of Norwich, Norfolk, England.

Researched for Jason Hatch, nephew of Sgt Ernest Hatch - who the webmaster met in 2013 and dedicated to all the relatives of this crew. Sources as quoted below.

KTY - 15-07-2016 Map added

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 buy research books from Amazon •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: 20 March 2021, 12:03

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