|
|
|
Those known to have served at RAF Snaith during the Second World War 1939-1945. - Booth DFM.. George Gerard. W/O.
- Bramley Ronald Arthur. Sgt. (d.8th Nov 1941)
- Coome Stan. Sgt.
- Cope Eric. Flt Sgt.
- Cope Eric.
- Dick Robert Ballantyne. Flt.Sgt. (d.11th Feb 1942)
- Groves Harold Arthur.
- Groves Harold Arthur.
- Hebblethwaite DFC & Bar.. Arthur. Flt Lt.
- Kinerman Edward Frederick. Sgt. (d.13th May 1943)
- Leach Alan. P/O (d.5th Jan 1945)
- Leach Alan. P/O (d.5th Jan 1945)
- Lewis Montague. Sgt. (d.14th Dec 1941)
- Marquis William. (d.1945/11/08)
- Matthews Wilf.
- Milliken . Douglas Wilson. WO II (d.4th Dec 1943)
- Neve DFC.. James Arthur. Flt.Lt.
- Norton Douglas Sidney Joseph. W/O. (d.13th March 1945)
- Preston Kenneth Stoddart. Sgt. (d.5th June 1942)
- Procter Robert Dudley. Sgt. (d.9th June 1942)
- Roberts DFM.. Reginald Leonard Arthur. Sgt.
- Sibley George Walter James.
- Thomsett Donald. Sgt
- Thomsett Donald Edward. F/Sgt
- Whittaker Joseph Frank. Sgt. (d.30th Jul 1944)
The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please
Add a Name to this List
|
|
|
The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.
Announcements
- The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 24 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web.
- 18th April 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 263925 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible.
- Looking for help with Family History Research?
Please read our Family History FAQ's
- The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web.
If you enjoy this site
please consider making a donation.
Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our
Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. |
|
We are now on Facebook. Like this page to receive our updates.
If you have a general question please post it on our Facebook page.
Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home. If you have any unwanted
photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them.
The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted.
World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion
Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a
Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations.
|
|
Want to know more about RAF Snaith? There are:47 items tagged RAF Snaith available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
|
William Marquis 227 Squadron / 102 Squadron (d.1945/11/08) I have been researching my family history and have obtained the personnel records for my half-brother William Marquis. The record shows that he was assigned to 227 Squadron on 12th April 1945 after discharge and appointment to RAF VR. There is a further entry for 227 Squadron dated 18th June 1945 which is some 10 days after 227 Squadron either moved from RAF Strubby or was disbanded. The next entry is at RAF Snaith dated 17th September 1945 followed by what seems to be an entry for 102 Squadron dated 20th or possibly 26th September 1945. He was with 102 Squadron based at RAF Bassingbourn when he was killed on active service at Abington Piggotts on 08/11/1945 when his plane crashed shortly after take off. I know it is a long shot but any information anyone may have on William would be appreciated.
|
Harold Arthur Groves 51 Squadron I am trying to trace any information about my father, Harold Arthur Groves, who was based at Snaith with 51 Squadron during the 39-45 conflict. I would be most grateful if anyone could furnish me with information as I seem to be drawing a blank. My father never spoke to me about what he did in the war as most airmen did, so it is very difficult to gain such information. Do any of you have any history or photos of Snaith or any records of raids etc? He once told me he was based in the Faroe islands for a short time with the Short Sunderland flying boats, that is all I know of his exploits.
|
Harold Arthur Groves 51 Squadron I am trying to trace any information about my father, Harold Arthur Groves, who was based at Snaith with 51 Squadron during the 39-45 conflict. I would be most grateful if anyone could furnish me with information as I seem to be drawing a blank. My father never spoke to me about what he did in the war as most airmen did, so it is very difficult to gain such information. Do any of you have any history or photos of Snaith or any records of raids etc? He once told me he was based in the Faroe islands for a short time with the Short Sunderland flying boats, that is all I know of his exploits.
|
WO II Douglas Wilson Milliken 51 Sqd. (d.4th Dec 1943) I am the nephew of Doug Milliken. If anyone knew of Doug or any of his crew while at Snaith squadron 51 from July to Dec 1943 I would love to hear from you. Prior to squadron 51 he was stationed at 1663 heavy conversion unit in Rufforth and prior to that 10 OTU in Abingdon then St. Eval. While at Snaith their Halifax, HR732, was lost without trace on the Leipzig raid of Dec 4 1943. All are memorialized at Runnymede.
The crew were;
- P/O A.J.Salvage
- Sgt W.W.B.Hamilton
- P/O F.J.Baker
- F/S I.G.Davies
- Sgt M.Hampson
- Sgt R.J.Edwards
- F/S D.W.Milliken RCAF
During the crews brief time together Doug was the best man for the marriages of both Auther Salvage and Maurice Hampson. Doug was engaged at the time of his death and although his fiancée returned the ring to my grandmother we have no idea who she was.
|
Flt Sgt. Eric Cope 51 Sqd My neighbour, Eric Cope, flew from Snaith from 1943 onwards till demob. He flew in Halifax MK2, M-HC Champagne Charlie on numerous missions he was the wireless operator.
|
Sgt. Ronald Arthur Bramley Navigator 150 Squadron (d.8th Nov 1941) My Great Uncle, Ronald Arthur Bramley was a Navigator in 150 Squadron 150 during the Second World War. He was shot down over the Dutch coast on the night of the 8th of November 1941. Apparently weather conditions were terrible and many crews were lost that night. They flew from Snaith Airbase and were heading for Mannheim. Unfortunatly, he was never found but two of his crew are buried in Amsterdam. Rest in peace.
This is all the infomation I could gain from my Granddad. If anyone can help with more infomation I would be grateful. Are there any photos of 150 Squadron?
|
Sgt Donald Thomsett RAF Snaith 51 Sqn Donald Thomsett was my Grandad.
He flew as an RAF gunner during the whole of the war, moving from varying heavy bombers including the Wellington but settled for the majority of the war as a rear gunner in Halifax bombers based at RAF Snaith with 51 Sqn.
My Grandad lasted until January of 1945 before being shot down during a night raid on Hannover. His story was one he hardly ever spoke of and he never really got over his experiences til the day he died. Towards the end of his life he began to talk more and more about the war, eventually dying of cancer in 2000.
Donald was on a night bombing mission over Hannover which took place on the night of the 5th of January 1945. He remembered sitting in the rear turret as usual when out of the darkness, and in heavy flak, he saw a German fighter plane approach from the rear and slightly above his plane. He managed to fire on it and thought he had shot it down as it turned away very quickly and looked to be out of control. Next, another fighter appeared to the rear and slightly below the plane. Don moved the guns downwards and saw the pilots face illuminated by the lights on his German instrument panel. The guns wouldn't reach to a position to fire on the fighter plane. As the Halifax was being engaged, the pilot had gone into a wide sweeping manouvre to make attack from the fighter more difficult - a sort of large u shape, rolling the controls right, then left. Don watched as the German fighter continued to match the Halifax and flew underneath it. He heard a loud explosion and felt the plane shudder, then it changed direction steeply heading towards the ground.
My Grandad said he was supposed to keep his parachute in the turret with him but always slung it just into the bulk inside the fusilage. The angle of the plane meant he thought it would have slid down the length of the plane out of his reach, but it had snagged on something and he put his hand straight on it. Realising that the plane was going to crash he pressed for the turret to turn to bail out but found the hydraulics had failed (probably something to do with the explosion he thought?) so had to turn it by hand until he could get out.
He landed on the roof of a house and fell into the garden, badly spraining his ankle. There was snow everywhere and it was freezing. Local residents came out and, possibly scared, started to beat him with whatever they could get their hands on - brooms, sticks, feet - until some soldiers arrived and took him to a local police station, then marched him to Dulag. They had removed his flying boots and made him limp in the snow with his damaged ankle. My Grandad said he remembered this taking a couple of days, but thinks there was some transport at some point too. Along the route to Dulag he said he saw the blodies of allied airmen hung on lamposts, killed by the local populace, or German soldiers.
At Dulag interrogation centre he was hung up by his hands and all his possessions taken from him. He was tortured with a knife being run up and down his back - he had scars on his back that I remember seeing, long lines. - and was kept in solitary for a couple of weeks. By that time he had frostbite on his feet and the Germans repeatedly made the room very hot, then cold in an attempt to extract information from him. He was also put into a room with another British airman to live for a couple of days. This airman then told the Germans all the things that my Grandad hadn't - like where he lived, the name of my grandmother, etc. He must have been some sort of double agent my Grandad thought.
He was taken to a train station and loaded into large cattle trucks with lots of other POWs. There they spent a couple of days including one frightening night in Berlin station, locked in their trucks as the allies bombed Berlin.
He intially was taken to Sagan camp, but was soon transferred out to what he called Stalag luft 3b.
He spent from February until May 1945 there and witnessed some horrific things, including the shooting of an attempted escapee. He also mentioned that the Russian POWs, who were kept next door, were treated "like dogs".
In May, and with the camp on the verge of being over-run by Soviet troops, my Grandad, an American airman and a Canadian airman, escaped by going over the wire and running into the countryside.
They happened on a car that had been disabled on purpose and got it going, driving across Germany. They had no food. He told me they managed to meet a German family in a small village who offered them food and somewhere to stay. It was while staying there that the Soviet troops came into the area. My Grandad and his two friends hid in the cellar of the German family's house as they were unsure of what the intention of the soldiers was and I remember him telling me that he witnessed "chinese looking men coming into the cellar and eating raw sugar out of sacks with their bare hands like they hadn't been fed for weeks."
When the Soviet troops left, they made their way towards the west and eventually were picked up by some American troops in the area surrounding Berlin in early June (or late May).
Returning to England, my Grandad was silent. He learned that he was the only survivor from his plane that night and blamed himself for the deaths of his friends because he failed to shoot down the second fighter that night. pHe walked with a slight limp for the rest of his life, received no counselling, compensation, or anything to help him get over what he had seen. But the story does have a ending of sorts. In his seventies, a historian got in touch with my Grandad and via some research found the name of the German pilot who had claimed the "kill" of my Grandad's plane; one Hermann Greiner. Herr Greiner was still alive. He was contacted by the historian and eventually, after some soul searching and correspondence, my Grandad went over to Germany to meet him. Hermann remembered that night, and told my Grandad that an experimental type of gun was on his night fighter (It pointed upwards from behind the cockpit) meaning that there was nothing my Grandad could have done to save his friends. He flew under the Halifax and merely shot up into the fuel tanks as it lumbered about its defensive manouvres. My Grandad was able to meet the face he had seen 50 years previously on that fateful night when his life changed forever. He bore no grudge and Herr Greiner gave him his Iron Cross, with Oak Leaf, medal as a token of their friendship and in reconcilliation. Hermann Greiner had around 50 "kills" as a night fighter ace and was one of the luftwaffes "stars".
My Grandad died in 2000 and his ashes were scattered at the memorial site of his old, now long forgotten, RAF base at Pollington, Yorkshire. The war had affected the rest of his life and if it hadn't been for his courage and bravery I wouldn't even be writing this, as his young wife (My Grandmother) gave birth to my father a year after he got home.
|
P/O Alan Leach 51 Squadron (d.5th Jan 1945) Alan Leach was born in Coppull in 1921, the son of Sylvester and Emma.
He was brother to Fred, well known in the village. He was a Pilot Officer in the RAF Volunteer Reserve at the age of 19 and a member of 51 squadron.
The aircraft he was flying on 5th January 1945 was a Halifax LV 952, MH – F. It took off from RAF Snaith at 16.47 hours, detailed to bomb Hannover, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was shot down at 19.22 by Luftwaffe pilot Georg-Hermann Greiner, and crashed 19.27 at Leinhausen- Soeckern. He and five of the crew were killed and are buried in Hannover War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany.
The Crew were:
- P/O A. Leach (Pilot)
- Sgt P Neale (Flight Engineer)
- F/Sgt J S Staples (Navigator)
- Flt Sgt W G Bowen (Air Bomber)
- P/O L A Wilson RAAF (Wireless Operator)
- F/Sgt W M Burton (Air Gunner)
- Sgt D Ef F Tomsett (Air Gunner)
The only surviving crew member was Sgt Thomsett (Air Gunner)
|
Wilf Matthews 51 Squadron Our crew was stationed with 51 squadron on three separate occasions, as we had three different skippers & two different bomb-aimers, which meant going back to con-unit for the necessary training with these chaps. We did our christening on the Nuremberg trip of 30 March '44, and made a forced landing at Wing (Otu) near Leighton Buzzard, Beds. After which our skipper, F/lt Joe Pawell, who was an American, flying in the RCAF, went to hospital in London with an ulcer, and after that first visit we didn't see him again. Back on the squadron, we did 'spare bod' trips, during which we lost our bomb aimer, Bob Burgum, on a raid near Aachen.
we went back to 'con unit', where we crewed up with new Skipper, F/o Danny King, RAAF. and bomb-aimer 'Grem' Emlyn-Jones. Danny had been with 77 Sdn, where we understand, he pranged on take-off with a bomb-load and was awarded an M.I.D. that he never talked of, but he did wear the emblem. Later on, we met one of his previous gunners, a F/sgt 'Herby' Holroyd. "Grem' came to us from a crew who had pranged at Garrowby Hill, where he has since erected a memorial to them. I remembered one of his gunners from my training days, a nice guy named Sid Booker. Grem and I are in fairly regular contact. We only did five trips with Danny, and on the last one he had a break-down, 17/7/44, was taken off flying 'heavies', and the last we knew, was on single -engined planes.
Back to con-unit where we teamed up with F/O Bob Gray, and at the end of his training we returned to Snaith to do a 'Bull's- eye' to Overflakee on 17/9/44, after which we carried on the usual squadron life up to the end of the war. The only change being that the squadron moved from Snaith to Leconfield, to do the 'final trip' to Wangerooge on 25/4/45. I am fortunate to still have my log-book and a stack of memories. I'm also grateful to my daughter, who is always ready for my stories, and who found this web-site.
|
P/O Alan Leach 51 Squadron (d.5th Jan 1945) Alan Leach was born in Coppull 25th March 1921 the son of Sylvester and Emma. He was brother to Fred, well known in the village.
He was a Pilot Officer in the RAF Volunteer Reserve at the age of 19 and a member of 51 Squadron.
The aircraft he was flying on 5th January 1945 was a Halifax.
It took off from RAF Snaith at 16.47 hours, detailed to bomb Hannover, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was shot down at 19.22 by Luftwaffe pilot Georg-Hermann Greiner, it crashed 19.27 at Leinhausen- Soeckern. He and five of the crew were killed and are buried in Hannover War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany.
Aircraft Type: Halifax.
Serial number: LV 952.
Radio call sign: MH – F.
Unit: Att 51 Sqd RAF
The crew were:
- RAF PO 185864 Captain A. Leach (Pilot)
- RAF Sgt P Neale (Flight Engineer)
- RAF Flt Sgt J S Staples (Navigator)
- RAF Flt Sgt W G Bowen (Air Bomber)
- RAAF 403167 PO Wilson L A (Wireless Operator Air)
- RAF Flt Sgt W M Burton (Air Gunner)
- RAF Sgt D E F Thomsett (Air Gunner)- Survived the crash.
|
F/Sgt Donald Edward Thomsett 51 Squadron My Grandad, Donald Thomsett was POW in Stalag 3a for the last 4 or 5 months of the war. He was the rear gunner in a Halifax bomber flying out of RAF Snaith/Pollington. He'd been an RAF gunner for all the war on varying aircraft - Wellingtons and Halifax's mostly. He'd flown God knows how many missions from 1940 onwards!
He remembers being shot down over Hanover on a night raid. That night he was rear gunner in the plane and told me that two German night fighters approached the plane from the rear, one high and one below. He managed to shoot at the higher aircraft and said he either shot it down, or it broke away because my grandad thought he was getting pretty good hits on it. By the time he got his guns to the floor he saw the face of the other German pilot illuminated by his instrument panel below him. Bit corny maybe, but he swore on it. After that, the German plane flew under the Halifax (which was doing an evasive manouvre). There was an explosion and the plane started heading for the ground. The comms had gone and so had the hydraulics, so grandad had to manually wind the turret round so he could bale out. He landed on the roof of a house and sprained his ankle while falling into the garden below. The local residents came out and beat him with pieces of wood, then the SS arrived and took him through the streets. They took off his flying boots and coat and made him walk through the snow bare foot. While walking he saw the bodies of other airmen hung from lamp posts, he said they looked as if they had been hung by the locals after landing.
They took him to the Dulag and interrogated him and strung him up and ran a knife down his back - he still had the deep long scars right up to his death. He had frostbite on his feet so they made the room alternitively hot and cold to make it worse. They also put another English prisoner in the room with him. Grandad wasn't telling them anything in interrogation, but he spoke with the room mate. It turned out that the room mate was a German plant and he told them everything he had been told by my grandad, where he was from, his girlfriend's name. Eventually, via being cattle trucked in Berlin station while the Allies were bombing Berlin - something he said the Nazis thought was very funny. If the Allies bombed their own men trapped in cattle trucks in the station - he was taken first to Sargen, then to Camp 3a. He was there when the Russians advanced on the camp. He said the german guards were a bit like "dad's army" and he bore no ill will towards them, even though they had little food. He remembers the Russian prisoners being treated like animals in a seperate compound. Eventually he escaped from the camp by going over the wire with a Canadian and an American. They found an old beat up car, got it going, then drove it across Germany westwards. A German family helped them out and housed/fed them for a few days in a little village. One day the Russians came to the village and my grandad hid in the cellar of the house. He remembered seeing "people looking like really dirty Chinese people" coming into the cellar and eating raw sugar with their bare hands like they were starving. The Russian soldiers took the family's 11 year old girl into the woods and she was never seen again. They didn't discover my grandad or his two friends. Eventually they made it to just outside Berlin and literally walked into the city. He was treated well by the Americans and given food and fags and some money. He arrived back in the UK about three weeks later and couldn't even speak for weeks. The war stayed with him for the rest of his life. But it wasn't the end. Nearly 50 years later a local historian had found out who had shot down my grandad that night (he had been the only one of his crew in the Halifax to survive) and arranged for the two of them to write to each other. It turned out that the German pilot - Herman Greiner - was a WW2 ace. He remembered that night and was able to tell my grandad how his plane was shot down (some kind of upward pointing gun that the night fighter had just had installed), and my grandad didn't blame himself as much for the death of his 6 friends that night. Herman gave his Iron Cross with Oakleaf, medal to my grandad as a token of his sorrow and apology. They met in Germany and shook hands after 50 years. Grandad died of cancer a couple of years later, he hardly ever talked about it all, despite me writing this, and only opened up at all towards the end. That war destroyed him. But he was brave as anyone I've ever met.
|
Flt Lt. Arthur Hebblethwaite DFC & Bar. 51 Sqd. My brother, the late Flt.Lt 136499 Arthur Hebblethwaite DFC and Bar, served with 51 Squadron. Arthur was a wireless operator (air gunner) and moved onto pathfinders before being shot down in 1945 and imprisoned in Stalag Luft 3.
Arthur is middle row centre, date and names of others not known.
I assume that the location of both photos is at Snaith
|
George Walter James Sibley My father, George Walter James Sibley, was stationed at Snaith in 1941 and told us that he had been a rear gunner in a Wellington Bomber. The records I have from the RAF are extremely sketchy he was posted there in September 1941 until released in 1942 after injury of some form. He told us that his bomber had been hit and limped back to base, he had been wounded which ultimately resulted in his release to GIII reserve status. Can anyone fill in any details?
|
Sgt. Edward Frederick Kinerman 51 Sqd (d.13th May 1943) My cousin, Edward Frederick Kinerman was a Flight Engineer. He was born in Rochford, Essex in 1922. His father was Frederick Keehnemund, the name was changed before the first World War started as Frederick's father was born in Essen in Germany.Edward joined the RAF.V.R. sometime in the early 1940s. I don't know all the history but he became a Flt Eng. Sgt. He flew many missions over Germany but his luck was to run out. He was attached to 51 squadron at Snaith, Yorkshire. He and the other 6 crew took off in their Halifax Bomber on the night of the 12th of May 1943 and some how on the way over Holland they got lost and separated from the rest of the flight. They were on their own when a German ME109 night fighter found them and shot them down. The Halifax went into a spin and none of the crew were able to bail out all died on impact. The plane still had its bombs on board when it crashed and the explosions went on for 2 hours or so, locals said. The bodys were picked up by the Germans and buried in the Dutch grave yard in Haringen. He was only 21 years old. The Germans collected the remains of the Halifax for salvage.
|
Sgt. Montague Lewis 150 Squadron (d.14th Dec 1941) Sergeant Lewis was my aunt's first husband. He crash landed at Snaith in a Wellington on 14th of December 1941 during an air test.
My mother tells me he had to be cut from the wreckage and died of his injuries about a week later. The family story is that he was towing a target when he was shot down, a job given to him and his crew because they had flown so many sorties and were about to go on leave. I'm hoping to clarify this from his service record but if anybody has further detail I would be most grateful.
|
Flt.Lt. James Arthur Neve DFC. 109 Squadron  My father James Arthur Neve DFC joined 109 Squadron at Little Staughton in March 1945. He was a navigator. He had already completed 28 operations in 1943-4 on Halifaxes with 51 Squadron at Snaith.
At 109 Squadron his pilot was F/O John McIntosh DFC and Bar. They completed 16 operations including targets at Bremen, Weimar, Berlin, Dessau, Paderborn and Eggebeck (the last operation of the war). They also took part in several missions for operation 'Manna' marking aiming points for dropping supplies to the Dutch. My father went on one operation on a Lancaster during Operation Dodge to Italy to bring back servicemen who could not return easily due to transport hold-ups.
My father's Authorisation of Release for Demobilisation was 3 November 1945 and his effective date of release was 6 January 1946.
After the war he retrained as a teacher and ended up as the Headmaster of Sandhurst Primary School in Kent. He married Staff Nurse Eileen Stubbs in May 1947 having met her at a dance near Little Staughton in May 1945. Eileen was a nurse at The Royal Free Hospital in London and had been relocated with other nurses and patients to Arlesey in Bedfordshire after bombing damaged part of the Royal Free. They had a daughter, Hilary in 1948 and a son, James in 1957.
|
W/O. Douglas Sidney Joseph Norton 51 Squadron (d.13th March 1945) My granddad, Warrant Officer Douglas Sidney Joseph Norton flew with 51 squadron at RAF Snaith between October 1944 and March 1945.
The above photo was supposedly taken before their final operation on 13/03/1945. My granddad is front row on the right - he was the Wireless Operator. The only other person I can identify is the Bomb Aimer F/Sgt W R Homewood back row second from right. The others are: - F/O B.J. Murray DFC- Pilot,
- P/O E.V. Grinter DFC - Navigator,
- Sgt R Stephenson - Flight Engineer,
- Sgt JHC Hoggan - M/U Gunner,
- Sgt JP Ryan DFM - Rear Gunner.
If any one recognises anyone please contact me.
|
Sgt. Joseph Frank Whittaker 150 Squadron (d.30th Jul 1944)
|
Eric Cope RAF Snaith Eric Cope flew Halifaxes out of RAF Snaith during WWII. He was a WOP/Navigator.
|
W/O. George Gerard Booth DFM. 51 Squadron Gerry Booth is now 93 years old, widowed and living alone, but in excellent spirits.
|
Sgt. Kenneth Stoddart Preston 150 Squadron (d.5th June 1942) Sergeant (Observer) Kenneth Preston was killed on 5th June 1942.
He is buried in the Killumerland (Kollum) General Cemetery, Friesland, Netherland.
|
Sgt. Stan Coome 51 Squadron I knew Stan Coome in the early 2000s, just prior to his death. He told me that he had been a rear gunner on Halifax bombers at RAF Snaith during the war. The war ended before he had completed his first tour. This caused him some disappointment as he felt that he had not done enough.
He was a very sprightly old fellow, I took him flying a couple of times in light aircraft and he could climb in quicker than I, despite being 40 years my senior.
|
Sgt. Robert Dudley Procter 150 Squadron (d.9th June 1942)  Bob Procter enlisted in the RAF on the 25th of July 1940 and was recommended for training as Wireless Operator Air Gunner, medically fit.
In August 1940 he joined for Initial training at RAF Blackpool in Lancashire
on the 29th August he was Confined to camp for 3 days.
On the 18th of October 1940 he commenced training as Wireless Operator Air Gunner and qualified on the 23rd of December. On the 4th of May 1941 he was admitted to David Lewis Northern Hospital at Childwall, Liverpool and discharged on the 7th of June. From the 6th of August 1941 he was confined to camp for 3 days, On the 26th of September 1941 he qualified as an Air Gunner.
After being absent for one day he was reprimanded on the 10th of November 1941.
On 31st of December 1941 he was promoted to the Rank of Sergeant
and on 6th of March 1942 Bob qualified as Wireless Operator/Air Gunner II
and was posted to Snaith, Yorkshire with
night bomber 150 Squadron at the end of the month.
On the night of the 8th/9th of June 1942 he was listed as missing, presumed killed in action, with his crew who
were all lost, Flying Officer W O Love RAF (Graduate of Sydney University), Flight Sergeant E B F Mandin RCAF, Sergeants L C Gray, R D Procter and L Dent.
|
Flt.Sgt. Robert Ballantyne Dick 150 Squadron (d.11th Feb 1942) Robert Ballantyne Dick was the son of Charles & Annie Dick of Monifieth. He was named after Charles' brother Robert Ballantyne Dick who died in the Battle of the Somme.
Robert was lost without trace while flying a mission from RAF Snaith
|
Sgt. Reginald Leonard Arthur Roberts DFM. No. 578 Squadron Reginald Roberts served as a flight engineer with his squadron, which was a heavy bomber (Halifax Mk. III) unit that was part of RAF No. 4 Group. His squadron was initially based at RAF Snaith but later moved to RAF Burn.
|
Recomended Reading.Available at discounted prices.
|
|
|
