|
|
|
No. 97 Squadron RAF
|
No. 97 was re-formed in September 1935 as a night-bomber squadron at Catfoss. In June 1938 it ceased to be an operational squadron and became part of an air observers' school. In March 1939 it became a No. 4 Group pool squadron moving to Abingdon and the No. 6 (Training) Group. In April 1940 No 97 merged with 166 Squadron and SHQ Abingdon to form No.10 OTU.
In May 1940 it again re-formed at Driffield in No. 4 Group as a Whitley heavy bomber squadron but disbanded again same month. In February 1941 it re-formed at Waddington in No. 5 Group as a heavy-bomber squadron equipped with Avro Manchesters; it moved to Coningsby and began operations against Fortress Europe, converting to Lancasters in 1942. In 1942 and in conjunction with No. 44 Squadron, No. 97 made a historic low-level daylight attack on MAN Diesel engine works at Augsburg, took part in 1,000-bomber raids on Cologne, Essen and Bremen, took part in No. 5 Group's dusk attack on the Schneider locomotive and armament works at Le Creusot and the Group's (and Bomber Command's) first daylight attack on Italy (Milan). In 1943 No. 97 moved to Bourn, joined No. 8 (PFF) Group and became a marker squadron, illuminating the Zeppelin works at Friedrichshafen and an Italian naval base at Spezia for the first shuttle-bombing raid. In April 1944 No. 97 returned to Coningsby and No. 5 Group to help lead the Group against separate targets, flying its final offensive mission in April 1945.
In the Second World War No.97 Squadron flew a total of 4,091 operational sorties and lost 130 aircraft. The following decorations were awarded to members: 21 DSOs, 222 DFCs, 2 bars to DFCs 157 DFMs, 2 bars to DFMs 1 OBE and 1 BEM.
Airfields No. 97 Squadron RAF flew from.
- RAF Leconfield, Yorkshire. from 3rd to 17th Sep 1939
- RAF Abingdon, Berkshire. from 17th Sep 1939 to 8th Apr 1940 (became No. 10 OTU)
- RAF Driffield Yorkshire. reformed 1st May 1940 to 20th May 1940 (disbanded)
- RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. reformed 25th Feb 1941 to 10th Mar 1941
- RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire. from 10th Mar 1941 to 2nd Mar 1942
- RAF Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire. from 2nd Mar 1942 to 18th Apr 1943
- RAF Bourn, Cambridgeshire from 18th Apr 1943 to 18th Apr 1944
- RAF Coningsby from 18th Apr 1944
|
List of those who served with No. 97 Squadron RAF during The Second World War
|
Douglas Charles Fentiman 97 Squadron (d.30th July 1943) My uncle, Douglas Charles Fentiman, was in the RAF during WW2. I believe he flew for the 97 Squadron.
He was possibly in a Pathfinder role but I am not sure. He could have flown out of Bourn but again I don't know this. Would anyone have any information on him or remember him? He had only been married one year when he was killed on the 30th of July 1943. |
P/O. John Alan Worswick DFC. 106 Squadron (d.2nd Jun 1942) My Father Alan Worswick piloted Hampdens, Manchesters and Lancasters in 34 Ops over Germany and France. He was due for leave when on the night of the 14th /15th of April 1942 he force landed Manchester 7317 at Lee the Solent on return from raid on Dortmunde. On the 15th he and his crew were retrieved and flown back from Tangmere to Coningsby by W/C Guy Gibson in Manchester 7485. On the 30th of May Father piloted Lancaster 5848 on the first 1000 Raid to Cologne. On the 1st of June 1942 he piloted Lancaster 5844 on the second 1000 Raid to Essen. Father should not have been flying that night but at the last minute was ordered to take over S/L Lester Stenner's aircraft and crew as for some reason Stenner had declared himself unable to fly. I believe his may have been the the first Lancaster lost from Coningsby, Father was killed just before I was 2 years old.
Pre-war he was a keen racing Motor Cyclist racing in the Manx Grand Prix in 1937 and 1938. They were on the boat in Douglas Harbor in 1939 but as war was imminent it returned to England as the races were cancelled.
|
F/Lt. Kenneth Robert Waugh 97 Squadron (d.25th Apr 1944) Flight-Lt Kenneth R. Waugh of 97 Squadron was the skipper of Lancaster ND500G (OF-G) which was hit by flak, still with 103 incendiaries on board, near Munich at approximately 1.40 a.m. on April 25th 1944. Kenneth R. Waugh is my only uncle, whom of course I never met.
Kenneth, his 19 year-old Engineer Sergeant G.C. Munton, 24 year-old Navigator Flight-Officer R.C. Wickens, 22 year old Gunner Sergeant H. Stewart, 22 year-old Radio Operator Sgt W.E. Alexander and 37 year-old Gunner Flight-Officer R.D. Carter. Bomb-Aimer Flight-Officer G.H. Tulloch was the only one able to bail out and survive, to be interned in Stalagluft 3 until the end of the war.
In the few records I've found on the web, Ken is identified as an "American" from Virginia, or some sort of colonial as it were, from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Ken was in fact born in Sao Paulo in 1919, the eldest son of the English-born Governor of The Bank of London and South America, Norman Frederick Waugh and his American-born wife Bessie, of Morgantown, West Virginia, hence the confusion. Ken enjoyed a very privileged and exotic childhood as did his 11-months younger brother Richard, in Brazil, and a far less exotic but still privileged education at Blundells Boy's School in Devon as did his younger brother. When Britain declared it was at war Ken and Richard both volunteered for the RAF to become pilots. Less than perfect vision kept Richard out of a pilot's seat so he had to settle for ground operations, but Ken was deemed fit for pilot training.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to find anything about Ken's early RAFVR record and just as unfortunately I have not been able to find out anything about the crew members of ND-500 G beyond their names but I have learned some of the arc of Ken's wartime life. Having joined-up at the outbreak of war with no flying experience at all I assume Ken would have spent his first couple of years in basic military training, officer training and flight training with the full course of flight training being frequently interrupted by bad weather and general wartime interruptions.
In 1942 Ken was assigned to take part in the Arnold Scheme in the US which provided Britain the means to train pilots and crews in the wide-open balmy skies of the US without interference from Luftwaffe harassment. Ken was placed in Class SE-42-C the third inducted class of 1942 in the American South East, assigned to Lakeland Florida in a training course run by the USAAC (later to become the USAAF). As a result of the American management of the program at Lakeland, Ken earned USAAC wings despite being in the RAFVR, but having done so he was retained as a 'check pilot' for ensuing classes of British pilot and aircrew cadets.
Ken also earned the love of a gorgeous local girl, Jean Ridgely. They married in Florida and when Ken was finally ordered back to England in late 1943, Jean followed Ken across the Atlantic in the US Coast Guard cutter Tamaroa and upon arrival in England, joined the WAAF.
Again I've discovered nothing of Ken's activities at this time. I can only assume he was engaged in some conversion training. From his time as an Arnold Scheme cadet and then check-pilot/instructor he must have accumulated 1,000 hours or more of flight time, but given that the Path Finder Force tended to recruit from exemplary combat-experienced personnel, I wonder if Ken had served with some other active squadron before joining or being acquired by 97 Squadron.
When the crew of ND500G was shot down on the Munich raid of April 24/25 1944, Ken's wife Jean had just learned that she was pregnant. Jean was discharged from the WAAF because of her condtion but stayed in Lonodon until after VE Day, whereupon she returned to the US with her infant daughter named Barbara. Shortly thereafter Jean met and married an American, Paul Hardaker.
Like thousands of others Ken didn't earn any distinctions of skill, fortitude or heroism, which rather highlights how heroic those who did earn such distinctions were, and perversely, perhaps, how heroic too were those whose acts and experiences did not single them out, such were the high standards set by all during that war.
Ken's younger brother Richard (my father) once took a ride, against regulations, in the dickey seat of a Wellington on an 'Op' and recounted to me that he'd never been so scared in his life, a change of trousers was apropos, as he put it. Richard survived the war, initially serving in England, then North Africa, Italy, France and Germany.
As frustrated as I am at having found so little about my uncle's wartime career, I am equally frustrated that I have found out even less about the crew of ND-500G. On the other hand, I am grateful that there are others whose lives and contributions have been have been sufficiently well documented and preserved to serve as representatives of those who otherwise appear as footnotes or mere statistics in the extraordinary events of WWII. May they all be remembered.
|
Sgt E E Hayward 97 Sqd (d.27th June 1942) While researching the family name I came across an entry for F/O A W
Friend of 97 Sqdn which took me to your 97 Sqdn site. F/O Friend's name
and those of his crew are missing from your list of squadron members.
The aircraft either crashed or was shot down in Norway as F/O Friend is
buried in Bergen cemetary.
The following was culled from 97 Sqdn associations website.
27th June 1942 *Ten aircraft detailed to attack Bremen. None of the aircraft
were able to identify target and all bombed on TR, results believed to
be good, although 10/10ths cloud. F/O Friend (Rhodesian) and crew failed
to return – no news received after take off.
F/O A.W.Friend, Sgt E.E.Hayward, F/S H.Shrybman, Sgts
N.Nicoll, S.J.Allen, P/O J.C.Weir, Sgt F.E.McKenzie. Missing
from this operation. |
Flt Sgt H Shrybman 97 Sqd (d.27th June 1942) While researching the family name I came across an entry for F/O A W
Friend of 97 Sqdn which took me to your 97 Sqdn site. F/O Friend's name
and those of his crew are missing from your list of squadron members.
The aircraft either crashed or was shot down in Norway as F/O Friend is
buried in Bergen cemetary.
The following was culled from 97 Sqdn associations website.
27th June 1942 *Ten aircraft detailed to attack Bremen. None of the aircraft
were able to identify target and all bombed on TR, results believed to
be good, although 10/10ths cloud. F/O Friend (Rhodesian) and crew failed
to return – no news received after take off.
F/O A.W.Friend, Sgt E.E.Hayward, F/S H.Shrybman, Sgts
N.Nicoll, S.J.Allen, P/O J.C.Weir, Sgt F.E.McKenzie. Missing
from this operation. |
Sgt N Nicoll 97 Sqd (d.27th June 1942) While researching the family name I came across an entry for F/O A W
Friend of 97 Sqdn which took me to your 97 Sqdn site. F/O Friend's name
and those of his crew are missing from your list of squadron members.
The aircraft either crashed or was shot down in Norway as F/O Friend is
buried in Bergen cemetary.
The following was culled from 97 Sqdn associations website.
27th June 1942 *Ten aircraft detailed to attack Bremen. None of the aircraft
were able to identify target and all bombed on TR, results believed to
be good, although 10/10ths cloud. F/O Friend (Rhodesian) and crew failed
to return – no news received after take off.
F/O A.W.Friend, Sgt E.E.Hayward, F/S H.Shrybman, Sgts
N.Nicoll, S.J.Allen, P/O J.C.Weir, Sgt F.E.McKenzie. Missing
from this operation. |
Sgt S J Allen 97 Sqd (d.27th June 1942) While researching the family name I came across an entry for F/O A W
Friend of 97 Sqdn which took me to your 97 Sqdn site. F/O Friend's name
and those of his crew are missing from your list of squadron members.
The aircraft either crashed or was shot down in Norway as F/O Friend is
buried in Bergen cemetary.
The following was culled from 97 Sqdn associations website.
27th June 1942 *Ten aircraft detailed to attack Bremen. None of the aircraft
were able to identify target and all bombed on TR, results believed to
be good, although 10/10ths cloud. F/O Friend (Rhodesian) and crew failed
to return – no news received after take off.
F/O A.W.Friend, Sgt E.E.Hayward, F/S H.Shrybman, Sgts
N.Nicoll, S.J.Allen, P/O J.C.Weir, Sgt F.E.McKenzie. Missing
from this operation. |
Plt Off J C Weir 97 Sqd (d.27th June 1942) While researching the family name I came across an entry for F/O A W
Friend of 97 Sqdn which took me to your 97 Sqdn site. F/O Friend's name
and those of his crew are missing from your list of squadron members.
The aircraft either crashed or was shot down in Norway as F/O Friend is
buried in Bergen cemetary.
The following was culled from 97 Sqdn associations website.
27th June 1942 *Ten aircraft detailed to attack Bremen. None of the aircraft
were able to identify target and all bombed on TR, results believed to
be good, although 10/10ths cloud. F/O Friend (Rhodesian) and crew failed
to return – no news received after take off.
F/O A.W.Friend, Sgt E.E.Hayward, F/S H.Shrybman, Sgts
N.Nicoll, S.J.Allen, P/O J.C.Weir, Sgt F.E.McKenzie. Missing
from this operation. |
Sgt F E Mckenzie 97 Sqd (d.27th June 1942) While researching the family name I came across an entry for F/O A W
Friend of 97 Sqdn which took me to your 97 Sqdn site. F/O Friend's name
and those of his crew are missing from your list of squadron members.
The aircraft either crashed or was shot down in Norway as F/O Friend is
buried in Bergen cemetary.
The following was culled from 97 Sqdn associations website.
27th June 1942 *Ten aircraft detailed to attack Bremen. None of the aircraft
were able to identify target and all bombed on TR, results believed to
be good, although 10/10ths cloud. F/O Friend (Rhodesian) and crew failed
to return – no news received after take off.
F/O A.W.Friend, Sgt E.E.Hayward, F/S H.Shrybman, Sgts
N.Nicoll, S.J.Allen, P/O J.C.Weir, Sgt F.E.McKenzie. Missing
from this operation. |
F/O A. W. Friend 97 Squadron. (d.27th Jun 1942) While researching the family name I came across an entry for Flight Officer A W Friend, Service Number R5674H, of 97 Sqdn. The aircraft either crashed or was shot down in Norway as F/O Friend is buried in Bergen cemetary.
The following was culled from 97 Sqdn associations website:
"27th June 1942 *Ten aircraft detailed to attack Bremen. None of the aircraft were able to identify target and all bombed on TR, results believed to
be good, although 10/10ths cloud. F/O Friend (Rhodesian) and crew failed
to return – no news received after take off. F/O A.W.Friend, Sgt E.E.Hayward, F/S H.Shrybman, Sgts
N.Nicoll, S.J.Allen, P/O J.C.Weir, Sgt F.E.McKenzie. Missing
from this operation."
|
W/O James Benbow DFM. 97 Squadron. Jim Benbow, with his wife Madge, owned 'Jims Cafe' on Newport Road, Middlesbrough in the 1930s and 40s. He volunteered for RAF service in September 1940 as an air gunner. He joined 97 Squadron and flew with Pilot Ernest Deverill. Together the crew were involvd in many famous bombings raids icluding the 1000 bomber raids over Cologne, Essen and Bremen. >Also the famous armament works at Le Creusot, for which Jim received the DFM. After a full tour of duty then teaching others in Scotland the crew reformed to fly again with 97 Squadron (now Pathfinders) and now based at Bourn. On the 17th December 1943 after a successful raid over Berlin they returned to find thick fog and unable to land diverted to Graveley. With little fuel they attempted to land and crashed in the fuel store. Jim was the only survivor but with a badly broken leg and severe burns he was placed under the famous plastic surgeon McIndoe at East Grinstead Hospital, where all McIndoe's patients formed 'The Guinea Pig Club'. Jim returned to Middlebrough in 1945 for the birth of his son Peter and to continue the cafe business. He never fully recovered from his injuries and died 11 years later in 1956, at the age of 47.
|
Reginald Morris Nash MID 57 Squadron My dad, Reginald Nash did not talk very much about his war time experiences but I inherited from my mother, who died recently, my dad's wartime 'stuff' including his flying log. He qualified as flight engineer with effect from 8th of October 1942 and as flight engineer with effect from 24th of May 1944. He began operational duties on the night of 13th of February 1943 from Scampton with a sortie on Lorient in France. Throughout his time with the 57 squadron during 1943 he flew 29 successful sorties with 1 abort mostly over German cities. Some of the sorties were recorded as eventfull: - 8th July 1943, aircraft attacked over target (Cologne) by junkers 88, mid upper gunner killed, enemy aircraft destroyed by rear gunner.
- 13th May 1943, Skoda arms works Pilsen, aircraft attacked by 2 Junkers 88s.
- 3rd Apr 1943 Duisberg, rear gunner unconcious.
- 12th May 1943 Duisberg, 'heaviest raid of war to date'.
My Dad's pilot on most of the ops was Flt Lt Greig but I note that he flew 3 ops with Flt Lt Astell in Feb 43 who, I believe, was killed on the Dambusters raid. My dad then flew a limited number of operations during 1944 with 50 squadron and his last sortie of the war was on the 6th of May 1945 'Operation Exodus' to Brussels to transport POW's. My dad was at 97 Squadron Woodhall Spa from Oct42 to Jan43. Then 57 Squadron Scampton to Aug43; then 1660 conversion unit Swinderby to Aug 1944 and finished the war with 50 squadron based at Skellingthorpe. The aircraft types flown seems to have been almost everything the RAF had in service, Lancaster, Halifax, Sterling, Manchester and Oxford. In total my Dad flew 228hrs at night and 174.25 daytime and he survived without a scratch or being a POW. He was released from service on the 4th of September 1945. He had met my mother whilst doing his leaders coarse at St Athan and they married in Penarth on the 30th of September 1944. After the War my Dad joined BOAC then BA based at their engine overhaul site in Treforest near Pontypridd, South Wales as a Production Engineer before his retirement in 1975. He was, as well, for a number of years, President of the Penarth RAFA and I remember one of their guests at an annual dinner was W/Comdr Barder.
There are many programmes on the TV these days about WW2 and now that I am custodion of some of my dad's wartime memories and know a lot more than I did I feel a real connection with those times. I am very proud of my dad's courage and achievements and I regret not finding out more of what it must have been like for him and thousands more of his generation when he was alive. Maybe he was embarassed with all the controversey over the tactics used by Bomber Command but I am pleased that at long last their sacrifice has finally been recognised and so would have my Dad.
|
Can you help us to add to our records?
The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them
Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial?
Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area?
If so please let us know.
Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.
Celebrate your own Family History
Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.
Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.
|
|
