The Wartime Memories Project

- No. 172 Squadron Royal Air Force during the Second World War -


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World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

No. 172 Squadron Royal Air Force



 

26th January 1942 New flight formed to hunt U-Boats by night

4th April 1942 Anti-U-Boat Squadron formed

13th April 1942 Wellington crashed into cliffs

3rd June 1942 Italian submarines attacked by night patrol

20th June 1942 Wellington crew rescued from the Atlantic

5th July 1942 U-Boat sunk with all hands

15th July 1942 Two killed in crash-landing

August 1942 Detachment to Caithness

12th August 1942 Aircrew ditched; rescued with heavy losses

19th August 1942 Friendly fire incident

14th September 1942 New anti-submarine Squadron formed

27th December 1942 Wellington lost without trace

11th Jan 1943 Cycling Accident

5th February 1943 U-Boat sunk and Wellington missing

19th February 1943 U-Boat sunk

4th March 1943 Wellington shot down by U-Boat

20th March 1943 Operation Enclose

28th March 1943 Wellington lost on U-Boat patrol

April 1943 Detachment to Malta

7th April 1943 Wellington lost

10th April 1943 U-Boats sunk and damaged

13th April 1943 Accident in training

26th April 1943 U-Boat damaged

19th Jun 1943 Drowned

24th June 1943 U-Boat sunk

3rd July 1943 U-Boat sunk by Wellington

24th July 1943 Aircraft shot down: U-Boat sunk

29th July 1943 Submarine Sunk

7th August 1943 Wellington lost in the Bay of Biscay

13th August 1943 Pilot error causes explosion

24th August 1943 Squadron c/o killed in crash

7th September 1943 Wellingtons attack U-Boat and one shot down

19th September 1943 Wellington lost

29th September 1943 Failed to return

29th October 1943 Detachment

3rd November 1943 Transit to Gibraltar

9th November 1943 U-Boat search

18th November 1943 Detachment

26th November 1943 U-Boats attacked

27th November 1943  Wellington shot down

1st December 1943 Maintenance base at Gibraltar

5th December 1943 Wellington missing on operations

10th December 1943 Wellington failed to return

27th December 1943 U-Boat attacked

29th December 1943 U-Boat damaged Wellington

1st January 1944 Submarine survived attack

2nd January 1944 Change of command

7th January 1944 U-Boat attacked and lost

13th January 1944 U-Boat surrendered

16th January 1944 Airmen in dinghy spotted

28th January 1944 Survived attack

30th January 1944 Failed to Return

31st January 1944 U-Boat sunk

8th February 1944 Detachment Reinforced

19th February 1944 Lost on navigation exercise

29th February 1944 No U-Boats

10th March 1944 Ditched in the Atlantic

12th March 1944 U-Boat found and attacked

15th March 1944 E-Boats attacked

17th April 1944 U-Boat attacked

20th April 1944 Detachment withdrawn

24th May 1944 Wellington lost on anti-submarine patrol

6th June 1944 Normandy beaches protected

13th June 1944 U-Boat damaged

15th June 1944 Commanding Officer Missing

23rd June 1944 Lancaster located

27th June 1944 Failed to return

11th July 1944 U-boat attacked

15th July 1944 Crash in Training

30th July 1944 Aircraft shot down

12th August 1944 U-Boat attacked

15th August 1944 Wellington shot down

17th Aug 1944 Aircraft Lost

28th August 1944 Rescue

1st September 1944 Detachment to Northern Ireland

2nd September 1944 Ground crew moves

11th September 1944 Squadron relocated to Northern Ireland

30th September 1944 Patrols

4th October 1944 Aircraft Lost

31st October 1944 No enemy vessels

13th November 1944 Crash at Sea

23rd December 1944 Pilot killed in electrocution accident

30th November 1944 No enemy vessels


If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.



Logbooks



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Those known to have served with

No. 172 Squadron Royal Air Force

during the Second World War 1939-1945.

  • Allen Bruce.
  • Blair Ernest Anthony. F/O. Pilot (d.13th Apr 1942)
  • Daniel Charles Trevor. Sgt. (d.13th Apr 1942)
  • Le Frederick Charles. P/O. Gunner (d.13th Apr 1942)
  • Noble Leslie. P/O. Observer (d.13th Apr 1942)
  • Russ Hamar William. P/O. (d.13th Apr 1942)
  • Sayle William Frederick Oliver. Sgt. (d.13th August 1943)

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

Records of No. 172 Squadron Royal Air Force from other sources.



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Want to know more about No. 172 Squadron Royal Air Force?


There are:2082 items tagged No. 172 Squadron Royal Air Force 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.


P/O. Gunner Frederick Charles Le No. 172 Squadron, RAF (d.13th Apr 1942)

A memorial to five air crew of a Wellington bomber was discovered by my son and family during a cliff walk in Devon. A keen family historian, I was determined to find out about "these boys", and so the journey began. All five names have been submitted to your website and they are all buried in the Heaton Punchard (St. Augustine) Churchyard, Devon. Four are side by side, and one a row behind. Their plane crashed at the base of the cliffs where their memorial was erected in 1988. The crash happened on the 13th April 1942, and as I understand it the No. 172 Squadron RAF was only formed on the 4th April 1942. These are the five: Ernest Blair was from New Zealand; Hamar Russ was Canadian; and Charles Daniel, Frederick Le Bon, and Leslie Noble were British. We hope to visit their graves, now that we know where they are. R.I.P.

Gylian Hawkins



P/O. Observer Leslie Noble No. 172 Squadron, RAF (d.13th Apr 1942)

A memorial to five air crew of a Wellington bomber was discovered by my son and family during a cliff walk in Devon. A keen family historian, I was determined to find out about "these boys", and so the journey began. All five names have been submitted to your website and they are all buried in the Heaton Punchard (St. Augustine) Churchyard, Devon. Four are side by side, and one a row behind. Their plane crashed at the base of the cliffs where their memorial was erected in 1988. The crash happened on the 13th April 1942, and as I understand it the No. 172 Squadron RAF was only formed on the 4th April 1942. These are the five: Ernest Blair was from New Zealand; Hamar Russ was Canadian; and Charles Daniel, Frederick Le Bon and Leslie Noble were British. We hope to visit their graves, now that we know where they are. R.I.P.

Gylian Hawkins



Sgt. Charles Trevor Daniel No. 172 Squadron, RAF (d.13th Apr 1942)

A memorial to five air crew of a Wellington bomber was discovered by my son and family during a cliff walk in Devon. A keen family historian, I was determined to find out about "these boys", and so the journey began. All five names have been submitted to your website and they are all buried in the Heaton Punchard (St. Augustine) Churchyard, Devon. Four are side by side, and one a row behind. Their plane crashed at the base of the cliffs where their memorial was erected in 1988. The crash happened on the 13th April 1942, and as I understand it the No. 172 Squadron RAF was only formed on the 4th April 1942. These are the five: Ernest Blair was from New Zealand; Hamar Russ was Canadian; and Charles Daniel, Frederick Le Bon and Leslie Noble were British. We hope to visit their graves, now that we know where they are. R.I.P.

Gylian Hawkins



F/O. Pilot Ernest Anthony Blair No. 172 Squadron, RAF (d.13th Apr 1942)

A memorial to five air crew of a Wellington bomber was discovered by my son and family during a cliff walk in Devon. A keen family historian, I was determined to find out about "these boys", and so the journey began. All five names have been submitted to your website and they are all buried in the Heaton Punchard (St. Augustine) Churchyard, Devon. Four are side by side, and one a row behind. Their plane crashed at the base of the cliffs where their memorial was erected in 1988. The crash happened on the 13th April 1942, and as I understand it the 172 Squadron RAF was only formed on the 4th April 1942. These are the five: Ernest Blair was from New Zealand; Hamar Russ was Canadian; and Charles Daniel, Frederick Le Bon and Leslie Noble were British. We hope to visit their graves, now that we know where they are. R.I.P.




P/O. Hamar William Russ No. 172 Squadron, RAF (d.13th Apr 1942)

A memorial to five air crew of a Wellington bomber was discovered by my son and family during a cliff walk in Devon. A keen family historian, I was determined to find out about "these boys", and so the journey began. All five names have been submitted to your website, and they are all buried in the Heaton Punchard (St. Augustine) Churchyard, Devon. Four are side by side, and one a row behind. Their plane crashed at the base of the cliffs where their memorial was erected in 1988. The crash happened on the 13th April 1942, and as I understand it the No. 172 Squadron RAF was only formed on the 4th April 1942. These are the five: Ernest Blair was from New Zealand; Hamar Russ was Canadian; and Charles Daniel, Frederick Le Bon, and Leslie Noble were British. We hope to visit their graves, now that we know where they are. R.I.P.




Sgt. William Frederick Oliver Sayle 172 Squadron (d.13th August 1943)

William Sayle was a wireless operator air gunner in 172 Squadron, Coastal Command, hunting submarines from R.A.F. Chivenor using Wellington Mark X111s. He was the husband of Nora Sayle (nee Harwood). He was buried at Heanton Punchardon (St Augustine) Cemetery.

Michael Harwood



Bruce Allen 172 Sqdn.

I trained on Mark XIV Wellingtons equipped with Mark III Radar 10CM and a Leigh Light. Crew flew on ops with 172 Squadron from RAF Chivenor, Devon and RAF Limavady, Northern Ireland. We all survived and returned safely to Canada.

Bruce Allen







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