Air Force Index

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No. 630 Squadron Royal Air Force    No. 630 Squadron was formed on 15th November 1943 from 'B' Flight, No 57 Squadron at East Kirkby near Spilsby, in Lincolnshire. The Squadron motto was "Nocturna mors" meaning "Death by night". They flew a total of 2,453 sorties with the lost of 59 Lancasters 630 Squadron was disbanded on 15 July 1945. Airfields at which No. 630 Squadron were based: East Kirkby.   30th Mar 1944 Aircraft Lost 31st March 1944 630 Squadron Lancaster lost If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Logbooks Do you have a WW2 Flying Log Book in your possession? If so it would be a huge help if you could add logbook entries to our new database. Thank you. View Logbook entries Those known to have served with No. 630 Squadron Royal Air Force during the Second World War 1939-1945. Ames DFC K. R.. F/Lt. Barnes Len. P/O Bowers Evelyn George William. Flt.Lt. (d.27th Aug 1944) Butcher William Albert. Flt.Sgt. (d.29th July 1944) Carrier William John. W/O. (d.27th Aug 1944) Carter Daniel Newton. P/O. (d.17th August 1944) Dougan Stephen Nelson. Sgt. (d.27th April 1944) Evans Clifford John. Sgt. (d.18th October 1944) Fingland Wilfred James. P/O (d.27th Aug 1944) Gratton George Henry. Sgt. Hall Bernard. F/O (d.17th May 1945) Henley Maurice Benjamin. Sgt. (d.22nd Nov 1944) Higgins DFC. F. R.G.A.. P/O Hobbs Frank. Flt.Sgt. (d.16th March 1944) Jones Leslie. Sgt. Langley John. Langridge Alan Ambrose Michael. Sgt. (d.27th Aug 1944) Martin Robert. F/O. (d.9th April 1945) McCallum Robert. W/O McLauchlin Burton. P/O. (d.27th Aug 1944) Meade Victor Francis Dobell. F/O (d.17th May 1945) Middleton Robert. Sgt. (d.27th April 1944) Millichap DFC Roy Edgar. Acting Squadron Leader O'Donnell Ronald James. F/O (d.17th May 1945) Penicud Alfred. Sgt Air Gunner Plowman G. E.. Sgt. Pollard Joseph William. Rabbetts Gordon Leonard. Sgt. (d.17th May 1945) Rackley DFC. Lionel Norman. F/O. Saxby William John. Sgt. (d.23rd May 1944) Smith Reginald Henry. Sgt. (d.17th May 1945) Southwold Vincent Reginald Woodburn. Sgt. (d.17th May 1945) Steele Kenneth Edward. Sgt Stills John Alfred. Sgt. (d.17th May 1945) Stott Guy Raymond. Sgt. (d.27th Aug 1944) Tasker Raymond Charles. Flt.Sgt. Taylor DFC J. T.. F/O (d.8th July 1944) Thompson Leslie. Sgt. (d.27th Aug 1944) Wass Bernard Patrick . Flt.Sgt. Wass Bernard Patrick. Sgt. Western Phillip Samuel. F/O. 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. 630 Squadron Royal Air Force from other sources. The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. Announcements The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 24 years. 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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 No. 630 Squadron Royal Air Force? There are:2001 items tagged No. 630 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. Sgt. Maurice Benjamin Henley 630 Squadron (d.22nd Nov 1944) From the memories of John Cox (nephew): On the fateful night when Benny Henley died, they are not sure why, whether it was because of a heavy bomb load or a faulty engine, pilot Ross Flood had to make several attempts before they could get airborne. This put him behind the rest of the squadron so he would have had to have made up the distance in order to catch up and join them on their way to the submarine targets in the Norwegian fjords. The bombing raid was successful and they started their return to RAF East Kirby, Spilsby, Lincolnshire, North England. They crashed onto Sunk Island Sands, East Riding of Yorkshire, near the Humber Estuary, there was no evidence that the crew were aware of having to make a forced landing, all crew were still in their seats on the airplane, as opposed to being moved to the bulkhead which would have been the safest area. There was one initial survivor, but he never regained consciousness and died in hospital. The general thought is that 1 of 2 things may have happened:- 1. Fuel guages may have been faulty and fuel would have been used in the extra efforts to get the plane up on the way to the bombing 2. The Lancaster1 was an early model and it's known that some of them had dropped out of the sky, but there was nothing to say that this was the case Memories of Derek Cox (nephew) regarding Benny's death: It was a few weeks later that I came home from school at lunchtime to find Mom blackleading the grate of our fireplace and I couldn't help noticing she was crying. I was shocked to the core, Mothers don't cry. In answer to my question of why she was in this state she simply pointed to an envelope sitting on the mantle shelf. The letter was from Aunt Stella, it was short, less than one page of notepaper and simply said that "Ben will not be coming home again". It went on to say he and all the crew were dead. Some thirty years later, Uncle Ray (Benny's brother) met, at a service men's reunion, a couple of RAF veterans who had been at East Kirby at that time and were told that on the day, November 22nd 1944, Ben's aircraft, a Lancaster Bomber, E for Easy, serial number I.I.949 of 630 Squadron, piloted by a New Zealander, Pilot Office Ross Flood, had trouble getting off the ground to start their flight to Trondheim, Norway and had made three runs before getting airborne. It was thought that the fuel used up getting airborne resulted in the plane simply running out of gas on the return flight. In a publication entitled "Lincolnshire Air War, 1935-45" the crash is mentioned as occuring "near the Humber" which is a major river on England's east coast. Initially listed as missing, the plane was first spotted by an area farmer, working his field, on a sand bank at the estuary to the river. The local lifeboat reached the wreckage before it was covered by the incoming tide and one of the crew was found alive, but died a few days later. If this is what happened, and it was not an uncommon occurrence that loaded bombers had such difficulties, it begs the question as to why PO Flood couldn't have made for one of the many other airfields which would have been within reach. Also, why did all of the 7 crew members die? Their shortage of fuel would have been known for some time and some, if not all, of the crew could surely have parachuted to safety. Another authority on these types of losses is Dave Newham, an English fiction writer, who was an RAF photographer and who has developed a special interest in the wartime airfields of Lincolnshire and the east coast. My brother, John, has met with Dave and been shown Dave's plotted map of E-Easy's flightpath which shows that it would have flown over several miles of England's east coast and been able to land at alternative airfields. It was also learned that each of the crew were found at their operational station. When it's known that a crash landing is inevitable, crew members were gathered at the plane's main bulkhead, over the wing's main spar, with only the pilot and flight engineer remaining at their usual places. Although we will never know what happened on the flight's final moments, it is reasonable to assume that there was no warning of the crash. Was it pilot error, with PO Flood falling asleep at the "wheel"? Maxine Belcher Add to this record. Sgt. G. E. Plowman w/op 630 Sqd Sgt Plowman was the Wireless Operator on my Father's crew, thier Lancaster was shot down the 16th of March 1944. My father, Len Barnes evaded capture. The crew were: P/O L.A.Barnes Sgt K.A.Walker F/O M.Geisler Sgt M.E.Gregg Sgt G.E.Plowman Sgt J.H.Overholt Sgt T.A.Fox Amanda Burrows Add to this record. Sgt. Bernard Patrick Wass No. 630 Squadron Bernard Wass is my uncle, who was in 630 Squadron during WW2. He was a bomb aimer in a Lancaster. I'm trying to find more information about his wartime service. Mike Clarkson Add to this record. Sgt. William John Saxby 630 Squadron (d.23rd May 1944) William Saxby was 22 years old, he is remembered on the Runnymade Memorial. Jeff Butler Add to this record. Flt.Sgt. William Albert "Ken" Butcher 630 Squadron (d.29th July 1944) William Butcher served with 630 Squadron. Edward Moulsley Add to this record. Sgt. Clifford John Evans 630 Squadron (d.18th October 1944) Clifford Evans was my grandfather that I never got to meet. He left behind a wife and two daughters. I have only recently found out that he is actually buried not 2 miles from my home. I visited his grave for the first time ever last weekend. It was wonderful to see his life remembered in the Commonwealth War Graves section of the cemetery. Joanne Grant Add to this record. Acting Squadron Leader Roy Edgar Millichap DFC 630 Squadron Roy Millichap served with 630 Squadron in 1944 and completed a tour of 33 missions. He went on to join BOAC and operated the first ever east-west jet passenger service across the Atlantic in Comet G-APDC on October 4, 1958. He was also a co-pilot on the Royal Flights in which Princess Elizabeth flew out to Kenya and returned as Queen. Later he commanded the Comet service that took the Quuen and the Duke of Edinburgh to Canada to open the St Lawrence Seaway in 1959. Robert Millichap Add to this record. Flt.Sgt. Raymond Charles Tasker 630 Squadron Raymond Tasker came to East Kirby in 1945 from No. 36 Service Flying Training School at Penhold in Alberta. He was with 630 Squadron until the end of the war. Alan Tasker Add to this record. Sgt. Stephen Nelson Dougan 630 Squadron (d.27th April 1944) Sergeant Stephen Dougan, served as a W/Op. with 630 Squadron. Son of Jim and May Dougan, husband of Edna Dougan he was lost over Germanyand is buried at Durnbach Cemetery, aged 23. Add to this record. Flt.Sgt. Frank Hobbs 630 Squadron (d.16th March 1944) My father, Frank Hobbs flew out of East Kirby on 15th of March 1944 on a mission to Stuttgart. The aircraft crashed at Bourguignon sans Coucy, France and all the crew were killed. They were buried in the local churchyard by local people. In 1945 my mother received a letter from a local schoolmaster who had retrieved personal papers from Lancaster before the German authorities got there, and had buried them until France was liberated. He told her all he could about the crash. He returned my fathers wallet to her (it's still in my possession). He also advised her that all the crew members were still at their posts when the plane crashed. He also flew with 50 Squadron. Barbara Storer Add to this record. Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices.

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