RAF Pilot Flight Lieutenant Anthony Edward Grubb, of No. 57 Squadron at East Kirkby during WW2, was father to both myself David Michael Grubb Born Nov 12th 1941,and Edward John Grubb Born Sept 11th 1939, married to our mother Joan Rollason Grubb. Tony Grubb was a Bakers Clerk at his father's Bakery in Coventry. He was the only child to Edward Hugh Grubb and Laura Grubb of Coventry Warwickshire.
He was killed at only twenty four years old. Battle Casualty Lancaster Mk 111 - JB.486 was reported missing from operations on the night of July 4th/July 5th 1944, and the following details of the Crew are published for information,sent by Officer Commander, No. 57 Squadron, RAF signed by Wing Commander Commanding No.57 Squadron, RAF.
The Lancaster and all her Crew were shot down by a German Night-fighter on a bombing raid to the VI Flying Bomb Stores at St. Leu-d'Esserent, and crashed in a wood close to Cormielles St.Poix and where the Crew of seven, were laid to rest in the village chapel.
When my cousin Steven Gascoigne and I visited East Kirkby we also found the actual crash site. We were directed to the site by a couple of very senior French villagers that told us that two planes came down that night within sight of the village. There was nothing to see except a depression in the ground and smaller trees surrounding it. It was very emotional to see where it had crashed.
After the war, the Graves Commission moved all the crew remains to the war graves section of the church (which is heavily pock marked from gunfire) in St Croix just outside Amiens, where they now rest. We visited the graves and were very impressed that they were so lovingly maintained. A vote of thanks to the French for being so respectful.
The lost RAF Crew were:
- Anthony Edward Grubb F/O(A/F/L)(Pilot) Service 151259 of Warwickshire
- Sgt. Harry Lees F/ENGINEER Service 2216226 of Lancashire
- W.O. James William Weyers (Navigator) Service R.171682 of Alberta,Canada
- Jack Paull Hodges F/O (A/Bomber) Service A.413768 of N.S.W.,Australia
- Sgt. George Thomas Osborne (W/Op.Air) Service 1210239 of Staffordshire
- Sgt. Clifford Neil Stalker(A/G) Service 1893122 of Kent
- Sgt. Joseph Terance Nixon (A/G) Service 1682465 of Manchester
I was not yet three years old when my father died and my brother John only four at the time, so I have grown up with photographs, and stories about my father from family and friends who knew him well. I am still deeply emotional by his tragic loss, as was the family. My paternal grandparents never recovered after Tony was killed.
I emigrated to Canada at eighteen.
Growing up in Warwickshire my mother remarried a wonderful man Peter Wormell, now 95 yrs old, a survivor of a Japanese Prisoner of War in Burma. He survived two and a half years before being liberated in 1945.He is still living in Kenilworth, Warwickshire after my Mother's death in 2009. We chat on the phone every week to this day.
I visited my mother Joan and stepfather Peter and on many occasions I was able to ask her to recount personal details about my father. He loved to travel to the continent with friends, enjoyed music, dancing, driving, and was an Artist, mostly Watercolors. I have his Art Box, and some sketches, his riding boots,and his RAF Wings & Medals.
My father most certainly took on his duty seriously,flying with the RAF. He was sent to Moose Jaw, Canada in 1942 where he had pilot and aircraft flight training. He loved his King, his country, and of course his family and friends. We can all say "Thank You" to all the lost during WW2. May they all rest in eternal peace.
In 2001 I was joyfully surprised by my cousin Steven Gascoigne, and my Mother, who had arranged for me to visit East Kirkby. They arranged with a pilot friend of my cousin named Bob, to fly myself from Coventry to East Kirkby in his four seater Cherokee. We landed on the same main runway that my father had used all those years ago. There are no words that can describe the feelings that rose up and my eyes swelled with tears at that moment. Looking down at the runway was surreal, time stopped as I felt the souls of those very, very brave men and women who had served there.
The Panton brothers, who I believe still own the air field at East Kirkby, drove us around and showed us the parking pads of the Lancaster's, the Air Tower and Museum. In the East Kirkby Chapel, there is a commemorative wall with the names of all the RAF Flight Crews that were lost. To see the lovingly restored Lancaster Bomber "Just Jane" up close, I climbed the stairs to look in the cockpit where my father would have sat, was unbelievably emotional thinking of them flying off into the night one of many a bombing missions, not knowing if they would ever see those landing lights on the runway again. Alas, A.E.Grubb, my father, along with the Crew, did not return from that fateful bombing mission to France,on the night of July 4th/5th 1944. It was his 27th bombing mission. We spent most of the day there,and took off from the same runway he would have, flying back to Coventry.
East Kirkby is now a living museum thanks to the Panton brothers, who also lost a brother in Bomber Command. Thank you Bob (Pilot) Steve and Mother, for the trip of a lifetime -- I shall never forget that day or all those who were stationed there of whom many gave the ultimate sacrifice.
If anyone has any information or photos of 57 Squadron during those years, I would so appreciate if you would share them on this site for my family.
