The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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231467 PO John Donald Range Cromarty Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 6(P) AFU from:Little Sutton, Cheshire (d.3rd Jan 1944) My first cousin once removed was Jack Cromarty of Liverpool. In 1939 his parents lived in Berwick Gardens, Little Sutton, Cheshire He was a dental mechanic before he enlisted in 1941 He was a sergeant then flight sergeant then pilot officer and received his commission in November 1943 Prior to arriving at 6 (P) APU on 16th of February 143 he was at various other training units. After training at 6 (P) AFU he went to 81 OTU on 13th of April 1943 and then onto 1656, then 12 and finally after training at Upwood to 156 squadron, one of the Pathfinders at Warboys. He was the pilot of Lancaster JB640 and died the night of 2nd/3rd of January 1944 when the plane was shot down on a mission to Berlin The other crew members were: Sgt. Frederick Edwin Woolven.(Navigator) aged 23 years Sgt. Norman Henry Colebatch (Wireless Operator) F/Sgt Leonard Norman Lapthorne aged 21 years. F/Sgt Dennis Frederick Burtenshaw RAAF (Second Navigator/Bomb Aimer) aged 20 years. F/Sgt R.J.Collens Mid-upper Gunner aged 31 years. F/Sgt. Kenneth Sidney James Chapman. Rear Gunner aged 20 years. They completed approx 16 missions all over Germany between joining 156 sqdn in Nov 1943 and the last flight. It was discovered in 1976 that the plane had crashed into a lake in what was by then the Russian zone. The remains were handed over to the RAF in 1976. It has taken from then until approx 2011 for the MOD to identify where these remains were buried and then another three to find relatives of the lost airmen. On the 27th of April 2016 there was a rededication ceremony in Berlin for four of the crew of JB640 whose remains have been found. The headstones now changed to reflect they were crew members of JB640. Alas as John had no wife, children or siblings there are no known photographs of him as an adult in the RAF. I have this one photo of him in my late mother's photo album. Rebecca Owen Add to this record.  Related Content: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve RAF Warboys No. 156 Squadron Royal Air Force Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. 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. Contact us. 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.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.