This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.
If you enjoy this siteplease consider making a donation.
Site Home
WW2 Home
Add Stories
WW2 Search
Library
Help & FAQs
WW2 Features
Airfields
Allied Army
Allied Air Forces
Allied Navy
Axis Forces
Home Front
Battles
Prisoners of War
Allied Ships
Women at War
Those Who Served
Day-by-Day
Library
The Great War
Submissions
Add Stories
Time Capsule
TWMP on Facebook
Childrens Bookshop
FAQ's
Help & FAQs
Glossary
Volunteering
Contact us
News
Bookshop
About
235270Sgt. Raymond Henry "Bill" Alvey
Royal Air Force 144 Squadron
from:Chilwell, Notts
(d.22nd Nov 1942)
Raymond Alvey was my mother's brother. He served in Coastal Command, firstly with 120 Sqn, then with 489 Sqn and finally (and very briefly) with 144 Sqn. His final flight, on 22 November 1942, left RAF Wick for a nuisance bombing raid over the coast of Norway north of Stavanger. Their Hampden was shot down on Karmoy Island. All four crew were killed.
- The pilot was Sqn Ldr John Hird,
- the navigator/bomb aimer was Sgt Davidson Hepplewhite,
- and the wireless operator/air gunners were Sgt Robert Coles and my uncle.
Raymond Alvey wrote detailed diaries of his three years of service. I also have his father's correspondence with the Air Ministry and Red Cross when he was trying to find out what had happened and where Raymond and the other crew members might have been buried. (It seems likely that they were buried at sea by the Germans). There is a commemorative plaque near the site of the crash and the crew are also commemorated at Runnymede.
I am intending to write a biography of my uncle, based on the above sources, operations record books etc, and would be pleased to receive any information that might be relevant. I would particularly like to hear from descendants of the other crew members, and from those who might have served in 144 squadron at RAF Leuchars in November 1942, or in 489 squadron earlier that year.
Raymond and unknown crew
Raymond and unknown crew
Related Content:
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.
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:
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.