F/O. Robert George Sharland DFC.
Royal Air Force 156 Squadron
from:Thursley, Surrey
(d.28th April 1944)
In 1944, seven young airmen took off in a Lancaster bomber from an RAF airfield in the East of England. Their target was Friedrichshafen, in the far south of Germany. It was about as far as a Lancaster could fly; a journey of 8 hours there and back before it would run out of fuel. Their mission was to bomb factories where inmates from Dachau concentration camp were forced to work in an underground bunker,making parts for tanks and V2 rockets. It was part of the RAFs mission to destroy the Nazis industrial capacity, end the war and ultimately deliver Europe, from the tyranny of the Third Reich.
On board were Kenneth Franklin, a 21-year-old shepherd from Napier New Zealand; John Dodds, 28 from Australia; and from England, Cecil Eaton the commanding officer of the squadron and a comparatively old man at 32; Leslie Glasspool, the Squadron Leader, aged 25, Philip Wadsworth aged 22, who had just had a baby son; Colin Kidd, aged 30; and my uncle Robert Sharland (Flight Gunnery Leader), aged 21, who had been married for 23 days.
After 4 hours of flying, their plane was hit by a Luftwaffe nightfighter over Neuhausen. The plane crashed to the ground and exploded with the loss of all seven men. They are now buried in Durnbach Military Cemetery. RIP my Uncle Bob and comrades.
