216902 P/O. John Rowland Feirn Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 83 Sqdn. from:East Ham, Essex (d.13th Mar 1942) I am transcribing the 'Thomas Hedley ROH' book, the pre-runner of Procter and Gamble Ltd., and on page 47 of the book is an entry for a John Rowland Feirn. The entry reads: Missing Presumed Killed Pilot Officer. I would be interested in any other information on him. This book will be showing as a memorial on www.newmp.org.uk as a North East War Memorial.
Update: Pilot Officer John Feirn was the son of Arthur and Lillian Feirn and husband of Doris Ethel Feirn, of East Ham, Essex. John Feirn was responsible for the navigation for the mission from RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire, to Cologne. The crew took off at 20:30, and were shot down by a night-fighter and crashed in Nijmegen, Netherlands. John Feirn was 34 years old when he was killed, and he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Surrey.
Additional Information: | My late father was 904882 Sgt. John Henry Allen., 83 Squadron (later DFM & Bar, PFF). Dad flew his first operation with P/O Feirn in Manchester L7389 OL-M on the Channel Dash. By all accounts it was a baptism of fire. The rear gunner RAAF 407565 Sgt. Leonard Garth Whibley was a sad casualty that day.....The aircraft was shot to pieces and the hydraulics rendered useless but they managed to get home on one engine and do a 'wheels up' landing with the bombs still on board.
Sad to note that P/O Feirn died a month later......Lest we forget.Corinne Mitchell
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