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211467 Sgt. Alfred Fletcher Royal Air Force 61 Sqn My father Alf Fletcher was a Sgt Wireless Op/Mid upper Gunner, on Hampdens, based at RAF Hemswell. On the night of Saturday 2 March 1941, he flew his last 'op', to bomb Cologne. Aircraft callsign 'Q' Queenie. Handley Page Hampden.
Crew:-
- Pilot - P/O Jim Noble RCAF
- Nav - Sgt R Mackinnon RAF
- W/Op - Sgt A Fletcher RAF
- Rear Gnr - Sgt FD Healing RAF
They were hit by Flak, after completing their bombing run, which holed the fuel tanks.
They returned to Hemswell, only to find German aircraft 'shooting up the airfield, causing the 'flare path' lights of the runway, to be switched off.
After circling for some 50 minutes, during which time, two other Hampdens crashed, and after some confused communication, they were diverted some 100 miles away. When they were 8 miles from the diversion field, first the port, and then the starboard engine, cut out. Indicated altitude was 950 ft( but due to a wrongly set altimeter, this was some actually 300 ft less.)
The pilot crash landed the aircraft at some 95 mph.
The Nav was killed outright, going through the perspex windshield, the Rear Gunner died of injuries sustained in the crash, in the ambulance en route to hospital.
The Pilot & Wireless Op survived, though sustained serious injuries.
They remained lifelong friends until their respective deaths.
The wireless op was my father, and after a short break at the end of the war, he rejoined being later offered a permanent commission as an Air traffic controller, until 1963.
He served at RAF Bishopscourt, N Ireland/RAF Topcliffe, Yorks/RAF Negombo, Ceylon/RAF Uxbridge, Middx/Driffield, E. Yorks/RAAEE Boscombe Down, Wilts/RAF Bruggen, Germany/RAF Sopley, Hants.
He became a hotelier, Barons Court Hotel, Boscombe, Dorset, on leaving the RAF, and passed away, in Bournemouth in 1985.
I joined the RAF, as a weapons engineer, in 1961, leaving in 1973.
I have a handwritten copy of the full events of 2nd March 1941, written as a letter from the pilot, to my father. |
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