Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Post Info TOPIC: Lancaster R5621


Aircraftsman 1st Class

Status: Offline
Posts: 3
Date:
Lancaster R5621
Permalink   


Hi, i have recently managed to find my grandfather, he is in the old garrison cemetary in Poznan.

he was from the 83 squadron   number 5531385 , he was awarded a DFM.(killed on 12/06/1942)

my mother was born later and so never had much information.

is there anybody who would have the (distinguished flying medal register), i would like to find out more about his achievements ..also his date of birth and any family information.

Thank You

 

 

 



-- Edited by Lee Anderson on Monday 3rd of December 2012 02:32:33 PM

__________________


Group Captain

Status: Offline
Posts: 177
Date:
Permalink   

Hello,

You don't mention your grandfather's name but as only one airman aboard R5621 was awarded the DFM:

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34915/pages/4809/page.pdf

Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Pilot Officer Angus ROBSON (41471).
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal.
551385 Sergeant Wallace STOCKPORT.
One night in July, 1940, Pilot Officer
Robson carried out a bombing attack on
warships in the harbour at Wilhelmshaven.
Undeterred by a terrific barrage of enemy
gunfire, he swept down to the very low
level of twenty feet above the buildings, and
with conspicuous courage crossed the harbour
and pressed home his attack on an enemy
warship. Sergeant Stockport as wireless
operator air gunner fired continuously at the
enemy defences and searchlights with his
machine guns. Pilot Officer Robson has consistently
shown great daring and devotion to
duty, and Sergeant Stockport by his courage
and skill, has on many previous occasions
contributed to the success of attacks on the
enemy, often under the most trying weather
conditions.

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/all-anniversaries/22664-memoriam-those-air-force-pilots-crews-who-died-day-ww2-61.html#post508456

RAAF FATALITIES IN SECOND WORLD WAR AMONG
RAAF PERSONNEL SERVING ON ATTACHMENT
IN ROYAL AIR FORCE SQUADRONS AND SUPPORT UNITS

404902 Sergeant ENGLAND, Kenneth Hayne

Source:

AWM 237 (65) NAA : A705, 163/107/102 Micro Film No 463 OAFH
Commonwealth War Graves records, W R Chorley : RAF Bomber Command Losses
of the Second World War, Page 125, Volume 1942
Aircraft Type: Lancaster
Serial number: R 5621
Radio call sign: OL R
Unit: ATTD 83 SQN RAF

Summary:

Lancaster R5621 took off from RAF Scampton at 2216 hours on the night of 11/12th June
1942, detailed to carry out a gardening operation in the Baltic. Nothing was heard from
the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base.

Crew:

RAF FO Sproule, M A Captain (Pilot) (POW)
RAF Sgt R C Driver, (2nd Pilot) (POW)
RAF PO Williams, D G (Observer) +
RAF Flt Sgt W Stockport, (1st Wireless Air Gunner) +
RAAF 404902 Sgt K P England, (2nd Wireless Air Gunner) +
RAF Sgt R H Dominy, (Mid Upper Gunner) +
RAF Sgt R R Vernon, (Rear Gunner) (POW)

The aircraft was hit by flak from a flak ship moored in the target area and exploded. Four
of the crew were killed and FO Sproule, Sgt Driver and Sgt Vernon were POWs.
Those killed are buried in the Poznan Old Garrison Cemetery, Poland. The city of Poznan
is located in the west of Poland, on the main E30/2 road. The cemetery is in the north of
the town in the district of Winogrady.

Sgt Vernon a POW lost consciousness as the aircraft broke up but was rescued an hour
later by a German vessel searching for survivors.

There is an undigitized file on the RAAF member of this crew which would give you far more information than you would ever get from the RAF.

Go to http://www.naa.gov.au/

and use 404902 as your search parameter. A new window will open. You want the A705. Click and a new window will open. Click on "request copy" and follow instructions.


There was a Wallace Stockport born July 1920 quarter in Northumberland. Ring a bell?

Birth Record

NameWallace Stockport
Year of Registration1920
Quarter of RegistrationJul-Aug-Sep
Registration DistrictCastle Ward
Registration CountyNorthumberland
Mother's maiden nameThompson
Volume Number10B
Volume Page735

Regards,

Dave

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



-- Edited by alieneyes on Sunday 2nd of December 2012 11:10:27 PM



-- Edited by alieneyes on Sunday 2nd of December 2012 11:11:12 PM

__________________


Aircraftsman 1st Class

Status: Offline
Posts: 3
Date:
Permalink   

Dear Dave,

 

   Thank you so much for the information, due to circumstances things had been kept secret.

   i met my father age 28,  and now meet my grandfather age 40  to find out he is a hero.

   I certainly owe you.               Regards,         Lee.



__________________
AW


Air Commodore

Status: Offline
Posts: 256
Date:
Permalink   

Hi Lee,

          Adding to what Dave has already given you. I have the 83sqdn ORB (Operations Record Book) for 83sqdn, and would gladly go through it for  operations flown by this crew previous to their last one.

Alan.



__________________

AlanW

Anonymous

Date:
Permalink   

Dear Alan,

 

   how can I say, your kindness is unexpected. 

   This is what i am looking for , i have been feeding back the info to my mother...she never knew her father

    it is now very emotional times for us.

          Thank you so much,          best regards             Lee.

 



__________________
AW


Air Commodore

Status: Offline
Posts: 256
Date:
Permalink   

Lee,

      You'll have to let me have your email address for when i've found anything. You can leave it on my "whiteboard" in my profile.

Alan.



__________________

AlanW

Anonymous

Date:
Permalink   

Hi Alan,

 

   anders624@hotmail.com

 

              Thank You ,                               Lee.



__________________
AW


Air Commodore

Status: Offline
Posts: 256
Date:
Permalink   

Hi Lee,

        It would have been safer to let me have it via my whiteboard, but i've written it down now. So now you need to delete it by editing your post, to lessen the risk of spammers getting hold of it.

Alan.



__________________

AlanW

AW


Air Commodore

Status: Offline
Posts: 256
Date:
Permalink   

Hi Nick,

 Thanks for your email address, will be in touch when i've got the ops for you. I see that he was very lucky on the 8th April. Out for the first time with his own crew, after being 2nd Pilot for previous ops. They were hit by flak, and ditched in the sea. ORB says that he was the only one to find the dinghy, all the rest were lost. It appears that it was only the accurate fix, given by the W/Op, that enabled him to be eventually found.

Alan.



-- Edited by AW on Tuesday 16th of April 2013 11:27:12 AM



-- Edited by AW on Tuesday 16th of April 2013 11:28:09 AM

__________________

AlanW



Leading Aircraftsman

Status: Offline
Posts: 8
Date:
Permalink   

Hi Alan,

 

I have no idea if this thread is still active at all.

 

My wife's uncle was Mike Sproule, the pilot on this mission.

 

I'm struggling to find any more records for him, aside from a trip in a Manchester on 8.4.42 when he was shot down the first time. do you have anything you could share, please? Or any suggestions where I could continue looking, please?

 

Thanks

Nick



__________________
AW


Air Commodore

Status: Offline
Posts: 256
Date:
Permalink   

Hi Nick,

               I visit the site every day, so i don't miss anything new. If you would like me to go through the 83sqdn ORB for all ops flown, it'll be no problem, but let me have your email via my whiteboard in my profile.

Alan.



__________________

AlanW



Leading Aircraftsman

Status: Offline
Posts: 8
Date:
Permalink   

He told of hearing the voices of crew mates slip away in the fog.

__________________
Anonymous

Date:
Permalink   

Hi Nick,

 

  Thanks for getting in touch, i guess your wife s uncle is now gone..i do not have more info from my grand dad,

  but thanks to the threads and help from people on this site i managed to trace his mothers name and from there quite

  some of his family.It give s me the shivers when i get news from Wallace.

  I am born on a 12March..and on 12 March 1945 swinemunde(where they where shot down) was burned to the ground by the Americans...

  very strange coincidence...

 

                     All the best,                       Lee.

 



__________________


Leading Aircraftsman

Status: Offline
Posts: 8
Date:
Permalink   

Yeah, I've been with my wife twenty years, and he was gone before I knew him. They've just released, as I'm sure you know, a bomber command medal, which has promoted this search. She was fond of him, so I thought I'd surprise her. I'm told, but I cannot corroborate, that mike kept a diary of every day of the war, and it is the only full record from bomber command. It is in the imperial war museum in London somewhere. The result of this is we have no records! Thank The Lord for the Internet, otherwise I'd be lost. :)

Are there records of POWs anywhere, as this is where he ended up for at least some time.

__________________


Air Vice Marshall

Status: Offline
Posts: 309
Date:
Permalink   

Lee,

photo of your grandfather's grave can be found here:-

http:/i/twgpp.orMg/information.php?id=1968545

 

 

Mike.

 

 

 

 

 

 



__________________
Anonymous

Date:
Permalink   

Mike,

 

  Thank you, the cemetary is very well maintained to be seen on all saint s day!

  If ever you found some photos of the crew  it would be something.wink

 

         Regards,          Lee.



__________________


Leading Aircraftsman

Status: Offline
Posts: 8
Date:
Permalink   

I'll have a dig. Don't hold your breath.

__________________


Leading Aircraftsman

Status: Offline
Posts: 8
Date:
Permalink   

Is it one of the two on the flight mentioned above? Or 'just' someone else who flew the same plane at a different time?



-- Edited by NickHowe on Saturday 11th of May 2013 10:26:40 AM

__________________
Anonymous

Date:
Permalink   

Lee

Just in case you haven't already seen it I am letting you know that I have sent an email to you about one of the surviving members of the crew of R5621.  I hope you will find it interesting. 

You can contact me via my email address given on the email.

 

Best wishes

 

AF

 



__________________
Anonymous

Date:
Permalink   

The survivor was on the plane when it was shot down.

Best wishes

AF

 

 

 



__________________


Aircraftsman 1st Class

Status: Offline
Posts: 3
Date:
Permalink   

Hi AF,

  Thank You, I have managed to speak briefly with the second pilot of this plane today. It is certainly a very special day

 I was told how things happened and it is very interesting, how nice would it be if could get hold of electronic copies of the documents Robert keeps. "photo of 83 squadron.."

   Thank You again both of you for getting in touch.wink

 

 



__________________
AF


Aircraftsman 1st Class

Status: Offline
Posts: 1
Date:
Permalink   

Just to let you know that Flight Seargent Robert C. Driver, the co-pilot on R5621 when it was shot down on 12th June 1942, died on 25th May 2014 aged 93 years. His funeral service was held at St Davids Cathedral on 6th June 2014.

After ditching in the Stettin estuary he was picked up by the Germans and, following treatment, was held at Stalag Luft VI and later transfered to Stalug Luft IV.

see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_VI

and

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_IV

He was on the "Black March" during which prisoners were made to march west as the Russians made their advances on Germany. The following is a relevant part of Robert's obituary (given at the funeral service) which he had himself dictated a few month's earlier:

"When the Home Guard was formed after Dunkirk, there was a question of whether he should join up or go into the Air Force to train as a pilot. This he achieved in late 1941 and was the posted to 83 Squadron stationed at Scrampton. The night he arrived there was their last raid in Manchesters, and there followed six weeks of getting to know the Lancaster, after which he was involved in the first Thousand Bomber Raid on the 30th May 1942, on Cologne. On the night of 11th and 12th June, he was on a mine dropping raid on the estuary in Stettin, in which the aircraft was shot down.

He became a prisoner of war, mainly in the hands of the Luftwaffe, until January 1945. There was a certain comradeship between them and the RAF, so his treatment was generally fair. In 1945 he and others were taken to a Luftwaffe camp not very far from Memel by lorry, then transferred to a coal carrying ship and taken to Stettin (ironically) where they were shut up in cattle wagons. There was, almost immediately, a bombing raid which was very upsetting. Fortunately the RAF was aiming more for the port of Stettin.

Then followed various methods of travelling, on foot, or if they were lucky, some form of transport, until they arrived at a farm near Lake Zarentin, where they were released by members of the 4th Airborne Division and told to make their way back to the British Line as best they could. So, next morning, he and five others started to walk and came across a farmer who had a horse and cart which they took over and made their way to Lauenberg where all the German forces were surrendering.

There they came upon a very smart coach and one of the party said "Oh Yes I can drive that!". This coach had obviously belonged to some high officials of the Luftwaffe and contained several uniforms, pistols and a case of Champagne. They drove that day as far as Celle where they reported to the local RAF police station who put them up for the night in a purpose built Luftwaffe barracks.

Next day they were flown to Brussels where they spent the day and night. Robert and one or two others went to the cinema to see a film called Arsenic and Old Lace. They also bought quite a lot of chocolates, which made Robert, unaccustomed to rich food, feel very unwell.

The next day they were flown back to the UK where they were put up for the night, this time in an RAF camp. It was now about the 3rd or 4th May 1945 and Robert eventually arrived home at his mother's flat on the 8th May which was VE day. He and his mother heard Churchill announcing that the war was over."

Robert was a wonderful person and it was a privilige knowing him. He will be greatly missed by family and friends.








__________________


Leading Aircraftsman

Status: Offline
Posts: 8
Date:
Permalink   

Thank you for the update.

I shall pass it on. Just... humbling.

__________________
AW


Air Commodore

Status: Offline
Posts: 256
Date:
Permalink   

Hi Nick,

 Thanks for your email address, will be in touch when i've got the ops for you. I see that he was very lucky on the 8th April. Out for the first time with his own crew, after being 2nd Pilot for prthey were hit by flak, and ditched in the sea. ORB says that he was the only one to find the dinghy, all the rest were lost. It appears that it was only the accurate fix, given by the W/Op, that enabled him to be eventually found.

Alan.



-- Edited by AW on Tuesday 16th of April 2013 11:27:12 AM



-- Edited by AW on Sunday 15th of June 2014 02:55:26 AM

__________________

AlanW



Leading Aircraftsman

Status: Offline
Posts: 8
Date:
Permalink   

www.backtonormandy.org/the-history/air-force-operations/airplanes-allies-and-axis-lost/manchester/R58371942-04-09.html

Just seen this. Could this be an actual photo of the flight that day?

__________________
Anonymous

Date:
Permalink   

Hi Nick, Nice photo Thank You.    Radio code is 5621    . I don't know how old the craft was but I guess just a couple of weeks to check on the list here above.

Robert Driver was the real breakthrough in this query , how lucky we where to be able speak with the man.

for ever he will be a sincere profound memory.



__________________
Keith Parry

Date:
RE: Lancaster R5636
Permalink   


I have just undertaken the task of trying to find out what I can about my wife's uncle P/O William Kenneth Williams, RAAF, Navigator, R5636 OL-K and stumbled across your conversations regarding R5621. It seems that R5636 was lost during the same gardening mission as R5621 but its fate is listed as ?. All crew members were killed. I will be forwarding any information I can glean from this research back to Kenneth's nieces in Australia. I think I am right in saying that this was his 5th or 6th op. If anyone can help me to piece together the relatively brief time he spent with 82 Squadron I would be very grateful. My email address is keith@keithparry.co.uk.........Thank you. 



__________________


Leading Aircraftsman

Status: Offline
Posts: 8
Date:
RE: Lancaster R5621
Permalink   


Good luck and please share anything relevant. The thread is quiet but informs are sent out when it's added to.

__________________


Flight Lieutenant

Status: Offline
Posts: 49
Date:
Permalink   

Hi Keith,

Regarding Lancaster R5636, Nachjagd War Diaries by Theo Boiten has the following;
Crashed into the sea North of Ameland Island, Frisian Islands at 03:08 hours. Shot down by a Night fighter piloted by Oblt. Lippe-Weissenfield of 5./NJG 2.


__________________
Keith Parry

Date:
Permalink   

Wayne,

Thank you for your information. I do not have a copy of Nachjagd War Diaries but I have found reference to a Lancaster being shot down on 06/12/42 on this sight, http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/aces.php?PilotID=413 

Let me ask you, bearing in mind that two Lancasters, R5636 OL-K and R5621 OL-R were lost during that mission, is it possible for a night fighter pilot to identify a specific aircraft. I appreciate that the Call Sign markings on the aircraft are large but it would have been dark and I would have thought specific aircraft identification difficult. I am new to all this so please excuse my ignorance. I have read that R5621 was hit by anti-aircraft fire from a boat and that she exploded, though 3 of her aircrew did manage to bail out, if this could be confirmed then that would almost certainly mean that it was R5636 that the night fighter pilot shot down. I apologise if I appear sceptical but I want to feel as certain as possible before I relay the information back to the living relatives of P/O William Kenneth Williams in Australia.

Thanks again.....Keith Parry 

 



__________________
Anonymous

Date:
Permalink   

Hi Keith, sorry for the late response. i actually spoke to Mr Robert Driver on the phone, he has since passed on 6/6/14 if i remember well.

Mr Driver was co pilot, aircraft was hit by flak and he recalled thinking he was in bed dreaming that he was falling after what he hit the water and woke up.

Robert heard some voices and an engine, this was a German patrol seeking survivors . on board the boat was a tarpaulin on which he recognised the pilot.

From there they where sent to a Stalag for the RAF and had better treatment being RAF which helped them survive through the war.

Robert did not know my grandmother s first husband Wallace Stockport, they embarked on a mission made up last minute.

craft was destroyed, but i have seen reports saying damaged. however it never flew again.

I am always after a picture of Wallace stockport or any info .  Thank You all , again for your great and very kind help.

 

                      Lee.



__________________
Anonymous

Date:
Permalink   

Dear Lee
I have been reading the emails on the Lancaster crew with interest.
My uncle (my mother's brother)was called sergeant Wallace Stockport and I know he died in a bombing raid and is buried in Pozion. I also know that he was a radio gunner and was awarded the DFM.
I am aware that he was married but did not know he had any children. I have photos of my uncle and early family history and would be happy to exchange information.
Best wishes
Nigel



__________________
Anonymous

Date:
Permalink   

Dear Nigel ,

What a surprise .Wallace's mother was named Thompson Phyllis if I recall this is from. My research.indeed Wallace did not have any children.

He married my grandmother Margareth Johnson in Houghton le spring on 12 April 1942 . He was shot down just 12 weeks later 

My mother new about an RAF letter missing in action when her mother passed away at age 46 .

I was raised with very little family and finding info of Wallace I have adopted him as my grandfather since I never had a grandfather or a grandmother but this is my family . My mother lost her mother at just 20 so as you see it's all quite emotional ..I think Wallace's father passed around 1979 in Sunderland area my mother never had any information in those days we did not speak about war . Everyone had to get on with it .I look forward  to hear from you Nigel ,I will inform my mother . Thanks 

 



__________________
Anonymous

Date:
Permalink   

Hello Nigel

I am Lee's mother ...my mother Margaret married Wallace Stockport...

I would like to know about Wally's life and family..

Kind regards

Kathleen

 



__________________
Anonymous

Date:
Permalink   

Nigel the troll

__________________
Page 1 of 1  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.

Tweet this page Post to Digg Post to Del.icio.us


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse
Powered by ActiveBoard