Hi folks, I have come across a bit of a puzzler and I'm hoping someone can throw some light it for me so here goes.
There was a S/L Kay and crew that flew on Op's with 431 Squadron in Dec. 1944 and in Jan. 1945. I can find no record of them in the O.R.B. being posted in OR out of 431 Squadron and the last Operation I can find that they flew with this Squadron was January 16/45 MERESBURG. Because they just seemed to fall off the face of the earth I dug a little deeper wanting to know what happened to them so I went to the C.W.G.C. site and tried a few crew names and found that they F.T.R. January 29th Stuttgart but still no record of them flying with 431 after Jan.16th. Now the strange thing is 5 of the crew were KIA and 2 were POW but the C.W.G.C. site shows them as flying with 428Squadron. Was this a common occurence that crews were moved around and no records kept???.
Hi Bill How long was Kay a Squadron Leader? Any possibility that the move to the other Sqn was to become a Flight Commander? It's a thought even if it may not explain the lack of ORB entry.With Canadian Sqns in a Canadian Group that kind of move along internal lines seems possible. They functioned as part of the RAF but it is easy to believe that there was a fair amount of Canadian autonomy within such a major Group. Regards Dick
I have received the book "Into the Night Sky" which is the history of Middleton St George Airfield. On page 234 and 235, it reads about S/L H.L. Kay, on his first trip as Flight Commander, was lost over Stuttgart with all but two of his crew. He was flying Lancaster KB770 and the date was 28/1/45.
Bill, In my story "Night Raid on Happy Valley" an F/O Kay escaped with two members of my uncle's crew on 16/17 June 1944, Sterkrade Germany raid. I have no idea if this is the same fellow or not, I found it in same document for an escape/evasion report for Cliff Wentworth. Alan
Hi Alan, Thanks for your reply. I suppose it is possible it was the same airman but that being said, if it IS the same guy then he sure moved up the ranks in a hurry as he is shown as S/L in Dec. 44 when he first appears with 431 Squadron. What Sqdn. was the airman you mentioned flying with when he evaded?.
Hi Dick, Thanks for the reply. No I have no idea how long he had been a S/L he and his crew appear on a Battle Order in Dec. 44 and his last Op with 431 was Jan.16. and he and his crew were lost at the end of Jan.45 with 428 but as Matt says it was bound to happen sooner or later that someone would get moved without a record in the O.R.B. I would guess there is a record of his movement perhaps in the 64 Base records or amongst the 6 Group records if you could track them down (a massive job though). Any the problem of what happened to him and his crew is solved. Thanks to all for their help.
Bill, All I can say is F/O Kay, no mention of the squadron he was from, only that he showed up with Dutch underground when Cliff Wentworth and Jack Druett were about to be smuggled out of The Netherlands a few nights later.
