I have just found this site and I wonder if you are able to provide any more information on my uncle,(after whom I was named) killed in action, 6 years prior to my birth. His plane (Lancaster) was lost without trace on a raid over Bochum on 4/5 November 1944 and I have recently been made aware of what probably was the fate of his aircraft and the only other one on that raid, which was also recorded as, 'lost without trace' - a Halifax III, of 424 sqn flying out of Skipton-on-Swale. I reproduce below a copy of correspondence I received earlier this year from a John Wilson detailing his investigation into this matter.
Sadly, Norman & my aunt had only married in 1943 and they had no children, he was also an only child, a younger sister dying as a baby in 1912. His parents died in the 1950's and my aunt died in 1999. All that generation in my family has now passed on. However,although I am not a blood relative, I would like to honour Norman on my family history website and know more about his service in the RAF; prior raids, medals etc. He is honoured on the Runnymeade Memorial.
Please add the following information to your own archive and feel free to pass on to whomsoever you consider the information might be relevant to, particularly the families of any other crew members. I have not been successful in tracing any of them.
Copies of emails from John Wilson follow:-
The following information has been brought to my attention, only very recently and forms a very probable hypothesis for the fate of F/O Booth and his fellow crew members.
The points of reference are the following two books:
W R Chorley, "Bomber Command Losses" volume 5, pages 475-476 and "Raider - The Halifax and it's Fliers" page 166 which details a description of that evening raid by F/O Herman from 466 Squadron flying a Halifax III out of Driffield, near York.
The piecing together of the two sources was done by John Wilson, who in his email to me, dated 5 March 2015, wrote the following:
"Comments: Regarding your relative F/Sgt Norman Robert Booth R.A.F lost without trace.
Having retired last October I have had more time to follow my interest of losses of Bomber Command, WW2, and believe that I may have uncovered a first hand account of what occurred to the aircraft your relative was aboard on 4/5 November 1944.
There is an account given by F/L J B Herman RAAF on page 166 of the title "Raider-the Halifax and its flyers" in which he describes a collision between 2 aircraft as they were approaching the Dutch coast.
Having consulted the records (Chorley v.5) of all aircraft lost on the raid, all are accounted for and only 2 are listed as missing without a trace, these being a Lancaster ME835 AS-T , of 166 Sqn, based at Kirmington, Lincolnshire which took off at 17.25 hours (your relatives aircraft) and a Halifax MZ896 QB-Q, of 424 sqn, based at Skipton on Swale which took off at 17.12 hours.
The Bomber stream crossed the Dutch coast between 19-00 and 1910 hours between,The Hague and Rotterdam, on their way to Bochum that night. Having also conducted a search of German aircraft active in the area, none is reported missing and none claim a victim inbound.
Correspondingly, I believe that the circumstances of your relatives disappearance was observed by F/L Herman and the remains of both aircraft and crew lie within a few miles off the Dutch coast between, The Hook of Holland and the small village of Ter Heijde.
Your late uncle is recorded on the Runnymede Memorial to the Missing and the whereabouts of both his crew and the entire aircraft were completely unknown until now.
I took a chance that if I were to put Norman's name into a Google search there was a small chance of something being there, I was lucky, it was an indirect path to your website, hence the email. In order for you to cross reference what you will find in Raider, you will need to get a copy of W R Chorley "Bomber Command losses" volume 5, pages 475-476 refer. I have contacted the author with my findings and he is quite certain that I have indeed reconciled the two reports and after 71 years the circumstances of the loss of those 14 missing airmen is at last known.
Had F/L Herman's own aircraft not been lost during the raid, his report would have been officially logged when he landed and my conclusions would have been apparent then, as it was, the necessary information that he had, did not come to light until he was interviewed by the author of Raider in 1978, and it would be another 19 years before the Chorley volume was printed containing information that correlated with Raider's, and a further 18 years until I spotted the connection.
The passage that I refer to in Raider is one man's recollection of an incident he witnessed completely unaware of which aircraft were involved. The information in Chorley's account taken on it's own gives no indication of what happened to either aircraft or where. They were not from the same squadron and no-one knew their fates were connected (they are listed as Lost without a Trace) Chorley's book is merely an acknowledgement that these aircraft were involved in the raid and who the crew members were, it is only by delving into these disparate documents that a connection can be made that gives a reason for the loss and these men a known grave site (albeit a watery one).
The earliest that this evidence would have been available to the authorities was after the war, when German records became available and Squadron losses could be attributed. But in Norman's case there was no recorded crash site and with F/L Herman's account never being officially logged (he was a prisoner of war) that was the end of the matter. It is a tragedy that your Aunt never knew what had happened to her Husband and where his body lay. Hopefully you will be able to pass this information to the Booth family.
Your late uncle is recorded on the 'Runnymede Memorial to the Missing' and the whereabouts of both his crew and the entire aircraft were completely unknown at the time and indeed until I formed this hypothesis from the evidence referred to.
I hope that my research is received in the manner in which it is sent and may be of comfort to you." Regards John (John Wilson)
Norman Booth was a Chartered Accountant and was age 37, much older than the average crew member. Whatever additional information you are able to provide, I will be most grateful for.
