401112 - Unaccounted airmen - 12-11-1940

[Henk Welting]

No proposed aircraft losses for this day and many airmen killed on active service; most of them - if not all - may have been killed in air raids. Badly hit was 3 BC, 907 Balloon Sqn, Woodberry Down, Middlesex, with the following casualties:

F/O (Pilot) Marcus L. ARNOLD - 78290;
P/O Joseph W.C. BARTHOLOMEW - 78886;
AC1 John J. BELL - 629670;
AC2 Maurice BERNSTEIN - 1056202;
AC1 William E. BEZZANT - 845153;
Cpl Reginald J. BURTON - 355278;
AC1 Arthur V. CHOPE - 845095 - not found Flight archives;
AC2 Philip S. COTTER - 1056210;
AC2 Thomas DAVIDSON - 1056187;
P/O Alexander W. GRANT - 86735 not found Flight archives;
AC1 Louis GREW - 844945 - not found Flight archives;
AC1 Henry A. HYNER - 297123;
LAC Leslie NICHOLSON - 844631;
AC1 Francis C. REEVES - 844716;
LAC James R.M. SANDS - 844529;
F/Sgt Charles S. TOWNSHEND - DCM - 844509 - not found Flight archives,
AC2 Fred WALKER - 1006638.

Also following airmen:

AC2 Fred BROADHURST - 1154792 - 14 BC, 953 Balloon Sqn, Cardiff - killed on active service (perhaps dow - refer to 'Unaccounted airmen 10-11-1940');
AC2 William CURRILL - 1201815 - not found Flight archives, and
AC2 Bernard A. TISDALE - 1181653.

Regards and thanks for your help.
Henk.

[Henk Welting]

Forgot to mention:
Looking for their places of death registration !

Henk.

[Dick]

Hi Henk
Woodberry Down, despite being labelled as Middlesex is in N London in a part that was administered by Middlesex County in WW2(London is physically a big City and parts were run by nearby Counties).All the deaths on your list except 2 are registered at Islington N E London and this is consistent with the Balloon Unit. To have so many Casualties it must have been caught assembled together on the ground but near their HQ. Note that Broadhurst is among them and may have been transferred from the Cardiff Unit.
The Final 2 are Currill,32, registered at Winchester, Hampshire and Tisdale,18, back in London but registered at Chelsea,SW Central London
Regards
Dick

[Henk Welting]

Thanks Dick; will amend my files. 907 Sqn Woodberry Down was part of 3 BC (together with 906 Sqn Hampstead and 956 Sqn Colnbrook) with HQs at Stanmore (Middlesex ?).
Regards,
Henk.

[markpeelgb]

The eighteen men registered in Islington were killed by a bomb on their billet at 26 Highbury Grove, Islington (see http://bookofremembrance.islington.gov.uk/BookOfRemembrance/EventFolder.aspx?id=8345 for details).

[Martyn A Critchlow]

TISDALE is KOAS and CURRILL is DOAS.

Martyn

[RecklessRat]

Not listed above but in the database as 'unaccounted' for this date:-

522142 LAC Thomas POTTS RAF
http://www.rafcommands.com/database/...hp?qnum=103525
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/fi...potts,-thomas/

Thomas Potts
'Ground Mechanic. No.522142, Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force Detachment, Snell Parade, Durban'
Died at 'Near Snell Parade Military Barracks, Durban', aged 40. Cause of death was 'Concussion of brain and multiple injuries. (Fractures of upper and lower jaws and ribs on left side). Haemorrhages through brain. Deceased was a passenger in a ricksha which collided with a motor car (which travelled the same direction) (Homicidal).'

From the Form of Information of a Death on FamilySearch:-
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61...J-K?cc=2721608