470828 - Unaccounted Airmen- 28-08-1947

[Alex Smart]

Hello,

470828 - Unaccounted Airmen- 28-08-1947

From Henk's List -

UK
COOKE, Randolph Graham - F/Lt(Pilot) - 45305 - RAF.
Middlesbrough ( Linthorpe ) Cemetery, Yorkshire.
[ Dakota C.4 - TCEU - KJ984 ].
McQUEEN, William Peter Watt - F/Sgt - 526358 - RAF
Leuchars Cemetery, Fifeshire.
REED, William Hubert - W/O - 351037 - RAF.
Brighton ( Woodvale ) Borough Crematorium, Sussex.
ROBERTS, David Hugh - F/Lt - 152146 - RAFVR.
Woking ( St. John's ) Crematorium, Surrey.
[ Dakota C.4 - TCEU - KJ984 ].
WESTERN, Lionel - AC1c - 1289988 - RAFVR.
Taunton ( St. Mary's ) Cemetery, Somerset.

From CWGC -

GERMANY
MARSHALL, Dennis - AC2c - 2321361 - RAFVR.
Munster Heath War Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

INDIA
SURI, Johan Dev - Sqn/Ldr - 1655 - RIAF - 3 Sqn (Tempest II ).
LAL, Raghu Nath Bansi - P/O - 3409 - RIAF - AFS(I) - ( Spitfire ).
[ The serial numbers of the Spitfire and Tempest do not seem to be known ? ].

SADAGOPA, Ramanu Jam - Sgt - 19523 - RIAF.
GHOSH, Subash Chandra - Cpl - 11288 - RIAF.
NAIR, Narayloss - Cpl - 15035 - RIAF.
BHOWAL, Rai Mohan - AC1c - 30746 - RIAF.
KUNCHITHAPATHAM - AC1c - 18802 - RIAF.
ITTY, Jacob Payappillil - LAC - 18113 - RIAF.
GHOSH, Bijoy Krishna - LAC - 40456 - RIAF.
SINGH, Ujagar - LAC - 42505 - RIAF.
BHATTACHARJEE, Sudhir Chandra - LAC - 19497 - RIAF.
SINGH, Gurbachan - LAC - 42669 - RIAF.
SINGH, Gurdev - LAC - 40750 - RIAF.
SINGH, Harbhajan - LAC - 19076 - RIAF.
ROY, Chittaranjan - LAC - 23269 - RIAF.
SINGH, Jernail - LAC - 16512 - RIAF.
BELSARE, Murlidhar Pandurang - LAC - 41100 - RIAF.
SINGH, Nand Bahadur - LAC - 23896 - RIAF

There is a question of the other airmen's loss perhaps been connected to the loss of an XC-109 [ex B24E - 42-7221 ] there seems to be different results on the history of this a/c, one is its post WW2 Loss in use with the RIAF and another as a USAAF loss on the 28/08/1944 over India. It seems that the RIAF did use at least two C-109's ( one could have perhaps been XC-109 ?).
There may well be another reason for theise airmens loss ?

The eighteen(18) Airmen named above are all remembered on the Delhi/Karachi 1939-1945 War Memorials, India.

Alex

[malcolm_raf]

Hi

UK
McQUEEN, William Peter Watt - F/Sgt - not Eng/Wales?
REED, William Hubert - W/O - registered in Worthing.
WESTERN, Lionel - AC1 - registered in Taunton.

GERMANY
MARSHALL, Dennis - AC2 - 56 Sqn.

Malcolm

[wwrsimon]

Hello

McQUEEN, William Peter Watt - F/Sgt - 526358 - the Statutory Deaths Register on the Scotland's People website records that he died at 9.20 p.m. at Cameron Hospital, Windygates, due to acute polioencephalitis.

REED, William Hubert - W/O - 351037 - a family tree on ancestry.co.uk records that he died at Gifford House, Boundary Road, Worthing, a long-term care home for veterans.

Regards

Simon

[Jagan]

INDIA

SADAGOPA, Ramanu Jam - Sgt - 19523 - RIAF.
GHOSH, Subash Chandra - Cpl - 11288 - RIAF.
NAIR, Narayloss - Cpl - 15035 - RIAF.
BHOWAL, Rai Mohan - AC1c - 30746 - RIAF.
KUNCHITHAPATHAM - AC1c - 18802 - RIAF.
ITTY, Jacob Payappillil - LAC - 18113 - RIAF.
GHOSH, Bijoy Krishna - LAC - 40456 - RIAF.
SINGH, Ujagar - LAC - 42505 - RIAF.
BHATTACHARJEE, Sudhir Chandra - LAC - 19497 - RIAF.
SINGH, Gurbachan - LAC - 42669 - RIAF.
SINGH, Gurdev - LAC - 40750 - RIAF.
SINGH, Harbhajan - LAC - 19076 - RIAF.
ROY, Chittaranjan - LAC - 23269 - RIAF.
SINGH, Jernail - LAC - 16512 - RIAF.
BELSARE, Murlidhar Pandurang - LAC - 41100 - RIAF.
SINGH, Nand Bahadur - LAC - 23896 - RIAF

We have been extremely fortunate to have the grand daughter of LAC S C Bhattacharjee send us an email. Her note on the circumstances below:

My grandfather along with the other members of the RIAF squadron were moving inside Pakistan by train on that fateful night. Past midnight when they were in/near Rawalpindi, they were attacked by sword wielding enemy. They were caught unawares and neither were they adequately armed. I was told none of the RIAF airmen had a sword. In this hand to hand combat, they fought valiantly and attained martyrdom. I have shared this from my grandmothers tale which she had painstaking archived in her memory and simulated it to be told in the family. I hope it is useful to you.

This was on possibility that we vaguely suspected, that these poor airmen were caught in the post-partiion/border riots that apparently claimed a million lives (twice the number of ALL lives the UK lost in the whole of WW2!).

It is remarkable that such a large loss of life/uniformed personnel went relatively unmarked for so many years in our post Independence History. But it is understandable that this got blotted out by the larger catastrophe that happened during partition

On this somber note, I will mark the 16 RIAF airmen from 28th August 1947 as "Accounted For"

[jonheyworth]

Dennis Marshall 2321361 , attached to 56 Squadron , was admitted seriously ill to to Number 8 RAF Hospital on 25 August suffering with inflammation oedema of the upper respiratory tract. He became dangerously ill on 27 August and died of cardiac faliure secondary to Faucial diptheria