The Unaccounted Project: RAF and WAAF casualties from enemy action on the home front

[jonheyworth]

976241 Leading Aircraftman Robert TOOLE

LAC Toole's death is registered at Sodbury (Gloucestershire) and while I have not located any direct statement that he was killed in the air raid on the aerodrome at Filton on 11 April 1941, it seems a reasonable deduction. Two other airmen died in that raid, and the notice of LAC Toole's death in the Lancashire Evening Post on 19 April uses the term 'suddenly', which in other examples covered in my research was used as a kind of euphemism for 'killed by bombing' in death and funeral notices. The station ORB has not yet been digitised, but perhaps someone who has seen it can confirm whether or not this deduction is accurate.

I’ll check Toole for you Mark

[jonheyworth]

I’ll check Toole for you Mark

Robert Toole 976241, attached to RAF Filton, bombing casualty at 02:30 hours at RAF Filton. Body to mortuary at RAF Station Filton

[markpeelgb]

A correction this time;

350903 Flight Sergeant Richard Francis STICKLAND

Flight Sergeant Stickland is currently shown as one of the numerous casualties at Biggin Hill on August 30, 1940. Information from a newspaper article (in the original thread) and probate indicates that he was killed at 25 Dundas Street, Queensferry, Flintshire, a house in which he and his family were living while he was based nearby (RAF Sealand, more than likely).

[markpeelgb]

And one I can clear up, though not caused by enemy action:

612253 Leading Aircraftman Samuel Edward DEVLIN (7 September 1940)

According to a report in the Liverpool Daily Post on 12 September 1940, LAC Devlin was found dead on the railway line at Sealand Station, Cheshire. An inquest found that he had died from "injuries accidentally received through falling on to the line".

[jonheyworth]

1191465 Aircraftman 2nd Class John Thomas BENNETT
1104776 Aircraftman 1st Class Joseph Sidney HEMLEY
743644 Leading Aircraftman Herbert Arthur HILL
313188 Sergeant William NEWELL
799787 Leading Aircraftman Joseph WOOLGAR

These five airmen's deaths were registered in Chichester, making RAF Tangmere the most likely location. In their history of Tangmere (Tangmere, Famous Royal Air Force Fighter Station, An Authorised History), Reginald Byron and David Coxon provide details from the station ORB confirming that five airmen were killed in an air raid at Tangmere in the early morning of 9 April 1941, when two barrack blocks were damaged.

I checked these lads for you Mark, positively all killed at 06:00 hours by bombing at Tangmere

[markpeelgb]

And another not caused by enemy action:

926791 Aircraftman 2nd Class Robert FOSTER (15 September 1940)

According to a report in the Gloucestershire Echo of 19 September 1940, AC2 Foster was killed in a "cliff accident" near Torquay.

[markpeelgb]

And one more:

637543 Aircraftman 1st Class Ralph William Gibson

A report in the Hampshire Telegraph on 4 October 1940 states that AC1 Gibson died after his motorcycle hit a lorry at the Bursledon Towers crossroads.

[markpeelgb]

And another not related to enemy action:

73933 Flying Officer Norman Gordon Stewart-Dawson

While I could not find references in the British press, two New Zealand newspapers (the Gisborne Herald and the Timaru Herald) carried a story that Flying Officer Stewart-Dawson, who had won a VC during the First World War, had been killed in a car accident in London on 15 October 1940. He had a strong Australasian connection, having spent some time in Sydney during the 1930s.

[markpeelgb]

And one more:

964076 Aircraftman 2nd Class Kenneth Vaughan SIMPSON

An extract from a newspaper in the Andrews Newspaper Index Cards states that AC2 Simpson was "killed in an accident while on active service".

[jonheyworth]

And one more:

964076 Aircraftman 2nd Class Kenneth Vaughan SIMPSON

An extract from a newspaper in the Andrews Newspaper Index Cards states that AC2 Simpson was "killed in an accident while on active service".

I'll check him for you Mark