18/8/43 Wellington R1337 11 OTU Army crew?

[Marks]

Hi,

Looking for some help. Chorley's Bomber Command Losses Volume 7 - OTU Page 242 lists 18/8/1943 11 OTU Wellington R1337 loss, mentions two Army personnel. I am trying to discover who they were !

I believe they would be missing and most likely listed on the Brookwood Memorial to missing Army personnel.

So far I have found four possible men :-

2065760 Sjt ARTHUR CARTER Royal Artillery 535 Bty 156 HAA Regt
(not listed as dying England, listed as Overseas)

828273 DVR DAVID HOWITT Royal Corps of Signals- 70 Div Sigs
(not listed as dying England, listed as Overseas)

787493 Sjt HARRY TOM RICHINGS Royal Artillery 222 Bty 1 HAA 'Z' Regt
(not listed as dying England or Overseas)

13111720 Pte WALTER SWABY Pioneer Corps
(listed as dying Maidstone Age 42 - therefore very unlikely)

Any help much appreciated !

Mark

[johnnie214]

A search with that date on Geoffs CWGC serach engine brings up 319 hits (that is all
services). You could try looking through all the results to see which could be a match.

Johnnie

[Errol Martyn]

Mark,

2065760 Sjt ARTHUR CARTER Royal Artillery 535 Bty 156 HAA Regt
(not listed as dying England, listed as Overseas [sic?])

787493 Sjt HARRY TOM RICHINGS Royal Artillery 222 Bty 1 HAA 'Z' Regt
(not listed as dying England or Overseas)

These two on your list seem the most likely to me - both being Royal Artillery and belonging to units with aircraft connections (Heavy Anti-Aircraft Artillery).

There was an RNZAF airman lost with the aircraft but unfortunately his service record papers do not contain any information about the Army personnel who died.

Errol

[Dick]

The RNZAF captain of this a/c does have a Casualty File on the National Archive of Australia as he was from E Perth WA
but unfortunately it has not been digitised.
Regards
Dick

[COL BRUGGY]

The two soldiers are confirmed as; 2065760 Arthur CARTER and 787493 Harry Tom RICHINGS. They are specifically mentioned in the Item Notes of NZ415069 Harold HARRIES' A705 Title page (NAA: 166/17/120).

Trouble is, 138920 Brynley JAMES, is not mentioned in the same ref.

The 'info' in the Item Notes is sometimes derived from early casualty signals, some of which, for whatever reason, omit names of crew/pass. They invariably pop up later in the same doc in 765(C)s or Circ.Reps.

James is a worry. Chorley , in the narrative on the loss of R1337, mentions that there were, "five airmen aboard" !

Col.

[paulmcmillan]

RAF Crew were supposed to be

415069 Flt Sgt [Plt] Harold Harries RNZAF. 33 of East Perth Western Australia
1433516 Sgt Sydney Percival Hawkes RAFVR of Wellingborough Northamptonshire
138920 Flg Off Brynley James RAFVR
1389013 Sgt Frederick Meaker RAFVR 20 of Neasdon Middlesex
151429 Flg Off Frederick Saunders RAFVR 23 of Cardiff
1521786 Sgt John Scott Webb RAFVR 21 of Blackpool Lancashire

All British Casualties WITH THE EXCEPTION OF 138920 Flg Off Brynley James RAFVR are listed as Missing in the same Casualty Communique No. 297.!

[Marks]

Thanks again everybody, once again the forum raises to the challenge !

The mystery with F/O B James, he was lost in Lancaster ED805 49 Sqn bombing Peenemunde 18/8/1943. He is also listed on the Runnymede Memorial. I believe the error came about as the CWGC don't list any unit against his details ! With lost OTU crew members no unit is listed !

Thanks again, and well done !

Mark

[Errol Martyn]

The two soldiers are confirmed as; 2065760 Arthur CARTER and 787493 Harry Tom RICHINGS. They are specifically mentioned in the Item Notes of NZ415069 Harold HARRIES' A705 Title page (NAA: 166/17/120).

Trouble is, 138920 Brynley JAMES, is not mentioned in the same ref.

The 'info' in the Item Notes is sometimes derived from early casualty signals, some of which, for whatever reason, omit names of crew/pass. They invariably pop up later in the same doc in 765(C)s or Circ.Reps.

James is a worry. Chorley , in the narrative on the loss of R1337, mentions that there were, "five airmen aboard" !

Col.

Col,

Thanks muchly for bringing to notice the names of the Army chaps.

Errol

[COL BRUGGY]

Errol (and others),

It's a pleasure to have a shout, after so many FREE drinks !

Cheers,
Col.