421221 - Unaccounted airmen - 21-12-1942

[Henk Welting]

Looking for info (cause of death, death registration) of:

ACW1 Mary W. BOYLE - 432982 - DOAS.

Cpl Horace COOKE - 1310734 - age 30 - 2828 Sqn - not found in Flight archives.

Cpl William McG. STAG - 1026227 - 10 Sqn (Melbourne, Yorkshire) - DOAS.

Cpl Sidney THOMPSON - 649587 - age 30 - registered Bridgend, Glamorganshire.

LAC William H. VALENTINE - 1040940 - 2771 Sqn RAF Regt. - commemorated on Panel 98 of the Runnymede Memorial (he may have been on SS Strathallan [Op. Torch]; torpedoed in convoy KMF.5 [5,000 troops on board]; sank 22-12-1942 a day after it was hit; the losts of life was happily small).

Proposed aircraft loss:
Blenheim I - L8438 - 307 Sqn - crashed in forced landing Combe Down, Bath.

Regards and thanks for your help.
Henk.

[dennis_burke]

GRO RAF list puts Valentine on SS STRATHALLAN.

Boyle is probably in Scotland, I have to rush off now.

Cooke, Truro district, Cornwall

Stag; ?? Age 30 Howden district, Yorkshire East Riding

[Martyn A Critchlow]

William Herbert VALENTINE is shown on the passenger list of SS Strathallan and shown as one of the casualties on the website:

http://www.angelfire.com/ct3/pattrickcolin/strathallanchapter3.pdf

Martyn

[Dick]

The registration area of Howden was split up in 1937 and became Howdenshire and Holderness, both in the part of E Yorkshire just North of the River Humber. Melbourne (Stag's unit) went into the Howdenshire area but the older area is still often entered on the registers.
Regards
Dick

[Henk Welting]

Thanks friends for your help.

Henk.

[Theletterwriter]

Henk

ACW1 Mary Williamson Boyle 432982 : Kilmore & Kilbride, Argyll, Scotland

Douglas

[Henk Welting]

F/Sgt Kenneth C. BEE - RAAF 403854 buried Tripoli War Cem., Libya. NAA mentions Kittyhawk ET322 near El Alamein, however Air Britain lists for ET322: 3 SAAF/21 RSU - bellylanded at Zuara 20-7-1943 - DBR.
Correct serial of F/Sgt Bee's Kittyhawk may have been:
3 RAAF Sqn:
FL273 - Missing, pres. shot down by Bf 109s near Sirte, or
FL286 - Shot down by flak attacking airfield near Horns.
Dp hope Col will have the answer.
Thanks in advance and regards,
Henk.

[COL BRUGGY]

Henk,

From:

http://www.3squadron.org.au/subpages/roll.htm

Flight Sergeant Kenneth Clifford BEE, service number 403584, is buried at Tripoli War Cemetery, Libya. Plot 12, Row A, Grave 14. Son of Jasper Oswald and Emma Pauline Bee, of Cremorne , New South Wales, Australia.

On 21-12-1942 at 1305 Bobby Gibbes (AUS260714 - CO 3 Sqn RAAF) led six 3 Squadron aircraft to recce the airfield at Hun; they strafed the eleven aircraft twice. Ron Watt (AUS273) in Kittyhawk IIA FL346 led in for a third pass and Ken Bee in Kittyhawk IIA FL286 and Rex Bayly (AUS407416) in Kittyhawk IIA FL327 were both shot down by ground fire. Bobby Gibbes landed and picked Bayly up. Ken Bee's aircraft was hit by flak whilst diving to attack; it caught fire, dived into the ground and exploded.

The above is confirmed in the No.3 Squadron RAAF ORB.

http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/ItemDetail.asp?M=0&B=1158595

pp.708-9 & 721-2 of 908

Col.

[Henk Welting]

Excellent info; thanks Col.

regards,
Henk.

[pete102]

Corporal Stag died from a brain haemorrhage in Pocklington Station Sick Quarters having been admitted from Melbourne the previous day.

Info from Pocklington Orb.

Pete