420224 - Unaccounted airmen - 24-2-1942

[Henk Welting]

What were the places of death registration for:

A - Killed on active service:
W/Cdr (Pilot) Alexander N. COLE - 37005.

B - Died on active service:
LAC John G. FROST - 1390854 (in Flight: AC2), and
AC2 Edward GAVIN - 1517700.

C - Not found in Flight archives:
AC2 Clifford F. SMITH - 1461021 - 133 Sqn (Kirton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire).

D - Also looking for the units of the following airmen whose names are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial:
Sgt Alexander W. McGARVA - 1365081 - Panel 88, and
Sgt Alastair R.B. TYLATT - 928519 - Panel 93.

E - Proposed aircraft losses for this day:
Beaufort I - L9955 - 3 (C)OTU - crashed; no further details.
Hudson II - T9383 - 1 (C)OTU - crashed on landing Silloth, Cumberland.
Master III - W8623 - 60 OTU - flew into ground East Fortune.
Shark II - K5308 - 755 Sqn (FAA) - flew into ground 2 miles SW of Worthy Down. (Can't find a FAA-casualty for this aircraft).

Regards and thanks for your help.
Henk.

[Dick]

Hi Henk
Cole may be a Scottish death,possibly on Master W8623. From CWGC his wife came from Devon but he is buried at Haddington E Lothian, Scotland and this is close to E Fortune.
Frost, 21, registered at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Possibly connected to RAF Halton.
Gavin, registered at Blackburn, Lancashire
Smith didn't come on the register
Regards
Dick

[COL BRUGGY]

Henk,

Shark II - K5308 - 755 Sqn (FAA) ?

K5308 was a Gauntlet II ! (To 1557M 6.39)

Col.

[dennis_burke]

D) For Beard and Rylatt we have:

Sgt Alastair Ritchie Burrett RYLATT 928519 +
Sgt Alexander William MCGARVA 1365081 +
Sgt Jack ROSTERN 1068192 +
Sgt Alexander Sherlock BEARD 1378465 +

Lockheed Hudson V (LR) AM834 1 (C) OTU

Crashed off Cahore Point, Wexford, Ireland. Rostern and Beard buried in Arklow, Ireland.

From P J Cummins "Emergency Air Crashes south east Ireland" and cross referenced with CWGC.

Note spelling Rylatt, not Tylatt.

Were there casualties on Hudson T9383?


C) Flight dated June 4th 42 lists:
A/C.2 C. F Smith DOAS the full stop on the F has not been scanned so our normal searchs would miss him.
I might suggest he had taken ill in Northern Ireland and stayed behind when the unit moved and died there? And indeed, he is on a number of family tree's on Ancestry.com as dying 24 Jan 1942 in Londonderry Military Hospital, NI. They don't use his middle name frank however and don't give source for the death.

A) Scotlands People gives me:
Alexander Nelso... Cole age 29 in Athelstaneford district of East Lothian sometime in 1942.

Again, I can't enter more letters than shown above in his first name but I think that clear enough.

[Henk Welting]

Thanks friends for this excellent info. Unbelievable that I completely missed the two airmen buried at Arklow, Co. Wicklow. I've the CWGC cemetery register for the Irish Republic and still must check all names. As far as I know no fatal casualties on Hudson T9383; perhaps Ross could confirm.
Regards,
Henk.

[Ross_McNeill]

Hi Henk,

I can confirm W/C Cole as only crew man of W8623.

Regards
Ross

[dennis_burke]

Would anyone, Ross maybe, have the page for this date and any relevant following for the loss on AM834 with 1 OTU.
Cheers

[Ross_McNeill]

AM834

F1180
http://www.rafcommands.com/February_1942/24_2_1942/AM834.pdf

Crew list
Sgt A R B Rylatt
Sgt A S Beard
Sgt S W McGarva
Sgt J Rostern


Regards
Ross

[dennis_burke]

Thanks so much for that Ross, my rambling message, typed on the smartphone, was meant to mean the ORB page, I never mentioned the term!!

I didn't have the F1180 either though so thats super!

[Ross_McNeill]

So happens that this month is one of the ones in the concept F1180 delivery online database hence the pdf version.

If I can agree licence with the TNA it would also contain the No.1 OTU month extract on click through and AIB file if recorded.

http://www.rafcommands.com/February_1942/TNA/No_1_OTU/February_1942.pdf

Regards
Ross