No.500 Squadron Blenheim missing 08/08/41

[stiggy128]

Hi,

I'm looking for anything you chaps might have on a No.500 Squadron Blenheim that went missing on 8th August 1941. 53 Squadron records show that Flt. Lt. Jack Hubert Stigner, flying Hudson PZ-R, went looking for this aircraft on that date. And do you know if he found it?

Best regards,

Jonathan

[Dick]

Hi Jonathan
I don't know if this helps but from the book "Blenheim" by Graham Warner, there is a record of the loss of a 500 Sqn Blenheim IV, L4899, MK-E,that crashed into the sea off the Dutch Frisian Islands whilst on a shipping sweep with the loss of all on board. The crew have no known graves and are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. The date given is 7/8/41. This need not be a problem as it would not have been unusual for a search for missing a/c to have been made during the days following the loss even if it began on the day of the loss.Generally speaking there would have been a strong tendency for a/c to operate under Radio Silence and the decision that an a/c was missing might have been made purely from the lapse of time after it ought to have returned but failed to do so.
The loss is also recorded in Ross McNeill's Coastal Command Losses Vol 1, from which I got the Sqn Code
Regards
Dick

[stiggy128]

Hello Dick,

Thanks for your getting back with some useful morsels for me to chew on.

Unfortunately, this new boy to the game hasn't yet acquired a reference library, and his humble means leave him with only the www! Would it be too much trouble to make a meal of it, and ask if the crew concerned had names that I could research on the Runnymede Memorial?

Those titles I shall acquire in due course,

Many, many thanks,

Jonathan

P.S. I have found the pilot: 563291 Ward, Leslie P.O. (45642) 07-Aug-41 age 29 Runnymede Memorial, Surrey. Pilot, 500 Squadron. Bristol Blenheim IV L4899, MK-E. T/o Bircham Newton 22.00 for Shipping Sweep, Frisian Islands. Crashed into North Sea.

Now how about the rest of the crew?

[Dick]

Hi Jonathan
The rest of the crew were
Sgt W S Robinson (971021) and
Sgt R L Burton (812221)
From the way they are listed in Coastal Command Losses/Ross McNeill it would make Robinson the Observer and Burton the W/op-Air Gunner
Regards
Dick

[stiggy128]

Thanks Dick,

Made me a happy boy, you have indeed,

All the best regards,

Jonathan