401019 - Unaccounted airmen - 19-10-1940

[Henk Welting]

What caused the death of and/or what were the places of death registration for following three airmen killed on active service:

AC2 Aubrey A. CRIDDLE - 632711 - 3 BC, 907 Balloon Sqn, Woodberry Down, Middlesex;
AC2 William W. HAMMOND - 1110571 - same unit as AC2 Criddle, and
LAC Malcolm E. SHIRTLIFF - 969125.

Regards and thanks for your help.
Henk.

[Dick]

Hi Again
Shirtliff didn't come up so possibly Scotland. Criddle,24, and Hammond,29 are registered at Islington N Central London and would be right for a unit based at Woodberry Down.
Regards
Dick

[Bart FM Droog]

Hello Henk,

Any idea what 'BC' stand for? According to 'RAF Abbreviations' it could be 'Basic Component', whatever that might be. I don't have a clue - since I didn't see this mentioned with other Ballloon Squadron casualties.

And this might be a bit off topic, but: were the barrage balloons in 1940 responsible for any single German loss? I've seen many British aircraft flying against them and many casualties amongst the ground crews of the Balloon Squadrons, which makes me wonder how effective they were.

Groeten,

Bart

[Dick]

Hi Bart
Strangely Flying Training and Support Units since 1912- Ray Sturtivant and John Hamlin doesn't list B C in it's abbreviations but does have 24 Balloon Centres. No 3 BC was based at Stanmore ,Middlesex, the same area that included Fighter Command, and 907 Balloon Sqn was part of it
Regards
Dick

[Henk Welting]

Thanks Dick for the death registration places.
Regards,
Henk.

[paulmcmillan]

SHIRTLIFF is on the Runnymede Memorial

[alclark]

Shirtliff was recorded as missing on the 18th October from 8 FTS, see the ORB entry below.

October 18th 1940, “No.969125 LAC Shirtcliffe, M.E. flying Master aircraft N7576 took off
at 14.05 hours for one hour’s flight. All trace of his movements were unobtainable until
Sunday 20th October 1490 when pieces of wreckage of a Master were washed up at
Hohnshaven and were identified as being part of Master aircraft N7576. His body has not
been recovered.”

[John Larder]

Hammond 'and another man took the full force of the blast and were killed' German bomb hit a hut at Highbury Fields. 'Swaledale & Wharfedale Remembered - Keith Taylor

[Errol Martyn]

Bart,

"And this might be a bit off topic, but: were the barrage balloons in 1940 responsible for any single German loss? I've seen many British aircraft flying against them and many casualties amongst the ground crews of the Balloon Squadrons, which makes me wonder how effective they were."

The August 2006 issue of 'Aeroplane' magazine features an article on this and other related topics ('Clipping the Eagle's Wings', pp84-89) by Alfred Price. He writes that 'barrage balloons brought down very few German aircraft; fewer than 30 in the entire conflict, in fact. Yet they were brilliantly successful in their intended [deterrent] purpose....'.

The article resulted in a letter by Wg Cdr Jeff Jefford, in the February 2007 issue (pp18-19), in which he notes that 232 V-1s were destroyed by balloons, but also that 'records show that at least 95 friendly machines fell victim to balloons between the outbreak of war and August 1944, at a cost of more than 200 lives...many more aeroplanes sustained damage from which they were able to recover...'. He also says that 'contemporary RAF records suggest [that the number of German aircraft brought down] may have been as few as 15'.

Errol

[alclark]

An interesting question Errol.

During one of my visits to the National Archives I had a look through the ORBs of both No.10 and No.16 Balloon Centres (Manchester and Sheffield respectively). Neither of them recorded a single success against an enemy aircraft but balloon strikes in No.16 BC's area caused at least one fatal crash and damage to another (presumed to be a Wellington) aircraft which flew on after striking a cable.

[Bart FM Droog]

Thanks Dick, Errol and Allan, and sorry Henk, for intruding in this thread.

Regards,

Bart

[John Larder]

Henk

Swaledale & Wharfedale source also has:

LAC John Edwin Craig (867751) 938 Balloon Squadron died 28/11/1940 died as a result of a fractured skull caused by the sidecar he was in colliding with the rear of a lorry.

[Henk Welting]

Thanks all for this additional info; also the "intruding" ones (learn from every info on the air war 39-45).

Henk.

[Bill Walker]

My turn to intrude.

I believe that the main function of the balloon barrage was not to directly down enemy aircraft, but to force them to fly higher. This made them an easier target for AA guns, and made them easier to track by ground observers (longer observation time, from greater distances). This may have been what the magazine article Errol quoted was referring to.

I think it would be very difficult to provide any meaningful statistics on how effective this was.

[Alex Smart]

Hello

401019 - Unaccounted Airmen - 19-10-1940

From Henk's List -

UK
CRIDDLE, Aubrey Albert - AC2c - 632711 - RAF - 907 Balloon Sqn.
Tiverton Cemetery, Devon.
Killed in an Air Raid.

HAMMOND, William Woodward - AC2c - 1110571 - RAFVR - 907 Balloon Sqn.
Reeth and Grinton Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Killed in an Air Raid.

From CWGC -

CANADA
MILNE, Dick Bruce - AC2c - R/781244 - RCAF.
North Bay (Terrace Lawn) Cemetery, Ontario, Canada.
Fleet Fawn II - 230 - RCAF, Unit ?

EGYPT
PERRIE, John Campbell - Lac - 530039 - RAF.
Alamein Memorial, Egypt.
Bombay - L5816 - 216 Sqn.
Died of wounds received following crash of Bombay L5816 on the 18th ?

UK
ALLTON, Leslie Charles - Sgt - 745436 - RAFVR.
Nuneaton (Oaston Road) Cemetery, Warwickshire.
Spitfire Ia - R6922 - 92 Sqn.

McAVITY, George Fellows - F/O - C/1323 - RCAF.
Olrig New Cemetery Caithness-Shire.
Hurricane I - P3260 - 3 Sqn.

SHIRTLIFF, Malcolm Edwin - Lac - 969125 - RAFVR.
Runnymede Memorial, Surrey.
Master I - N7576 - 8 SFTS.

Alex

[alieneyes]

CANADA
MILNE, Dick Bruce - AC2c - R/781244 - RCAF.
North Bay (Terrace Lawn) Cemetery, Ontario, Canada.
Fleet Fawn II - 230 - RCAF, Unit ?

TOS ATC att'd to Patterson and Hill Aircraft wef 10 October 1940. Press reports of the time mention "training school of No. 1 Training Command"

Crash took place near Barker Airport Toronto. "Dogfighting" with another aircraft when a wingtip struck a tree.
Two men in second aircraft not identified.

[COL BRUGGY]

Hello,

Some additional information on MILNE, here:

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2687232?Dick Bruce Milne

Col.

[Alex Smart]

Thank you Col,
The extra details and Newspaper cuttings which tell of his untimely death.
Alex

[Andy Marden]

SHIRTLIFF, Malcolm Edwin - Lac - 969125 - RAFVR.
Runnymede Memorial, Surrey.
Master I - N7576 - 8 SFTS.


Alex,
Shirtliff was actually lost on 18th October 1940, as per:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16687940
and this post on the earlier thread:
http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?1584-401019-Unaccounted-airmen-19-10-1940&p=8273#post8273
The CWGC has an incorrect date, presumably because the aircraft was missing.
Andy

[Andy Marden]

EGYPT
PERRIE, John Campbell - Lac - 530039 - RAF.
Alamein Memorial, Egypt.
Bombay - L5816 - 216 Sqn.
Died of wounds received following crash of Bombay L5816 on the 18th ?


Alex,
No, all five crew members were MIA following a mission which, according to the ORB, took off at 1900 on the 18th.
Whether they were actually lost on 18th or 19th is open to debate.
I have no idea why one crew member should be listed by the CWGC one day later than the others, especially as all are commemorated on the Alamein Memorial.
Andy