401002 - Unaccounted airmen - 2-10-1940

[Henk Welting]

What caused the death of and/or what were the places of death registration for:

F/Lt Robert W. AMMON - 903870 - died of wounds or injuries received on active service;
Cpl Eric G. CLARK - 616627 - 144 Sqn (Hemswell, Lincs.) - not found Flight archives;
Cpl Basil J. JOHNSON - 550877 - died of wounds or injuries received on active service, and
F/Lt (Pilot) Roger M.G. ZAMBRA - 25127 - killed on active service.

Proposed aircraft losses for this day:
Consol 28-5 - P9630 - MAEE - crashed on landing Dumbarton.
Harvard I - N7166 - 15 FTS - crashed on approach Chipping Norton.
Master I - N7749 - CFS - dived into ground at night 1 mile N of Shrewton LG.
Tiger Moth II - T5689 - 7 EFTS - crashed on approach Desford.

Regards and thanks in adavance for your help.
Henk.

[Andy Ingham]

Hello Henk
The death of Robert W Ammon aged 35 was registered at Hendon.
The death of Eric G Clark aged 20 was registered at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.
The death of Basil J Johnson aged 21 was registered at Biggleswade, Bedfordshire.
The death of Roger MG Zambra aged 26 was registered at Salisbury, Wiltshire.

Shrewton LG is only 12 miles from Salisbury so that suggests Zambra on Master N7749.
Regards
Andy

[Henk Welting]

Thanks Andy for your help.
Regards,
Henk.

[Amrit]

F/Lt Robert W. AMMON - 903870 - died of wounds or injuries received on active service;

He was LAC not F/Lt

Cpl Eric G. CLARK - 616627 - 144 Sqn (Hemswell, Lincs.) - not found Flight archives;

Chorley gives his rank as Sgt

However he is not listed in "The Other Few" which may imply that he wasn't aircrew

A

[Henk Welting]

Thanks Amrit for corrections; will amend my files.
Regards,
Henk.

[dennis_burke]

Cpl. E G Clark listed DOAS in Feb 13th Flight magazine

[Martyn A Critchlow]

Cpl Eric G. CLARK - 616627
As well as Clark, the book 'The Secrets of Q Central: How Leighton Buzzard Shortened the Second World War' by Paul Brown & Edward Herbert, reports there were three other RAF casualties registered in Gainsborough that day. They are:
AC2 William George GARNER – 951796
LAC Edward HODGE – 635433
William BROWN - 532583
All are also recorded as DOAS, and are on the same page as Clark on the Gainsborough register.

Clark's death is reported in Thursday 10 October 1940, Hull Daily Mail, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, as 'accidently killed'.

Martyn

[malcolm_raf]

As these four are mentioned in a book on Leighton Buzzard, I wonder if they were actually involved in setting up of W/T or teleprinter equipment when an accident occurred and are only shown as members of 144 Sqn for admin/security reasons?

Malcolm

[Martyn A Critchlow]

Thanks for the note Malcolm, GARNER was from Leighton Buzzard and is recorded in the Roll of Honour section of the book, although he had worked for a wireless dealer at one time.

Here is the link to the section in google books:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...201940&f=false

Martyn

[wwrsimon]

Hello

F/Lt (Pilot) Roger M.G. ZAMBRA - 25127 - an unidentified newspaper clipping on ancestry.co.uk includes the following:

Funeral at Liss
Flight-Lieut. Roger Zambra, younger son of Capt. and Mrs. Nelson Zambra, of Pruetts, Liss, was killed on October 2nd, whilst night flying at Upavon. Born in 1914, he was an officer in the Royal Fusiliers, seconded to the R.A.F., had been selected as an instructor and was on an instructor's course.

Regards

Simon