401030 - Unaccounted airmen - 30-10-1940

[Alex Smart]

Hello,

401030 - Unaccounted Airmen - 30-10-1940

From Henk's List -

SOUTH AFRICA
CHERRINGTON, Henry Douglas - 2Lt - 103093 - SAAF - 68 AS.(Henk had 31st).
Durban (Stellawood) Cemetery, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa.
Died in a motor-cycle accident ?

HUNGERFORD, John Gwyn - Pupil Pilot - 103683 - SAAF (Henk had 29th).
Johannesburg (Brixton) Cemetery, Gauteng, South Africa.
Cause of death, Died on active service ?

UK
BALDING, John Thomas - AC1c - 961889 - RAFVR.
Norwich Cemetery, Norfolk.
Cause of death ?

BURFIELD, Harold William - AC2c - 911600 - RAFVR.
Yatesbury (All Saints) Churchyard, Wiltshire.
Admitted to RAF Hospital, Yatesbury on the 28th. Died of Cerebro Spinal Fever.

BIRKHEAD, George Thomas - Sgt - 538032 - RAF.
Epsom Cemetery, Surrey.
FISHER, William - F/Sgt - 508027 - RAF.
Glasgow Eastern Necropolis, Glasgow.
These two airmen were killed in an Air Raid on RAF Wattisham.

SANTER, Alfred James - AC2c - 1269187 - RAFVR.
Bexleyheath Cemetery, Kent.
Admitted to the Station Hospital at RAF Bridgnorth on the 27th. Died of Broncho Pneumonia following peritonitis from a perforated duodenal ulcer.

From CWGC -

CANADA
ARMSTRONG, Ross - Lac - R/59102 - RCAF - 1 SFTS.
Winnipeg (Elmwood) Cemetery, Manitoba, Canada.
Yale - 3348 - 1 SFTS, RCAF.

UK
DRAPER, Kenneth Raymond - Sgt - 751327 - RAFVR.
Hillingdon and Uxbridge Cemetery, Middlesex.
ELLIOTT, William Ernest - Sgt - 755784 - RAFVR.
Carisbrooke Cemetery, Isle of Wight.
FISHER, Edward - Sgt - 618704 - RAF.
Hemsworth Cemetery, Yorkshire.
JAGGS, Walter Vincent - Sgt - 745515 - RAFVR.
Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey.
PATE, Alexander John - P/O - 79171 - RAFVR - DFC.
Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxfordshire.
These five airmen were crew of Wellington Ic - T2613 - 115 Sqn.

BAZELEY, Douglas Stanley - Sgt - 755028 - RAFVR.
GIBBS, John Vicary Frank - P/O - 81657 - RAFVR.
HILL, James Jewill (Cornwall) - F/O - 72024 - RAFVR.
HOWE, George Lawson - Sgt - 644790 - RAF.
These four airmen are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Surrey.
They were crew of Hampden I - L4180 - 106 Sqn.

ATKINSON, Allan Arthur - P/O - 78740 - RAFVR.
Clymping (Or Climping)(St.Mary) Churchyard, Sussex.
PERRY, Harry Thomas - Sgt - 770435 - RAFVR.
Saffron Walden Cemetery, Essex.
WOODWARD, Herbert John - F/O - 70833 - RAF - DFC.
Heckmondwike Cemetery, Yorkshire.
These three airmen were crew of Blenheim I - L6721 - 23 Sqn.

CAVE, Jack Milton (NewZealander) - P/O - 43700 - RAF.
Waddington (St.Michael) Churchyard, Lincolnshire.
GOODERICK, Clifford John - Sgt - 751954 - RAFVR.
Hessle Cemetery, Yorkshire.
HITCHEN, John Gregson - Sgt - 937501 - RAFVR.
Halifax (All Saints) Churchyard, Yorkshire.
These three airmen were crew of Blenheim IV - T2246 - 101 Sqn.

GARDINER, Eric Cecil - Sgt - 562691 - RAF.
Pontefract Cemetery, Yorkshire.
WORSDELL, Kenneth Wilson - P/O - 33497 - RAF.
Nutfield Cemetery, Surrey.
These two airmen were crew of Beaufighter If - R2065 - 219 Sqn.

BROWN, John Raymond - Sgt - 745568 - RAFVR.
Blackburn Cemetery, Lancashire.
Whitley V - P4972 - 51 Sqn.

DAVIES, Alfred Eric - P/O - 90963 - RAF.
Tanw-in-Arden (St.Mary Magdalene) Churchyard Extension, Warwickshire.
Spitfire I - N3119 - 222 Sqn.

EDRIDGE, Hilary Patrick - F/O - 41836 - RAF.
Bath Roman Catholic Cemetery, Somerset.
Spitfire I - K9939 - 222 Sqn.

GARVEY, Leonard Arthur - Sgt - 740340 - RAFVR.
Birmingham (Witton) Cemetery, Warwickshire.
Spitfire Ia - P7375 - 41 Sqn.

HALLOWS, Eric Stewart Isaacson - P/O - 78684 - RAFVR.
Willesden Jewish Cemetery, Middlesex.
Wellington Ic - T2546 - 99 Sqn.

MILLINGTON, William Henry - P/O - 42720 - RAF - DFC.
Runnymede Memorial, Surrey.
Hurricane I - V7536 - 249 Sqn.

KILEY, Robert Michael - Sgt - 904568 - RAF - 24 EFTS.
Woking (St.John's) Crematorium, Surrey.
Magister - N5398 - 24 EFTS.

CALCOTT, Stanley Kenneth ( New Zealander) - OS - C/JX.201674 - HMS President III(SS.Whitley) - RN.
Blyth Cemetery, Northumberland.
Cause of death reportedly an accident ?

TOEPFER, Kurt - GAF.
Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery, Staffordshire.
Cause of death ?

ZIMBABWE
STEELE, Edward Stanley - Lt - 102846 - SAAF.
VAN HEERDEN, - Air Sgt - 47958 - SAAF.
These two airmen rest at Bulawayo (Athlone) Cemetery, Zimbabwe.
They were crew of Hartbees - 855 - 41 Sqn, SAAF.

Alex

[Andy Marden]

TOEPFER, Kurt - GAF.
Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery, Staffordshire.
Cause of death ?

From Kracker Archive, he was the pilot of Bf109E-4 5242 "white 8 + I" of 7./JG26, shot down by a Spitfire of 41 Sqn over Kent and crashing at Brook Farm, Marden.

[wwrsimon]

Alex

CALCOTT, Stanley Kenneth (New Zealander) - OS - C/JX.201674 - the UK British Army and navy BMD Records 1730-1960 records that he died due to compression of the brain as the result of an accidental fall on board S.S. Whitley at Blyth, Northumberland.

At the risk of asking a daft question, as he was an Ordinary Seaman according to his entry on the CWGC website, why is he on Unaccounted Airmen list...?

Regards

Simon

[jonheyworth]

John Thomas Balding 961889, attached to 58 MU , died of multiple injuries caused when he stood on a mine at Stalhem. He had been previously warned that the area was mined

This Information comes from a GRO Death certificate kindly sponsored by Jon Moore of Bristol

[norfolkjohn]

It never ceases to surprise me the unusual and tragic circumstances in which some airmen lost their lives in WW2. The death of 961889 AC1 John Thomas Balding on 30^th October 1940 is a case in point. Although he was serving with 58 MU at Newark at the time of his death he was from Norfolk (born in Blakeney) and his widowed mother (actually step-mother) was living in Blakeney in 1939.

The following is from his death certificate: Death registered in the North Walsham district, Stalham sub-district of Norfolk. Cause of death;” multiple injuries caused by the explosion of a land mine due to his unauthorised entry into an area which he had been warned was mined”. The place of death is stated as Waxham Palling RD.

Waxham and Sea Palling are two villages about one mile apart on the East Norfolk coast. Both sit just behind large coastal sand dunes. This entire area was heavily defended during WW2 using a combination of mine fields, barbed wire entanglements and multiple pillboxes. The bulk of these defences were installed in 1940 and would have been complete or near complete at the time of AC1 Balding’s death.

Anyone entering this area without authorisation would have been either extremely foolhardy, or driven by a most compelling need. Notwithstanding the risk involved I can see no obvious reason for Balding to have been in this area. It is a considerable distance from his family home in Blakeney and I can find no evidence of any relations in the Waxham / Sea Palling area. His death certificate gives an address in Russell street Norwich and confirms his RAF serial number. How he came to die in a mine field on the East Norfolk coast remains unclear.

[Alex Smart]

Hello Simon,
I looked back to my old paperwork and from what I had must have thought his loss was with an A W Whitley as possibly a member of groundcrew or passenger. Thank you for picking it up.
Alex