420215 - Unaccounted airmen - 15-2-1942

**Henk Welting** · 15th April 2009, 11:03

What were the places of death registration for:

A - Died on active service:
Sgt Ronald E. COWIE - 1050122;
AC2 Albert R. DAVIES - 1225097 - 911 (Balloon) Sqn (West Bromwich), and
Cpl Jack PRINCE - 1300968 - age 44.

B - Not found Flight archives:
Capt (Royal Artillery attd RAF) George R. BUCK - 112847;
AC1 William L. DAVIES - 1411952;
AC1 Douglas F. HUSSON - 924760;
LAC Donald A. JANES - 1183493 - age 33, and
Lac James F. MACKENZIE - 948362.

C - Proposed aircraft losses for this day:
Defiant I - N1615 - 4 FPP - undershot landing Dalcross.
Lysander III - T1744 - 8 AGS - dived into ground near Tain (already as a casualty on this a/c: Sgt [Pilot] J.A. DAVIS - RCAF R/82184).
Oxford I - V4057 - 6 FTS - crashed in forced landing Billingstone Damell (Dagnall ?), Buckinghamshire.
Spitfire II.A - P7894 - 52 OTU - crashed in forced landing Keevil.
Hudson V - AM675 - 1 (C)OTU - crashed on take-off Silloth, Cumberland.

Regards and thanks for your help.
Henk.

**Ross_McNeill** · 15th April 2009, 11:13

Hi Henk,

Capt Buck was drowned with the crew of X3398.

Crashed 15:32 into the North Sea 300 yards off Clacton, Essex.
A report on this incident, filed by 18 Group ROC, indicated seven men were aboard the a/c and in addition to the four men listed, an army officer, Capt Buck, also drowned.
All bodies were recovered by lifeboat.

"Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.
At about 15:30 on the afternoon of the 15th February 1942, a British Wellington bomber crashed into the sea about 300 yards off the beach, a quarter of a mile W of Clacton Pier. A light NNW wind was blowing, with a slight sea. The lifeboat motor mechanic was on the pier, and he and three soldiers at once put off in two rowing boats. The mechanic had realised that time was vital and that it would take too long to get the lifeboat crew together. He took one soldier with him in the larger of the two rowing boats, the two other soldiers manning the other. Under his supervision the two boats picked up four men from the bomber and two Army officers who had swum out to help and were in serious difficulty. Some of the rescued men died later. The action of the two officers in swimming out was reported to the Royal Humane Society and two of the soldiers who went out in the two boats, a captain and a battery sergeant major, were thanked, but a third could not be traced. At the request of the authorities the lifeboat coxswain and assistant motor mechanic put off in a boat later in the day to take officers out to the aeroplane. These two men were engaged from 19:00 to 21:30.
Rewards £2 2s 6d "
(Source: Supplement to Annual Reports of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution 1939-46)

Regards
Ross

**dennis_burke** · 15th April 2009, 11:34

George R. BUCK - No luck here.
AC1 William L. DAVIES - DOAS Mar 28th Flight magazine; scanned as A/0.1 «T. L. Davies
AC1 Douglas F. HUSSON - DOAS Flight 9th April; scanned as A/C.l D. F Itusson
LAC Donald A. JANES - DOAS May 28th Flight magazine
Lac James F. MACKENZIE - Fligth Magazine April 2nd lists a L.A/C. J. F. McKenzie; KOAS.

I'm at work and I'll leave over the registration districts to Dick or others.
Dennis

**Dick** · 15th April 2009, 11:59

Hi Henk
Cowie,29, registered at Ploughley, Oxfordshire
Albert, 21, registered at Wenlock, Shropshire
Prince,44,registered at Fylde, Lancashire
A William L Davies ,21(age as on CWGC) registered at Anglesey West, there is also another age 18, registered at Neath, Glamorgan, S Wales
Janes,33,registered at Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, the names of places covered by this area dont seem to tie in with your Buckinghamshire crash site
Buck,35, is registered at Colchester, which is right for a death in or near Clacton
Husson and McKenzie didn't come up even with the alternative spelling MacKenzie
Regards
Dick

**Henk Welting** · 15th April 2009, 14:30

Thanks friends for this quick and excellent info.
Regards,
Henk.

**dennis_burke** · 2nd December 2009, 22:00

From Scotland.
Douglas Frank Husson age 21, registered in Stratbrock district, West Lothian during 1942.

James Fraser McKenzie age 20 in the Tain district of Ross and Cromarthy during 1942

**davew** · 3rd December 2009, 12:53

Can confirm that Davis & Mckenzie were killed in the same incident at Tain.

(from deaths register)

regards

DaveW

**thorne83** · 18th January 2013, 19:40

For those that may wish to know;

AC2 A R Davies died in RAF Hospital, Cosford, as a a result of kidney failure.

Cheers,

Tom

**wwrsimon** · 4th October 2017, 17:20

Hello

Cpl Jack PRINCE - 1300968 - the Yorkshire Evening Posy of February 17th 1942 reported the following:

LEEDS CORPORAL'S DEATH
The death has occurred ina miltary hospital of Corporal Jack Prince (44), R.A.F., of Waverley Place, Leeds. He served in the last war, joining up when 17, in the West Yorkshire Regiment, in which he served three years in France. He volunteered again at the outbreak of this war. In civil life he was a fishmonger in the Cockridge and Adel district. He leaves a widow.

AC1 Douglas F. HUSSON - 924760 - the Statutory Deaths Register on the Scotland's People website records that the died at 2.00 a.m. at Bangour Hospital, Broxburn due to Pulmonary TB, from which he had been suffering for 6 months.

Lac James F. MACKENZIE - 948362 - he's on the Statutory Deaths Register as the next entry after Sgt [Pilot] J.A. DAVIS - RCAF R/82184 - both died at 3.30p.m. "on aerodrome, Fendom, Tain" due to "multiple injuries (result of aircraft accident)."

Regards

Simon