420330 - Unaccounted airmen - 30-3-1942

[Henk Welting]

What were the places of death registration for:

A - Died on active service:
AC1 Charlesw V. FAIRWEATHER - 1190111 - age 28;
AC2 George W.D. HARMER - 1449167, and
Cpl John PARSONS - 973617,

B - Not found Flight archives:
P/O (Obs) Norman WOLFENDEN - 112760.

C - Proposed aircraft losses:
Anson I - K6254 - 3 AOS - crashed in forced landing near Halfpenny Green.
Magister I - R1817 - 22 OTU - crashed in forced landing Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire.
Oxford II - T1336 - 2 (P)AFU - crashed on approach at night Brize Norton.

Regards and thanks for your help.
Henk.

[Dick]

Hi Henk
Fairweather,28, registered at Uxbridge, Middlesex
Harmer,20, registered at Leicester
Parsons, 23, registered at Stockport, Cheshire
Wolfenden, registered at Andover, Hampshire
Regards
Dick

[Henk Welting]

As ever, thanks Dick for your quick reply.
Regards,
Henk.

[COL BRUGGY]

Henk,

Before we pull the plug on 112760 P/O (Obs.) Norman WOLFENDEN, I have some patchy information . Hopefully, others can expand on it.

From Warner's Blenheim(1st ed.) p.392:-

30-3-1942
V5572 42 OTU Mk.IV
Engine cut, stalled and spun in on approach to Andover, P/O McTavish and crew killed.
(P/O McTavish, is actually, CAN J/8714 P/O Alastair Fraser McTAVISH RCAF)

The following is mentioned on the CVWM for McTavish. Died on March 30, 1942, Thruxton Aerodrome, England. His unit is quoted as: 42 OTU.

On the Hampshire Aircraft Crashes site: daveg4otu.tripod.com/hancrash.html V5572 is described as; cr. on app. 1.5 m W of Andover. placing it in the vicinity of Thruxton Aerodrome. (Not at, but near.)

All this is a bit nebulous. Maybe Dennis could provide us with a unit for Wolfenden from GRO Deaths?

Col.

[Henk Welting]

Source: "For Your Tomorrow" (Errol Martyn) - Vol.1, page 193:
Besides McTAVISH two other crew died. One of them was Sgt Ronald Crawford HUNTER - NZ403006, like McTAVISH buried at Andover. The third crewmember could have been WOLFENDEN, although I've from an unconfirmed source that this was F/Sgt (Obs) Percy H. THIMBLEBEE - 963850, whose name is commemorated on Panel 76 of the Runnymede Memorial.
Regards,
Henk.

[malcolm_raf]

Wolfenden is registered in Andover as is McTavish

Malcolm

[COL BRUGGY]

Henk,

I have the following for Thimblebee:-

27-5-1942
1401 Flight
Blenheim IV V5568

Shot down in error by Whirlwinds.

68148 F/O William Stuart MARSHALL +
963850 F/Sgt Percy Hudson THIMBLEBEE +
616588 F/Sgt Alfred Edward GROVES MiD +

All commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

Thanks for the confirmation Malcolm.

Col.

[Dick]

Hi Henk
Warner's "Blenheim" places Wolfenden on V5572,together P/O A McTavish,RCAF and Sgt R Hunter RNZAF all killed
Regards
Dick

[dennis_burke]

I'm not needed here I think other than P/O N Wolfenden is lsited KOAS in the same Cas list in Flight as MCtavish and Hunter, they of course being under their respective airforces list. N Wolfenden is not on GRO lists as suggested above.

Confirmed Thimblebee as 1402 Flight from GRO lists.

[Henk Welting]

With THIMBLEBEE transferred from V5572 to V5568 and death of WOLFENDEN confirmed being in Andover, the black spots in my files are gone for these two Blenheims. Thanks friends.
Regards,
Henk.