Any one know how to check where these lads were "posted at death". ALLAN, JAMES Sergeant 1251427 3/02/1943 BALDRY, KENNETH ALDRED Sergeant 741301 12/12/1940 - 10 EFTS BISHOP, FREDERICK ALAN Pilot Officer 41821 14/09/1939 - 13 SFTS BOWMAN, ALAN MCDONALD (DFC & Bar) Wing Commander 32138 30/11/1941 - 39 squadron BROWN, JOHN ROLAND Flying Officer 39370 12/05/1940 - 4 (Continental) Ferry Flight BURRASTON, JACK CLARENCE Pilot Officer 42379 6/07/1940 CONWAY, JAMES PATRICK Squadron Leader 31428 26/10/1946 COOGAN, JAMES STEPHEN Leading Aircraftman 1252908 7/03/1941 CRESSEY, STANLEY WEBB Flying Officer 120083 11/07/1945 - 155 MU ???? DAVEY, JOHN JAMES Sergeant 400751 21/02/1942 - 455 squadron DAWSON, ERIC HENRY Flying Officer 41384 10/11/1940 EDGAR, ALLAN MATHESON Pilot Officer 41270 26/03/1940 - 105sq RAF EVANS, ANDREW HAROLD SARGENT Sergeant 741895 19/02/1941 FALKINER, LEIGH BRERETON SADLEIR Leading Aircraftman 1384158 12/02/1942 FORBES, IAN SIM Leading Aircraftman 655051 7/07/1941 HARDIE, ROSS Warrant Officer 902422 17/05/1944 HATHWAY, JACK WILLIAM Sergeant 1054471 19/09/1945 JACKSON, RONALD CHARLES Leading Aircraftman 992747 28/12/1943 JOSEPH, HAROLD WALTER HARRIS Leading Aircraftman 956834 17/12/1940 McCLAUGHRY, WILFRED ASHTON (CB) (DSO) (MC) (DFC) (MID 3) Air Vice Marshal 4/01/1943 MUNDAY, WYNTON SCOTT Flying Officer 40637 17/10/1940 - 15 OTU NEVETT, HORACE ARTHUR Pilot Officer 86701 16/02/1941 - 24 EFT OLDMAN, LEONARD HENRY Sergeant 931979 9/10/1941 PARKER, VINCENT Flight Lieutenant 42356 29/01/1946 PAULSEN, JOHN MCKECHNIE Pilot Officer 109325 5/03/1942 PRICE, JAMES ALFRED Flying Officer 125472 22/01/1944 REYNOLDS, MICHAEL VINCENT Pilot Officer 41617 2/01/1940 RIES, WILLIAM EDWARD Pilot Officer 109327 21/01/1942 SHEPPARD, JOHN MCMASTER Flight Lieutenant 101116 15/09/1944 SHETLIFFE, RUSSELL BARTON REMINGTON Flying Officer 100156 2/01/1944 SMITH, VERNON HOPETOUN Flying Officer 117114 21/07/1945 SORENSEN, DERRICK RALPH Flight Sergeant 1313849 7/08/1943 TAYLOR, FRANK RICHARD Leading Aircraftman 976583 20/09/1944 TILL, ERNEST FLEETWOOD STREET Flying Officer 157020 20/06/1944 TONGUE, EDWIN (MM) Flying Officer 116822 14/02/1942 WARD, MAURICE Sergeant 641509 28/11/1940 YOUNG, LEO Aircraftman 2nd Class 1281411 22/11/1941
Hi Spidge, some of those names have been covered already. Do you want to cross reference them before we start? http://ww2chat.com/forums/war-air/2477-what-squadrons-were-these-raf-aussies-when-they-died.html
I placed them and realised that I had updated another spreadsheet. Only got half way through and went to sleep at the computer and woke up four hours later. Will get there today hopefully.
Ahh, that explains those funny marks on your forehead...:becky: Geoff, I have no mention of Edgar in Battle-Axe Blenheims. Sorry.
Hi Kyt, Have cleared this side up and possibly mirrors the other however do the first one and I will cross reference your new finds later. Cheers Geoff
Leading Aircraftman Ian Sim Forbes Almost in the middle of England are three small villages, Ansty, Barnacle and Shilton. I live in Shilton and am trying to arrange for a war memorial to be erected in the village so that the servicemen who gave their lives for their country can be commemorated by everyone on the 11th November each year. Ansty had a training aerodrome during the war. The site is now occupied by the Rolls Royce Engines Company. In the churchyard at Ansty are the graves of six airmen who lost their lives whilst training. One of the graves is that of Leading Aircraftman Forbes of Potts Point, NSW, Australia. Each year on the 11th November a wreath of poppies is laid on these graves by the local Parish Council. I came on your site by accident today. I have sent an email to Potts Point to see if anyone from the Forbes family is still there. If anyone is interested I can go and photograph the gravestone or get further information from the stone. I was in Coventry during the World War II bombing and my father served with the 2nd battalion Grenadier Guards, so this is important for me - we must not forget. Regards - Martina Thom
Hi Martina, welcome. I just checked whitepages.com.au down here and have found one Forbes living in Potts Point. You might have some luck there.
Thank you for your post Martina. What a very worthwhile project. I would love to have a photo of the grave of Ian Sims Forbes as I do not yet have it in my collection. One of the group and the Churchyard would be a real bonus. The number of young lads killed while training during ww2 was horrendous and not really well known. I thank you personally for your efforts to remember our Aussie lad and the other five british lads who gave their lives to keep us free. There are over 2,900 Aussies who died while with the RAAF / RAF and are buried or memorialised in 290 cemeteries throughout the UK. The list of burials at Ansty (St James) Churchyard - Warwickshire. In Memory of Pilot Officer CHRISTOPHER CHARLES BRACKENBURY 88857, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who died age 24 on 16 May 1941 Son of Adrian Cornwell-Clyne and Angela Cornwell-Clyne, of Esher, Surrey; husband of Rosemary Brackenbury. Remembered with honour ANSTY (ST. JAMES) CHURCHYARD In Memory of Flight Lieutenant RICHARD GEORGE BURKE A F C 70912, Royal Air Force (RAFO) who died age 33 on 20 April 1941 Son of Richard James Burke and Gertrude Beatrice Burke; husband of Hetty Ena Mary Burke, of Harold Wood, Essex. Remembered with honour ANSTY (ST. JAMES) CHURCHYARD In Memory of Leading Aircraftman IAN SIM FORBES 655051, Royal Air Force who died age 24 on 07 July 1941 Son of Duncan Douglas Forbes and of Ethel Florence Forbes, of Potts Point, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Remembered with honour ANSTY (ST. JAMES) CHURCHYARD In Memory of Pilot Officer DENIS NORMAN McCARTHY 81342, Royal Air Force who died age 24 on 20 April 1941 Son of Arthur Watson Denis McCarthy and of Daisy McCarthy (nee Fox; husband of Sylvia Jane McCarthy, of Churston Ferrers, Devon. Remembered with honour ANSTY (ST. JAMES) CHURCHYARD In Memory of Leading Aircraftman ROBERT ANGAS ALEXANDER MISKIMMIN 1388305, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who died on 27 July 1941 Son of Robert Miskimmin and of Georgina Florence Miskimmin, of New Milton, Hampshire. Remembered with honour ANSTY (ST. JAMES) CHURCHYARD In Memory of Leading Aircraftman JAMES SCHOLES 1265363, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who died age 26 on 20 April 1941 Son of Sydney and Elizabeth Scholes; husband of Freda Scholes, of Wrose, Yorkshire. Remembered with honour ANSTY (ST. JAMES) CHURCHYARD
We have a lovely sunny day with rain threatening tomorrow, so I will go this afternoon to photograph the graves and the Church at Ansty for you. Please bear with me, as I am not very technical, and may have to rely on my grandchildren to get the photographs off the camera for me. Will contact you soon - regards Martina
Hiya Spidge - for those who came in late: is this still ongoing? Do you still need info on any of the names not highlighted in red?? Or has the list moved since this started.............
Hi Dave, Still need the ones in black. As can be seen by the numbers, they were all Aussies in the RAF which were mostly from our favourite Commemorative Roll. Cheers Geoff
Hi Annie, Kyt did do them but thank you anyway. I just didn't have a chance to edit them - will do now! Cheers Geoff
I have found more information about Ian Forbes. Following research by the late Reg Simpson of Shilton, the following was published in our local village magazine in November 2001. Apparently Ian Forbes was a pilot under training with the RAF. "Leading Aircraftsman Ian Forbes was flying solo on 7th July, 1941 in Tiger MJoth R5193 when he spun off a turn at 1200 feet into the ground at Mobbs Wood Farm, one and a half miles NW of Ansty airfield and the aircraft caught fire. He had lost control and failed to pull the aircraft out of the spin before the aircraft hit the ground. He had just 23 hours flying time, of which only five hours were solo flights in Tiger Moths. He was buried on the 10th July 1941, age 24." I have taken the photographs but the writing on the stone does not show up well because it is white writing on a white stone. I will get my grand daughter to take some more photographs as she has a better camera than I have. Also she knows how to use the different programmes on the camera. What do you want me to do with the photographs when I have them? Regards - Martina
SHEPPARD, JOHN MCMASTER Flight Lieutenant 101116 15/09/1944 - not much on this one. The NAA have a file on him and if we get desperate we can pay to get it digitised. More searching will be done before I get to that point though. SHEPPARD, John McMaster - (Flight Lieutenant); Service Number - RAFVR 101116; File type - Casualty - Repatriation; Place - Syria, Middle East; Date - 15 September 1944 THE LONDON GAZETTE, 5 MAY, 1942 ADMINISTRATIVE AND SPECIAL DUTIES BRANCH. The undermentioned Australians to be Plt. Offs. on prob. (emergency): - 24th Apr. 1941 - John McMaster SHEPPARD (101116). THE LONDON GAZETTE, 10 JULY, 1942 ADMINISTRATIVE AND SPECIAL DUTIES BRANCH. Plt. Offs. (prob.) confmd. in appts. and to be Flg. Offs. (war subs.): - 24th Apr. 1942. - J. McM. SHEPPARD (101116). SUPPLEMENT TO THE LQNDON GAZETTE, 21 JULY, 1944 Flg. Off. to Flt. Lt. (temp.): -1st July 1944 - J. McM. SHEPPARD (101116).
SHETLIFFE, RUSSELL BARTON REMINGTON Flying Officer 100156 2/01/1944 - NAA have a file on him. We know where he died, but not his unit at the time he was admitted to the hospital. SHETLIFFE, R B R - (Pilot Officer); Service Number - RAF 100156; File type - Casualty - Repatriation; Place - 63rd General Hospital, Middle East; Date - 2 January 1944 THE LONDON GAZETTE, 25 JULY, 1941 ADMINISTRATIVE AND SPECIAL DUTIES BRANCH. The undermentioned are granted commissions for the duration of hostilities: - As Acting Pilot Officers on probation - Russell Barton Remington SHETLIFFE (100156). THE LONDON GAZETTE, 5 SEPTEMBER, 1941 The undermentioned Acting Pilot Officers on probation are graded as Pilot Officer on probation: - 27th Aug. 1941 Russell Barton Remington SHETLIFFE (100156). SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 4 DECEMBER, 1942 Plts. Offs. (prob.) confmd. in appts. 27th June 1942 and to be Flg. Offs. (war subs.) 27th Aug. 1942: - Russell Barton Remington SHETLIFFE (100156). SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 29 JUNE, 1943 Flg. Off. R. B. R. SHETLIFFE (100156) relinquishes his rank at his own request and is transfd to the Gen. Duties Br. in the rank of Plt. Off. 4th June 1943. SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 10 DECEMBER, 1943 ROYAL AIR FORCE VOLUNTEER RESERVE. GENERAL DUTIES BRANCH. Promotion. Plt. Off. to be Flg. Off. (way subs.): - R. B. R. SHETLIFFE (100156) 4th. Dec. 1943.
HARDIE, ROSS Warrant Officer 902422 17/05/1944 - already researched via a forum on rafcommand: Marauder II FB509 of 3 ADU. Engine fire on ferry flight; crashed 8 km SW of Catania The NAA has the following file for him - HARDIE, Ross - (Warrant Officer); Service Number - 902422; File type - Casualty - Repatriation; Aircraft - Marauder FB509; Place - Catania, Italy; Date - 17 May 1944 (DIGITALLY LOADED). Rest of crew = 404644 WOFF MARCH, ALLAN HENRY RNZAF / R1038225 WOFF J.W. CLARK NAV RCAF (I think this is Pilot Officer CLARK, JOHN WEMYSS RCAF J/86974 who died on 17/5/1944 - maybe he was given a new service number when he was commissioned, like the way the RAF did).
FALKINER, LEIGH BRERETON SADLEIR Leading Aircraftman 1384158 12/02/1942 - already researched via a forum on rafcommand: LAC (Pilot u/t) L.B.S. Falkiner 1384158 and LAC P. Cockburn 1382945, both 15 FTS, were killed when their Oxford V3906 hit HT cables; crashed Laural Farm near Bicester, 1145h. The NAA has the following file for him - FALKINER Leigh Rereton Sadler - (Leading Aircraftman); Service Number - 1384158; File type - Casualty - Repatriation; Aircraft - Oxford; Place - Catterton, Yorkshire; Date - 12 February 1942 (NAA spelling errors left in)
ALLAN, JAMES Sergeant 1251427 3/02/1943 - already researched via a forum on rafcommand: commemorated on Panel 278 of the Runnymede Memorial. Halifax II, DT503 of 1 OADU, lost over sea on ferry flight to Gibraltar. No file held by NAA.