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A 97 (Straits Settlements) Squadron, Path Finder Force Aircrew

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A 97 (Straits Settlements) Squadron, Path Finder Force Aircrew A 97 (Straits Settlements) Squadron, Path Finder Force Aircrew. 27th April 1943 – 11th May 1944 Contents Page Number Forward 4 The Original Crew 5 - 6 97 (Straits Settlements) Squadron 7 - 8 Original Individual Crew Members 9 Sgt WN Roberts Pilot/Captain RAF (Flying Officer Roberts DFM) 9 - 30 Sergeant JR Chapman RCAF Mid Upper Gunner RCAF (Warrant Officer 31 -34 DFC) 1072007 Sergeant DED Harvey Wireless Operator RAFVR (Pilot Officer 34 - 40 DFM) 138589 Pilot Officer LC Jones, Bomb Aimer RAFVR (Flt Lt DFC) 40 - 42 658210 Flight Sergeant Samuel Joseph Peek DFM Navigator 43 - 47 Number 8 (Path Finder Force) Group 47 - 48 General Facts Regarding Air Crews 48 - 49 97 Squadron Operations Record Book August – December 1943 49 - 106 1172743 Warrant Officer Victor Allenby Davis DFM RAF (Time Line 50, 97 & 70 - 93 582 Squadrons) 97 Squadron Operations Record Book January – June 1944 110 - 172 134059 Flight Lieutenant Arthur William Weston RAFVR Navigator (Time 111 - 120 Line 9 & 97 Squadrons) NZ414691 Flight Lieutenant JB Smith DFC RNZAF (Time Line 466 & 97 137 - 163 Squadrons) 537312 Sergeant A R Rowlands RAF (Time Line 19 Squadron, RAF Jurby, 163 - 168 South Africa, 86 Maintenance Unit, 41 Air School South Africa, 61 Maintenance Unit and 97 Squadron) J17360 Flying Officer Sherman Air Gunner RCAF (Time Line: B Company 2nd 178 - 193 Battalion Canadian Scottish CASF, 49 & 97 Squadrons) LESQUIN COMMUNAL CEMETERY 194 - 195 RAF Coningsby 196 Life in the PFF: Keeping a Lancaster Flying 197 2 References 198 - 200 Appendix A: 97 Squadron Combat Report 18/10/1943 201 Appendix B: 97 Squadron Combat Report 20/10/1943 202 Appendix C: 97 Squadron Combat Report 20/10/1943 203 Appendix D: 97 Squadron Combat Report 20/10/1943 204 Appendix E: 97 Squadron Combat Report 21/01/1944 205 Appendix F: Sgt Tinsdeall Log Book July 1943 to September 1943 206 - 209 Appendix G: Copy of Award of Path Finder Force Badge – WO JR Chapman 210 Appendix H: Copy of letter of award of DFC to Flt Lt JB Smith DFC RNZAF 211 Appendix I: Copy of personal diary excerpts made by Flt Lt Weston 212 - 221 Appendix J: Richard Jozefiak – research carried out in Lille and Lesquin, 222 - 239 Northern France 3 Foreword I started carrying out research some time ago regarding my late uncle, Pilot Officer DED Harvey DFM RAFVR who was a Wireless Operator with 97 Squadron. It ‘snowballed’ and I started to obtain information, from a variety of sources, the details of other crew members who served with him. This is a short history of one particular aircrew of 97 Path Finder Force Squadron, and the personnel changes that took place. Their final fateful flight was in Lancaster 111 JB708 OF-J, on the 11th May 1944, when it exploded in flight over Vendville and crashed within the limit of Lille-Vendeville airfield, then used by the Luftwaffe. All the crew lost their lives. The original crew are introduced and this involves the service histories of the original crew members, and those who joined and left, which have been acquired to date. Throughout the ‘life’ of the crew, three members remained as a nucleus: Sgt JR Chapman RCAF, Sgt DED Harvey RAFVR and Pilot Officer LC Jones RAFVR. There were two pilots/captains: Flying Officer WN Roberts DFM RAF (who survived the war) and Flight Lieutenant JB Smith DFC RNZAF who was the pilot on the 11th May 1944. The data is taken from a number of resources, which are listed in the references. The data is centred upon the various operations that the crew, and new crew members, were involved in and this information originates from the various Squadron Operations Books. All the data, other than that provided by Mr A Riches, comes from identifiable sources. However, I have used a number of extracts from Middlebrook, M. and Everitt, C. (1985) to add more detail to the various raids that were undertaken by the crew members, both when serving with 97 Squadron and other Squadrons prior to and after their engagement with the squadron. I have assured Penn and Sword that this ‘book’ is not to be published and I will receive no financial gain from it. There has been no attempt to make this a ‘story’; I hope the data speaks for itself. During the course of the research I have located some of the relatives of the crew members: Peter Roberts, son of Flying Officer WN Roberts DFM RAF - Pilot Pat Chapman, daughter of Warrant Officer JR Chapman DFC, RCAF – Mid Upper Gunner Howard Chapman, nephew of WO Chapman Paul Richardson, nephew of Flight Lieutenant LC Jones DFC, RAFVR – Bomb Aimer Jean Burdett, daughter of Sgt JD Tinsdeall RAF – Flight Engineer Ann Fry, daughter of Flight Lieutenant AW Weston RAFVR – Navigator I contacted two of the late WO Wright’s daughters in order to obtain permission to apply for his RAF Records; however, having waited for some considerable time I have not received the appropriate paperwork and therefore his RAF time-line cannot be included. It was stated that he served with another bomber squadron prior to being posted to 97 Squadron, where he completed a second tour. He survived the war and settled, so I believe, in Swansea where he died on 22nd September 2000. Richard Jozefiak, a former Police Officer at Lesquin airport, has carried out extensive research into the crew and the night of the attack. His ‘story’ is attached at Appendix J. Peter Harvey 4 The Original Crew The formation of the original aircrew was on the 25th April 1943 at No 81 Operational Training Unit, RAF Ashbourne, Derbyshire: 972388 Sgt W.N. Roberts (Pilot) RAF crewed up with the Mid Upper Air Gunner, R/85522 Sgt J.R. Chapman (RCAF) Air Gunner. On the 5th May 1943 two other crew members joined: 138589 P/O Jones (RAFVR) Bomb Aimer and 1072007 Sgt Harvey (RAFVR) Wireless Operator. They were flying training in the Whitley Mk V bomber, a twin engined heavy bomber. From: http://www.wwiivehicles.com/unitedkingdom/aircraft/bomber/whitley.asp On 7th May 1943 658210 Sgt S.J. Peek (RAFVR) Navigator joined the crew. They spent almost 3 months at this base before being posted on 15th June 1943 to Number 1655 Heavy Conversion Unit, RAF Lindholme, near Doncaster. This was a Heavy Conversion Unit formed for crews to convert from medium to heavy bombers, prior to a posting to an operational squadron. They flew in the Halifax Bomber (http://www.wwiivehicles.com/unitedki ngdom/aircraft/bomber/handley-page- halifax.asp). On the 6th July 1943 they flew their first training sortie in the Lancaster 111. On the 23rd July they were posted to 97 Squadron; however, before operational flying could take place they were sent, on the 27th July 1943, to RAF Upwood, a PFF Navigational Training Unit. The unit’s purpose was to train crews which had been selected from Main Force Squadrons for duties with the PFF. This crew came straight from their respective initial training units. RAF Upwood crest from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Upwood 5 The crew now consisted of: Pilot: 972388 Sgt W N Roberts RAF Flight Engineer: Sgt J.D. Tinsdeall RAFVR Navigator: 658210 Sgt S.J. Peek RAFVR Bomb Aimer: 138589 P/O L.C. Jones RAFVR Wireless Operator: 1072007 Sgt D.E. Harvey RAFVR Mid-upper Gunner: R/85522 Sgt J.R. Chapman RCAF Rear Gunner: 10601625 T/Sgt H B Stedman (USAF) Note: P/O Jones, Sgt Chapman and Sgt Harvey remained together throughout their stay with 97 Squadron. The picture below shows the crew with Air Vice Marshall Donald Bennett CB, CBE, DSO with Geoffrey Lloyd, the Minister for Petroleum Warfare. The picture was taken at RAF Bourne. From front left: Sgt WN Roberts Pilot, PO L C Jones Bomb Aimer, Sgt Chapman Air Gunner Sgt DED Harvey Wireless Operator, leaning on his left elbow. The three crew members at the rear, one with the forage cap is Sgt J.D. Tinsdeall the other two are yet to be identified, however it is believed that Sgt SJ Peek is the middle person at the rear and the other T/Sgt H B Stedman (USAF). From: Grey. J - http://www.ww2-pathfinders.co.uk/index.html The crew made 11 trips / sorties to Berlin 6 97 (Straits Settlements) Squadron The Squadron was formed on `1st December 1917 at Waddington in Lincolnshire as a training squadron, moving to Stonehenge in January 1918. In the 1st World War it was equipped with Handley Page 0/400 and sent to France as night bombers. In 1919 it was equipped with DH10 aircraft and sent to India and in 1920 the squadron was disbanded. It was reformed in September 1935 at Abingdon as part of No 6 Training Group within Bomber Command but it was disbanded and eventually reformed in April 1940 at Driffield with Whitley bombers. It was again disbanded, but in 1941 a large donation by the Malay Straits Settlement caused it to be reformed with Avro Manchester aircraft. It then became 97 Squadron (Straits Settlement). Below are the airfields the Squadron was stationed: Waddington : Feb 1941-Mar 1941 Coningsby : Mar 1941-Mar 1942 Woodhall Spa : Mar 1942-Apr 1943 Bourn : Apr 1943-Apr 1944 - A", "B" & "C" Flights detached to Gransden Lodge, Graveley & Oakington, respectively, during Aug/Sep 1943. Coningsby : Apr 1944 onwards The crew were initially stationed at RAF Bourn, near Cambridge. The RAF acquired a piece of land near Bourn Grange 1940, and the airfield was completed at the end of 1941. The airfield consisted of temporary buildings and the only permanent fixture was the control tower.
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