Pilot Officer Edward Thompson of 433 (RCAF) Squadron

Pilot Officer Edward Henry Thompson
Flight engineer
433 (RCAF) Squadron
1 February 1945
Age 20

Son of John Henry and Alice Hester Thompson, of West Hampstead, London.

Pilot Officer Thompson is another RAF airman buried in Hampstead cemetery.

433 Squadron was formed in September 1943, initially flying Halifaxes as part of No6 Group. It converted to the Lancaster in January 1945.

The Squadron was based at Skipton on Swale, North Yorkshire.

Pilot officer Thompson was flight engineer on Lancaster NG460, BM-A, on a mission to Ludwigshafen on 1 February 1945. Pilot was 23-year-old squadron leader HK Stinson DFC, of Lindsay, Ontario, who was commander of 433’s A-flight.

This was the first mission 433 Squadron had flown with the Lancaster and seven of its aircraft took part. Stinson’s crew were all officers and are believed to have been veterans of at least 25 bombing raids.

Stinson’s aircraft took off at 1523 and dropped its bombs at 1928 from 17,000 feet.

Damaged by flak over the target, the aircraft encountered turbulence on the return journey and control was lost only a few miles away from its home base.

Two of the crew (Rear gunner P/O R.J.Thompson and bomb-aimer F/O A.W.Belles) baled out from 2,000 feet before the Lancaster crashed near Low House, roughly 1,000 yards NW from the centre of Driffield, Derbyshire. The four RCAF officers are buried in Harrogate (Stonefall) cemetery.

Pilot: S/L H.K.Stinson DFC RCAF
Flight engineer: P/O E.H. Thompson
Navigator: F/O D.J. McMillan RCAF
Wireless Operator: P/O J.T. McShane RCAF
Air gunner: P/O R. Pierson RCAF

Pilot officer JT McShane was 25 and from Kamloops, British Columbia.
Pilot officer Roy Pierson was 21 and from Taber, Alberta.
Flying officer DJ McMillan was 23 and from Orangeville, Ontario.

Sergeant Leslie Woodward of 630 Squadron

1811689 Leslie Thomas Woodward
Flight Engineer, RAFVR
Age 20

Sergeant Woodward was the flight engineer of 630 Squadron Lancaster LL949 LE-E, piloted by a New Zealander, flying officer GR Flood.

According to the Lost Bombers website, LL949 took off from East Kirkby at 1626 on 22 November 1944. Flying with 11 other 630 Squadron aircraft, its mission was to mark the U-Boat pens at Trondheim.

On the return journey it crashed near the north bank of the Humber off Sunk Island.

Sergeant Woodward survived the crash but died from his injuries on 1 December 1944. He is buried in Hampstead Cemetery.

The crew had flown a mission the previous night, to Gravenhorst, and fatigue may have been a contributing factor to the crash.

He was the son of John and Agnes Woodward and husband of Eileen Doris Woodward formerly Fennell, of Winchmore Hill, Middlesex. Leslie and Eileen Woodward were married in the September, 1943.

Crew of LL949
Pilot: F/O GR Flood RNZAF
Flight engineer: Sgt LT Woodward
Navigator: F/S C Agnew RNZAF
Bomb-aimer: F/S KJ Aspell
Wireless operator: F/S WR Ingram RNZAF
Air gunner: Sgt F Hughes
Air gunner: Sgt MB Henley

The 630 Squadron badge includes a red Lancaster Rose, which refers to the aircraft used by the Squadron. Formed on 15th November 1943, 630 was part of No5 Group, and between 18 November 1943 and 25 April 1945 took part in many major raids. After the end of the war 630 Squadron was disbanded.

Hampstead Cemetery and Pilot Officer William Allen

As with some other things in life, the inspiration for this blog came from a wrong turning.

Trying to find a short cut to Brent Cross I ended up in West Hampstead; specifically at the entrance to the Hampstead cemetery.

Having lived nearby for years, but never having been in the place I thought it might be worth a look. Even from the road you could tell it had a Victorian Gothic charm (is that the right word?) to it.

Near the entrance was a white CWGC headstone commemorating Pilot Officer William George Allen, an RAF flight engineer who had died in 1944. What initially caught my eye was that he had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal. Taking a closer look I saw he was 31 when he died, pretty old for a RAF airman of the time, and that there was a poignant inscription at the bottom of the gravestone which read 'Beloved husband of Peggy and daddy of Jill.'

The final line of the inscription was badly worn but seemed to read ‘Killed [illegible] Mosquito'.

I wondered what one needed to have done to receive the medal and what that final line might refer to. Later that day I did an internet search. The DFM was awarded to non-officer flight crew who completed a tour of 30 operations.

I also discovered that Allen was a member of 35 Squadron - a unit that was equipped with the Handley Page Halifax from November 1940, but when he was killed he was with No13 MU (Maintenance Unit).

35 Squadron had an impressive history and had taken part in high-profile raids such as that on Nuremburg on 28/29 August 1942 and on Peenemunde on 17-18 August 1943.

Presumably William Allen finished his tour with 35 squadron and was then posted to No13 MU. It appears he was flying with Flight Lieutenant George Hill, a 28-year-old pilot from 245 Squadron on 31 March 1944.

At some point in their flight that day their Mosquito lost a wing in a dive and crashed at Cockayne Hatley, Bedfordshire. Hill was a fighter pilot used to flying Typhoons, though whether that has any significance is impossible to know now.

There is a short entry on 245 Squadron here: http://www.rafweb.org/Sqn241-245.htm

And 35 Squadron here: http://www.rafweb.org/Sqn031-35.htm