Stirling Pilot
The Last Operation
Stirling III serial number EE872 had been allocated to Andrew and his crew two days after his joining the Squadron at Lakenheath on the 27th May, 1943. His crew, (crew 6), consisted of Alex Holms (Nav), Adrian Douglas (W/OP/AG), David Badcock (Bomb Aimer) all from New Zealand. Doug Guest (Flt Eng) and Henry Saunders (AG) were both from London, and Harry Barnard (AG) was from Huntingdon. They had completed 49 trips in this aircraft, with 20 as confirmed Operational Sorties. These had included Wuppertal, Dusseldorf, Le Creusot, Krefeld, Mulheim, Elberfeld, Gelsenkirschen, Koln, Hamburg (4 times), Remscheid, Nurenburg, Berlin and Munchengladbach, amongst others. Andrew's flying log book shows a total of 555 Hrs and 54 Mins at this time.
The aircraft took off from Lakenheath at 19.36 on the night of the 5th Sept, 1943, en route for Mannheim in Germany via Beachy Head. 149 Sqdn was to lose three aircraft that night. Relatives of two of the crew of OJ-O, which was also lost that night, have been in touch with me during my research. The exact time OJ-N fell is unclear, but the claim by Leutnant Hoppner was timed at 00.20, and the Searchlight crew's report confirms this as the likely time. The sole survivor of the aircraft loss was the tail gunner, Harry Barnard, known to the rest of the crew as "Barney". He was to spend the rest of the war as a POW, and pass away in the 1970's.
The rest of the crew were dead, with only Doug Guest and Alex Holms being positively identified when the German police picked up the bodies the following day. It is presumed (by Richard Braun, an historian from Ludwigshafen-Mundenheim) that all six fatalities were originally buried at Ludwigshafen main cemetery, although the photograph I have of Andrew's (and David Badcock's) initial internment, does not list Doug and Alex with them. They all now lie in Durnbach War cemetery, Bayern, Germany, with Andrew, Alex, David, Henry and Doug together in Plot (Coll) 8 J. 1-18 and Adrian in plot 8 K3.