HCU/018 103/W1243 After F/S F W Hill + insert Sgt J P Wolfenden + [Dave Johnson 12/09/08]
HCU/036 1658/R9388 Sgt G M Lipsett RCAF - delete + [Chorley 30/08/07]
HCU/055 1663/DG404 - Amend crew matrix: Sgt D H Batten RAAF to read Sgt D W Batten RAAF [On recovery from his injuries he was posted to 158 Squadron where he flew two sorties before being posted to 640 Squadron on 7 January 1944]. [158 Squadron records via Eddie Fell 28/09/08]
HCU/058 1662/ED378 HCU Lancaster III ED378 T/o 1400 Blyton for bombing practice and cross-country. Last heard from at 1615 over the Mull of Galloway; all are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. W/C Traill's DFC was awarded in 1939 for service in the North West Frontier; F/O Ricketts was the air bomber instructor; his DFC was gained with 460 Squadron.
37580 W/C A W T Traill DFC
1670757 Sgt E Middleton
R/110876 F/S P Tomchyshyn RCAF
411383 F/O S J Ricketts DFC RAAF
1435614 Sgt D Smith
656822 Sgt W K Witham
2207084 Sgt K Kendall
1296693 Sgt D E Griffiths
New Entry: 14 Aug 1943 [Chorley 30/08/07]HCU/059 1657/R9300 Summary correction: Line 8 - delete "LJ481" and replace with "LJ841" [John Reid 28/09/08]
HCU/067 1658/BB304 - Amendment Line 6 and remainder of summary to read: By coincidence, and having completed their training, the crew, less Sgt James who was replaced by Sgt V W Jessup RCAF, was posted to Lissett and 158 Squadron on 1943. They did not, however, fly on operations as a crew. By late October Sgt Cahill was dead, killed on operations to Kassel [see BCL Volume 4 page 368]. Sgt Johns was posted to ACDU Chessington on 7 November 1943, while F/S Vicary and Sgt Jessup joined 640 Squadron on 7 January 1944. Sgt Wilson became a prisoner of war [BCL Volume 5 page 461 refers] and following commissioning Sgt Anderson was decorated wth a DFC. [158 Squadron records via Eddie Fell, 13/11/08]
HCU/070 1659/JD419 - Amend crew matrix and summary:
P/O P E Shaw DFM
Continue summary: P/O Shaw had been posted to 1659 HCU on the last day of July 1943, having completed his tour of operations at Lissett with 158 Squadron. Details of his award were promulgated on 19 October 1943. [Dorothy Shaw, widow of the late P/O Shaw DFM, via Eddie Fell 28/09/08]HCU/125 1661/EF444 - P/O S Bray, in letter to author dated 29th March 2004 states that Sgt Moncur baled out but, tragically, his parachute failed to deploy. [Chorley 30/08/07]
HCU/145 1656/HR796 - Crashed Great Home Wood, Chailey near East Chiltington some 4 miles NW of Lewes, Sussex. The crash site was a mere 200 yards south of the main east-west runway at RAF Chailey Advanced Landing Ground; small pieces from the Halifax still litter the surface of the field. [Chorley 30/08/07]
HCU/153 1664/LL541 amend summary: Line 4 after "1303" delete between "some" and "Radnor." inserting "on a hillside near Nant yr Haidd Farm [978ft/298 metres] in the Elan Valley and SW of Rhayader." [Phillip Jones supported by Google Earth 28/09/08]
HCU/200 1474/DV819 insert DT-G and revise rest as follows
P/O E A Paulton RCAF
P/O W A R Barry RCAF
F/S W W Bigoray RCAF inj
P/O H G Jordan inj
F/S F P Grant RCAF inj
F/S E T Vachon RCAF inj
T/o Gransden Lodge and while flying at 14,000 feet came under sustained attack from a Ju88. Despite the seriousness of their situation [four members of crew being wounded] the specialist wireless operator, P/O Jordan, identified the night fighter's radio frequency and F/S Bigoray successfully relayed this data to England. Eventually, through his vigorous corkscrewing, P/O Paulton drew clear of their assailant. F/S Bigoray, by now, was very badly wounded and considered he would never survive the agreed ditching [undercarriage jammed and sundry other damage]. Consequently, he baled out over Ramsgate after which at 0824 the Wellington was put down in the sea 200 yards off Walmer, Kent. Such was the importance of the crews' achievements that ACM Sir Charles Portal telegrammed them with his congratulations. Subsequently, P/O Paulton and P/O Barry received DFCs, P/O Jordan a DSO, while DFMs went to F/Ss Bigoray and Vachon. Sadly, now commissioned, P/O Bigoray was killed in April 1944 on operations with 7 Squadron [see 1944/196 and RoH/400] [various sources relayed by Mark Haycock 07/01/09]HCU/229 PFNTU/JB471 amend summary: Line 3 after "crashed" insert "at Cefn Gast Farm" [Phillip Jones 28/09/08]
HCU/233 insert between the summaries for 12 June 1945 and 18 March 1946:
19 Oct 1945 SFLt Typhoon IB JR390 B Local Flying
G/C J R Jeudwine DSO OBE DFC MiD +
T/o Little Staughton and while practicing aerobatics over the airfield lost control and spun in. Aged 32 and laid to rest with full military honours in Cambridge City Cemetery, G/C Jeudwine's service career can be traced back to June 1932, when he was one of six successful candidates granted a Prize Cadetship to Cranwell where, shortly before his graduation in July 1934, he won a thrilling victory in the Triangular Athletics Contest [Cranwell, Sandhurst and Woolwich] pipping R K Constantine [Woolwich] to the line in the mile race. His subsequent service achievements, principally with bomber units both in the Far East and within Bomber Command, are too numerous to recount within the parameters of a summary. Suffice to say that he is mentioned in several books while his prestigious awards were Gazetted on 15 December 1942, 20 May and 22 September 1944, and 1 October 1946 [posthumous]. His appointment to Little Staughton as Station Commander is believed to have been as recent as August 1945. [Flight Digital Archive and Mark Haycock 07/08/08]