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Date: | Friday 12 July 1940 |
Time: | night |
Type: | Vickers Wellington Mk IC |
Owner/operator: | 149 (East India) Sqn RAF |
Registration: | L7805 |
MSN: | |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Fallende, near Rhede, Borken, North Rhine-Westphalia -
Germany
|
Phase: | En route |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk |
Destination airport: | RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk |
Narrative:Vickers Wellington Mk.Ic L7805, 149 Sqaudron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations over Germany. All six crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/1100): "Wellington L7805 crashed at Fallende near Rhede, Germany, 12 July 1940. Pilot Officer C W Howie, Pilot Officer J S Torgalson, Pilot Officer J A Rose, Sergeant J W Craig, Sergeant T C Suggett and Sergeant J V Futcher: report of deaths"
Airborne at 21:50 on 11 July 1940 for mission to Bremen to bomb naval installations. Exact cause of loss & crash site location unknown. One source states crashed into the North Sea en route to or from the target. All six crew MIA/KIA
Crew:
P/O Joseph Simon Torgalson (pilot) RAF 42732 - killed in action 12/07/1940 (Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 03 October, 1939)
P/O John Alexander Rose (pilot) RAF 42887 - killed in action 12/07/1940 (Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 07 November, 1939)
Sgt John William Craig (Observer) RAFVR 743022 - killed in action 12/07/1940.
Sgt John Vernon Futcher (WOp/AG) RAF 641321 - killed in action 12/07/1940.
Sgt Charles Suggett (WOp/AG) RAF 644680 - killed in action 12/07/1940.
P/O Charles William Howie (Air Gunner) RAFVR 77937 - killed in action 12/07/1940 (Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 25 June, 1940)
All of the above were interred in the Rechswald Forest War Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Pilot Officer Howie is also commemorated in a panel of one of the stained glass windows in the Cloisters at Chester Cathedral
The reported crash location of Fallende, near Rhede is a municipality in the district of Borken in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near the border with the Netherlands, approximately 5 km east of Bocholt, at approximate Coordinates: 51°50′00″N 06°42′02″E
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1100:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502833 3.
http://www.bomber-command.info/c149wellloss.htm 4.
http://www.backtonormandy.org/the-history/air-force-operations/airplanes-allies-and-axis-lost/wellington/L78051940-07-12.html 5.
https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-vickers-416-wellington-ic-north-sea-6-killed-0 6. Stained Glass Memorial to P/O Howie:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/14032968253 7. Nachtjagd Combat Archive The Early Years part one
8.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2046497/torgalson,-joseph-simon/ 9.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2041579/rose,-john-alexander/ 10.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2035884/craig,-john-william/ 11.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2031507/futcher,-john-vernon/ 12.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2046246/suggett,-charles/ 13.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2055646/howie,-charles-william/ 14. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database
Media:
Stained glass Memorial to Pilot Officer Charles William Howie at Chester Cathedral:
Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
05-Jul-2008 23:47 |
JINX |
Added |
09-Jan-2012 07:33 |
Nepa |
Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative] |
09-Mar-2013 18:25 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Location, Country, Source, Narrative] |
09-Mar-2013 18:25 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Narrative] |
13-Jun-2013 12:02 |
Nepa |
Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Narrative] |
21-Aug-2013 09:20 |
JINX |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source] |
19-May-2014 18:53 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Country, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
27-Apr-2015 18:56 |
ABBA |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator] |
19-Jul-2019 19:38 |
TigerTimon |
Updated [Time, Other fatalities, Location, Source] |
13-Oct-2019 20:41 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Other fatalities, Location, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
13-Oct-2019 20:44 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Source] |
11-Jul-2023 06:34 |
Rob Davis |
Updated [[Source]] |