VE80 – Salisbury Plain Benefice

Arthur John Sayer and the crew of Lancaster ND* 365 ‘E’

The night of 15/16th February 1944 saw a huge raid on Berlin, as part of the Battle of Berlin, which took place between November 1943 and March 1944. Of the 23 crews who flew from 7 sqn, 4 Lancasters were lost that night, a total of 30 men, of whom 27 died and 3 became Prisoners of War.

Information regarding the loss of this aircraft came to the unit and to next of kin over the following weeks.
RBK Williams DFC was the Captain of Lancaster ND 365 ‘E’. He along with Air Bomber G Staniforth, both became prisoners of war. This was notified to the unit by signal on 24th March 1944. The remaining crew, including a 2nd Pilot on his orientation flight, were killed.

Arthur John SAYER, 2nd Pilot aged 32 buried on Landet, DenmarkLouis Godfrey GLAUS, Rear Gunner buried on Landet, Denmark
James Michie ALEXANDER, Navigator, aged 23, buried on Skaro, Denmark
Walter HAWKINS, Wireless Operator/Air Gunner from Canada, buried on Skaro, Denmark
Norman Bennett SEFTON, Engineer aged 19 buried on Svendborg, Denmark
Raymond R BALLANTYNE DFM, Mid Upper Gunner, buried on Svendborg, Denmark

*ND is the code for 7 Sqn.

Colin Howard Wilson and the crew of Lancaster ND 443 ‘L’

On 31st March 1944, Sqn Ldr Colin Wilson DFC and his crew were lost during a raid on Nurnberg. They are buried in Hanover cemetery. The Operational Record for that night reads ‘Twenty aircraft took off to attack Nurnberg but two aircraft failed to reach the target and two others were missing.’

Colin Howard WILSON, DFC aged 38, Captain
Joseph STEVENS, Navigator
James Stewart FERRIER aged 23 from Canada, Air Bomber
Kenneth Geoffrey FRANCIS, aged 22 Wireless Operator
Thomas Burgess LIDDLE, aged 24, Mid Upper gunner
Frank Tilden FULLER, aged 20, Rear gunner
Wycliffe JENKINS, aged 19, Engineer

6 of the men share a grave, with Frank Fuller in an individual grave beside them.

Note the date on this document from the Grave Registration service- 31st October 1947.

Frederick John William Shane and Lancaster PB 212 ‘S’

Rear Gunner Frederick Shane, aged 20, was the only casualty when the aircraft in which he was operating on 29th July 1944 was hit by flak and caught fire. The note in the squadron operational record below recounts what happened:

Frederick Shane’s body was either never found, or it was buried as ‘unknown’. His name is one of 66 names from RAF Oakington (Nov 1943-April 1945), to be found on the Runnymede Memorial. In some cases an entire crew are listed there, though they are not listed together. The Runnymede Memorial lists personnel by the date of their loss, their rank and nationality.
Frederick John William Shane, aged 20.

Kenneth Louis Rendell, Navigator on Mosquito MM 116

On the night of 5th October 1944 12 aircraft of 571 Sqn (Mosquito) were on operations over Berlin, Saarbrucken and, in the case of MM116, mine laying in the Kiel Canal. The operation record for 571 squadron reads as follows: Kiel Canal Up 2045 Down 0020: a/c completed sortie, landed Woodbridge, badly shot up. Navigator killed, Pilot badly injured.
Padre Martin went to Tilbury to assist with Kenneth’s funeral:

Pilot Officer Rendell was 25. His wife wrote to Padre Martin:

Kenneth Rendell’s headstone reads
‘Only Goodnight, beloved, not farewell.’

Louis Thomas Friedrich and the crew of Lancaster PB 526 ‘N’

On 6th January 1945, as part of a bombing mission to Hanover, the crew of PB 526 ‘N’ took off at 1628hrs. While the mission was successful, this aircraft is believed to have been shot down by a night fighter while en route to target. The crew were initially buried in Bad Zwischenahn, and later moved to the British cemetery in Sage, Germany in December 1946.

Louis Thomas Friedrich, 25, New Zealand, Captain
Alfred Henry Grant, 25, Navigator
Robert Guthrie Moore, 32, New Zealand, Bomb Aimer
Bryce Desmond Jenkins, 25, New Zealand, Wireless Operator
Norman Reeve Howell, 19, Mid Upper Gunner
Colin Frank Bates, 20, rear Gunner
Henry Corry Johnston, Engineer

Barry Simpson Herridge Wadham and the crew of Lancaster NG229 ‘S’

On 4th April 1945, a mission to was undertaken by 16 aircraft of 7 Sqn. 15 returned safely, but the 16th, did not. It is believed that Lancaster NG 229 was hit by flak and crashed with wreckage being found in 1946. The Captain at 21, had already undertaken at least 53 missions. His crew came from the UK, Australia, Canada and Cyprus. Barry Wadham’s headstone reads ‘On wings of silver I have touched the face of God.’

Buried in Becklingen