101 SQUADRON - Bomber, Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
History | Operations and losses | Sources | Links | Books | Questions and/or remarks
No 101 Squadron re-equipped with Bristol Blenheim monoplane bombers in June 1938 and moved to RAF West Raynham in May 1939 joining No 2 Group, Bomber Command. On the declaration of war with Germany 101 Squadron initially deployed to its dispersal airfield, RAF Brize Norton, but after a few days it returned to West Raynham. 101 Squadron's Blenheims lacked the latest modifications and the unit spent the next few months as a training and conversion unit for new Blenheim crews in 2 Group.
With the fall of France 101 Squadron became operational but its officer commanding, Wg Cdr J H Hargroves, and his crew were lost on its first bombing mission on 5 July 1940. During the Battle of Britain 101 Squadron Blenheims carried out attacks on invasion barge concentrations in the French Channel ports and attacked enemy bomber airfields. Throughout the winter of 1940/41 101 Squadron carried out anti-shipping strikes and attacked German and French ports, including Brest where the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were based. Another OC 101 Squadron, Wg Cdr D Addenbrooke, was lost on one of these attacks on 3 April, just three days after taking command.
Squadron Code: SR
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Operations and losses 10/05/1940 - 30/06/1940
Not all operations listed; those with fatal losses are. (incomplete)
06/06/1940: ? 1 Plane lost, 3 KIA
12/06/1940: ? 1 Plane lost, 2 KIA
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Losses 01/01/1940 - 09/05/1940 (incomplete)
Aircraftman 2nd Class Peter J.H. Rowe, RAF 626639, 101 Sqdn., age unknown, 08/01/1940, Ebbw Vale Cemetery, UK
Sergeant (Nav.) Alfred E. Mawdsley, RAF 580968, 101 Sqdn., age unknown, 07/03/1940, Wallasey (Rake Lane) Cemetery, UK
Flying Officer (Pilot) Standish C. Mottram, RAF 36164, 101 Sqdn., age 23, 07/03/1940, Highgate Cemetery, UK
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06/06/1940: ?
Type: Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
Serial number: P4912, SR-?
Operation: ?
Lost: 06/06/1940
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Alexander J.S. Buller, RAF 42391, 101 Sqdn., age 20, 06/06/1940, Shipley (St. Mary) Churchyard, UK
Leading Aircraftman (Air Gnr.) George Davison, RAFVR 751270, 101 Sqdn., age 19, 06/06/1940, Hartlepool West View Cemetery, UK
Sergeant (Obs.) Alan MacMillan, RAFVR 755622, 101 Sqdn., age 29, 06/06/1940, Kilbride Old Churchyard, UK
Stalled and spun into ground at Stanton St. John Oxon, destroyed by fire.
Sources: CWGC and Graham Warner, 'The Bristol Blenheim (via Peter Clare, TOCH-forum)
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12/06/1940: ?
Type: Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
Serial number: L9258, SR-?
Operation: ?
Lost: 12/06/1940
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Frederick A.S. Fletcher, RAF 42494, 101 Sqdn., age 26, 12/06/1940, Leeds (Lawns Wood) Crematorium, UK
Sergeant (Obs.) Lloyd A.W. Matthews, RAF 581518, 101 Sqdn., age 27, 12/06/1940, Spalding Cemetery, UK
Control lost in cloud and dived into ground 1 mile W of Hillborough, Norfolk
Sources: CWGC and Graham Warner, 'The Bristol Blenheim' (via Robert, TOCH-forum)
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Sources
Air of Authority - 101 Squadron
Bail-outs for 1940
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Royal Air Force - 101 Squadron
RAF Brize Norton - 101 Squadron
RAF - Campaign Diary - The Battle of France (May-June 1940)
RAF Museum: British Military Aviation in 1940
RAF Order of Battle, France, 10th May 1940
Royal Air Force History Section
The Royal Air Force, 1939-1945
The Second World War - a day by day account
The War in France and Flanders, 1939-1940, by Major L.F. Ellis, 1954
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Books
R Alexander '101 Squadron RAF: special operations' (Private 1979)
A Brookes 'Bomber Squadron at war' (Ian Allen 1983)
Feast 'Carried on the wind: wartime experiences of a special duties operator with 101 Squadron' (2005)
F Harbord 'Familiar Voices' (Able 1988)
Hesmondhalgh 'Some fun to say the least - 101 Sqn' (spiral bound)
B Noble 'Noble Endeavours' (Private 1998)
A J M Smyth 'Abrupt Sierras'
Chris Ward '101 Squadron' (Bomber Command Profile no. 33)
Graham Warner, 'The Bristol Blenheim, a complete story'
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Links
Discussion Groups
Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum
RAF Commands Forum
Other
Abbreviations used in the Royal Air Force
Code Names & RAF Vocabulary
Air Aces
Airwar over Denmark
Allied World War II Casualties in the Netherlands
Armée de l'Air - Order of Battle, 10th May 1940
Australian Wargraves
Axis History Factbook
Battle-of-Britain.com
De Belgen in Engeland 1940-1945 (in Dutch)
Belgian Aviation History Association Archaeological Team
British Aircraft Directory
British Aviation Archaeological Council - Books and research links
Canada's Air Force History
HMS Cavalier
Ciel de Gloire (in French) RAF Squadrons
CWGC Cemeteries Germany
CWGC Cemeteries Netherlands
Czechoslovak airmen in the RAF 1940-1945
Danish WW2 Pilots
Dutch Pilots in RAF Squadrons
Eagles Squadrons (American pilots in the RAF)
Foreign Aircraft Landings in Ireland 1939-1946
Håkans aviation page (from Sweden, in English)
'High flight', poem by John Gillespie Magee
An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, poem by W.B. Yeats
Jagdgeschwader 27 (in German)
Luchtoorlog ('Arial War', in Dutch, with many photos)
Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth
The Luftwaffe, 1933-1945
Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum
The National Ex-Prisoners of War Association
Naval History.net
Nordic Aviation during WW2
Order of Liberation (in French/English/Spanish)
Pilotfriend.com: aircraft of WW2
Polish Air Force 1940-1947 Operations Record Books
RAF Battle of Britain
RAF Upwood
RAF WWII 38 Group Squadrons Reunited
De Slag om de Grebbeberg (Dutch)
Warbird Alley
War over Holland
World War II Aircraft wrecksites in Norway
www.bomber-command.de
Aircraft crashes on the North Yorkshire Moors, England
Bills-Bunker.de
The Lancastershire Aircraft Investigation Team
Luftfahrt-Archäologie in Schleswig Holstein (in German)
North East Diary 1939-1945
Wartime Leicester and Leicestershire
The Aerodrome - Aces and Aircraft of World War 1
WW1 Cemeteries
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This page is dedicated to the men of No. 101 Squadron.
With special thanks to Peter Clare
© Bart FM Droog / Rottend Staal Online 2008. Permission granted for use of the data gathered here for non commercial purposes, if this source is mentioned with a link to http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/index.html
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