SQUADRON - Bomber, Handley Page Hampden
Bomber Command, 5 Group (Hampdens) - Air Vice-Marshal AT Harris
History | Operations and losses | Sources | Links | Books | Questions and/or remarks
No. 50 was flying Hampdens from Waddington at the outbreak of the Second World War and first dropped bombs in anger in March 1940, when it participated in Bomber Command's first attack on a German land target - the mine-laying seaplane base at Hornum on the island of Sylt. In December 1940, by which time it had attacked many other enemy targets, including Berlin, the squadron took part in the first area-bombing attack on a German industrial centre (Mannheim).
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Operations and losses 10/05/1940 - 30/06/1940
Not all operations listed; those with losses are.
13-14/05/1940: Maastricht, NL
16/06/1940: ?, UK. 1 KIA or DOW
19/06/1940: ?, UK. 1 KIA or DOW
26-27/06/1940: Hannover, D. 2 Planes lost, 6 KIA, 2 MIA
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Losses 01/01/1940 - 09/05/1940 (incomplete)
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Peter A.F Addie, RAF 41646, 50 Sqdn., age 19, 17/03/1940, Oundle Cemetery, UK
Flying Officer (Pilot) Vivian H. Ayres, RAF 39479, 50 Sqdn., age 25, 17/03/1940, Cardiff (Cathays) Cemetery, UK. Assistant Scoutmaster; Light-Heavy Weight Boxing Champion, Bomber Command, 1938.
Sergeant George A. Rowling, RAF 514444, 50 Sqdn., age 26, 17/03/1940, missing
Leading Aircraftman Allan V. Wallace, RAF 550802, 50 Sqdn., age 20, 17/03/1940, missing
Corporal Alexander S.G. Barrass, RAF 550995, 50 Sqdn., age 20, 12/04/1940, missing
Sergeant Harry Bratton, RAF 580637, 50 Sqdn., age 19, 12/04/1940, missing
Pilot Officer John B. Bull, RAF 40599 (Australia), age 28, 12/04/1940, missing
Sergeant David W.A. Chambers, RAFVR 740907, 50 Sqdn., age unknown, 12/04/1940, missing
Corporal George Fawcett, RAF 623895, 50 Sqdn., age 23, 12/04/1940, missing
Sergeant (Obs.) John Greet, RAF 580696, 50 Sqdn., age 26, 12/04/1940, Mandal Churchyard, Norway
Sergeant John R. Jopling, RAF 550598, 50 Sqdn., age 20, 12/04/1940, missing
Leading Aircraftman Stanley Kershaw, RAF 611349, 50 Sqdn., age 19, 12/04/1940, missing
Sergeant (Obs.) William S. Nevinson, RAF 580494, 50 Sqdn., age 20, 12/04/1940, Kiel War Cemetery, Germany
Pilot Officer Alonzo D. Pilcher, RAF 40848, 50 Sqdn., age unknown, 12/04/1940, missing
Pilot Officer Mervyn Thomas, RAF 40648 (Australia), 50 Sqdn., age 26, 12/04/1940, missing
Sergeant Stanley V. Vart, RAF 580261, 50 Sqdn., age 24, 12/04/1940, missing
Sergeant Gerald M. Wild, RAF 580291, 50 Sqdn., age 25, 12/04/1940, missing
Sergeant Frederick W. Batchelor, RAF 563051, 50 Sqdn., age 27, 14/04/1940, missing
Flight Lieutenant Robert J. Cosgrove, RAF 39456, 50 Sqdn., age 25, 14/04/1940, missing. Son of the Hon. Robert Cosgrove, M.H.A., Premier of Tasmania, and Dame Gertrude Ann Cosgrove, D.B.E., of West Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
Corporal James Doran, RAF 535553, 50 Sqdn., age 22, 14/04/1940, missing
Sergeant Gordon W. Everatt, RAF 580714, 50 Sqdn., age 19, 14/04/1940, missing
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13-14/05/1940: Maastricht, NL
Six planes of No. 50 Squadron bombed the bridges at Maastricht and Maaseyk. Two planes returned with their loads still onboard, for they had not been able to locate any targets.
Three planes of No. 144 Squadron and three of No. 61 Squadron, bombed German lines of communication between Eindhoven (NL) and the German city Aachen.
The results of these missions are unknown.
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16/06/1940: ?
Leading Aircraftman James W. Bowes, RAF 568528, 50 Sqdn., age unknown, 16/06/1940, Castleford New Cemetery, UK
Ground crew?
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19/06/1940: ?, UK
Pilot Officer Kenneth A. Cockerell, RAF 70850, 50 Sqdn., age 21, 19/06/1940, Waddington (St. Michael) Churchyard, UK
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26-27/06/1940: Hannover, D
Type: Hampden Mk.B.1
Serial number: L4078, VN-?
Operation: Hannover
Lost:
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Anthony S. Luxmoore, RAF 40628 (NZ), 50 Sqdn., age 26, 26/06/1940, Hanover War Cemetery, D
Sergeant (Obs.) Walter C. Harding, RAF 580426, 50 Sqdn., age 22, 27/06/1940, Hanover War Cemetery, D
Sergeant (W. Op. [Air]) Gerald Nichols, RAF 624403, 50 Sqdn., age unknown, 27/06/1940, Hanover War Cemetery, D
Sergeant (W. Op.[Air]) Arthur H. Smith, RAF 550966, 50 Sqdn., age 20, 27/06/1940, Hanover War Cemetery, D
Airborne 2217 26Jun40 from Waddington to attack the aerodrome at Langen Hagen.
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Type: Hampden Mk.B.1
Serial number: P1329, VN-?
Operation: Hannover
Lost:
Wing Commander (Pilot) Norman D. Crockart, RAF 32155, 50 Sqdn., age [31], 27/06/1940, Callantsoog Churchyard, NL
Flight Sergeant William T.J. Southey, RAF 514566, 50 Sqdn., age 27, 27/06/1940, missing
Sergeant (Obs.) Allen J.D. Ingram, RAF 580958, 50 Sqdn., age unknown, 27/06/1940, Norre Havrvig Churchyard, Denmark
Sergeant Eric H.M. Turner, RAF 614601, 50 Sqdn., age 21, 27/06/1940, missing
Airborne 2215 26Jun40 from Waddington. Crashed into the sea, 0359 27Jun40, after transmitting 'going down' in plain language. an earlier coded W/T signal indicated that the Hampden was flying on one engine. Sgt Turner and Flight Sergeant Southey are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
W/C Crockart was 50 Squadron Commander. See his page on Allied World War II Casualties in the Netherlands.
In a search operation for P1329 by 235 Sqdn. one plane was lost.
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Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Lost Bombers
Royal Air Force - 50 Squadron
RAF - Campaign Diary - The Battle of France (May-June 1940)
RAF History - Bomber Command
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
Service History of Fifty Squadron
War over Holland
Books
Peter Buttigieg 'We weep no more' (Aquila Services Ltd, Gibraltar ISBN 1 919655 03 4)
W.R. Chorley, Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 1, 1939/40, Midland Counties Publications, ISBN 0 904597 85 7
Chris Ward '50 Squadron' (Bomber Command Profile no. 15)
Links
Air Aces
Airwar over Denmark
Allied World War II Casualties in the Netherlands
Australian Wargraves
Battle-of-Britain.com
De Belgen in Engeland 1940-1945 (in Dutch)
Belgian Aviation History Association Archaeological Team
British Aviation Archaeological Council - Books and research links
CWGC Cemeteries Netherlands
Czechoslovak airmen in the RAF 1940-1945
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)
The National Ex-Prisoners of War Association
Naval History.net
Nordic Aviation during WW2
Pilotfriend.com: aircraft of WW2
Polish Air Force 1940-1947 Operations Record Books
RAF Battle of Britain
De Slag om de Grebbeberg (Dutch)
Warbird Alley
World War II Aircraft wrecksites in Norway
www.bomber-command.de
The Aerodrome -
Aces and Aircraft of World War 1
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This page is dedicated to the men of 50 Squadron.
© 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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