Traces of World War 2 
RAF - No. 114 Squadron
10/05/1940 - 30/06/1940

      home - latest update 20 April 2008


114 SQUADRON - Bomber, Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
AASF - BEF

History | Operations and losses | Sources | Links | Books | Questions and/or remarks



In December 1939, the squadron, with Blenheim IVs, was posted to Vraux, in France. At first it was engaged on reconnaissance, but with the invasion of the Low Countries was employed on bombing enemy troop columns. The squadron was evacuated from France in May 1940, to Wattisham, but soon afterwards moved to Horsham St. Faith and during the period July 1940 to February 1941 was employed on bombing the Channel Ports and other targets in enemy-occupied Europe and in Germany itself.

At Condé Vraux, the field of No. 114 Squadron, on 11/05/1940 Doniers bombers of II/KG2 destroyed completely six of the eighteen Blenheims and rendered unserviceable the remaining twelve, the airfield and offices were severely damaged, and the nearby petrol dump was fired. Thus the whole squadron and the airfield were virtually put out of operation at the start of the battle.


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Operations and losses 10/05/1940 - 30/06/1940
Not all operations listed; those with losses are.

11/05/1940: German bombing of airfield. 18 planes lost
14/05/1940: Sedan, F. 1 Plane lost, 3 KIA
18/05/1940: Evacuation from France

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LOSSES 01/01/1940 - 09/05/1940 (incomplete)

Flying Officer Christopher D. Curtis, RAF 39861, 114 Sqdn. age unknown, 01/01/1940, Great Yarmouth (Gorleston) Cemetery, UK

Pilot Officer (Pilot) Harold Dodgson, RAF 41525, 114 Sqdn. age 20, 27/02/1940, Bienvillers Military Cemetery, France
Leading Aircraftman Harold T. Moult, RAF 568184, 114 Sqdn. age 20, 27/02/1940, Hucknall Cemetery, UK

Pilot Officer (Pilot) Robert W. Farrow, RAF 41388 (Australia), 114 Sqdn., age 25, 03/03/1940, Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, France.
Aircraftman 2nd Class (W.Op.) Arthur W.B. Sanders, RAF 620465, 114 Sqdn., age 17, 03/03/1940, Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, France

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14/05/1940: Sedan, F

The Battles and Blenheims of Nos. 71, 75 and 76 Wings attacked in successive waves in spite of strong opposition from the enemy's fighters and ground defence. The cost of this concentrated effort can best be shown in bald figures.

No. 76 Wing

No. 12 Squadron. Of five Battles sent against enemy columns four were lost.
No. 142 Squadron. Of eight Battles ordered to attack bridges four were lost.
No. 226 Squadron. Of six Battles also attacking bridges three were lost.

No. 71 Wing

No. 105 Squadron. Of eleven Battles which attacked bridges six were lost.
No. 150 Squadron. Of four Battles also attacking bridges four were lost.
No. 114 Squadron. Of two Blenheims which attacked columns one was lost.
No. 139 Squadron. Of six Blenheims (flown by No. 114 Squadron crews) against enemy columns four were lost.

No. 75 Wing

No. 88 Squadron. Of ten Battles which attacked bridges and columns one was lost.
No. 103 Squadron. Of eight Battles sent against bridges three were lost.
No. 218 Squadron. Of eleven Battles attacking bridges and columns ten were lost.

Type: Bristol Type 142M/L, Blenheim Mk. IV
Serial number: L9464, RT-?
Operation: Sedan
Lost: 14/05/1940
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Charles B. Jordan, RAF 39991, 114 Sqdn., age 27, 14/05/1940, Glaire-et-Villette Communal Cemetery, F
Sergeant (Obs.) Paul M. Southwood, RAF 580531, 114 Sqdn., age 23, 14/05/1940, Glaire-et-Villette Communal Cemetery, F
Leading Aircraftman (W. Op./Air Gnr.) Thomas W. Brown, RAF 534385, 114 Sqdn., age 21, 14/05/1940, Glaire-et-Villette Communal Cemetery, F
Airborne from Condé-Vraux. Shot down at Glaire-et-Villette (Ardennes, 3 km WNW of Sedan, France.

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18/05/1940: Evacuation from France

No. 114 Squadron left Vraux at 12.00 p.m. on May 18, 1940, moving to Nantes for evacuation to England. Their remaining aircraft were transferred to No. 18 Squadron then based at Crecy but ordered to Lympne on the following day. No. 114 Squadron finally arrived back at Wattisham at 11.45 p.m. on May 29, 1940.
(source: Peter Cornwell, Luftwaffe and Allied Forces Discussion Forum)

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Sources

Bomber Command Losses, Marne, France
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Lost Bombers
Milestones: Sedan Area, 14th May 1940
Royal Air Force - 114 Squadron
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

The War in France and Flanders, 1939-1940
War over Holland

Books

Gordon Shackleton, Circuses, Beats and Blenheims, Memoirs of a World War II Blenheim pilot with 114 Squadron RAF, Woodfield Publishing Limited, ISBN 1-903953-98-7

Links

Abbreviations used in the Royal Air Force
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
Pilotfriend.com: aircraft of WW2
Polish Air Force 1940-1947 Operations Record Books
RAF Battle of Britain
RAF Upwood
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 114 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