269 SQUADRON - Bomber, Lockheed Hudson
Coastal Command
History | Operations and losses | Sources | Links | Books | Questions and/or remarks
The squadron reformed from 'C' Flight of No 206 Squadron at Bircham Newton on 7 December 1936, equipped with Anson in general reconnaissance role. Later the that month it moved to Abbotsinch until August 1939 when it moved south to Montrose.
Moving again in August to Wick, it was there that the squadron converted to Hudsons in April 1940. The squadron remained at Wick until April 1941, when it was transferred to Iceland.
In August 1941, Squadron Leader Thompson of the unit, made RAF history by becoming the only aircraft captain to have a U-boat (U-570) surrender to him.
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Operations and losses 10/05/1940 - 30/06/1940
Not all operations listed; those with fatal losses are.
17/05/1940: Training, UK. 1 Plane lost
30/05/1940: Reconnaissance, Norway. 1 Plane lost, 3 MIA, 1 POW
11/06/1940: Trondheim harbour, Norway. 2 Planes lost, 2 MIA, 1 DOW, 4 POW
21/06/1940: Scharnhorst, Norway
27/06/1940: Reconnaissance, Norway. 1 Plane lost, 4 MIA
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Fatalities 01/01/1940 - 09/05/1940 (in progress)
Anson I, N9678, UA-Y. Patrol W .2
Pilot Officer Peter D. Aldous, RAF 40582 (Canada), 269 Sqdn., age 20, 08/04/1940, missing
Sergeant Gilbert H. Scott, RAF 566428, 269 Sqdn., age 23, 08/04/1940, missing
Corporal George A. Verlaque, RAF 525499, 269 Sqdn., age 23, 08/04/1940, missing
Leading Aircraftman Norman McReynolds, RAF 522965, 269 Sqdn., age unknown, 08/04/1940, missing
Sergeant Kenneth Bell, RAF 565626, 269 Sqdn., age unknown, 01/05/1940, missing
Pilot Officer Alfred H. Hayter, RAF 41289, 269 Sqdn., age unknown, 01/05/1940, missing
Sergeant George Kelly, RAF 522560, 269 Sqdn., age 23, 01/05/1940, missing
Leading Aircraftman George Welsh, RAF 617385, 269 Sqdn., age 19, 01/05/1940, missing
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17/05/1940: Training
Type: Lockheed Hudson Mk I
Serial number: N7365, UA-?
Operation: Training
Lost: 17/05/1940
Sgt Cotton, 742495 - safe
? - safe
Took off from Ringway on a training mission. The second pilot
inadvertently let down the flaps fully and the aircraft undershot, crashing 1/4 mile west of Ringway.
Source: Ross McNeill, Coastal Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 1 (1939-1941)
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30/05/1940: Reconnaissance, Norway
Type: Lockheed Hudson
Serial number: N7335, UA-F
Operation: Reconnaissance
Lost: 30/05/1940
Pilot Officer Albert V.N. Bartlett, RAF 78669, 269 Sqdn., age 35, 30/05/1940, missing
Pilot Officer William N. Hammond, RAF 43136, 269 Sqdn., age 26, 30/05/1940, missing
Sergeant Albert A. Townsend, RAF 580215, 269 Sqdn., age 26, 30/05/1940, missing
Leading Aircraftman S. MacKenzie, 524386, POW.
Took off 11.15 hrs from Wick. Set course for the Norwegian coast. shot down at 14.30 hrs by Fw R. Menge of 5/JG77 near the battery at Hellesto Island, off Stavanger, Norway. The missing crew members are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. LAC Mackenzie was transferred to Stalag 344 (Lamsdorf) POW no 26883.
Sources: CWGC, 269 Squadron Old Comrades Association and Ross McNeill, Coastal Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 1 (1939-1941)
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11/06/1940: Trondheim harbour, Norway
12 Hudsons led by Wing Commander Pearce took off from Sumburgh, Shetland at 11.30 hours on an operation to Trondheim. Their mission was to attack the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Admiral Hipper in Trondheim harbour. 269 Squadron lost two Hudsons in this air battle above Gaulosen fjord. (source: Allied wrecksites in Norway)
Type: Lockheed Hudson
Serial number: P5131, UA-P
Operation: Trondheim
Lost: 11/06/1940
Sergeant John Craig, RAFVR 759047, 269 Sqdn., age 20, 11/06/1940, missing
Sergeant George W. Robson, RAF 580228, 269 Sqdn., age unknown, 11/06/1940, missing
Sergeant (Navigator) Alex Sherwood - escaped to Sweden.
Leading Aircraftman A. Napier, 614218 - PoW
Sgt. John Craig was shot dead by one of the five attacking Messerschmitts from Værnes, while hanging in his parachute. His body disappeared in sea. Sgt. Robson went down in the sea with the plane, the rest of the crew managed to bail out.
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Type: Lockheed Hudson
Serial number: N7361, UA-G
Operation: Trondheim
Lost: 11/06/1940
Sgt (Pilot) E.B. Laschelles, 580224, PoW
Sgt A.M.S. Brodie, 565699, PoW
Sergeant (Air Gnr.) Eric T.D. Machell, RAF 524148, 269 Sqdn., age 23, 12/06/1940, Trondheim (Stavne) Cemetery, Norway
Sgt J.G. Hepburn, 551354, PoW
UA-G made a forced landing on the fjord, 400m outside Steinshylla. All four on board managed to jump into the dinghy before the aircraft sank. Sgt Machell was badly wounded and died at the Red Cross Hospital in Trondheim the next day.
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21/06/1940: Scharnhorst, Norway
Scharnhorst attacked (no damage) 50 miles north of Bergen by six Hudson aircraft of No 269 Squadron followed by nine Beaufort aircraft of No 42 Squadron. Heavy flak caused damage to all the Hudson aircraft which, nevertheless, returned safely to Wick. 42 Squadron lost three Beauforts.
On the same day the Scharnhorst was also attacked by 204, 224, 233, 821 and 823 Squadrons. See: RAF Commands Forum
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27/06/1940: Reconnaissance, Norway
Type: Lockheed Hudson I
Serial number: N7330, UA-C
Operation: Reconnaissance
Lost: 27/06/1940
Pilot Officer Peter N. Trolove, RAF 36183 (NZ), 269 Sqdn., age 25, 27/06/1940, missing
Sergeant Raymond H. Radford, RAF 564970, 269 Sqdn., age 25, 27/06/1940, missing
Sergeant William H. Gray, RAF 548063, 269 Sqdn., age 23, 27/06/1940, missing
Pilot Officer Bernard C. Lea, RAFVR 77273, 269 Sqdn., age 23, 27/06/1940, missing
Took off 06.15 hrs from Wick. Missing off Lister, Norway. Possibly shot down by Ofw Anton 'Toni' Hackl (1915-1984) of 5./JG77 at 09.40 hrs. Ofw Hackl was wounded in this combat.
The missing crew members are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
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Sources
269 Squadron Old Comrades Association
Air Force POWs 1939-1945
Air of Authority - 269 Squadron
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database
Australian War Memorial
Bail-outs for 1940
T. K. Derry (1952), The Campaign in Norway
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Prisoners of War captured in Europe 1940
Royal Air Force - 269 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
The Wartime Memories Project - Wick
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Books
Peter D. Cornwell, The Battle of France, Then and Now, 2008
Christina J.M. Goulter, A Forgotten Offensive, Royal Air Force Coastal Command's anti Shipping Campaign 1940-1945, Frank Cass, London, 1995
Errol Martyn, For Your Tomorrow - A record of New Zealanders who have died while serving with the RNZAF and Allied Air Services Since 1915 (Vol One: Fates 1915-1942)
Ross McNeill, Coastal Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 1 (1939-1941), Midland publishing, 2003. ISBN: 1 85780 128 8
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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
Biplane Fighter Aces from the Second World War
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
'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)
Test Flying Memorial
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 269 Squadron.
© Bart FM Droog / Rottend Staal Online 2008. Permission granted for use of the data gathered here for non commercial purposes, if the original sources and this source are mentioned with appropriate links. For this site: link to http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/index.html
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