Help 51 Sqdn Halifax HR732 loss

[Icare9]

Hello, my first post, trying to help find any details regarding the loss of Halifax HR732 on early morning of 4th December 1943.

Background: I'm a participant on the PPRuNe website and one thread has a WW2 contributor from 51 Sqdn C Flight. He's now been contacted by the nephew of Sgt D W Milliken RCAF, the rear gunner. Sgt Milliken's twin brother has recently died so the family are trying to piece together their wartime service history. The HR732 crew have no known graves and are on the Runnymede Memorial.

The reason why I'm posting is that the widow of the pilot, P.O. AJ Salvage had his wedding ring returned 3 years after the war ended. That implies that his remains were found with sufficient identification to enable the ring too be returned (blackened but still recognisable).

The implication therefore is that this crew may be buried "somewhere" as unknown, but if the report of the aircraft crew that may have claimed the Halifax that early morning could be discovered, then the crash site might be traced and hopefully the crew remains might be able to be located.

Sorry it's long, but i hope you can help after all these years uncover what happened that day and help the families have somewhere to visit.

Thanks in advance, check out the site if you think you can help.
http://www.pprune.org/military-aircr...t-ww11-37.html

[Andy Saunders]

There will be a Casualty File still held by the MOD on each man and this may well hold vital clues that could, today, be followed up. These files are held in a central repository at Hayes but are "closed". Details will, sometimes, be extracted via the Air Historical Branch on request - but not always - and whatever comes back will probably be quite limited. However, a glimmer of hope here is that Milliken is a Canadian. His casualty file will (probably) have been copied to Canada and the Canadians are much more likely to provide copies - as do the Australians, for example.

A good read is Stuart Hadaway's "Missing Believed Killed" (Pen & Sword) which details the work of the Missing Research & Enquiry Unit in their postwar searches. This crew will have been one of the MREU cases, but it clearly went unsolved and the case left open. I wouldn't mind betting that there will be some glimmer of a clue, somewhere, as to what happened to this crew.

If you wish to PM me I can probably help further.

[Chris Goss]

To add to what Andy says, you will have to be related to the deceased to have any chance of help from the AHB-casual queries are not encouraged. If the file exists, they might have something on the loss as on a number of occasions, the Cas Files have proven that ac ac listed as missing was in fact discovered. For example, a friend's uncle was listed as missing but the Bomber Command Loss card gave a location and the Cas File stated that his Uncle's body and that of the pilot had been discovered but the location of the cemetery was lost as it and the record were in Berlin and destroyed during the Soviet offensive. Hence he is missing

[Icare9]

Thanks and will pass the info on and link to here.
Families of at least 5 crew are in contact so the info will be of great help.
I feel that the pilot must have been in the wreck, so having the ring identified gives hope that somewhere the info is waiting to be found. What about the Red Cross, were they involved in anyway in recording wrecks and remains, personal effects etc?
I get the feeling that this time we will be able to locate where the crash happened, with the help of this forum. They've waited long enough to be identified, let's do what we can.
Some further info from Sgt Milliken's nephew:
I have been in contact with Howard “Doc” Bondett (RCAF Halifax gunner) who was part of the crew of HR782 and now lives in Canada. They were shot down by flak – five parachuted to “safety” and taken POW while the other two did not survive. I have only talked to him once (he is not on email) and to his recollection there was nothing unusual about the logistics of that raid although he did witness another aircraft hit by flak twice and basically explode. Possibly this was HR732 (they took off three minutes apart if I’m reading the times correctly). Now that I know more I will be calling him back soon – we do know that only two of the 24 aircraft downed in that raid where lost without trace. The other was a Lanc which I expect would be flying up around 22,000 – 23,000 ft out of Howard’s sight.
Does this info help?
Thanks again, and all help appreciated.
PS: There is an hour long clip of "Nightbomber" RAF Hemswell in the PPRuNe Aviation History & Nostalgia section, if you don't already know!