103 SQ Battle Losses during the Phoney War

[Andy Saunders]

Arthur Lushington VIPAN.

Not sure if I have any others....though casualties should be available from CWGC.

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo Larry,
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Unfortunately, as you doubtless know by now, 103 Squadron is the least well recorded Fairey Battle squadron. Sorry to report I know of no photos for any of these three Battle losses, but hopefully some will surface soon.
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K9271 The crew were;
F/O Arthur Lushington Vipan 39191 Pilot (KIFA 16-10-1944)
(first names confirmed on London Gazette and CWGC websites)
Sgt.(Obs.) John Henry Vickers 516606 Observer
(first names on CWGC website)
AC1 John Ernest Summers 534586 WOp/AG
(Summers flew operationally with 103 Sqn. from September 1939 to at least July 1940. He was awarded the DFM for consistant and gallant service, including shooting down a Bf 109 during September 1939. The DFM was dated 26 May 1940 and recorded in the London Gazette on 5 November 1940. All the details for Summer came thanks to 'Douglas' and 'Amrit' on the RAF Commands forum last night.)
Crew positions are extrapolated from the order of the crew names in the 103 Sqn. ORB (AIR 27/813), and also from the ranks given for Vickers (CWGC website) and Summers.
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K9269
Sgt.(Pilot) Charles David Perry 561615 Pilot (KIA 14-6-1940)
(By an amazing coincidence CD Perry features prominently in a thread titled 'Five Would Be Pilots' on the RAF Commands forum, including a post by his grandson. Last night it was directly under my appeal for information on Summers ! See http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/sho...ould-be-pilots )
Sgt. ? Davison Observer
AC(sic) A.R. Layfield WOp/AG
I cannot find any more detailed - or indeed subsequent - mention of Davison or Layfield (with the exception of the May 14th mission) in the 103 Sqn. ORB up to the end of July 1940. I do not have a copy beyond that date but one or both men might appear again before the end of that year. No 'Layfields' were lost in the RAF during WW2 according to the CWGC website.
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P2256
P/O Ian Percival Hinton 40592 Pilot
(first names confirmed on London Gazette and CWGC websites)
Sgt.(Obs.) Duncan Cameron Findlay 565318 Observer
AC2(WOp/AG) John Alexander Sharpe 617513 WOp/AG
(first names for Findlay and Sharpe from the CWGC website. Same comment on the crew positions as per K9271)
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Hope this helps,
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Martin.

[Pieter H]

Larry,

I have a series of pictures of the No 103 Sqn Battle L5236 PM-M that crashed on March 2, but I suppose you have that one already.

Pieter