Whitley P4986 Aug17,1940 loss - Searching Crew Information

[edgard]

During a raid against Bohlen Oil Plant it seems that Whitley P4986 from 51 Sqn was hit by flak near Peine at about 4000m and burst immediatelly; a photo of the body of one of the crew (name not known yet) shows that they had no time to hook their chutes.
The Whitley came down in pieces; the main site was a few meters N/E from the little village ESSINGHAUSEN East of Peine. Collecting the remaining photos and interviewing some whitnesses, I could identify the type of aircraft; scanning the lostbombers-website it was possible to find the only one that was in the range.
The crew was (I hope to have the right position for them):
Pilot F/L John Stanley SCOTT 37484
CoPilot Sgt Frederick Allen BEALE 741185 25Y from Clapham, Bedfordshire
Observer Sgt Roy Desmond Edward CLARKE 580869
Radio Op Sgt Peter Duncan Salmon 551589
Air Gunner Sgt Harry Haggett 626994 19Y from Stafford

I would be very glad to get some more information about
- the raid against Bohlen because the routing could show if I found the real one
- the aircraft, maybe a photo because the marking is not known
- the crew - personell information about their short life an, if possible in any way photos of them.
They are burried at the Commonwealth war cemetery at Hannover-Limmer.
Finally I would be glad to provide your archive with copys of all things to be found here at Peine.
Thanks for any assistance,
Edgard

[Chris Goss]

This was the only loss in the attack on Bohlen. Jena & Augsburg were also attacked that night and a Whitley was lost on each. One crew was all POW over Holland, the other were all killed in Austria so if your date is correct, this is a good bet. You will be lucky to get a photo of the aircraft or crew and crew personnel information would only be available to next-of-kin

[edgard]

Hello Chris,

thanks for your confirmation.

Yes - its very hard to get personell information about british crews - the empire is long away from the web- open archives like the US-Gov has.
In parallel I am investigating about a war crime near Peine against some B24-guys. The crew member enlist dates, POW-details, Dachau Trial reports and the MACR are easy to get via web and keep the things going.

By the way - there must have been also several war crimes against british air crews in Germany - some are listed in www.flieger-lynchmorde.de . Is there any british source availible?

Cheers,

Edgard

[dp_burke]

Hello Edgard

this site might be of help to you for some of the men who have no next of kin listed agaisnt them on CWGC:

www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

for example, only one
Peter D Salmon is returned
born in the third quarter of 1920 in the Toxteth Park district.
Mothers maiden name Williams.

This does not make him FROM Toxteht, but from the administrative district around there.

Do remember that the databses are not complete but for names that are some what distinct it is useful. For men called John Smith, it is less useful. read the site and under stand what it has and you may find it useful.

Roy D E Clarke was registered born in third quarter of 1920 in the West Ham District. Mothers maiden name was Whitlock.
I can guess therefor his parents were Ronald Clarke and Ethyl K Whitlock as those two people were married in the West Ham District in 1919.

John S Scott's is sadly two common, it returns a large number of returns.

best regards

Dennis

[edgard]

Very sorry for my very late reply....

I have contact now to the brother of Rear Gunner Sgt Harry Haggett and he provided me with some photos and documents, including the Logbook...
and hopefully a guy from the 51Sqn Veteran Org can help also.

What I`m looking for is also the Order for this raid with the course - this may be the last piece of the chain if the course touches Peine - I suppose they took the Mittellendkanal as a course line.

For any who are really interested in the data about P4986 I offer to send it on CD - including a 51 Sqn Member photo... scanned in high resolution.
By the way: The Callsign of P4986 was MH-F

Cheers,

Edgard

[FrankieS]

here are more pictures, but not quite clear whether all from the same
incident



http://www.myheimat.de/peine/beitrag...-essinghausen/

[edgard]

Yes, I know - I wrote this article.

[edgard]

This is probably a part of the bombs onboard MH-F.
Can anyone tell me what type of bomb this is?

[edgard]

I got the information that these bombs are 4.5-inch Reconnaissance Flare Mk4 and it seems that this crew as in the role as a pathfinder - so expecially the navigator and the pilot where well experienced. This could cover the german newspaper article which claims that it was the second bomber of the group who had passed peine that night.
Meanwhile I`ve got the certificate of birth from Peter D. Salmon who was born near Liverpool but my letters to the todays Salmon families results no positive reply.