7 Squadron Stirling losses coded MG-D

[Theo Boiten]

Dear all,

Who can help me with the serial numbers of all of the 7 Squadron Stirling losses coded MG-D?

Cheers and thanks for any details, Theo

[Martin Gleeson]

Theo,

There is a quite comprehensive list of serials with matching codes in ‘THE STIRLING FILE’ (revised edition, 1987) by Bryce B. Gomersall published by Air-Britain. There are at least 13 Stirlings listed with the code ‘MG-D’. I assume the ‘MG-D’ you seek crashed on continental Europe, so we can discount any that crashed in the UK or the North Sea. Also any that served with other units after 7 Squadron or received a different individual letter after service as ‘D’.

That leaves us with 5 aircraft;
R9263 Crashed near Akkerwoude, Netherlands; 1-5-43.
W7436 Crashed at Plouguerneau, France; 18-12-41.
W7569 Crashed in the Ijsselmeer, near Lemmer in the Netherlands; 17-9-42.
BF379 Crashed at Fossano, Italy; 12-12-42.
EF387 Crashed at Oploo, Netherlands; 22-6-43.

There is no further detail as to level of damage or state of the wreck in this book or the relevant volumes by Bill Chorley but I hope the above helps.

Regards,

Martin.

[Theo Boiten]

Hello Martin,

Excellent, many thanks for these helpful details. And yes, the crash concerns the loss of a Stirling coded MG-D on the Continent, one of my German contacts has a series of crash photos that we could not tie to a known loss.

Cheers, Theo