Charles Hugh Crowley
From London Gazette 20 July 1943
Flight Sergeants
Under 14 May 1943
Quote:
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550926 Charles Hugh Crowley (52316)
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Shows up in 1951 (Temp. commission relinquished)
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/.../3988/data.pdf
and 1956 (F/Lt)
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/.../2403/data.pdf
with 52316 service no.
Mentioned in this thread:
http://100548.activeboard.com/t10079...n-12-may-1940/
Quote:
Since posting yesterday I have found a few more details about 139 sqn on May 12 1940 which I will include here.Firstly,I shall give you the information from Norman Frank's book 'Valiant Wings' (William Kimber,1988).
Crew List
W/C L W Dickens AFC Sgt J R Paine LAC Crowley ?
S/L W I Scott (A Flight Commander) Sgt T W Davis LAC W A McFadden N6216
S/LT G Tideman(B Flight Commander) Sgt Hale LAC Rooney P4923
F/Lt A W Lee Sgt J B Keegan LAC C C Child P4826
F/O G E Gray-Smith SgtP C Gray A/Sgt C Taylor N6219
F/O A McPherson DFC Sgt F W Gregory LAC H F Over N6215
F/O N E W Pepper DFC Sgt T E Hyde W/O Hill L9416
Sgt T C R Harrison Sgt N S D Jones LAC H T Garbett N6229
F/O Menzies Sgt Bonney LAC Tribbick ?
As far as I can tell, most of the following detail comes from an account by Sgt Paine.
Woken at 3am along with the other NCOs,Paine was told to go down to Plivot airfield.On arrival, he was given a map and told he was flying with the CO and thus navigating the squadron to the target-German columns on the Maastricht-Tongres road.139 Squadron took off at 5am minus one aircraft,that of F/O Menzies who was delayed by a technical fault.His late departure allowed him to avoid interception by fighters and return safely to Plivot.
Under clear skies with patches of broken cloud the other eight Blenheims found targets west of Maastricht.In echelon formation they made a dive-bombing approach from 6000 down to 3000 feet when about 30 Bf 109s and Bf110s attacked.
Paine recalls his aircraft coming under attack,the gunner returning fire and then being hit.He looked out of his side window and saw a 109 formating on his aircraft.As his pilot flew at very low level,Paine jettisoned the bomb load and went back to tend to the wounded gunner. He patched up the gunner,removed him from the turret and started firing.To the right he could see the rest of his squadron being shot down and to the left the 109 still formating on his aircraft.He drove off the 109 and then the aircraft headed back to Plivot.
The other seven Blenheims were shot down,and very few of the crewmen survived.Tideman and Hale survived a crash landing,scrambled clear and found refuge in a Belgian fort.They returned to Pivot in a commandeered car which had apparently been abandoned by some German tourists.F/O Pepper baled out into Allied lines and returned to Plivot in a French armoured car. F/O Gray-Smith was taken prisoner.
F/O Andrew McPherson had received one of the first two decorations of the war,both gazetted simultaneously on 10 October 1939,both DFCs.On 3 September he had flown Blenheim IV N6215,the first aircraft to cross the German border and the aircraft he was shot down in,to photograph the German fleet.
W/C Dickens later received a DFC AND Sgt Paine a.DFM.Joining the RAF in 1931 and with 139 Sqn since 1937 Paine was later commissioned and flew a tour in Coastal Command.
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The gunner mentioned in Paine's account is LAC Crowley
5th October 2016, 17:12
LAC Charles Hugh Crowley 550926
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