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1 May 1940 Wellington Mk IC - R3154 - KO-Q |
ORB. Marham 1/5/40. 03.15. F/O GIBBES crashed on LASTINGHAM HILLS.
F/O. CLARKE and P/O. MARSHMAN being killed, the rest of the crew escaping with minor injuries,
having become lost through failure of W/T transmitter.
(Form 541, App. C.25.)
Crashed in poor visibility between Hutton-Le-Hole and Lastingham, 7 miles NW of pickering, Yorkshire.
Some time before the crash the aircraft had no radio aid.
More info and photos on the website of Richard Allenby yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk
This is a photograph of B-Flight of 115 showing many of those involved in the accident.
Back row, second from left LAC Stone; third from left Sgt Petersen, fourth from left AC Moir.
Front row, second from left F/O Clarke; third from left F/O Gibbes.
Gibbes Augustus Rodney
F/O - Service No 267505
Age: °1915
RAAF - Injured
Completed a second tour as Flight Commander "B" Flight 218 Sqn.
Killed as W/C at Viterbo, Italy on 16 Augustus 1943, age 28.
Son of Augustus John Osborne Gibbes and Ann Gibbes;
Husband of Joan Mary Gibbes, of Northbridge, New South Wales, Australia.
Malta Memorial - Panel 11, Column 1. Malta
Born near Sydney in 1915, Wing Commander Augustus Rodney 'Rod' Gibbes
enlisted into the Royal Australian Air Force in 1936.
He transferred to the Royal Air Force in July 1937 and completed a rare three operational tours during his service.
During one of his operational flights, Rod was forced to ditch an aircraft off the Belgian coast after it was caught in combat.
The crew took to a dinghy and amazingly three days later they arrived in Margate, Kent having paddled their way back.
He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1941 for his "persistent determination and outstanding courage,
often in the face of extremely unpleasant conditions."
Rod's outstanding service came to an end when his aircraft was shot down on 16 August 1943.
[extracted from CWGC publicity Material]
Source GWGC - Photo via Australian War Memorial
Clarke Edward Joseph Taylor - Pilot
F/O - Service No 39375
Age: 22 - °7th April 1918, Darlington, Durham
RAF
Son of Major Joseph Clarke. His mother died when he was young.
Husband of Constance Bird, (x June 1939) from Easton on the Hill near Stamford.
Their son was born on on 31st December 1940.
Stamford Churchyard, Lincolnshire - Sec. Q. Grave 1C.
Source GWGC - Photo: Yorkshire aircraft ,more info and photos on Yorkshire Aircraft
Petersen Lionel Miller
Sgt - Service No 50699
Age: °1st January 1919, Carlisle
RAF - Injured
Sgt Petersen was killed on 23rd August 1942, flying with 159 Sqn in North Africa when Liberator AL537
was shot down on ops to bomb Tobruk harbour.
Alamein Memorial - Column 250 - Egypt
Source: CWGC - more info on Yorkshire Aircraft
Stone Gerald Cecil William
Leading Aircraftsman - Service No 49988
Age: °26th March 1917, Isle of Wight
RAF - Injured
Son of Leonard William Stone and Daisy Saint.
Husband of Mary Mather Whitaker, born June 1913, Newtownards, County Down, Ireland.
On 27th August 1942 he was flying in Wellington X3367 156 Squdron,
to bomb the Fiesler aircraft factory at Kassel, Germany.
The aircraft was shot down by night-fighter Hptm Wolfgang NJG/1.
The Wellington crashed onto the Laurenz textile factory at Epe, Gronau, Germany, no survivors.
The crew were buried in Rheine but exhumed after the war and re-buried in a joint grave in
Reichswald Forest War Cemetery - Coll. grave 24. C. 12-18. Germany
P/O Gerald Stone was twenty five years old.
Source: CWGC - Photo: via Ipswich War Memorial & Cenotaph - more info on Yorkshire Aircraft
Marshman John - Air Gnr.
P/O - Service No 77039
Age: 26 - °1914, Derby
RAFVR
Son of John O. Marshman and Hilda Marshman.
Marham Churchyard - Holy Trinity - Grave 46
Source GWGC - photo, more info Yorkshire Aircraft
Moir Thomas Braidwood - AC I
RAF - Serv No 629157 - DFM
Age: °Edinburgh
Injured
Notification that he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal
was printed in the London Gazette on 7th June 1940 for his actions the previous month.
Source: more info and photos: Yorkshire Aircraft