100248 Flight Sergeant Howard Joseph Bate Royal Air Force 15 Sqd. from:Small Heath, Birmingham (d.16th Nov 1944) Mr. Bate's widow is a friend of mine and she has told me how she never knew what has happened to him. I find that really sad and in this day and age, surely someone knows. She thinks that he was shot down over Heinzburg in Germany on 16th November 1944 and has heard nothing since apart from a letter sent on 26th September 1945 by the Ministry of Defence to tell her he was presumed dead. I have tried the British Legion . The R.A.F. etc and would really like to tell her what happened to him. She is an elderly lady now and I think that before she herself dies, she would find comfort in tracing where he lies.
update:
Howard Bate flew with the crew of Lancaster LS-U of 15 Squadron, serial number PB137. They took off as lead bomber from RAF Mildenhall at 13:35 on the 16th of November 1944 on a mission to Heinsburg. The aircraft was shot down by a German fighter and was set on fire, the aircraft broke up in mid air, only the pilot survived.
The crew were:
Wing Commander William David Gordon-Watkins DSO DFC DFM was the pilot. He was the Commanding Officer of 15 Sqd. He had completed over 50 missions and had previously served with 149 sqd. He was captured and held as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft 1. He passed away in 1965.
The rest of the crew are buried in the Rheinberg War Cemetery:
- Sgt Howard Joseph Bate
- F/O C.Stevenson RNZAF
- F/Lt F.G.Sanders RNZAF
- Sgt A.S.Booth
- Sgt J.J.Franklin
- Sgt H.Clayton
- F/S Douglas C.N.Hearn
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