209078 Flt/Eng Frederick Walton Royal Air Force (d.10th July 1943) I am seeking anyone who may have known my Great Uncle 1436208 Sergeant (Flt. Engr.) Frederick Walton who along with the rest of his crew were reported killed in action when their Halifax V serial LK892 code MP-C from 76 Squadron took off from RAF Holme on Spalding Moor at 2250 on 9/10.08.1943 on Ops to Mannheim when returning home the aircraft was hit by flak and crashed in flames astride a rail line near Pointe de Garennes at Wimereux-Aubenge (pas de Calais), 5 k N of Boulogne. The rest of the crew were as follows;
- 415055 Flight Lieutenant Colin McTaggart Shannon DFC RAAF
- 655439 Sergeant (Air Bomber) Torrance Buchan
- 1129601 Sergeant (Air Gnr.) John Dodson
- 132386 Pilot Officer (W.Op./Air Gnr.) William Claude Ellis DFC
- 113498 Flying Officer (Nav.) Geoffrey Austin Turner
- 928040 Sergeant (Air Gnr.) John Smith (his brother 810792 Signalman Walter Charles who was attached to 12th Indian Inf. Bde. Sig. Sec also died on service).
Frederick was involved in another incident 3 weeks prior to his death during ops to Essen on 25/26 July (aircraft DK148 MP-G Bar), which resulted in the officers receiving the DFC.
The aircraft took off at 22:16 from Holme on Spalding Moor. It lost an airscrew while over the target, which hit the side of the fuselage. The order to bale out was given, but after Sgt Waterman had done so, control was regained and the crew returned to base and crash-landed 04:26. The Halifax was so badly damaged that it was deemed to be beyond economical repair.
the crew were;
- F/L C M Shannon RAAF
- Sgt F Walton
- Sgt V S Shaw
- Sgt T Buchan
- P/O W.C. Ellis
- Sgt E W Waterman POW
- Sgt Dodson
- Sgt E W Waterman was POW at camps 4B/Stalag Luft 3 number 222416
Does anyone know what happened to Sgt Shaw and Waterman? They were not involved with the fateful mission (Sgt Waterman being a POW).
I have the ops records for the crew, which included details of other problematic landings etc. I have also been in contact with family members of CMS & TB.
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