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HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee on Solent
HMS Daedalus was a shore base and RNAS station at Lee on Solent near Portsmouth. The site is now occupied by housing though some of the historic buildings have been retained.
19th September 1944 Shot down over Arnhem
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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Those known to have sailed in HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee on Solent during the Second World War 1939-1945. - Anderson Lawrence Hogg. AM.
- Baker Thomas Alfred. L/Sig.
- Clark John Sawle. Lt.
- Daunt John Achilles. Mech.
- Gardner Ronald.
- Hoad MID Peter John. Sub Lt. (d.27th Mar 1941)
- Hoad MID Peter John. Sub-Lt (d.27th Mar 1941)
- Hopkins Reginald. AM.
- Jennings James William.
- Jones Francis Thomas William. AM2. (d.17th January 1941)
- Mitchell Frank. Ldg.Photo(A)(Ty)
- Oliver MID. Lawrence. CPO.
- Poe John Charles Leonard. PO.
- Rae Robert. PO
The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please
Add a Name to this List
Records of HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee on Solent from other sources.
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Want to know more about HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee on Solent? There are:2 items tagged HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee on Solent available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Lt. John Sawle Clark HMS Ramillies John Clark was a Lieutenant, later to become a Lieutenant Commander
He served on HMS Ramillies from 1943 to Feb 1944.
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Ronald Gardner HMS Daedalus Ronald Gardner was an air frame fitter with the Fleet Air Arm and served in HMS Daedalus.
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L/Sig. Thomas Alfred "Bagsy" Baker HMS Raven Fleet Air Arm My father Thomas Baker was known as Alf or Bagsy. He lived in East Ham, then moved to Leigh-on-sea Essex. He joined the Navy training ship Arethusa aged 13 and a half in 1931 when life was tough for all the boys. He then went to HMS Ganges 1933-1935, HMS Pembroke, Cairo, Woolwich, Victory, Kestrel.
He was assigned to HMS Raven in Eastleigh 1939 at the start of the war as Acting Leading Signalman where he met my mother on Eastleigh rec at the bandstand with his friend Charlie Taffe. Dad confided in his friend Bob Aggas that he was very fond of mum. Mum & Dad married in Eastleigh Parish church in September 1940. They had a few honeymoon days in Torquay, then dad was away for 3 years.
He served aboard HMS Grebe until April 1943, during which time he flew Albacore, Fairey and Swordfish as an air gunner flying scout over the desert observing enemy movements. He was happened to be aboard (not sure which vessel) just as the Germans were invading Norway. The inhabitants gave the Allies all of their valuables so the Nazis wouldn’t have them. Dad was given a bag of silver, but just as the ship was departing it was torpedoed. Unfortunately, he jumped one way and bag went the other.
Once back home, he had a medical which showed a shadow on his lung which landed him in a sanatorium for best part of a year. It was actually because he had had double pneumonia and pleurisy when he was a child.
After hospital discharge, he was mainly based in HMS Daedalus, still flying the Swordfish. All during Dad’s career he gained many qualifications, including the German language. Because of this, he was lent to the German Air Arm in Bremen during the late 1950s. Then he served with RNAS Lossiemouth late 40s early 50s, living in Nissen huts the Army and RAF didn't want. He served on HMS Bulwark 1963-65 during another crisis. Dad’s last posting was HMS Seahawk (Culdrose, Cornwall) where he retired in 1968. We returned to Hampshire in 1976. Dad developed cancer and passed in September 1983. I have various photos and letters etc.
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AM2. Francis Thomas William Jones HMS Daedalus (d.17th January 1941) Francis Jones served with the Royal Navy aboard HMS Daedalus in WW2. He died 17th of January 1941 aged 21 years and is remembered the Lee-on-Solent Memorial in Hampshire. Son of William and Martha Louisa Jones, of Hereford.
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AM. Reginald "Darkie" Hopkins HMS Daedalus I recently found, sitting at the bottom of a drawer in my mother's house, my father's service records. His name was Reg Hopkins, known as Darkie while he was in the Navy on account of being quite swarthy, although he's described as pale in his records.
He volunteered at the age of 17 in December 1943 slightly too early and signed up for the Navy as he was terrified he'd be made a Bevin Boy and get sent down the mines, which is what happened to a friend of his. The same friend who, on his first bit of official leave, walked straight into a police station and said "Hello. I'm a Bevin Boy and I'm not going back." and ended up in the Army in India.
Reg became an Air Mechanic, training, from what I can tell from his records, at HMS Gosling.
He was demobbed in December 1946.
Interesting to see that from the records that he was paid a total of £38 10 shillings and sixpence for three years of service, which equates to about £1,400 in today's money.
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Sub Lt. Peter John Hoad MID Att. Royal Air Force HMS Daedalus (d.27th Mar 1941) Bomber Command decided a combined attack on Cologne and Dusseldorf for the night of 27th of March 1941
A total of 77 aircraft flew crossed The Netherlands towards Germany. 38 British Wellington bombers flew to Cologne, of which one was missing later on. A fleet of 39 allied aircraft including 22 Hampdens, 4 Manchesters and 13 Whitleys flew to Dusseldorf, leaving one Manchester and one Whitley missing.
At exactly 7.29pm aircraft Z6470, code EY-G took of from RAF Dishforth. P/O Seager was the commander of its five-man crew. His Wireless Operator had regular contact but after 9.30pm it remained silent. The night fighters were already aware of the approaching bombers and one after another the Bf 100 took off. At 10.00pm, there was an air raid alarm in Venlo. Soon the German searchlights flashed on in search of prey. Shots broke through the nightly silence.
The Whitley was soon captured in light beams of German searchlights. He tried to escape, but Oberfeldwebel Herzog from the 3rd Staffel NJG1 of Fliegerhorst Venlo saw the plane in the searchlights and shot it down. The plane made its last dive. The aircraft came down in De Peel between Sevenum and Helenaveen. The entire crew was killed and maimed.
Initially, two bodies were found near the aircraft. Later three members of the crew were buried next to each other in Venlo. Probably the remains have ended up in the coffin of one of the other crew members. Apparently one other crew member was only found later, but he also was buried at the Venlo cemetery.
In 1947, their mortal remains were reburied at War Cemetery Jonkerbos in Nijmegen.
(Source: a.o. Heemkunde association Sevenum NL Book: Mayday Mayday Mayday from Hub Groeneveld)
Crew of the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley MkV Serial Number Z6470 Squadron code EY-G of 78 Squadron are all buried in Jonkerbos War Cemetery, Nijmegen
- Pilot Officer Kenneth Frank Seager, Reg.nr. 85289. RAF
Age 25, Son of Frank Seager and Ethel Saffell of Great Totham, Essex UK
- Sergeant Pilot Alan Kingley Mills, Reg.nr. 742274, RAF
Age 20, Son of Frederick Herbert and Lily Mills of Leicester.
- Sub-Lieutnant Air Observer Peter John Hoad,
Royal Navy, H.M.S. Daedalus. MiD. Age 22, Son of John and Florence Elisabeth Hoad of Esher, Surrey.
- 4 Sergeant Wireless Operator Jack Mitchell, Reg.nr. 942752 RAF Volunteer Reserve Age 20
- 5 Sergeant Wireless Op./Air Gunner Ernest Alfred Francis Grunsell, MID, Reg.nr. 752233RAF Volunteer Reserve, Age 20, Son of Francis George Grunsell and Rose Grunsell of Hounslow Middlesex.
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AM. Lawrence Hogg Anderson HMS Nuthatch I'm sorry the only things I know is my father, Lawrence Anderson, passed 40 years ago and I have just found these documents its a certificate of service in the Royal Navy the writing is hard to read so the names of the ships may not be right. If anyone remembers him from photos or stories he would be about 97 years old now.
- Gosling, Air Mechanic 2, 5 Oct 1943 - 17 Dec 1943
- Unknown, 18 Dec 43- 15 Jan 44
- Vulture, 16 Jan 44 - 21 Sept 44
- Daedalus, 22 Sept 44 - 10 Oct 44
- Kestach, (?) 2 Oct 44 - 14 Oct 44
- Daedalus, 15 Oct 44 - 4 Nov 44
- Nuthatch 26 Sept 45 - 7 Mar 46
- Nuthatch 8 Mar 46 - 2 Oct 46
He was released after the 2nd Oct 1946. My dad was Scottish and was an apprentice air mechanic when he joined the Navy. He lived in Roslea, Newstead, Melrose prior to enlisting. Wish I knew more
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PO. John Charles Leonard Poe 774 Squadron Fleet Air Arm      At the outbreak of war in 1939 my father John Poe was a milling machinist and too young for active service. He was always proud to state that he had been in an army uniform, an R.A.F. uniform and a naval uniform. This is correct as in the early part of the war he joined the home guard and wore an army uniform. In August 1941 when he was 17 he enlisted with the R.A.F. The story he told me was that he was too young but put his age up a year and was enlisted on 5th August 1941 and this is the enlistment date shown on his certificate of discharge from the R.A.F. According to Dad's story his Mother informed the authorities that he was too young and he was discharged on 6th August 1941. This story is confirmed by the note on his naval certificate but is not noted on his R.A.F. certificate of service. His certificate of service with the navy notes that he served one day in the R.A.F. in August 1941 but was enlisted again in the R.A.F from 9th February 1942 to 5th June 1942. The discharge date is confirmed by his R.A.F. certificate. He was discharged because he was "not likely to become an efficient airman pilot". Dad told me that he failed his aircraft recognition exams because he was too involved with some local girls! His 119 days in the R.A.F. was recognised as war service on his naval discharge certificate. An item of interest is that both his certificates of service have an incorrect birth date of 1923 when he was actually born in 1924.
Not to be denied his wish to fly John commenced service in the Royal Navy on 8th September 1942 as a naval airman. His initial posting was to HMS Royal Arthur, Skegness, where he underwent his initial training as a telegraphist which was completed on 16th October 1942 when he was transferred to St Vincent, Gosport, where he undertook further training. His flying career commenced when he was transferred to HMS Kestrel, Worthy Down, on 12th December and the first entry in his log was 21st January 1943 in which he notes "flying not what I expected". His log shows flying hours at Worthy Down up to 16th July 1943. He completed 85.00 hours W/T Training. Whilst at Worthy Down he was promoted to A/L Airman on 22nd March 1943. According to his log he commenced air gunnery training with 774 squadron at St Merryn on 6th August 1943 but was not transferred to Vulture on his service record until 11th September 1943. I have his original Air Gunners Flying Log Book. Between 9th and 12th of August 1943 his pilot was S/Lt Reid. There are two further entries where the pilot was S/Lt Reed. On 17th September 1943 he was transferred to HMS Nightjar, 766 Squadron where he commenced flying 20th September 1943. I think this was still training in anti-submarine bombing and it was here that he became a crew member for S/Lt Gouldesbury. S/Lt Gouldesbury was his pilot until 1st May 1945 when John was transferred to 1702 Squadron at Lee-on Solent. On 3rd of October 1943 whilst on an exercise their plane crashed at Millom, Cumbria. This was the first of three major incidents that John was involved in during the war. He told me that after the crash and all the crew had evacuated the aircraft he wanted to go back to the aircraft to retrieve his lucky mascot but he was restrained by another crew member. As he was being restrained the plane burst into flames and the plane was completely destroyed. The log records the crash in much less dramatic fashion.
On 4th November 1943 he was transferred to 836 Squadron where he was a member of S/Lt Gouldsbury's crew until 30th April 1945 when he was transferred to 1702 Squadron (HMS Daedalus, Lee on Solent). S/Lt Gouldsbury does not appear to have gone with him. From his Flying log 836 Squadron flew between HMS Shrike (Maydown, N.I.), HMS Landrail (Machrihanish, Campbelltown, Scotland) and Merchant Aircraft Carriers (MAC). He spoke of travelling on the MAC's across the Atlantic to Canada and Moncton in Canada is mentioned in his log. They also landed at Ronaldsway on the Isle of Man and seemed to return to Dartmouth on a regular basis. Without knowing the movements of the Empire Macrae I don't think I have enough information to work out exactly what happened during the eighteen months of operations with 836 Squadron. One entry is worthy of note. On 9th of April 1944 they crashed into the sea 4.5 miles from Arran, Scotland. They were rescued and returned to Maydown the following day. John was admitted to the goldfish club as he escaped death using his emergency dinghy. Presumably the other members of the crew also qualified and were admitted. He did tell me there was one other major incident when landing on a MAC. There was some problem and they nearly went over the edge of the carrier. Dad said if they had gone over it would have been unlikely that they would have survived. This does not seem to have been documented but then perhaps it was not an uncommon event. He did not like flying and did not fly after his discharge until he migrated to Australia and had to catch commercial flights for holidays etc. He was always nervous and said "Only birds and fools fly, and most birds don't fly at night" he usually followed this up with "I have escaped death in aeroplanes three times, I doubt if I would be lucky enough to survive a fourth time". On 1st May 1945 at the end of the war in Europe John was transferred to 1702 Squadron at Lee on Solent and flew in Sea Otters. He told me that he was transferred to Sea Otters and was to travel to the far east to assist in the war against Japan but by the time they reached Greece the war had ended.
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CPO. Lawrence Oliver MID. HMS Indomitable My father, Lawrence Oliver, served in WW2 and joined the Royal Navy on 12th October 1939. He was discharged with VG conduct on 3rd July 1946.
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Ldg.Photo(A)(Ty) Frank "Snaps" Mitchell
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Mech. John Achilles Daunt HMS Royal Arthur Fleet Air Arm My uncle, John Achilles Daunt, served at:
HMS Royal Arthur from 22nd June until 1st July 1943
HMS Gosling from 13th July until 18th September 1943
HMS Daedalus from 14th September until 17th October 1943
HMS Gannet from 24th February 1944 until 19th March 1944
HMS Daedalus from 17th October 1944 until 12th December 1944
HMS Merlin from 13th December 1944 until 17th January 1946
HMS Flycatcher March 1946 and HMS Dipper April 1946.
He left the Navy in August 1946 to join the Palestine police and was killed in March 1947. He is buried in Ramleh War Cemetery.
I have copies of the certificate of service S-459. What does UCH/77477 in the `Nature of Decoration' mean in the section medals, clasps?
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James William Jennings HMS Medina My father, James William Jennings, was drafted into the Fleet Air Arm when joining up in 1941 and served as an Air mechanic. He served on ships such as the Medina, Daedalus, Kestrel, Candor, Victory, Merlin and Nighthawk (the ship he was on when he was discharged. Most of the war he spent in South Africa. I am hoping to find out more about his shipmates and people he served with during the war. I know he was in the Royal Naval Air Squad hockey team. But apart from that I don't know much.
Sadly he died in 1975, long before I could be interested in his war time experiences.
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