Date of death:

March 13th, 1941

Buried on:

Commonwealth War Graves Protestant Cemetery Denekamp
Grave: 1-4.

Service number:

36190

Nationality:

New Zealander (1907-1947, Dominion UK)

On 12 March 1941 at 19:40 departed from RAF Topcliffe, the Whitley T4326 of the No. 102 Squadron RAF, with a bombing mission at two different targets in Berlin. The aircraft was part of a formation of 72 bombers with the same mission. The formation consisted of 30 Handley Page Hampdens, 28 Wellingtons and 14 Whitleys. T4326 was shot down by Flak over the Netherlands and crashed at 00:05 down in a pasture west of Noord-Deurningen and north of Denekamp. In the crash, four of the five crew members were killed, they are buried in this cemetery. One crew member survived the crash, but he died on 4 May 1941 at the infectious disease diphtheria and was buried in the Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery. The bombing did little damage, eleven civilans were killed and three bombers were lost.

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Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Pilot Officer

Awarded on:

January 1st, 1940

Citation:
"Pilot Officer Gray and Pilot Officer Long were respectively Pilot and Navigator on a night reconnaissance flight over enemy territory during November, 1939. During the operations a snowstorm was encountered and the aircraft became badly iced-up, in addition to being subjected to anti-aircraft fire.
Nevertheless the reconnaissance flight was continued but it was not found possible to reach the objective as eventually weather conditions rendered the aircraft practically impossible to control, the upper surface of one wing and half that of the other wing having been stripped of fabric and one " flap " jammed down. The wireless apparatus also failed. The journey home involved a flight of 342 miles over the sea during very heavy rainstorms and it was mainly due to the skill, courage and splendid team work of Pilot Officer Gray and Pilot Officer Long that the aircraft and crew were brought safely back."

Awarded simultaneously to Ken Gray.

• Photo 1: TracesOfWar.com
• - CHORLEY, W.R., RAF Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, 1941, Ian Allan Publishing, 1998.
  - MIDDLEBROOK, M. & EVERITT, C., The Bomber Command War Diaries, Midland Publishing, 2011.
  - The London Gazette Issue 34634 published on the 9 June 1939
  - The London Gazette Issue 34765 published on the 2 January 1940
  - Auckland War Memorial Museum
  - Commonwealth War Graves Commission
  - Tracesofwar.com
  

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