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Date: | Sunday 26 May 1940 |
Time: | night |
Type: | Vickers Wellington Mk IC |
Owner/operator: | 37 Sqn RAF |
Registration: | L7793 |
MSN: | LF-R |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 5 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Stene-Ostend Airfield, West Flanders -
Belgium
|
Phase: | Combat |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Feltwell, Thetford, Norfolk |
Destination airport: | |
Narrative:Vickers Wellington Mk.Ic L7793 (LF-R) 37 Squadron, RAF: Written off (presumed destroyed) when failed to return from combat operations on 26 May 1940. Aircraft reportedly force landed at Steene Airfield, near Ostend, Belgium, and all five crew survived. However, three of them were killed later.
According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/722): "Squadron Leader A R Glencross, Pilot Officer J S Cameron and Sergeant R C Parkhouse: missing presumed dead; Wellington L7793 force landed at Ostend; joined SS Abukir for return to Britain, torpedoed off Ostend, between Belgium and England, 28 May 1940"
Airborne from Feltwell to attack enemy lines of communications between Courtrai and Brussels. Force-landed near Ostend (West Vlaanderen), Belgium. It is likely the entire crew survived, though Squadron Leader Glencross is known to have drowned when the 'SS Abukir' was sunk 28 May 1940. Pilot Officer Cameron and Sgt Parkhouse probably lost their lives while being evacuated 26 May 40, while LAC Dear and AC.1 Stanhope are assumed to have reached safety.
Crew of Wellington L7793:
Pilot Officer John Stewart Cameron, RAF 33458, age 19, posted 26/05/1940, as missing presumed killed
Squadron Leader Arthur Roger Glencross, RAF 26230, posted 28/05/1940, as missing presumed killed
Sergeant Raymond Cranmer Parkhouse, RAF 580833, posted 26/05/1940, as missing presumed killed
LAC Dear, evaded capture
AC.1 Stanhope, evaded capture
The three airmen who were killed are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. The parents of P/O Cameron lived in Havana, Cuba.
Sources:
1. RAF Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/722:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502499 3.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1083914/cameron,-john-stewart/ 4.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1798425/glencross,-arthur-roger/ 5.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1803872/parkhouse,-raymond-cranmer/ 6.
http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/37_squadron.html 7.
https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-vickers-416-wellington-ic-ostende 8.
https://www.forum-der-wehrmacht.de/index.php?user-post-list/58411-brit/ Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
22-Sep-2011 12:34 |
ThW |
Added |
29-Dec-2011 14:43 |
Uli Elch |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
09-Jan-2012 07:24 |
Nepa |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location] |
09-Mar-2013 18:33 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
21-Aug-2013 09:13 |
JINX |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location] |
27-Apr-2015 18:59 |
ABBA |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Departure airport] |
03-Sep-2019 00:20 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Time, Cn, Total fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
25-Jun-2022 11:03 |
Ron Averes |
Updated [Location] |
29-Jun-2022 00:43 |
Ron Averes |
Updated [Location] |
29-Jun-2022 00:45 |
Ron Averes |
Updated [Location] |