Names on Berlin Airlift Memorial

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Can anyone tell me which names are inscribed on the BBA Berlin Airlift Memorial in the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire?

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13 years 1 month

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Actually no - their names are of Americans only. The British one has the RAF, Army and civil air charter names on.

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Operation Plainfare':

Casualties

Royal Air Force casualties

York MW288 19 September 1948
Crashed at Wunstorf after engine failure following night take-off. All crew killed

Crew

Pilot - 175967 F/L Hugh Wallace Thomson
Co-Pilot - 166759 F/L Geoffrey Kell
Nav II - 1604758 Lawrence Edward Hope Gilbert
Signaller - 1577861 - Sig II Sidney Mark Lewis Towersey
Flight Engineer II - 1881703 Eng II Ernest William Watson

Dakota KP223 17th November 1948
The Dakota C.4 was on a Blind Approach Beam System (BABS) approach during the Berlin Airlift when it crashed in the Soviet zone and caught fire.

Passenger - 2221594 Sgt Frank Dowling
Navigator - 3001781 Sign II Philip Arthur Lough
Pilot - 1316810 Pilot 1 Francis Ivor Trezona
Co-Pilot - 55636 Flt Lt John Graham Wilkins

Dakoka KN491 24th Jan 1949
The Dakota crashed into a forest in East Germany while approaching Lübeck at night.
With a crew of three and nineteen civilian passengers and was making a radio compass letdown at night and in poor weather.

Signaller - 1375129 Sig II John Ernest Grout

also killed were 7 German civilian passengers.

Gudrun Giessler (from Bonn)
Ursula Grasshof (from Bielefeld)
Irmgard and Emanuel Kelch (from Berlin)
Johann Lercher
Gerti and Silvia Zimmermann (from Berlin - Dahlem)

Dakota KJ970 22 March 1949
It was returning to Lübeck at night when it flew into the ground during a Blind Approach Beam System (BABS) approach.

Signaller - 552860 M Sig Alan Penny AFC
Pilot (RAAF) - A412688 Flt Lt Mel Joseph Quinn
Nav (SAAF) - 59342 F/O Kenneth Arthur Reeves

Hastings TG611 16 July 1949
The Hastings lost control and dived into the ground due to incorrect tail trim.

Pilot - 59756 F/O Ian Ronald Donaldson,
Signaller - 1826137 Sig II Alexander Dunsire
Engineer - 3030958 Engr II Roy Reginald Gibbs
Navigator - 1324598 Nav 1 William George Page
Co-Pilot - 7597167 Sgt Joseph Toal Army Gilder Pilot

Belin Airlift mmemorial list another British miltary member as a airfield fatality near hamburg
on 3rd June 1949. However, no detail on his death exists

Sig 22031264 Raymond Marks 3rd June 1949

British Civilian Fatalities

Flight Refuelling Ltd. Lancastrian G-AHJW 23 November 1948
Took off from RAF Wunsdorf at 14:56 for a flight to Tarrant Rushton to undergo a periodic maintenance inspection.
The airplane strayed about 24 miles off course while homing in on an incorrect beacon. It struck trees on a hill, crashed and caught fire.

Cyril Taylor aged 34 (Pilot) ex ? Cyril TAYLOR, A.F.M. (182540) 745184
William Cusack aged 25 (Pilot)
Michael Edwin Casey aged 24 (Nav Off)
Alan John Burton aged 28 (Nav Off) Probably 163576
Dornford Winstan Robertson 26 (Radio Officer) - From RNZAF ex NZ40557
Reginald Merrick Watson Heath (DFC) (Captain)
Kenneth Arthur Seabourne (DFM) (Flight Engineer)
and the sole survivor - Paul Stanley Vincent

Airlift, Ltd 8th Dec 1948
Ground Accident - Pilot killed on the tarmac by a lorry

Capt Clement Wilbur Utting

Lancashire Aircraft Corp 15th Jan 1949, Handley page Hastings TG521
Ground Accident - Hastings collied with a service vehicle of the civilian comapny
Patrick James Griffin (Ground Engr)
Edward O'Neil, (Ground Engr)
Theodor Supernatt (Ground Engr)

Also killed Richard Karl Otto Nuemann, (German Employee)

Skyways, Avro York, G-AHFI
Lost control while approaching Gatow; the port wing dropped and the aircraft dived into the ground.

Capt Cecil Golding (Pilot)
First Officer Henry Thomas Newman (Co-Pilot)
Radio Officer Peter James Edwards

Lancashire Aircraft Corporation Ltd, Handley Page Halton, G-AJZZ

Capt. Robert John Freight
Nav. Off James Patrick LLEwin Sharp

21st March 1949:
Lancashire Aircraft Corporation Ltd. (civil charter) Handley Page Halifax, registration G-AJZZ
Flew into high ground near RAF Schleswigland, Jagel, Schleswig-Holstein, West Germany

Capt. Robert John Freight
Nav. off. James Patrick Lewin Sharp
Eng. off. Henry Patterson

Radio Officer Hamilton Survived

30th April 1949
World Air Freight, Halton G-AKAC Ex-RAF PP267
Crashed at Nauen, near Oranienburg, Havelland district, Brandenburg, approximately 32 km North West of Berlin-Tegel,

Capt. William Richard Donald Lewis
Nav. Off. Edward Ernest Caroll
Eng. Off. John Anderson
Rad. Off. Kenneth George Wood

The Bridge of Wings - Page 110
Joyce Hargrave-Wright - 2016

Appendix 3: Names of those who lost their lives

- With Corrections anbd my Updates

This list records the names of the 39 British and Commonweath men,
who lost their lives in the air and on the ground, whilst taking part
in the Berlin Airlift Operation, from June 28th, 1948 until
September 30th, 1949 and thus ensure the survival of the city

Anderson, John 30th April 1949
Burton, Alan John 22nd November, 1948/23rd November, 1948
Carroll, Edward Ernest 30th April,1949
Casey, Michael Edwin 22nd November, 1948/23rd November, 1948
Cusack, William 22nd November, 1948, 1948/23rd November, 1948
Donaldson, Ian Ronald 16th July, 1949
Dowling, Frank 17th November, 1948
Dunsire, Alexander 16th July, 1949
Edwards, Peter James 15th March, 1949
Freight, Robert John 21st March, 1949
Gibbs, Roy Reginald 16th July, 1949
Gilbert, Lawrence Edward Hope 19th September,1948
Golding, Cecil 15th March, 1949
Griffin, Patrick James 15th January, 1949
Grout, John Ernest 24th January, 1949
Heath, Reginald Merrick Watson (DFC) 22nd November, 1948/23rd November, 1948
Kell, Geoffrey 19th September, 1948
Lewis, William Richard Donald 30th April, 1949
Louch, Philip Arthur 17th November, 1948
Newman, Henry Thomas 15th March, 1949 .
O'Neil, Edward 15th January, 1949
Page, William George 16th July, 1949
Patterson, Henry 21st March, 1949
Penny, Alan (AFC) 22nd March. 1949
Quinn, Mel Joseph 22nd March, 1949
Reeves, Kenneth Arthur 22nd March, 1949
Robertson, Dornford Winstan22nd November, 1948/23rd November, 1948
Seabourne, Kenneth Arthur (DFM) 22nd November, 1948/23rd November, 1948
Sharp, James Patrick Lewin 21st March , 1949
Supernatt, Theodor 15th January, 1949
Taylor, Cyril (DFC AFM) 22nd November, 1948/23rd November, 1948
Thomson, Hugh Wallace (MC DFC) 19th Septemeber, 1948
Toal, Joseph 16th July, 1949
Towersey, Sidney Mark Lewis 19th September, 1949
Trezona, Francis Ivor 17th November, 1948
Utting, Clement Wilbur 8th December, 1948
Watson, Ernest William 19th September, 1948
Wilkins, John Graham 25th November, 1948
Wood, Kenneth George 30th April 1949

A note says the list was taken from the Order of Service
for 60th Anniversary at the National Memorial Arbortetum
September, 26th 2009

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13 years 1 month

Posts: 88

Thanks for that - have until now been unable to find anything on Marks. Two other names - G. Haan and Cpl G.S. Burns still elude me .....

one correction however for this entry:

Dakota KJ970 22 March 1949
It was returning to Lübeck at night when it flew into the ground during a Blind Approach Beam System (BABS) approach.

Signaller - 552860 M Sig Alan Penny AFC
Pilot (RAAF) - A412688 Flt Lt Mel Joseph Quinn
Nav (SAAF) - 59342 F/O Kenneth Arthur Reeves

Reeves was ex-SAAF, having been demobbed and joined the RAF, so was not SAAF post 1945. The SAAF also used Army ranks, not RAF ones. He remains the only South African to be killed in the Airlift but there were no SAAF casualties.

Much appreciated

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Cpl George Stanley Burns was American (as I suspect is G Haan)

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Vp3z9vOlMPsJ:https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/george-s-burns/155926510+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

George S Burns was born around 1926. We know that George S Burns had been residing in Caldwell County, North Carolina.

Military Service
Military serial#: 34777365
Enlisted: November 19, 1945 in Ft Jackson Columbia South Carolina
Military branch: Corps Of Engineers
Rank: Private First Class, Regular Army (including Officers, Nurses, Warrant Officers, And Enlisted Men)
Terms of enlistment: One Year Enlistment

Any reference to him being in Royal Artillery is a mistake I think

Apparantly He died at Tegel 29 October 48

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Source for Burns

Der Bär von Berlin

29 Okt. 48 Burns, George S. Cpl "RA34777365" Tegel

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Signaller Raymond Marks was born in Portsmouth 11 March 1930 I think he had at least 1 sister

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A sobering list.

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Posts: 88

Many thanks for these inputs. Strange how some names appear on the memorials yet others dont.

Some sources quote some 101 casualties of the Airlift - and the list for Germans varies from source to source - on that do the names of thise who died in the April 1948 Viking / Yak 3 collision appear anywhere?

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Can’t find Russian

But Vickers 610 Viking 1B with the registration G-AIVP
Apr 5, 1948 Berlin

Captain John Ralph, pilot,
First Officer Norman Merrington, copilot,
Charles Manser, radio operator,
Leonard George Goodman, steward.

Updated/Corrected

Passengers:
Sgt Pasquale E. Pintus (US Army)
Mrs Frances Ruth Clough (USA)
Miss Jean M. C. S. Shea - who was Daughter General Sir John Stuart Mackenzie Shea (Indian Army)
Mr. Reginald E. Roberts,
Mr. Stephen J. Stocking,
Mr. Robert H. Collier,
Mr. Waldemar Hald (Australia)
Captain Ian James Armour Fleming #348265 Cameromans
Mr Edward G. Lewin,
Mr. H. Read-Jahn (German)

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Hello!  I have been a member of this site for a grand total of 5 minutes - came across it whilst searching for information on Berlin Airlift casualties and am delighted to have discovered this thread!

Cyril Taylor is a relative of mine (my paternal grandfather's cousin) and the family story says that he was a squadron leader who participated in the Berlin air lift and died in an air crash during fog as a passenger having hitched a ride home for leave.  The story continues that Cyril was a very experienced pilot but was asleep at the time and the pilot of the plane didn't wake him up and the plane crashed into a hillside.

I have no idea if any of that is true?!  Are there any photos or news clippings or any other information that you have that you could share with me?

Thank you!

Nikki

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3 years 9 months

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Another bit of info (again family rumour/tale?!) is that Cyril took part in initial trials for refuelling planes in the air.  

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2 years 9 months

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Hi Nikki,

 

My grandfather is buried with your relative in Andover Cemetery. I have had their grave restored and although I live in Devon, was there earlier today. I am happy to share whatever information I have or answer any questions if I can.