research help needed

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20 years 11 months

Posts: 67

In the hospital where I work we have a chapel and although Ive worked there 27 years Id never really bothered to read the plaques around the wall until today , there is one plaque recognising the loss of 5 people during the second world war ,one is a matron who died on the ss kuala ,two are royal army medical corps who were killed in seperate actions and its the last two Im trying to research, they are both RAF .
Now assuming the other three had medical links I wondered about these two.
Using the CWGC site they are flt lieut WF Barton ,107 sqn, killed 4/09/39 and the second one is sgt pilot J Homewood, 186 sqn ,killed 29/10/43.
Now which is the best way for me to find anymore details on these squadrons and what they flew and how they were killed and if possible were there any medical links with these two.
any help would be appreciated.

Original post

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 4,508

Flt/Lt W F Barton, F/o J F Ross, Cpl J L Ricketts, Blenheim IV N6184, T/o Wattisham 16:00 Shot down by anti-aircraft gunfire, from Admiral Hipper and crashed into Wilhelmshaven harbour, F/O Ross on attachment from 48 Sqn

4 Blenheim's from 107 Sqn lost on this sortie and 1 from 110 Sqn (C/o W R Chorley DCL 1939-1949)

15 Bleheims and 14 Wellingtons were despatched to bomb German warships, 5 planes from each force failed to find targets in low cloud conditions. Most of the remaining Blenheims carried out low level attacks on the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer and on the cruiser Emden, in Wilhelmshaven harbour. At least 3 bombs hit the Admiral Scheer but they failed to explode; the Emden was damaged and suffered some casualties when a Blenheim crashed on to it. 5 Blenheims were shot down, all or most by anti aircraft (Flak) fire, 107 lost 4 out of the 5 sent on the raid. The first Bomber Command losses of the was are believed to have been Flt/Lt W F Barton and his crew. (C/0 Bomber Command War Diaries -Middlebrook and Everitt)

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 4,964

He asked what the best way was. Ignore this rambling old fool. he looks like Christopher Biggins and lives in Jersey. His info is most probably 100% accurate, but he wears sandals to airshows.

Member for

20 years 5 months

Posts: 366

A quick 'Google' for 107 Squadron or 186 Squadron will throw up enough pages for you to get a fair bit of background info on them for starters.

According to the book RAF Squadrons by Wing Commander C G Jefford 107 Squadron were operating Blenheim IV's at the time your man was killed and 186 Squadron were operating Hurricane IV's in Oct 43.

Unfortunately it would appear that there are no Squadron Associations currently active for either of these Squadrons. The Squadron Associations are often a good starting point.

I noted (after checking on CWGC) that both men were from Sussex. The fact that Homewood is buried in the UK almost certainly means that he died in the UK. Airmen were not repatriated for burial at this time (or at least I've never heard of this happening). For further information about Homewood it might be worth contacting the local register of deaths for the cemetery he lies in. Often their records will have some information about the circumstances of their death.

The Service Number for Barton seems unusual. I don't know enough about Service Numbers to be able to tell you anything other than that but there are plenty people who can. Try posting a request for info about these two airmen on the following site and include the Service No's. http://www.rafcommands.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=list&forum=DCForumID6&conf=DCConfID1

A visit to the local library to hunt through their archives might produce something and it's also worth while checking out any newspaper archives in the local area. Don't forget to start with the obvious....... ie: ask around at the hospital to find out if there is anyone there who might know about any medical background they might have had or if there may be any record of former employees who served during the war etc.

Hope that helps a bit, good luck.

Member for

20 years 11 months

Posts: 67

many thanks guys ,I will try that site.