My father,s Dearest friend John (Jack) Frederick Sherrill was killed July 29,1944. My family thought his plane was shot down over France. John belonged to the #434 Squadron. I was able to find Memorial Grave in the Hamburg Cemetery in Germany. John and my dad were Best Buddies in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada. Both signed up with the RCAF> John was a Flying Officer and my father Magnus Elmer Freeman was a Link Trainer mostly stationed in Bournemouth England.
My father came home. Sadly John did not, anyone with any information about John,s untimely death would be most appreciated.

Thank you for building this website. My great uncle was in Crew 140 and was killed on Dec 17/18 1944 over Belgium. W/O2 Gordon Olafsen. I live on the west coast of Canada where Gordon was from. His name lived on through my father and also as the middle name of both me and my brother.

I have been to visit the graves of him and his crew in Leopoldsburg, Belgium. They have a beautiful resting place, and the local people are proud to look after the cemetery.

Again, thank you for making this website.

Kind regards,

Jake

My Grandfather, Spencer (Mac) Goodall was a motor mechanic for 434 Squadron. I never met him, he died from natural causes at age 67 two years before I was born. Some say he was larger than life. I know him only through stories and photos.
I enjoyed looking through these photos to catch another side of his time with 434 Squadron, and the smiles on the faces of all of the other men, though they saw tragedy almost every single day.

This site for RCAF 434 Squadron are so important. They leave a history for future generations who might forget the tremendous sacrifice these airman made.

I am searching for information about my Great Uncle F/O Gilbert Haliburton Crew 155 Lancaster KB911 WL-U. The plane was shot down over Hamburg 31 Mar 1945. Four crew escaped and were POW: F/O's C Legaarden, RD English and Sgt's JA English and J Hanlin. I am interested in any insight into Gilbert. I will be in Hamburg in Oct '14 and hope to locate the crash site. Plse contact me directly if you have any info.

Thanks, bgduncan@eastlink.ca

Greetings and thank-you for the look into the past that this site offers. My father was with the 434 squadron crew #174..he was a tail gunner and was in the "Lady Orchid" his name James A Noonan. His F.O was D.A.Bonar if by chance is there anyone that has pictures or more information regarding crew 174 that would be fantastic...Regards D.A.Noonan ...son of James Noonan........noonandavid62@gmail.com

We are no relation to him but I believe we own the home that Donald Grant Goodfellow (Bomb-aimer, Crew 30) grew up in. Codrington is such a small hamlet and his loss was keenly felt in this small community (his name is enshrined on the local cenotaph in Brighton), I wanted to get more information about him, his crew and the circumstances behind their loss. This site is an awesome history of 434 Squadron and finding a picture of Donald and most of his crew was a nice surprise. We have a picture of the home as it was in the early 1900's with 4 people standing outside, one of them may very well be Donald as an adolescent. The search for more info continues.

On sunday 29 sept 2013 a monument was unveiled in Boekelo(nl) near Enschede. The monument was erected in honour of flight
DK259 WL-L Which was sot down on sept 29, 1943 two of the crewmembers did not survive and were burried in the Oosterbegraafplaats in Enschede.
The ceremony was extremely moving, especialy when the decendants of the airmen told how the crash still is part of their lives, even after 70 years
When the flypast of some old planes happened while the band played 'rose of kelvingrove' as the stiff wind made the leaves rustle in the sunshine, I must admit, my eyes went wet.As did the eyes of many others did,even big men like myself can get emotional you know !
I placed a photographic impression on my blog: avafotografie.blogspot.nl.
Fot more information, please look at www.dk259.nl which gives an insight in the crash etc.

sue peggram I am Howard`s grandson and Kelly is my uncle. email me and I`d love to set up some communications between all of us. Howard wasn't much for talking about his service. seamusnfalls a t gmail dot com

Does anyone know how to access RAF War records? I'm trying to find info about my Uncle - W V Lane's DFC award. Thanks to anyone who responds.

I am interested in discovering information about my father - Fl Lt J.C. Garton and wondered if anyone might recognise his name and be able to fill in the blanks. Unfortunately he spoke very little about the war years and with hindsight I wish I had asked more questions.

FAO Bonnie Dew
my grandfather was sgt Dennis Gillott of 61 crew, who flew with your father. i would love to hear from you or your father with any memories of my grandad. also any of the other members of that crew. ive left my email address if you want to get in touch, and i have a few pics of various members of the crew. any details would be great. love the site.
regards
mark gillott

Hi ,

My name is Bob Fowler and I have apicture of Flight Officer H.W. German (Crew 27-434 Squadron) and my Second Cousin Wilf Fowler (419 Squadron-Shot down June 28,1943) shown in the courtyard of Buckingham Palace after receiving their Air Force Medals on January 1st 1943.

If anyone is interested in a copy please e-mail me at bobfowler@roger.com.

This is a great site !

Bob

For Louise Lunn: Coned refers to the inverted cone-like appearance of powerful searchlight beams used to detect/illuminate bombers and shoot them down.

I have been searching for info on Bill Lane, my Uncle (the Brother of my Mother, Dorothy Nee Lane )and Iwas so delighted to find this site with an excellent photo and background info about his squadron and that he flew with W/C Charlie Harris (Harris Crew 1).
Bill Lane was born & grew up in Little Hereford, Worcestershire, so I'm intrigued as to why he joined a Canadian Squadron. Is anyone able to help with any further info about that, what planes he was in and also what missions he flew during WWII?

Also, I see another group photo was submitted by Eddie Awford, a nephew like me (although related to Bill's wife, Elsie). I met Eddie once at Bill's funeral in March 1981 but have no idea where he is now. He might be a source of info for me, so is ther any way anyone could put me in touch, e.g. with e-mail address?

With grateful thanks in anticipation of replies.
Michael Ellis

My late Uncle Jack was actually F/O John Stephen Tonge, DFC. He was a Navigator and member of 434 Sqn's Crew 95 during WWII. He passed away when I was quite young, so my memories of him are very limited.

I am interested to know if there are any former members of Crew 95 still alive today. (I understand that Wally Dumas passed away in 2010.)

According to this website, the members of Crew 95 were:

F/O W.V. Dumas
F/O J.S. Tonge
F/O J.F. Ault
Sgt S.T. Dare
Sgt W.C. Shannon
Sgt J.E.J. Baldwin
Sgt J. Cook

Any further information regarding my uncle's wartime service would be appreciated.

~ Dwayne Lovegrove, LCol (RCAF)

To Sue Peggram and Kelly O'Gorman (anyone else too):

My uncle, George Berg was in crew 27 which crashed on Oct 3/4 1943. My uncle was the bombing leader for 434 squadron at the time. His story is posted on this website under individual pictures.

You can show your uncle the story if you think he would be ok with reading about the crash.

Go to http://www.rcaf434squadron.com/individuals/ and find his picture - they are organized in crew number order i.e. look for crew 27 and then click on his picture for the story I wrote about him.

Let me know if there is any feedback from him

Regards
John Berg