138squadron

[Wilfturner]

Can somebody please help! I have gone around. in circles for the last 30 years. My uncle was killed in 1942 on operation watercress.He is listed as a dispatcher,my family knew him as a rear gunner, hr joined the RAF in 1936/7 how do I find his records prior to him serving in 138squadron?

[Lesley Robertson]

The MOD holds the WW2 records. Individuals can apply for them.

See HERE.

I assume that you've found him on CWGC.org?

Of course, if you tell us his name and number, someone might have an idea.

BTW Welcome to the British Genealogy Forum.

[Wilfturner]

Thank you for your quick response. Uncle Billy number is 526918. Sergeant William Charles Evans born 1916. I have completed form v6 and Royal Air Force part 2 for ministry of defence but no info.The staff at imperial war museum said they were very sorry they couldn't help as soon as raf Tempsford was mentioned and operation watercress still stinks over 50years on. Once again many thanks Wilf

[Lesley Robertson]

Have you seen the Harrington Museum website HERE. If you search on Evans, he comes up immediately. It says that "Sgt Evans was a fabric worker acting as dispatcher".

Did you tell the MOD folk that he was RAFVR? It might make a difference as to where they have to check...

[Wilfturner]

We found Harrington 2 years ago and that's the problem.I can't find any record of him before raf tempsford. We know he flew over st nazaire and tried to get to Malta . The family knew he had been shot down at least twice, because he came home in a new uniform!

[Lesley Robertson]

The trouble is that until the MOD releases the records, it's a matter of collecting scraps of info....

[Peter Goodey]

Operations Record Books, Royal Air Force Stations. TEMPSFORD.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.go...s?uri=C4098825

Operations Record Books, Squadrons. No. 138 SQUADRON.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.go...s?uri=D8388344

https://discovery.nationalarchives.go...s?uri=C2503595

[Wilfturner]

Thank you for your info Peter, unfortunately my search gets even muddier with regard to 138 squadron. Having down loaded squadron no,138 summary of events from the national archive there a full listings of all flights and operation names on the 26'27' and 28 march 1942, the only mention is on the 28th that the crew was missing but not there plane number or operation Watercress. My uncle was the only crew member in the raf the rest where rafvr,he was 26 so i can only assume they were all very young. More and more I'm beginning to believe the staff at the imperial war museum that this operation was an embarrassment to the authorities! Any thoughts were I can go next. Thanks Wilf

[Lesley Robertson]

RAF records are handled by Cranwell.
I would imagine that during and just after the war, like many others the mission was confidential. Afterwards, the people just wanted to move on - a lot of stuff is only now coming to light.
The plane's listed on the Dutch Verliesregister (loss register) with exactly the same info as other planes I gave you that info early in this thread. A lot of crews were mixed, the VR people were regarded as reserves. They did their usual jobs and trained at the nearest training base, and got called as needed.
With the info I provided up thread, you have as much as a lot of people get on more routine missions.

Try a different approach. If you find out where he was working as a civvie, you should be able to work out which training centre was nearest, and take it from there.... It would also be worth raking a more detailed look at the RAFVR of the time.

[arthurk]

Have you seen the Harrington Museum website HERE. If you search on Evans, he comes up immediately. It says that "Sgt Evans was a fabric worker acting as dispatcher".

Did you tell the MOD folk that he was RAFVR? It might make a difference as to where they have to check...

Thank you for mentioning that - I've looked into 138 Squadron in the past while researching a distant cousin, but hadn't come across that listing. (My cousin was F/Lt Harcourt Hunter McMullan (RAAF), who died on 8 May 1944.)

The references given here include books that I'd come across independently (probably found on another website). They didn't say much about the particular operation when McMullan was killed, but there was some interesting background stuff about the life and ethos of 138 Squadron, and descriptions of the kind of missions that were being flown. Since McMullan's last mission was to Denmark, I also got hold of a book about the Danish resistance, but this was more heavy-going, and a bit peripheral too.

All of these books were available to me through inter-library loan; Amazon reminds me that "Agents by Moonlight" is by Freddie Clark (see also his "Peter Five"), and "Flights of the Forgotten" is by Kenneth A Merrick. (As I've recently moved house I'm not in a very good position to dig out my notes for more info on these, but I do recommend them if you haven't seen them.)

Arthur