293 Sqn and Sgt J Lewis

[QuePee]

Justin,

I have tried to send you a PM but it seems that your inbox is full, Could you do a bit of Spring Cleaning please so that we can communicate.

Many thanks

QP

[megan]

Justin doesn't have the necessary ten posts to use the PM function.

[QuePee]

Well that is very odd. He sent me a PM but when I tried to reply i received a message saying his inbox was full?

QP

[Justin Hayward]

I have been struggling with the PM's. My inbox is empty. All seems very strange. My email address is j_hayward77 @ Hotmail.co.uk (without the spaces)

[Justin Hayward]

@qeepee

Did you receive my email with the attached report?

[longer ron]

Originally Posted by Justin Hayward

@qeepee

Did you receive my email with the attached report?

Justin - as posted by megan above - you need to have a post count of 10 to use PM's easily,just do a few more replies on here and you will soon be there.

[QuePee]

Justin,

Yes I did receive it, many thanks. I have been trying to send you a PM as I have some questions for you that probably wont interest anyone else on this thread. I will make contact after you have the requisite number of posts,

QP

[Justin Hayward]

Thanks quepee. I hope the note was of interest to you. I did try to share it here but was unable due to the post issue

[JRDUKNZ]

Just found this thread when searching for information about Warwick ASR crews. I'm from the UK but spend time in New Zealand. Bought a copy of AP1234 in a charity book sale over there and found tucked into it a 1943 Navigators's log for a mission over the North Sea. Unit was the Warwick Training Unit and I have deduced base was Bircham Newton (or maybe Docking). Have been researching the Navigators history - he was from NZ - but have drawn a blank on the pilot he was often crewed with ultimately in North Africa and Italy later in 1943 and through 1944 as they moved from 283 to 293 and back to 284 Sqns. Is there anyone on this thread who might have any info on B.O.Gregg (pilot) (Canadian) , K.H Kearse (navigator) (NZ) and WOp/AG Morrow. Have consulted ORB's at National Archives at Kew (where there is a photograph of Officers of Squadron with Gregg and Kearse (and others) named)

[QuePee]

293 Sqdn crew

Originally Posted by JRDUKNZ

Just found this thread when searching for information about Warwick ASR crews. I'm from the UK but spend time in New Zealand. Bought a copy of AP1234 in a charity book sale over there and found tucked into it a 1943 Navigators's log for a mission over the North Sea. Unit was the Warwick Training Unit and I have deduced base was Bircham Newton (or maybe Docking). Have been researching the Navigators history - he was from NZ - but have drawn a blank on the pilot he was often crewed with ultimately in North Africa and Italy later in 1943 and through 1944 as they moved from 283 to 293 and back to 284 Sqns. Is there anyone on this thread who might have any info on B.O.Gregg (pilot) (Canadian) , K.H Kearse (navigator) (NZ) and WOp/AG Morrow. Have consulted ORB's at National Archives at Kew (where there is a photograph of Officers of Squadron with Gregg and Kearse (and others) named)

As you might have guessed I have been researching my father's old squadron (293Sq) over many years and have accumulated quite a bit of material. Looking through some of the official records I see the names of the crew you mentioned cropping quite frequently. See the example below,



This is just one example I picked out at random. If you need more examples please let me know.

QP

[Justin Hayward]

Can anyone tell me how I would go about finding out a service number please

[JRDUKNZ]

Warwick Training Unit & 293 Sqn etc

Thanks very much for the reply. Good to see that others can find records of F/O Gregg and his Warwick crew including F/O (later F/L) Kenneth Kearse the navigator from New Zealand. I had picked up references to them in the 293 (and other) sqn ORB's from UK National Archives at Kew and coincidentally am going back there next week to view some of the RAF Bircham Newton ORB's which have not been digitised. I'm especially interested in the period from June 1943 when the Warwick Training Unit was set up , through Sept 1943 (when the navigator's log I found was dated) until Oct 1943 when Kearse (and the others) joined 283 Sqn (They moved to 293 in November 1943 I believe).

Also coincidentally I received this week a copy of a book ("All Weather Mac" - the autobiography of Wg Cdr R (Robert) McIntosh) who, amongst other things in a long , distinguished and varied RAF and civil flying career, commanded the Warwick Training Unit until Dec 1943. Since I had bought the book "blind" I was surprised but pleased to find it includes a group photo - 100+Officers and NCO's - with a smattering of darker blue (Australian) uniforms and definitely one American. I'm hoping the original might be in one of the non-digitised Bircham Newton ORB's I have yet to consult.

I'm also hoping that consulting the non-digitised ORB's would also help me work out whether the early Sept mission I have the navigators log for was actually flown, not in a Warwick of the WTU , but either in a Wellington or a Hudson given that only 4 crew numbers are named. I have dismissed the possibility of it being in an Anson as I consulted someone in NZ who owns / flies a Mk 1 Anson over there. His advice was that he could not fly at the combination of speeds and duration shown on the log!

[JRDUKNZ]

I'm certainly not an expert on the generalities of finding out RAF personnel's history but in the context of the narrow field I have become interested in of late, and assuming the person was in 293 Sqn, then a place I start with would be the notifications of personnel on the squadron which were regularly submitted to higher authorities together with notifications of movements in and out of the squadron. They are in the ORB's and the appendices. Generally the service number would be attached to the person's name . Even in the logs of missions flown the service numbers are sometimes given - that's how I found out the Canadian and NZ service number of those I was researching.

[QuePee]

Justin,

If you require the servgice number of a 293 Sq person, I may be able to help. The ORB quite often lists these for aircrew and sometimes ground crew as well.

QP

[JRDUKNZ]

Originally Posted by QuePee

Justin,

If you require the servgice number of a 293 Sq person, I may be able to help. The ORB quite often lists these for aircrew and sometimes ground crew as well.

QP

Justin,

Further to QuePees response , I am at the National Archives on Tuesday afternoon and could take look at some files if the answer hasn't been found by then. However in doing that it would be helpful to any search I could do in ORB's (digitised and not digitised) to know the approximate start / finish dates in 293 Sqn of the person.

[Justin Hayward]

Originally Posted by JRDUKNZ

Justin,

Further to QuePees response , I am at the National Archives on Tuesday afternoon and could take look at some files if the answer hasn't been found by then. However in doing that it would be helpful to any search I could do in ORB's (digitised and not digitised) to know the approximate start / finish dates in 293 Sqn of the person.

That would be brilliant and most appreciated thank you. My grandfather was flight lieutenant Brian Hayward. As far as I can work out he joined 293 in 1943 straight from university. His dob was 20/06/1921 if this helps

[QuePee]

Justin,

I have spent some time looking through the 293Sq ORB, initially for the HQ at Pomigliano for 1943 and 1944 and found one entry for your father on 17 August 1944. He flew a Warwick back to Foggia on this date after a spell of leave. This led me to the Foggia detachment ORB and Flying Officer Haywood makes many appearances in this record. See below for examples. It seems his service number was 124412.




Hope this provides you with the info that you require. I have the full ORB on file and please let me know if you require anything further.

QP

[Justin Hayward]

Thanks so much for that. Until today all I really had was one peice of paper about a rescue my grandfather was involved in. Now with this service number I can really begin my search. You have all been so helpful and any information you can share with me I would really appreciate. Thanks

[sycamore]

Jh,you can get your g/fathers` Service Record via Gov.uk...

[QuePee]

Justin,

I have just sent you a PM, I believe this time it has gone through OK.

QP