Wellington Z1203 crashed on 29 March 1942. The whole crew survived but was taken POW. I am looking for more information on their time as POW. Hope someone can help me. This is what I have from Chorley's BCL: P/O JH Hall (RCAF) - Camp L3 Stalag Luft Sagan and Balaria F/S LH Houghton - Camp 344 Stalag Lamsdorf F/S JE Harritt - Camp L3 Stalag Luft Sagan and Balaria F/S AR Tidder - Camp L3 Stalag Luft Sagan and Balaria Sgt GP Wadsworth - Camp L3 Stalag Luft Sagan and Balaria Sgt EJ Pettitt - Cam[p 357 Stalag Kopernikus
There is a webpage about Lawrence Houghton here: Sgt Lawrence Hugh Houghton I am trying to get in touch with him.
Ramacal has provided me copies of the POW return cards, for which I want to thank him again here in public.
I have found an appeal for information by the grandson of pilot Hall on the internet. I have replied to it and hope to get in touch.
The information from the 142 Squadron Operations Record Book on this crash: The Wellington ran out of fuel and crashed at Mijdrecht, a village in the Dutch province of Utrecht. Unfortunatelly, I haven't been able to find any more information on this crash and the crew yet.
Beste Pieter, Zou ik met jou over de Wellington Z1203 in contact mogen komen? Ik ben betrokken bij een groepje van de historische vereniging Proosdijlanden dat onderzoek is gestart naar het vliegtuig en de bemanning. Het kwam in de weilanden vlak bij Mijdrecht neer. Ik zag dat je geprobeerd hebt contact te leggen met de familie van piloot Hall en de 2e piloot Houghton. Zelf was ik medeinitiatiefnemer van de berging (door de bergingsdienst KLU) van de Vickers Wellington bij Wilnis en de Halifax bij Hank (gemeente Werkendam) vr gr Jan Rouwenhorst mail@janrouwenhorst.com
Hi, I'm Hugh Houghton's granddaughter Elizabeth. I was googling him as I'm thinking about his past due to Remembrance Day coming up. I noticed the forum and thread. Did you manage to find more information? Is there any chance you know of a recording of the 2009 Bristol interview online at all? He is well by the way, 96 and wonderful!
Thank you! Also I wonder whether those interested, are aware that Hugh shared his POW memoirs with the Imperial War Museum. I haven't read it all, but it is rather detailed and should fill out a lot of questions regarding what happened after the Utrecht crash landing.
Pieter put a link in post 2 about the interview. He is very interested about 142 Squadron in the Netherlands and I managed to copy the returning POW's forms for this crew. Sgt Lawrence Hugh Houghton
Thank you so much for your reply Elizabeth. Yes, I do know about the recording and his memoirs being held at the IWM. I will send you a PM as I have got a photo of your grandfather which was taken after his release as POW.
MOD may wish to move this to a new thread if it hasn't already been covered. When reading through the link to Wellington T2905's last flight I saw that Martin Bools who rescued the pilot went on to join the RAF. He was subsequently lost on a bombing raid. The article says that three of his four brothers, Charles, John and Geoffrey, also died whilst serving with the RAF. Four out of five sons lost! T2905's last flight Tim
Thanks for drawing attention to the Bools family timuk 001 BOOLS GM 1314750 38 M. U. 01/05/1945 ROYAL AIR FORCE VOLUNTEER RESERVE 7. E. 6. 002 BOOLS M 1585666 115 SQDN 22/11/1943 ROYAL AIR FORCE VOLUNTEER RESERVE PANEL 143. 003 BOOLS CRK 564555 105 SQDN 09/10/1942 ROYAL AIR FORCE 9. D. 8. 004 BOOLS JS 755544 77 SQDN 18/04/1941 ROYAL AIR FORCE VOLUNTEER RESERVE 9. H. 26.
Great to see my site (www.wellingtont2905.co.uk) is being viewed and shared. It took a lot of work to collect and collate the information and to create the site!