Sgt. PURSLOW, Robert Tetterell - 1271807, 21 years old probably crashed on December 17th, 1943 somewhere at Austria (since his remains rests at Klagenfurt war cemetery). He was with the 69. Sqn of RAF. I would like to learn more about his fate. Thank you for your help! Regards - Kurtl
Hello I am sure a forum member will add more info PURSLOW, ROBERT TETTRELL Rank: Sergeant Service No: 1271807 Date of Death: 17/12/1943 Age: 21 Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 69 Sqdn. Grave Reference 8. B. 3. Cemetery KLAGENFURT WAR CEMETERY Additional Information: Son of Henry and Jane Ethel Purslow, of Colchester, Essex.
Interestingly, 69sqdn Coastal Command, were based in Malta at the time of his death, so i'm just wondering how he was in the situation of being buried in Austria. Hopefully all will be revealed.
Alan Storr reports Vol 5, page 183, the loss of Baltimore AG699 (or AG692) on 15 Jun 1942 with four souls (corrected several of the obligatory Storrish errors): RAF Sgt F W A Baum, Captain (Pilot) RAAF 404016 Flt Sgt Alick Greaves RAAF, (Observer) RCAF Sgt W E Fincham, (Wireless Air Gunner) RAF Sgt R Purslow, (Air Gunner) Next, there exists a claim for AG699 by Hptm. Franz 'Nawratil' Schieß of Stab/JG 53 at 15:15 on 15.6.1942: "Linosa Island / Baltimore (AG699) of 69 Sqn, RAF flown by Sgt FW Baun, 2 crew POW" F/Sgt Greaves is KiA, buried MEDJEZ-EL-BAB WAR CEMETERY, 17. A. 12. One other No.69 Sqdn crew was lost that day, Baltimore AG715, with four souls MiA on Malta Memorial. 530379 F W Baum in camp 18A (Wolfsberg, Kärnten, Austria) with PoW.No.9179, and R/77413 W E Fincham in camp L6 with PoW.No. 39181 listed in the RAF PoW List. Have summarized the loss of Baltimore AG699 on lostaircraft.com.
"with obligatory Storrish error already corrected" I can't let this pass without comment. Alan Storr was a WW2 airman who devoted a great chunk of his life post-war to recording the fates of over 7000 RAAF personnel who didn't return from the war. Whereas there are errors in his work compared to information now freely available online and in the works of Chorley et al - at the time he relied mainly on the actual casualty & personnel files held at the National Archives of Australia (NAA) in Canberra. I'm not saying he didn't make mistakes in transcription himself, but from what I have seen many of the "errors" come from the original reports on the files. Messages were rushed, notes were scribbled and some reports were garbled in transmission. Many surnames and service numbers contain extra letters, or are missing digits. Aircraft numbers are incorrect. I have never met Alan Storr, but I applaud his efforts. His works (published freely and available free of charge) should be used as an initial reference, but as above, cross-checked with more recent publications / websites before being used as an authority by themselves.
The attached document is the initial notification of the loss of the aircraft, as an example it spells the name of the RCAF member as Finchan at least three times. Apparently it should be Fincham according to the POW info supplied in post # 4
For the OP - I don't know what your interest is in Sgt. PURSLOW, but the document I have attached to my previous post contains his home address at the time. Probably of little value now but it might be useful if compiling a family tree or comparing to electoral rolls / census details etc.
I concur with Dave's comments on Alan Storr's long time efforts to have this information information on RAAF losses available free of charge. A little further information for Kurt in putting these loss details together. The crash/loss place: Sgt Greaves RAAF burial place: View attachment 93106 NAA Page: Sgt Greaves Headstone: .jpg] Cheers Geoff
Gentlemen! Thanks alot for your helpful work! That clears up almost everything about Sgt. PURSLOW. Glad the forum could be of some help.
Thought I might add a bit to this thread. Kurt contacted me due to my interest in all things Stalag 18A (Prisoner of War). First, some facts: Sgt Baum was in Stalag 18A/Z in March 1944. 18A/Z was the camp to which many POWs from Italy were transferred in late 1943. In the camp was a Lazaret where POWs received medical treatment. Sgt Fincham's POW number was 39181. A lot of POWs who came from Italy in 1943 to 18A were given numbers with the 39 prefix. Sgt Purslow died in December 1943 in 18A. Sgt Greaves is buried in Tunisia. Their aircraft was shot down whilst on sea patrol in May 1942. Now some speculation! They were shot down over the sea near Sicily or Italy. Baum, Fincham and Purslow were picked up by Axis forces and ended up in an Italian POW camp until late 1943. Greaves died in the crash and his body was washed up on the Tunisian coast. When the Italians ceased hostilities, the 3 RAF men were transferred to 18A/Z. At this point Purslow was seriously ill. Baum may have been ill. Finch was moved on to Stalag Luft L6. It makes some sort of sense. Cheers Ian Brown
Seems they’ve identified this Baltimore wreck as AG699: Solved: Riddle of the RAF bomber found on seabed thousands of miles from home Riddle of RAF bomber on an Italian seabed is finally SOLVED | Daily Mail Online
