Wellington bomber individual aircraft identification.

As a new member of this forum I thought that I would start with a nice easy question that I would like your help to answer. Is it possible to identify the individual Wellington bomber from the few clues in the photograph given that only a small section of the front end is visible?

I am rather hoping that the nose art will be enough to identify the aircraft given that we have no visible serial number which of course would have been at the tail end. The picture is possibly of Winston Churchill dressed as Santa Claus holding an automatic pistol. The picture appears to be unfinished as there seems to be the outline of a sack to the left.

There are several other clues: The aircrew are wearing K.D. uniforms and the aircraft appears to be parked in a desert airfield given the amount of sand next to the runway; so possibly taken in the Middle East/North Africa. We are therefore probably looking for a RAF Squadron based in the Middle East and flying Wellingtons.

There is one other thing that may be important on the back of the frame. Someone has written Art and next to it someone has added the word Middleton as if they wanted to make clear who Art (Arthur?) was. Is is just possible that Arthur Middleton is one of the men in the photograph; though of course this may be a complete red herring.

I would be very pleased if someone could identify the aircraft from the few clues that we have and that should give us the Squadron and help us to find the names of the crew members.

 

Without wishing to jump to conclusions I have checked the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database and found that two men called Arthur Middleton were killed in action with the RAF during WW2; they were:

F/Sgt Pilot Arthur Edwin Middleton, 754437 RAFVR. 37 Squadron, KiA 29th May 1941 and buried at Rhodes War Cemetery. 37 Squadron moved to the Middle East in November 1940 and were equipped with Wellington bombers.

Air Gunner Arthur Walter Middleton, 1569017 RAFVR. 115 Squadron. KiA 21st July 1944. 115 Squadron also operated Wellingtons.

There may of course have been many other Arthur Middletons who flew with the RAF and who survived the war.

 

By 1944, No. 115 Squadron was flying only Lancasters.

The chaps in your photo are clearly wearing desert flying gear.

From From Vol 1 of David Gunby and Pelham Temple's "Bomber Losses in the Middle East and Mediterranean" Middleton was 2nd Pilot on Wellington IC (L7860) on ops to Scarpanto.

Crew:

F/Sgt DD Strickland+
F/Sgt AE Middleton+
P/O WG Dalco RAAF+
Sgt TH Mitchell+
Sgt E Curle+
P/O REH Nowell+

Regards,

Dave

 

Dave,

thank you for your informative reply. I am pleased that we have a serial number for Middleton's aircraft and can now possibly work out if this is the aircraft in the photograph. The picture came from a recent house clearance but unfortunately the chap that did the clearance was unwilling or unable to divulge any details about the family whose house was cleared which has handicapped my research somewhat.

Simon

 

Hi Simon,

It occurs to me that this can be solved rather easily.

As P/O Dalco was Australian you can access his service file online.

Go to naa.gov.au and put 408026 in the search block. There are two files for him. Personnel and casualty.

In his personnel file (A9300) there may be a photograph or two. More often than not they are there.

But as the file hasn't been digitized there's no way to tell without someone paying the $20.00 AUD

Regards,

Dave

 

Dave,

thought sounds like an excellent idea. I have looked at Great War Australian records many times before but have never looked at WW2 ones and did not realise that they may contain photographs. I will apply for his service papers.

Simon

 

A possible reason for the Father Christmas connection "might" be in the name.....?

Nowell = Noel .....?
No definite proof, but a plausible clue?

 

High Wood,

I wish you well with your Research and believe Kevin may have hit on a good clue with Noel.

Regards
Tom

 

I think that the Nowell / Father Christmas idea is a runner. Has anyone done any research into Wellington art work or compiled a database?

 

The crew in question, did not fly in any one single aircraft, more than once, according to the ORB, so i think that personalising a single aircraft, with a link to it's rear gunner's name, is not an option i would chase. The unfinished artwork, appears to be a sack of bombs, when enlarged.

 

There is evidence that another Wellington of 37 Squadron RAF had artwork based on the names of the crew. I am unable to post the link but please google No. 37 Squadron RAF and look at the wikipedia link.

 

Now that I have clearly demonstated that I cannot post the link I will post the caption to the photograph in the article.

The nose insignia on Vickers Wellington Mark 1C, T2508 "LF-0", of No 37 Squadron RAF at an advanced landing ground in Egypt. Each emblem represents a member of the crew under the devices of the aircraft's captain, Flying Officer. P. C. "Cheese" Lemon.

 

Yep, that is the one. Thank you.

 

This is because Flt/Lt Lemon and his crew, seem to have "adopted" this particular aircraft "T2580" (not 2508 as incorrectly listed on the photo), as their own, and flew it on any operations that they took part in. Whereas, the Strickland crew, flew a different a/c each time they went out.

 

Alan,

I completely accept your point about Strickland's crew not having a particular aircraft to call their own. I did think however that the photograph of Flt/Lt Lemon's aircraft's art work shows that some of 37 Squadron's aircraft had artwork based on puns on the crews' names. It is possible that we will never know what aircraft had the Father Christmas decor as I doubt that exhaustive records of fuselage art were kept. However, I would imagine that they would have to have been approved at some level to prevent them being too risque or offensive. Maybe sketches of intended artwork may have had to have been submitted to a senior officer at Squadron level and it may be possible that some kind of record exists somewhere.

We have not of course definitively established that the aircraft in my photograph is from 37 Squadron.

I think that the whole area of aircraft artwork deserves further study.

Simon

 

quick Google on the "crest".... defaecamus.....?
ahem "purge" as in expelling bodily waste from the heavens?
In the Middle East - A pilot of a Wellington bomber surveys the ornate Crest inscribed on the side of his aeroplane - " Defaecamus Luces Purpuras "! ' - "Let Us Purge the Blue Skies" or words to that effect! '

 

Simon,

I spent a lot of time browsing for RAF Nose Artwork and on Wellingtons in particular, but alas, there was very Little compared to vast amounts of documented American nose artwork.

I wish you luck with your enquiries.

Regards
Tom

 

Hi there!

I'm really sorry to find this and post something so late after you all initially contributed, but I stumbled upon your thread when I was trying to find a bit more out about my Great Uncle (my paternal Grandfather's brother): Sergeant (W.Op.) Edwin (Teddy) Curle 945617, who was part of the crew you've mentioned above.

I'm so sorry that I'm absolutely clueless when it comes to understanding a lot of the military related codes, numbers and information relating to WW2, but I would like to understand more - and particularly more about Uncle Teddy, who our family still regularly talk about and have overwhelming respect for. I'm also not sure if you'll see this reply so late on; or if you've solved the nose art mystery.

We do, however have a couple of family photographs, which I hope may help out in some way. One is of the whole crew, F/Sgt DD Strickland, F/Sgt AE Middleton, P/O WG Dalco RAAF, Sgt TH Mitchell, Sgt E Curle, and P/O REH Nowell, standing in front of what I assume may be their plane/one of the planes they flew (?). As I've mentioned, I'm completely clueless when it comes to WW2 details, but their uniforms seem to be more of what I'd have imagined them wearing in the UK, rather than in the middle east - plus the landscape seems pretty grassy. I just thought that maybe someone may like to compare features/faces, etc with the photo which High Wood originally posted. The second photo is of Uncle Teddy himself. I also have a third, which is actually part of a newspaper clipping announcing his death, and is still carried around by my Auntie to this day.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to upload any of the photos straight to this post, but you can see the first two via a link to an appeal my Great Auntie Jessie put out in our local paper:

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/8306252.Family_search_for_details_of_airman___s_wartime_heroics/

I hope this helps

 

Hello,

thank you for providing a link to the article regarding your Great Uncle. If you have a digital camera you can upload photographs quite easily. If not. can you send them as an email attachment? If so, you could send them to me and I can post them with your permission,

Simon.