P/O PHILIP ALLEN LEACH RAF Loss information required!

Hi all,

This Pilot Officer was lost on 21st July 1940 however I have not been able to find a loss report on him. Also looking for some details on the man himself if anyone can assist!


LEACH, PHILIP ALLEN

Pilot Officer

77944

38sq RAF

21-07-1940

38

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

UK

Grave 52.

MARHAM (HOLY TRINITY) CHURCHYARD

UK

Norfolk


The CWGC database has him as a 38 year old Air Gunner.

His NoK as: Son of Henry Ernest and Agnes Jessie Leach, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

He is listed on the Australian Commemorative Roll for those "Australians" who were killed in other Allied forces. He is listed as KiA!

I believe this birth in the UK to be him: Births Mar 1902 (>99%) Leach Philip Allen St Geo H Sq 1a 458

Unable to find a marriage in the UK for the parents however could have been in Scotland or another country. Australia?

I have tried my Ancestry account however nothing even close to get me started.

There were three other local deaths that day however none of them denote a squadron.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Cheers

Geoff

 

Geoff, if you use the advanced search engine at Trove, enter his name and use the menu to select phrase, it brings up 3 articles on him. One about the accident along with his picture and 2 article s regarding his Will.

I've never figured out how to screen snatch on my tablet or I would have posted it myself.

Ruled him out at Scotlandspeople, no entries came up at all there searching births etc.

 

Thank you for that Amberdog!

Trove!!!!!!!!! Use it all the time and did not look there.

Will add this detail tomorrow. Off to bed.

Hopefully I will be able to find out more about his family. He could possibly have been born in the UK and his parents Australian or moved there initially when he was young.

Would also like to know the aircraft and operation he was on when killed as there is nothing on him in Chorley. Hopefully someone may have the ORB's for 38 squadron.

Cheers

Geoff

 

38 Sqdn ORB looks to be your best bet for further information.
If it was a Wellington crash landing, it seems the rest of the crew escaped death, as no other 38 Sqdn death for the first 3 weeks of July 1940. At that time they were attacking targets in Germany so it could be a Wellington had been shot up and crash landed with a dead crewman, or accident or illness at/near the base.

Name: Philip Allen Leach. Registration Year: 1902. Registration Quarter: Jan-Feb-Mar
Registration district: St George Hanover Square, London. Volume: 1a. Page: 458.

Name: Philip Allen Leach. Age: 18. Birth Date: abt 1902. Departure Date: 7 May 1920
Port of Departure: London. Destination Port: Sydney, Australia. Ship Name: Benalla.
Student, travelling alone.


Name: Philip Allen Leach. Birth Date: abt 1902. Age: 26. Ship Name: Largo Bay. Farm worker.
Port of Departure: Brisbane, Australia. Arrival Date: 27 Aug 1928. Port of Arrival: Liverpool.

at some point he must have returned to Australia (but no record yet found) as

Name: Philip Allen Leach. Birth Date: abt 1902. Age: 32. Port of Departure: Brisbane, Australia
Arrival Date: 19 Oct 1934. Port of Arrival: London.. Ship Name: Strathnaver.
13, Tiverton Mansions, 140 Grays Inn Road. Occupation: Farm labourer.


Name: Philip A Leach. Birth Date: abt 1905. Date of Registration: Sep 1940
Age at Death: 35. Registration district: Downham, Norfolk. Volume: 4b. Page: 796.

The Death Certificate will give details of cause of death.
I owe you for the Ward family info, so do you want me to order the Death Cert for you?

 

Died of wounds received in action. -

The info is in the July 1940 38 Sqn ORB Summary of Events. You can download for £3.50 from UK National Archives
From the part I can read online it looks like he was hit on a mission to Gronau and the pilot Sgt Swales gopt it back safetly
The serial should be in the ORB

It looks like he was buried a few days later

 

Hi Kevin and Paul,

Just on my way to work!

This news report will show detail.

View attachment 139053

Cheers

Geoff

 

Glad you found the article, some nice detail in there.

 

Thank you Amberdog, Kevin and Paul.

The newspaper report states that he was "promoted to Flying Officer on the 23rd of July" which would have been two days after his death? Can this be confirmed one way or the other? I can't see how he would be promoted after his death unless gazetted earlier.

His "action" with the Messerschmidt must have convinced the German pilot to look for another aircraft to tackle so the crew would be somewhat in his debt that they were able to return.

Thanks Kevin for the Shipping outgoing and incoming details.

Thanks Paul for the Orb's detail. I will have a think about it if all else fails.

Cheers

Geoff

 

According to the summary of Casualty Packs indexed on the excellent RAF Commands forum, P/O P A Leach's "Report of death, Wellington P9287, in air operations 21 July 1940" is in document AIR 81/1168.

Hope this helps!

BC

 

Thanks BC!

May seem the only way to get the info.to marry it to the newspaper report.

Cheers

Geoff

 

Wellington Ic P9287 did not return from a raid on Berlin 7/8 October 1940.

There's no information to say that any of these were part of Phiip's crew... but...
TAYLOR, REX OLIVER OXLEY. Rank: Squadron Leader. Trade: Pilot. Service No: 22092. Date of Death: 07/10/1940. Age: 35. Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 38 Sqdn.
Grave Reference: Coll. grave 3. A. 17-22. Cemetery: BERLIN 1939-1945 WAR CEMETERY.
Additional Information: Son of Oxley Taylor, and of Maud Taylor (nee Oliver); husband of Constance Eileen Marie Taylor.

GREEN, HERBERT FREDERICK. Rank: Sergeant. Trade: Pilot. Service No: 742028. Date of Death: 07/10/1940. Age: 25.
Regiment/Service:Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 38 Sqdn.
Grave Reference: Coll. grave 3. A. 17-22. Cemetery: BERLIN 1939-1945 WAR CEMETERY.
Additional Information: Son of Herbert Nisbett Green and Annie Green, of Oxford; husband of Gwendolen Nora Green.

HOLLIDAY, GEORGE. Rank: Sergeant. Trade: W.Op./Air Gnr.. Service No: 936348. Date of Death: 07/10/1940.
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 38 Sqdn.
Grave Reference: Coll. grave 3. A. 17-22. Cemetery: BERLIN 1939-1945 WAR CEMETERY.

O'REGAN, FRANCIS PATRICK. Rank: Sergeant. Trade: Obs. Service No: 747713. Date of Death: 07/10/1940. (Navigator per Loss Card)
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 38 Sqdn.
Grave Reference: Coll. grave 3. A. 17-22. Cemetery: BERLIN 1939-1945 WAR CEMETERY

STEPHENS, REGINALD. Rank: Sergeant. Trade: Air Gnr. Service No: 749413. Date of Death: 07/10/1940. (Loss Card shows him as rear gunner - Philip's replacement?)
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 38 Sqdn.
Grave Reference: Coll. grave 3. A. 17-22. Cemetery: BERLIN 1939-1945 WAR CEMETERY.
Additional Information: Son of Edward and Bertha Eleanor Stephens, of Charlton Kings, Gloucestershire.

WHELPTON, HARRY. Rank: Sergeant. Trade: Air Gnr. Service No: 751267. Date of Death: 07/10/1940. Age: 22. front gunner
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 38 Sqdn.
Grave Reference: Coll. grave 3. A. 17-22. Cemetery: BERLIN 1939-1945 WAR CEMETERY.
Additional Information: Son of Harry and Jane Ann Whelpton, of West Hartlepool, Co. Durham.

All shown as "Dead" but no other information and sharing a Collective Grave tells its own story.

It may have crashed near Kreuzberg, just south west of Berlin (Thanks to Lancaster Bombers and Back to Normandy websites)

 

Thanks Kevin!

As Sgt Swales was the pilot who returned the aircraft on that fateful night, I checked for "Swales" deaths in CWGC database on the off chance for a squadron listing however no such luck. Herbert Swales RAF was a Sergeant (Pilot), John Frederick was RAAF with 61sq, and Edwin (VC) (DFC) was South African with 582sq and Joseph was a Air Gunner. Looks like the ORB request is getting closer.



SWALES, EDWIN

Major

6101V

23/02/1945

29

South African Air Force

South African

VIII. C. 5.

LEOPOLDSBURG WAR CEMETERY



SWALES, JOHN FREDERICK

Flying Officer

422989

21/03/1945

23

Royal Australian Air Force

Australian

5. C. 21.

DURNBACH WAR CEMETERY

SWALES, HERBERT

Sergeant

1138904

21/05/1942

24

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

United Kingdom

Sec. E. Grave 53.

ROUNDHAY (ST. JOHN) CHURCHYARD



SWALES, JOSEPH

Sergeant

1378431

26/06/1942

31

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

United Kingdom

Plot IB. Row K. Coll. grave 3-5.

AMBT-DELDEN GENERAL CEMETERY



Cheers

Geoff

 

Geoff,

Herbert Swales:

http://aircrewremembered.com/wilsher-george.html

Regards,

Dave

 

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the link.

I have a feeling this could be Swales the pilot however the confirmation will only come from the ORB's.

Cheers

Geoff

 

Hello Geoff, I believe the Philip Leach you are enquiring about is my maternal uncle who I never met. Some details in this series of posts corroborate with family stories passed down from my Mum and Dad. The story I was told was that he was a tail gunner in a Handley Page Hampden and was badly wounded in the arm during a clash with a German night fighter over Hamburg. He died of loss of blood.

 

P.A Leach was only posted in to 38sqdn on the 19th July 1940, according to the P.O.R's in the 38sqdn appendices of which i have a copy.

 

1939 REGISTER TRANSCRIPTION
The Hermitage, Calne and Chippenham R.D., Wiltshire
NAME DOB OCCUPATION
Philip Allen Leach 21 Jan 1902 Insurance Inspector
Inez A M Story-Maskelyne 22 Mar 1870 Unpaid Domestic Duties
Florence L Johnson 28 Oct 1909 Unpaid Domestic Duties
Louisa E Rooke 13 Dec 1914 Unpaid Domestic Duties

 

Thankyou to everyone who has contributed to this thread. It provides details my family did not know. After talking with my older siblings I can definitely confirm that Philip Leach is my maternal uncle. His father, Henry Leach, emigrated to Australia with two sons from England after his first wife Jesse died. Philip spent time in outback Queensland before enlisting. From the discussion in this thread I now believe Philip was a tail gunner in a Wellington bomber not a Hampden. I don’t think the 38th squadron used Hampden Bombers (?) My older siblings confirm the family story that he was badly wounded in the arm in a clash with a night fighter and died from blood loss. I inspected photos of the rear turret on a Wellington and it appears terribly vulnerable. I wonder if there is an accessible German account of this encounter? If my uncle was wounded in the arm I doubt he would be able to operate his guns. I suspect the pilot must have done some magnificent evasion to elude catastrophe. In the early 1980s my father visited Philip’s grave at Marham and was treated kindly and with respect by RAF personnel. He was touched and grateful for this care.

 

Hi Greg,
Thank you for your reply post.
My interest in these RAF lads is if they were actually "Australians" or living in Australia. I have found nearly 250 Australians who were killed in the RAF and 20 in other Allied Air Forces. Most had been in Britain pre-war and were either transferred from the RAAF and joined the RAF or were studying at Cambridge and Oxford or working in Britain. Many too were rejected by the RAAF in Australia and either paid their own way or worked passage to Britain and joined the RAF. The real number I am sure will never be known.


Cheers
Geoff

 

Could not see a headstone photo in the thread so added below.