Halifax DT488 (23/05/1943)

Halifax DT488 was one of twenty one No. 35 Squadron aircraft detailed to attack Dortmund on the night of the 23rd / 24th May 1943.

Its seven-man crew comprised:

Alain Morison Harvey (Pilot)
Douglas Arthur Norman Evans (Navigator)
Stanley Groom (Air Bomber)
Jack Raymond Johnson (Wireless Operator)
Robert George Pritchard (Air Gunner)
William Richard Fairey (Air Gunner)
Charles Robert Shields (Flight Engineer)

The route was 5248N 0440E, 5240N 0620E, 5205N 0725E, Dortmund, 5150N 0710E, Egmont

DT488 failed to return and the squadron’s Operations Record Book shows “This aircraft did not return and nothing was heard from it after taking off”

Wartime activities relating to the loss

On 24th May 1943 the squadron informed Bomber Command, the Air Ministry and the RAF Records Office that the aircraft and crew were missing.

A telegram, along with a follow up letter from the Commanding Officer, was sent to the next of kin of each crew member advising them that he was “missing as the result of air operations on 23rd / 24th May 1943”.

harvey-am-telegram — Copy of telegram sent to the family of AM Harvey

The crew’s kit and personal belongings were removed from their lockers and catalogued; kit was returned to stores and personal belongings sent to the RAF Central Depository at RAF Colnbrook.

The Air Ministry Casualty Branch, which was responsible for investigating, monitoring and reporting on the status of missing aircraft and airmen, subsequently published the following information regarding the crew:

Air Ministry Casualty Communique No. 259 (Flight 29/07/1943) reported AM Harvey, DAN Evans, S Groom, JR Johnson, WR Fairey, RG Pritchard and CR Shields as “missing”
Air Ministry Casualty Communique No. 308 (Flight 18/11/1943) reported S Groom and WR Fairey “previously reported missing” as “now reported prisoner of war” [Note: Incorrect information regarding S Groom]
Air Ministry Casualty Communique No. 357 (Flight 16/03/1944) reported DAN Evans, JR Johnson, RG Pritchard and CR Shields “previously reported missing” as “now presumed killed in action”
Air Ministry Casualty Communique No. 358 (Flight 16/03/1944) reported AM Harvey “previously reported missing” as “now presumed killed in action”

Note: Presumption of death enabled a death certificate to be issued; personal belongings could then be sent to next of kin, along with any monies due.

No. 35 Squadron’s Operations Record Book shows the following information was received relating to the crew:

21/08/1943: Information received from Air Ministry that WR Fairey and S Groom, missing on 23rd / 24th May 1943, are prisoners of war; also that AM Harvey, DAN Evans, JR Johnson, RG Pritchard and CR Shields were killed [Note incorrect information regarding Sgt Groom]
03/06/1944: Information received from Air Ministry that S Groom, missing on 23rd / 24th May 1943, was killed

Crew members who survived the crash and were captured / imprisoned

WR Fairey survived the crash and was captured, interrogated and imprisoned for the remainder of the war.

His POW Liberation Questionnaire, which was completed as part of the repatriation process in 1945, shows the following details:

WR Fairey (POW Liberation Questionnaire yet to be obtained, so information is unconfirmed)
- Captured:
- Imprisoned: Stalag Luft VI, Stalag 357
- Repatriated:

Post War search for the missing crew members

After the war, an investigation officer from the Royal Air Force Missing Research and Enquiry Service (MRES) was tasked with locating the remains of the missing crew member(s).

Original German documents, burial records and eye witness accounts were utilised to establish the location of the crash site, the cause of the loss and the initial fate of the crew; information was recorded in a MRES Investigation Report.

As part of the process, any remains that were located were exhumed, identified (wherever possible) and concentrated (reinterred) at one of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC) Cemeteries in the country that they fell, in accordance with Government policy at the time.

Graves were marked with a simple wooden cross, which was replaced by the familiar CWGC headstone during the 1950’s.

Missing airmen who could not be found, or formally identified, had their names commemorated on the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede, which was unveiled in 1953.

CWGC records show that the remains of AM Harvey, DAN Evans, S Groom, JR Johnston, RG Pritchard and CR Shields were located at Wanne-Eickel Forest Cemetery (Waldfriedhof).