90 Squadron RAF Ridgewell Losses

[Tony]

I re-discovered this information by chance.
I had downloaded it back in 2006 from a now defunct web link:

www.jtennet.freeserve.co.uk/90sqlosses.htm

Given the current Bomber Command Association activity I thought I should share it with you all - and to commemorate those listed who lost their lives:


1943: 14/15th February
Stirling I - BF415 WP-D
Pilot: Plt Off L W Tabor RNZAF + 1808402
Crew:
Sgt T A G Butt + 1530990
Sgt E Couldwell + 1085057
Sgt J Kennedy + 1802597
Sgt S R Cann + 1083978
Sgt K W Valentine + 1809241
Sgt A Simmons + 1807155
Target: Cologne
Took off at 19:02 from Ridgewell
Lost without trace; all members of the crew are remembered on the Runneymede Memorial.

1943: 28th February/1st March
Stirling I - R9349 WP-U
Pilot: Sgt V E Spain RNZAF + 2846121
Crew:
Sgt J McGhie PoW
Fg Off E Lear + 2846119
Sgt R G F Bryant + 2846117
Sgt R V S Rooke + 2846120
Sgt L J Humphrey + 2846118
Sgt J H Jackson PoW
Target: St Nazaire.
Took off at 18:07 from Ridgewell
Exploded in the air and crashed near Avranches, France.

1943: 20/21st April
Stirling I - BF442 WP-K
P: Plt Off R F Elliott RNZAF + 1269554
Crew:
Sgt B L Neal + 1077543
Sgt C B Barrott + 1077543
Sgt C McKerns RCAF + 1079522
Sgt Alfred Chadwick + 1084198
Sgt N L Fauvel + 1269863
Sgt C L Maunder RCAF + 1269863
Target: Rocquecourt
Took off at 21:28 from Ridgewell
Presumed lost over the Baltic. Members of the crew, except Maunder, are remembered on the Runneymede Memorial

1943: 20/21st April
Stirling III - BF463 WP-Q
Pilot: Plt Off S N Cross RNZAF + 2271528
Crew:
N/AB: Sgt N Shield + 2271562
N/AB: Sgt L Tagg + 2270930
FE: Sgt C L Cruttenden + 2271529
W.Op/AG: Sgt T E Hall + 2270913
AG: Sgt J D Lindrea + 2271549
AG: Sgt E M Offen + 2271553
Target: Rostock
Took off at 21:53 from Ridgewell
Shot down by flak and crashed 00:19 into the waters of Store Bælt near Sprogo, west of Halsskov-Korsor, Denmark.
www.flensted.eu.com/19430033.shtml

1943: 25/26th May
Stirling III - EH876 WP-J
Pilot:: Plt Off G W Young DFC RCAF +
Crew:
Sgt M G K East RCAF + 232713
Sgt W H Bryant + 1530728
Flt Sgt C L Saundercock RNZAF + 2940897
Flt Sgt J L Poulter + 1804567
Sgt R Wadsworth + 1809393
Sgt E S Pollon RCAF + 1804484
Plt Off C F O'Connell + 2620032
Target: Dusseldorf
Took off at 23:50 from Ridgewell
Shot down by a night fighter operating off the Dutch coast. Members of the crew, except O'Connell, are remembered on the Runneymede Memorial.

1943: 29/30th May
Stirling I EF349 WP-Y
Pilot: Plt Off R W J Letters + 2276267
Crew:
Sgt C W Hughes + 2276263
Sgt L L King RNZAF PoW
Fg Off K T Estcourt RNZAF + 2276254
Sgt F A Wells + 2276300
Sgt R Raven + 2276279
Sgt H Maskell PoW
Target: Wuppertal.
Took off at 23:09 from Ridgewell
Shot down by a night fighter flown by Hptm Ludwig Meister, I/NJG4 and crashed Proville, 2 miles south-west of Cambrai, France.


1943: 29/30th May
Stirling 1 - EF397 WP-K
Pilot: Plt Off E A Norton +
Crew:
FE Sgt E G Brooke + 2715461
N: Sgt L F F Johns + 2720494
AB: Fg Off J V Gustofson + 2720488
Sgt W C Beck + 271546
Sgt G A F Johnston + 2720495
Sgt J O Bradshaw Injured
Target: Wuppertal.
Took off at 23:10 from Ridgewell
Crashed on return 2 miles north of Stradishall aerodrome, c 04:30. Both New Zealanders and Sgt Johnston, who came from Dublin in the Irish Republic, are buried in Haverhill Cemetery. Other dead taken to their home towns.

[Tony]

Plt Off Lionel William Tabor: NZ413907CWGC: www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead/casualty/1808402/TABOR,%20LIONEL%20WILLIAM
AWM: [http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/25166.detail?Ordinal=1&c_surname_search=gustofson&c_firstname_search=j+v&c_warconflict_search=%22world+war+ii,[phone]%22/url]


Plt Off Vernon Enright Spain: NZ413499CWGC: www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead/casualty/2846121/SPAIN,%20VERNON%20ENRIGHT
AWM: muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/26380.detail?Ordinal=1&c_surname_search=spain&c_firstname_search=v+e&c_warconflict_search=%22world+war+ii,[phone]%22


Plt Off Reginald Frederick Elliott: NZ416196CWGC: www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead/casualty/1269554/ELLIOTT,%20RICHARD%20FREDERICK
AWM: muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/23442.detail?Ordinal=3&c_surname_search=elliott&c_firstname_search=r+f&c_warconflict_search=%22world+war+ii,[phone]%22



Plt Off Sydney Nelson Cross: NZ414258CWGC: www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead/casualty/2271528/
AWM: muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/31866.detail?Ordinal=1&c_surname_search=cross&c_firstname_search=s+n&c_warconflict_search=%22world+war+ii,[phone]%22
Airwar Dk: www.flensted.eu.com/19430033.shtml



Fg Off Kenneth Trevor Estcourt: NZ417042
CWGC www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead/casualty/2276254/ESTCOURT,%20KENNETH%20TREVOR
AWM muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/23494.detail?Ordinal=1&c_surname_search=es&c_firstname_search=k+t&c_warconflict_search=%22world+war+ii,[phone]%22


Sgt L L King: NZ421328PoW: www.rafcommands.com/Air%20Force%20PoWs/RAF%20POWs%20Query%20K_1.html



Flt Sgt Charles Little Saundercock: NZ404949
CWGC: www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead/casualty/2940897/SAUNDERCOCK,%20CHARLES%20LITTLE
AWM: muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/31604.detail?Ordinal=1&c_surname_search=saundercock&c_warconflict_search=%22world+war+ii,[phone]%22


Sgt Lionel Fairfax Furner Johns: NZ42298
GWGC: www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead/casualty/2720494/JOHNS,%20LIONEL%20FAIRFAX%20FURNER
AWM: muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/27362.detail?Ordinal=1&c_surname_search=johns&c_firstname_search=l+f+f&c_warconflict_search=%22world+war+ii,[phone]%22


Fg Off John Vernon Gustofson: NZ422656
CWGC: www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead/casualty/2720488/GUSTOFSON,%20JOHN%20VERNON
AWM: muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/25166.detail?Ordinal=1&c_surname_search=gustofson&c_firstname_search=j+v&c_warconflict_search=%22world+war+ii,[phone]%22

[Luther Moore]

Macfire, do you have facebook and Would you like to take over the 90 Sqd facebook page? I have set it up at the request of the Mildenhall Register but I dont know much about 90 Sqd,I also have a couple others I am looking after.

[Luther Moore]

muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/24484.detail?Ordinal=6&c_surname_search=ussher

[wanganui]

I bought some time ago P/O Lionel Tabor & his brothers memorial cross & medal groups. In all three brothers were lost on active service.
One can only imagine the heart break the family felt receiving those dreaded telegrams one after another.