Information on 149 Squadron RAF help?

[Luther Moore]

Hi Everyone,

I need some research help.

Would anyone have any info on 149 Squadron's missions in Bomber Command especially ín the year of 1943, or any other interesting facts?

Cheers.

[Tony]

www.bomber-command.info/

[errolmartyn]

Strong by Night - History and memories of No.149 (East India) Squadron Royal Air Force 1918/19 - 19337/56 by John Johnson and Nick Carter, pub Air-Britain(Historians) Ltd, 1002.

Errol

[Luther Moore]

Thanks guys.

Macfire, thank you for the site,it is one I have not seen yet.

Errol, is that a book? I have been told about the movie by someone else. I tried to look for the book just then with no luck.

Cheers

[kiwi]

Aug 14, 2011 1:24:00 GMT 12 Luther Moore said:

Hi Everyone,

I need some research help.

Would anyone have any info on 149 Squadron's missions in Bomber Command especially ín the year of 1943, or any other interesting facts?

Cheers.

Could you provide more information , why in particular 1943 ?
I have some books that might help but if you could narrow the search that could save time and effort .

[Tony]

Don't forget this important tome:

[Luther Moore]

The reason why I ask is because Im researchingmy Uncle Bernard Joseph Schollum. He was in the 149th in 1943 and died in 1943 while bombing Hanover, Germany.

I am also trying to find missions he would of participated in.

Cheers

[Tony]

AWM Cenotaph:
muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/19076.detail?Ordinal=2&c_surname_search=schollum&c_warconflict_search=world+war+ii,[phone]

CWGC:
www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2940983

Further References:
Martyn, E. (1998-2008). For Your Tomorrow (Vols. 1-3). Christchurch: Volplane Press.

Royal Air Force Bomber Command losses of the Second World War: Vol. 4 Aircraft and crew losses 1943
by W.R. Chorley. Earl Shilton, Leicester : Midland Counties Publications, 1992 -

[Luther Moore]

Thanks mac.

I'm trying to find those books online.

[errolmartyn]

"Errol,Is that a book?"

Yes.

[Tony]

Aug 14, 2011 21:54:38 GMT 12 Luther Moore said:

Thanks mac,

Im trying to find those books online.

Rock your socks

www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=RAF+Bomber+Command+Losses%2C+Vol+4.+1943&x=15&y=13

www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0904597903/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&redirect=true&qid=1313321364&sr=1-1&condition=all

[Luther Moore]

Awesome Mac! I'm on to it now.

[kiwi]

Stirling 111 , EF495 , OJ-R on the night of 27/28 Sept 1943 , on a raid to Hannover , crashed into North Sea . 4 died , 3 POW

[Luther Moore]

Thanks Kiwi.

The four that survived went to LuftIII.

[kiwi]

Aug 15, 2011 21:09:15 GMT 12 Luther Moore said:

Thanks Kiwi.

The 4 to survive went to Luft III.

I am pressuming you have all the crew's names .

[Luther Moore]

413386 Flight Sergeant HOTCHKIS, George Stewart
Source:
NAA : A705, 166/18/193
Aircraft Type: Stirling
Serial number: EF 495
Radio call sign: OJ – R
Unit: 149 Sqn RAF
Summary:
Stirling EF 495 of 149 Sqn RAF took off from RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk, at 8.05pm on
27 September 1943, to attack Hanover, Germany. At 0057am on the 28th a weak distress
signal was received indicating the aircraft was flying very low over the North sea.
Nothing further was heard and the aircraft failed to return to base.
Crew:
RAAF 413386 Flt Sgt Hotchkis, G S Captain (Pilot)
RAF Sgt Crowe, J W (Navigator)
RNZAF Flt Sgt Schollum, B J (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
RAF PO Bevan, C J W (Air Bomber)
RAF Sgt Tweedie, D F (Flight Engineer)
RAF Sgt Lyons, P (Air Gunner)
RAF Sgt Clifford, B (Air Gunner)
Sgts Crowe, Tweedie and Lyons all of the RAF became POW’s, and in later statements
they reported that when they abandoned the aircraft the skipper was alive and well in the
flying aircraft, and he endeavoured to try and fly the aircraft back to the UK.
German documents later established that the aircraft crashed near Lingen and all the
remaining crew members were killed. Post war searches revealed no trace of the missing
four members and it was recorded that they had lost their lives at sea.

[melinda]

Hi Luther,

I’ve just stumbled across your 2011 search for info on your Uncle, Flt Sgt Bernard Joseph Schollum, and his crew onboard Stirling 111, EF495 of 149 Sqn RAF, out of Lakenheath, Suffolk. My late mother’s older brother, RAF Sgt Clifford Bruce Andrews (Air Gunner) aged 22, was with Bernard when their plane went down somewhere over the North Sea on the night of 27/28 Sept 1943.

I don’t know about you, but I grew up feeling that I knew Bruce, the uncle I never met (and in a funny way knew your Uncle Bernard too), despite the face I was born 25 years after they were both killed. My mum, kept both their memories alive for me and my 4 older siblings and my 19 Andrews cousins, not just on ANZAC Day, or with the photo of Bruce in his RNZAF uniform that hung not just in our house, but also in the homes of our grandmother, Uncle and 2 Aunts homes, but because their story was told and retold.

Whenever our family left Auckland, heading north to see family or for holidays, as our car passed Waiwera, and then the Puhoi turn off (I saw your post about the Puhoi pub…such a great spot!), and wound its way slowly up Schedewys Hill, before finally driving past ‘Schollum Access Road’, a narrow, winding, bush lined, gravel road on the seaward side of State Highway 1, my mum’s voice would break and tears would roll down her face (even aged 81!) as she re-lived the trauma of having her adored big brother, Bruce, not come home from the war, and told the story about how “the young Schollum boy also died in the plane, alongside Bruce somewhere over the North Sea.”

After Bruce was killed, my grandparents, Frank and Doris Andrews (dairy farmers from isolated Onewhero in the Waikato) learned that there had been another young man on the same plane, so they found out where his people were from, and then wrote to your grandparents to offer their condolences. The Schollum farm was only about 30 minutes from where my grandmother, Doris, spent her childhood in Dome Valley, Warkworth, so at one point they even visited your grandparents to commiserate, because they had both lost their boys.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you Luther for your research and the information you’ve listed here….much more detailed than what I knew. My mum was only 17 when Bruce died, so she didn’t remember all the details, ie: like the fact that there were 4 on the plane who died….Mum had only told me it was the pilot (a married man with children from Australia), Bruce and Bernard…with the rest becoming POWs. So, its great to know more information and the names, ranks etc of the surviving crew and where they were sent as POWs.

I’ve visited the Auckland War Museum and uploaded what I knew onto their database, and a few years ago I visited the tiny Puhoi museum (which commemorates your Bohemian ancestors Heculean efforts when they first landed in Puhoi in 1863. They were so brave considering they were catholic and didn’t speak English and would therefore more than likely have faced descrimation from their prodominantly protestant, English speaking neigbhours!). At the museum there was a whole display about your Uncle Bernard…it was so moving to see a photo of him after hearing his name spoken by my mum, all my life.

I’ve emailed you (hopefully the email on this site is still current) and I'll try to attach a photo of Bruce, and if you have a photo of Bernard, or a photo of their plane or a plane like their plane, I’d love to be able to show my siblings and cousins.  

Kindest regards
Melinda (niece of Clifford Bruce Andrews - killed 27/28 Sept 1943)