Short Stirling & RAF Bomber Command Forum

Hello
My name is Ron Cox from the Netherlands.
I found some items of a plane in Roermond with my metaldetector.
Some pilots are missing

Crew
F/o Richard Vernazoni
Sgt. Walter Bramwell
Sgt. Owen Innes
F/o Harold Tong
F/o Charles Riddle
Sgt. Alex Cardoo
Sgt. James Chandler

How can i find some info of relatifs



I

(This topic is moved to 3 Group Section of the Forum)

Hello and welcome Ron,

According to Bomber Command Losses by W R Chorley EF398 AA-'A' was one of 4 Stirlings of 75 Squadron lost on 29/30 May 1943 during Operation Wuppertal (35 bombers were lost during this operation).
EF398 took off at 23H32 from RAF Newmarket and was shot down by a night-fighter (Oblt Manfred Meurer, I. /NJG1).
Sgt Cardoo and Sgt Chandler lie in Jonkerbos War Cemetery.

Personal view from me:
I can't give you orders but I only can tell you to be careful because five airmen of this crew have no known graves so EF398 could be their grave.

Regards.

Bruno

Hello Bruno

I have all the information of that crash
I found alot of the plain
I have all papers of that crash with iwitness
I tought it would be nice for the familie they know about it

regard

Ron

Sgt James Chandler was my Great Uncle. My Nan's elder brother. He was from Liverpool and 19 when he was killed. He had been a member of 75 squadron for around 2 weeks. He was the rear gunner. I am not too sure of how he arrived in 75 squadron but it seems he went thorugh a conversion unit.

In the night of 29 to 30 May 1943 there rose from the English base Newmarket, a Short Stirling, EF398, bomber with the goal Wuppertal in Germany. Around 1.00u the bomber was shot down by Obl Manfred Meurer of 3.NJG / 1. The fuselage of the plane was north of the Kapellerlaan rightly. The cab and the wings were in the meadows south of the Kapellerlaan rightly. The German Feldgendarmerie thought at first that 1 pilot had fled. This was later withdrawn.
In the crash were two bodies found, 5 missing soldiers (MIA). - Flying Officer R. Vernazoni (MIA) - Sergeant W. Bramwell (MIA) - Sergeant D. Innes (MIA) - Flying Officer H. Tong (MIA) - Flying Officer C. Riddle (MIA) - Sergeant A. Cardoo (KIA) - Sergeant J. Chandler (KIA)

On June 17 was a funnel a dud found. The police was immediately deposited the environment. A day later, the bomb was defused by Spreng Command.

Hello Ron and welcome to the forum.

We naturedly, would be very interested in photos of the site, however, keeping in mind Bruno's comments about not disturbing the site until clarification, conformation has been confirmed regarding the graves.

Also, thank you Alex for your details, they are of great interest.
Cheers,
John

Hello Alex,

I'm a bit late with information, perhaps you have contacted Ron for more details.
Just in case you haven't I have the following for you.

1699810. Sgt Chandler, J. A/G. Posted from No.1657 Con. Unit w.e.f. 22/5/43.
F/O Vernazoni 1st op. 23/24 May 43 Dortmund with F/L D. Lowe and crew.
27/28 May 43. Mining off the Frisian Islands with own crew. (Your Great Uncles 1st op)
29/30 May 43. Wuppertal.
Took off from Newmarket at 23:32 hours and were shot down by a night fighter over the Netherlands when
about to cross the German border on the way to the target at 01:09 hours. Broke up on being attacked, pieces
of the bomber and it's bomb load falling between Vlodrop and Roermond, about 25 km SW of Venlo.
Both air gunners were buried at Venlo, but later moved to Jonkerbos War cemetery. The other five crew
are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
I hope this is of some help.

Regards,
Wayne.

Greetings list,

My name is Gareth Newfield - I'm a military historian from Ottawa, Canada. The pilot of this aircraft - F/O R.B. Vernazoni - was my great-uncle. Attached is a photo of F/O Vernazoni.

I've been trying to obtain information concerning the crash site - have never come across precise information. Am also interested in information concerning the location of the initial burial of the remains of the crew. If anyone had any information, I would be most interested to hear from you!


Footnote - I have edited your email address so as not to attract spam - John
ganewfield ' at ' gmail. com ( replace at' with @ )

Hello list,

Further on the subject of remains within the wreckage of the aircraft, I have a copy of a communiqué sent to my great-grandparents concerning the fate of the remains of the crew. It is dated 9 January 1947, and is based on a report from the (RAF?) Missing Research and Enquiry Service:

"...the aircraft split up in mid-air and came down with its full load of bombs. The aircraft disintegrated over a wide area and very little was left of either the aircraft or of the crew. Mr. Janssens of Roermond saw the Germans fill three coffins and he also states that human remains were found in many parts of the wreckage. ... The cemetery list for Venlo shows that Sergeant Cardoo, Sergeant Chandler and Sergeant Stoddard are buried there together with an unknown pilot on the same day. Sergeant Stoddard however was not a member of this crew and it is presumed that he and the unknown pilot are members of another crew. From the information obtained from all sources in this [illegible] it is concluded that all members of the crew perished, and I understand that although exhumation of the grave might tell of the number of bodies buried it is quite certain that individual identification would not be possible."

The plaine is Crashed at Roermond Kapellerlaan, I found more peaces of the plane.
There is one place you can see that he exploded and there alot of parts tere.

Hi, I found this site on New Zealands Anzac Day recently, F/O Harold Tong was my uncle, he was from Auckland, New Zealand aged around 35, and single. He died before I was born so I did not know him other than a prominent photo of him in our house. Edward Ellison