Roll of Honour

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Name STANLEY
First names John Bottomley
Rank F/O
Service RAF
Service number 143258
Crew position Navigator
Age 26
Date of death 22/06/44
Cemetery Bergen op Zoom British War Cemetery

Photographed by Malcolm Brooke

49Sqn Association
Lt J F Stevens Pilot, Groundcrew, Sgt E Smith F/E, F/O J B Stanley Nav,
F/O J Smeaton W/Ag, Groundcrew; Groundcrew; Sgt T D Horne M/U,
Groundcrew, F/O K S Stokoe DFM B/A, Sgt L Pysden R/G.

The Lancaster is ME675 (EA-R)..........she failed to return from
Wesseling 21/22 June 1944 her 35th trip......the same raid where
F/O Stanley was killed (but in ND683)

21/22 June, 1944; WESSELING:
P/O Bert Shinn DFC and crew are known to have come down in the sea off the Dutch coast. P/O Shinn's body was washed ashore near Brouwershaven on 11 July, 1944; he is now buried at Bergan op Zoom. The body of F/Sgt Stanley Hawes was recovered from the beach at Wassenaar also on 11 July, 1944; he is buried in The Hague (Westduin) Cemetery. F/O John Stanley's body was recovered from the sea on 17 July, 1944; he rests with his skipper in Bergen op Zoom Cemetery.

That fateful morning at Fiskerton, as the station slowly stirred into life, those fresh from sleep found the whole situation incredulous; six empty dispersals. A bomber base becomes hardened, perhaps almost immune to a steady loss of crews, but on that Thursday morning, at Fiskerton, Dunholme, East Kirkby and Spilsby, all were totally stunned.
The total casualty list from the operation was 37 aircraft missing, representing 27.8 per centof the Lancaster force.

Lancaster ND683 (EA-K)
P/O A.W. Shinn DFC Pilot (Killed)
Sgt N.G.V. Pettit F/E (Missing)
F/O J.B. Stanley NAV (Killed)
F/S S. Hawes W/AG (Killed)
Sgt A.E. Dicken A/G (Killed)
P/O V.C. Cully RCAF B/A (Missing)
Sgt A. Armstrong A/G (Missing)

Crew on their 10th opeartion