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Bernard
Farndale 18 November 1912 to 30 August 1944
FAR00783
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RAF Sergeant who was
killed in action over Denmark, 30 Aug 1944 |
Headlines
of Bernard Farndale’s life are in brown.
Dates
are in red.
Hyperlinks
to other pages are in dark
blue.
References
and citations are in turquoise.
Context
and local history are in purple.
Geographical context is in green.
Bernard’s
story is now told in his
webpage in the Farndale Story. This page provides a chronological record,
with research notes.
Liverton
1912
Bernard Farndale,
son of Arthur Edwin and Mary Ann (nee Burns) Farndale (FAR00532), was born at Liverton on 18 November 1912 (1939 Register, BR,
Letter) His birth was registered in Middlesborough District in 1912 (GRO Vol 9D Page 1069).
Middlesbrough
1921
Arthur Edwin Farndale, 46, railway clerk
with the North Eastern Railway Company at Middlesbrough
Mary Annie Farndale, 50
George William Farndale, 24, single, a
shipping clerk with George Alder Limited at Middlesbrough
Arthur Edwin Burns Farndale, 19, single,
a shipping clerk with George Alder Limited at Middlesbrough
Alfred Farndale, an engine cleaner with
the North Eastern Railway Company at Middlesbrough
Dorothy Farndale,
11
Bernard
Farndale, 9
Albert Farndale, 6
Bernard and his family (kindly sent to
me by his granddaughter, Nicola)
If this was taken in about 1917, this
might be George William Farndale, Dorothy Farndale and Arthur Edwin Farndale in
the back row and Alfred Farndale, Albert Farndale and Bernard Farndale in the
front row.
1933
Bernard Farndale married Glenys
Muriel Picton Swales (Chemist’s assistant, 1913 to
2002) in 1932 at Merthyr Tydfil.
Merthyr
Tydfil
1934
Brian Picton
Farndale (FAR00931)
was born on 28 March 1934.
Young Brian, with his parents,
Bernard and Glenys
Bernard
in the middle, taken at the family house at Ingels Dean, Robin Hood’s Bay
Bristol
1939
1939 Register –
19 Charis Avenue, Bristol
Bernard Farndale, born 18 November
1912, spot assembler aircraft
Muriel GP Farndale (later remarried
Jenkins), born 10 July 1913.
1944
Over
Denmark
1824896
Sergeant Bernard Farndale, 115th
Squadron RAF, went missing believed killed in action over Denmark, on 30 August
1944.
On the night before 30 August 1944
nearly 600 RAF bombers flew over Denmark on bombing raids to Königsberg and
Stettin. Particularly the planes for Stettin were attacked by German night
fighters, when they were passing the northern part of Jutland and the Kattegat.
LAN ME718 was hit and flew for a moment through the air before it crashed like
a burning torch at Oue (about 400 m west of Rinddalsvej in Denmark). All of the
bomb load exploded on impact. All of the crew were killed.
ME718 was attacked by a German night
fighter and caught fire. At approx. 00:10 hours it crashed near Ove northeast
of Hobro killing all onboard. The bomb load exploded when the Lancaster hit the
ground spreading wreckage and human remains over a wide area. The Germans did
not want to collect the human parts and left them in the field.
The locals were appalled by this
behaviour and collected the remains in wickerwork baskets. The Wehrmacht
ordered the Danes to hand the baskets over, and these were thrown in the crater
at the crash site and covered. When the Germans had left the area, the locals
together with members of the Civil Air Defence opened the crater and placed the
remains in a coffin which was driven to Ove church.
On 4/9 1944 the flyers were laid to
rest in Ove cemetery unknown to the Wehrmacht, Vicar A. Bundgård officiating at
the graveside ceremony.
The crew was: Pilot F/Lt Edward
Chatterton RCAF, Flt. Engr. Sgt Bernard Farndale, Air bomber Anthony
Michael Kovacich RCAF, Navigator P/O William George Sankey, W/Op Sgt Leslie
Taylor, Air Gnr. P/O John Couzens Reeb, Air Gnr. Sgt Donald Bullock.
The German Wehrmacht took no steps
to bury the mortal remains of the 7 airmen in a decent manner. This caused
heart felt disagreements between the Danish bomb expert, other Danes and the
Germans. Later a coffin was procured. It was secretly brought to the chapel of
rest by the civil defence. On 4 November, 1944 the vicar A. Bundgård carried
out the funeral. The coffin was decorated with flowers, but there were only a
few mourners. Apparently the German Wehrmacht knew nothing of this funeral.
(Source: FAF)
As the German did not want to pick
up the many parts of bodies of the airmen, Danes picked them up into baskets.
The Wehrmacht ordered the Danes to hand over the baskets which then were buried
at the crash site. Danes later disinterred the bodies when the Germans had left
the area, procured a coffin and took it to the chapel of rest at Oue
Churchyard. (Source: Hjemmeværnets Historiske Samling i Himmerland about this
plane and its crew.)
One of those killed was Sergeant
(Flight Engineer) Bernard Farndale, 25, was the son of Arthur Edwin and Mary
Annie Farndale, of Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. (Source: CWGC)
"I know that my redeemer
liveth"
He is remembered on The Walls of
Names at the International Bomber Command Centre, Ph 2, P 162.
See monument to the 7 airmen from
LAN ME718 in Oue Churchyard. See parts of the plane found 2008:
The biggest parts of the plane were taken
away very soon, but John Sørensen and Torben Juhl, Oue in 2008 found these and
other parts at the crash site.
Lancaster I ME718 -
Oue at Hadsund
Airman Surname Init Rank Service Sqdn P_link Plane Operation Crash_site Crash_d Buried_d C_link At_Next
a072001.htm Bullock D Sgt RAF 115 p368.htm LAN ME718 Bomb G Oue at
Hadsund d300844 b040944 c072.htm Ove
or Oue
a072002.htm Chatterton E F/Lt RCAF 115 p368.htm LAN ME718 Bomb G Oue
at Hadsund d300844 b040944 c072.htm Ove
or Oue
a072003.htm Farndale B Sgt RAF 115 p368.htm LAN ME718 Bomb G Oue
at Hadsund d300844 b040944 c072.htm Ove
or Oue
a072004.htm Kovacich A M F/O RCAF 115 p368.htm LAN ME718 Bomb G Oue
at Hadsund d300844 b040944 c072.htm Ove
or Oue
a072005.htm Reeb J C P/O RCAF 115 p368.htm LAN ME718 Bomb G Oue at
Hadsund d300844 b040944 c072.htm Ove
or Oue
a072006.htm Sankey W G P/O RAF 115 p368.htm LAN ME718 Bomb G Oue
at Hadsund d300844 b040944 c072.htm Ove
or Oue
a072007.htm Taylor L Sgt RAF 115 p368.htm LAN ME718 Bomb G Oue at
Hadsund d300844 b040944 c072.htm Ove
or Oue
The Lancaster took off from RAF Witchford
at 2114 hrs on 29 August 1944.
DC/Letter - https://wartimememoriesproject.com/ww2/view.php?uid=236240
Sgt Bernard
Farndale. Royal Air
Force Volunteer Reserve 115 Squadron. From: Robin Hood’s Bay, Yorkshire. Died
30 August 1944. Sergeant (Flight Engineer) Bernard Farndale was the son of
Arthur Edwin and Mary Annie Farndale of Robin Hood’s Bay, Yorkshire. He was
aged 25 when he died and is buried at Ove Churchyard in Denmark.
No. 115 Squadron
RAF is a Royal Air Force squadron operating
the Grob Tutor,
training QFIs for the RAF's Elementary Flying
Training (EFT) squadrons and the University Air Squadrons, as well as
undertaking evaluation and standardisation duties.
115 Squadron was
formed during World War I. It was then equipped with Handley Page O/400 heavy
bombers. During World War II the squadron served as a
bomber squadron and after the war it flew in a similar role till 1958, when it
was engaged as a radio calibration unit. The squadron disbanded for the last
time as an operational unit in 1993, but reformed in 2008 at RAF Cranwell as
115(R) Squadron, part of 22 Group, operating the Grob Tutor before
moving to their present base
In the Second World
War the squadron took part in scores of raids and also played an active part in
Gardening (minelaying) for victory. In April 1940, while flying Wellingtons
(and while on temporary loan to RAF Coastal Command) it gained the distinction
of making the RAF's first bombing raid of the war on a mainland target-the
enemy-held Norwegian airfield of Stavanger Airport, Sola. Sixteen months
later, in August 1941, it undertook the initial Service trials of Gee, the
first of the great radar navigational and bombing aids. As a result of its
subsequent report on these trials Gee was put into large-scale production
for RAF Bomber Command.
The memoirs of Sydney
Percival Smith, a Royal Canadian Air Force Wellington
pilot, contain detailed personal descriptions of 115 Squadron missions in late
1942 from its base in RAF East Wretham. These were directed at targets in
Germany (including Bremen, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Munich) and Italy (Turin),
as well as mine laying in French ports (LeHavre, Brest, St. Nazaire, and
Lorient) and the Bay of Biscay.[7]
Hercules engined Lancaster IIs replaced
the Wellingtons in March 1943 and these were replaced by Merlin engined Lancaster Is and IIIs in
March 1944. Around this time the squadron relocated from RAF Little Snoring to RAF Witchford.
The squadron was retained as part of the post-war RAF and received Lincolns in
September 1949. The squadron was linked to No. 218 Squadron RAF from 1 February 1949
until 1 March 1950, when the squadron was disbanded at RAF Mildenhall.
By the end of the war, it had the distinction of being the squadron with the
most operational service, most losses by any one single unit and the most
tonnage of explosives dropped.
Aircraft operated in
August 1944 - Avro Lancaster
Operation 30 August 1944 From The Strategic Air Offensive
against Germany from Harly Munkholm:
586 LAN to
Stettin/K-bg. 38 lost: 12 planes in www.airmen.dk, 8 in Sweden, 4 in target
areas, 10 at sea, 4 without trace. Google Map 30 AUG 1944.
From the 12 planes
with 85 airmen 54 were buried in Denmark, 6 in Sweden, 13 have no known grave,
9 became POWs and 3 evaded to Sweden.
The 3 airmen were
Wasik from LAN PA163 crashed into the Lovns Bredning and Wilson and Loneon from
LAN PB436 crashed near Trend.
He was buried at Oue Cemetery, Oue, Denmark 1824896 Sgt B
Farndale:
Oue, 7 airmen from LAN ME718 who rest in
Oue Churchyard - monument unveiled 27 July, 1947.
Called
here in the hour of destiny, here rest in foreign ground (7 names) Erected by
friends.