The Inspiration For The Project -

Flying Officer John Edward Northend RAFVR - 1920-1942

John Edward Northend was a cousin on my paternal side; Northend being my paternal grandmother's maiden name. John was the inspiration behind my MA project "Tell them of us".

The Northends originated from a small area which included the areas of Coley, Shelf, Low Moor, and Calderdale between Bradford and  Halifax in West Yorkshire. John's line of the family moved to Sheffield where his grandfather John William Northend, a Master Printer, founded his print house J W Northend in August 1889. 

'JW' had four sons, two of whom; Ernest and William Frederick; served in the 1/3 West Riding Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps in France throughout the First World War. William Frederick was John Edward's Dad, John's Uncle  Ernest winning the Military Medal on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916, for rescuing a wounded soldier from No Man's Land whilst under enemy shellfire.  

A third son, Edgar, served with the Honourable Artillery Company. Having spent two years in Leipzig working in a German print house to learn their techniques, he was fluent in German, and was therefore attached to the Royal Engineers Headquarters where he performed signals intelligence, interception and translation duties to monitor enemy activity. The oldest of JW's sons, Lewis, was debarred from military service due to chronic asthma, from which he perished in 1939.  

With a family history of service, it was perhaps inevitable that John Edward would serve, and he volunteered to serve in RAF Bomber Command. John trained at RAF Kinloss as an Observer and wore the 'O' aircrew brevet; his was one of, if not the last course to qualify as Observers, subsequent courses training as Navigators and wearing the 'N' brevet.

John was posted to no 61 Squadron (Hull's Own) at RAF Syerston. Coincidentally, Wing Commander Guy Gibson was at Syerston at the same time, commanding 106 Squadron. A few months later in May 1943, Gibson became famous for leading no 617 Squadron in the famous 'Dam Busters' raid, winning the VC in the process.

Sadly however, John Northend had already been killed in action by this time. Of the 12 Observers on his course, three were posted to no 61 Squadron in the autumn of 1942; all three were killed in action in the first five weeks of 1943. John's crew were killed when Lancaster B mk 1 serial number W4192 and carrying the 61 Sqn. markings QR-E, crashed near Mettman in Germany after successfully dropping its bombs on a raid in the Krupps works at Essen in the early hours of 13 January 1943.

The cause of the crash is unknown; some records suggest the aircraft was shot down, but I have searched the German records and can find no outstanding night fighter claim; all Luftwaffe night fighter claims for that night have been substantiated. Similarly there are no outstanding German anti-aircraft artillery (flak) claims either. The possible causes are mechanical failure, flak damage unobserved by the Germans, or damage caused by being hit by a bomb falling from an aircraft bombing at a higher altitude. 

John and his crew were originally buried at the Nordfriedhof (Northern Cemetery) where John and two other members of the crew occupied a common grave as they were not individually identifiable at the time. The crew were later reburied at the new Reichswald British War Cemetery at Kleve in Germany, formed to consoldidate British War Graves into a larger, specific cemetery. At this point all three previously unidentified bodies were positively identified and buried in individual graves, all seven crew members in a row, it being customary for crew members to be buried together wherever possible.

Requiescat in pace

Flying Officer John Edward Northend, Observer (Navigator). Aged 22 from Sheffield, Yorkshire. 

Flight Lieutenant David Stapylton Gillet, Pilot. Aged 22 from Leatherhead, Surrey. 

Pilot Officer Ronald Henry William Hatt, Air Gunner. Aged 23 from Barnet, North London.  

969408 Flight Sergeant John Charles Morgan, (Observer) Air Bomber. Aged 36 from Derby, Derbyshire.

913376 Sergeant Herbert Frank Burton, Air Gunner. Aged 24 from Cliffe-At-Hoo, Kent. 

1064318 Sergeant Edward Roberts, Wireless Operator / Air Gunner. Aged 29 from Hull, North Lincolnshire. 

1185774 Sergeant Albert Frederick Haden, Flight Engineer. Aged 22 from Shurlock Row, Berkshire.