N.B. I commissioned the painting 'The Valkyries Beckon' by noted aviation artist Matthew Emeny to commemorate and honour all the members of the crew of 'QR-E / W4192', not just our cousin John Northend. It depicts the men 'crewing-in' to the aircraft prior to taking off on the fateful mission that claimed their lives, hence the title.
With our family background and history of involvement with and service in the Royal Air Force, now in its fourth consecutive generation, and as a retired Officer in the Training Branch of the RAFVR myself, it definitely seemed the thing to do.
Copies of the painting have been given to members of the famiy including our 2nd cousin Chris Northend in Greater Manchester.
Shaun Parkes.
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.
According to an entry in the Minute Book of J.W. Northend Limited, Printers of Sheffield, John gained his matriculation from King Edward VIth School, Sheffield in 1937; he joined the firm to learn the rudiments of printing, it being the intention that John would eventually take control of the company in the fullness of time. He then attended the College of Technology in Leeds, continuing his education and training in the Department of Printing, being awarded the College's Diploma of Printing in 1940.
John was then called up for service and entered the RAFVR as an Aircraftsman, 2nd Class (AC2) on 23rd September 1940, days after his 20th birthday. After initial training in the UK he went to Rhodesia for flying training, then to Cape Colony (South Africa) for navigation, gunnery and bombing courses. He was appointed Sgt (Aircrew) on 31 Jan 1942. (London Gazette 19 May 1942 P2182). He arrived back in the UK in February 1942 and was granted a commission, undergoing night flying training on heavy bombers in Scotland and Wales. He also trained at 11 OTU 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.
The note in the Company's minute book goes on to say that John was posted on loan to Coastal Command at RAF St Eval near Padstow, in Cornwall, flying anti-submarine patrols as a navigator on Whitley bombers in the Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay. John joined No 61 (Hull's Own) Sqn in August 194, during which month a complete Lancaster Squadron was placed under the control of Coastal Command; it was indeed No 61 Squadron that flew to St. Eval on August 3 1942 to commence operations.
It may well be therefore that John went to St Eval with 61 Sqn, which had converted to Lancasters in May 1942. (61 Sqn never flew Whitleys so either John was posted to Coastal Command before joining 61 Sqn, or more likely that the previous reference to Whitleys is mistaken.)
61 Squadron returned to RAF Syerston. Whilst on 61 John took part in bombing missions over Germany and long-range missions to Italy.
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 their Lancaster B mk 1 serial number W4192 and carrying the 61 Sqn. markings QR-E, crashed somewhere in the area bordered by Düsseldorf, Ratingen and 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.
The crew were posted as 'Missing'. Four months later, word was received via the International Red Cross Committee that their aircaft had been 'shot down' and the crew all killed.
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 reburied on 28th November 1946 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: the crew of 'QR-E' / W4192:
Flight Lieutenant David Stapylton Gillet, Pilot and aircraft captain. Aged 22 from Leatherhead, Surrey.
Flying Officer John Edward Northend, Observer (Navigator). Aged 22 from Sheffield, Yorkshire.
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.
Of the 12 Observers (Navigators) on John's course at RAF Kinloss, 8 would be lost on active service. 3 were posted to 61 Sqn, John Northend and Sgts Preece and Worrow.
1377805 Sgt John Henry Worrow was lost on Operations 4 days after John, on 17Jan43, aged 32. His aircraft was Lancaster Mk 1 'QR-J' W4767on a mission to Berlin. The aircraft was caught in marine-borne searchlights and hit by multiple marine flak guns, crashing into a wood yard. He is buried at Kiel War Cemetery, Germany. (Grave: Section 1 : Row C: Grave 2.)
1174086 Sgt Robert John Preece was lost in a training accident on 18Feb43, aged 22. He was in Lancaster Mk 1 'QR-T' W4270 which crashed at 22:56 hrs in the circuit at RAF Bottesford in Leicestershire. The crew were all lost in the accident. From Bridgwater, he is buried in Wembdon (St George) Churchyard in Somerset. (Grave: Section C : Row A: Grave 14.)
