Robert Stanway Crawford RAFVR – 103 Sqn / 75 Sqn – WW2 – Pilot - 39717.
Robert Crawford was a pre war pilot who was promoted from P/O to F/O on 14 November 1939. He was serving with 103 Squadron at RAF Newton when they returned from France in June 1940. There is no indication that he actually served in France although he may have been a late replacement posted to the Squadron in the last few days from the reserve pool before the evacuation and return to the UK. He is not mentioned in any sources of having served in France however.
He flew the following operations with 103 Squadron in 1940/41 and was promoted to F/L on 26 November 1940 :-
07-Sep-40 - Calais - Invasion barges - Battle - K9471 - F/O RS Crawford - Bomb release failed and only part of load was dropped
12-Sep-40 - Boulogne - Invasion barges - Battle - K9471 - F/O RS Crawford
17-Sep-40 - Boulogne - Invasion barges - Battle - P2307 - F/O RS Crawford
24-Sep-40 - Boulogne - Invasion barges - Battle - P2307 - F/O RS Crawford
28-Dec-40 - Rotterdam - Oil Tanks - Wellington - N2770 - F/O RS Crawford
09-Jan-41 - Gelsenkirchen - Oil plant - Wellington - N2770 - F/O RS Crawford
16-Jan-41 - Wilhelmshaven - General attack - Wellington - N2770 - F/O RS Crawford
25-Feb-41 - Dusseldorf - General attack - Wellington - R1396 - F/O RS Crawford - Combat. Approached by twin engined enemy aircraft. Gunners opened fire. Enemy aircraft broke off.
28-Feb-41 - Wilhelmshaven - Docks - Wellington - R1396 - F/O RS Crawford
19-Aug-41 - Le Havre - Docks and shipping - Wellington - R1393 - F/L RS Crawford
22-Aug-41 - Mannheim - Post office - Wellington - X9774 - F/L RS Crawford - Unable to locate primary. Bombed alternative.
10-Sep-41 – Turin - Railway yards - Wellington - X9794 - F/L RS Crawford
12-Sep-41 - Frankfurt - Post office - Wellington - X9794 - F/L RS Crawford
16-Sep-41 - Karlsruhe - Communications - Wellington - X9794 - F/L RS Crawford - Unable to identify primary. Bombed secondary.
20-Sep-41 – Berlin - Air Ministry Building - Wellington - R1217 - F/L RS Crawford
26-Sep-41 - Cologne - Railway station - Wellington - X9774 - F/L RS Crawford – Aborted. Hit by flak. General recall. Returned to base.
30-Sep-41 - Stettin - Communications - Wellington - X9794 - F/L RS Crawford – Early return - Engine unserviceable
20-Oct-41 - Emden - Point of Aim - Wellington - X9794 - F/L RS Crawford
22-Oct-41 - Mannheim - Point of Aim - Wellington - X9794 - F/L RS Crawford – Early return. Unable to climb out of icing clouds.
On the 27 October 1941 he was posted to 3 BAT Flight Mildenhall for a Blind Approach Training Course but never returned to 103 Squadron.
He later served with 75 ( NZ ) Squadron in October 1942 and flew several operations on Wellingtons. Posted from 75(NZ) Squadron to Mildenhall on 9.12.42
He certainly remained in the RAF post war as he is noted in the London Gazette as F/L extended service ( four years on active ) list after WW2.
I shall be interested to know if anyone can add anything to that.
Compiled by David Fell with photos from my archive and WWP. Thanks to Chris Ward for the additional info
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