P/O Alec Puttock RAFVR and crew - 576 Squadron - RAF Elsham Wolds - 1944
Failed to Return - 16/17th June 1944 -Lancaster III - PA997 - Op Sterkrade
L to R - Warr, Jefferson, Lillicrap, Puttock, Templeton, Philp and Brown
Alec Puttock was born in Guilford in 1919. He lived at New Farm in Stevenage, known locally as “Donkeys Whim”. He attended both Shephall school and Stevenage Boys school. Little is know of his early life although I believe he had been fostered by a family called Stevens and is shown on the Stevenage War Memorial as Alec Stevens.
John Brown trained in South Africa and was husband of Kathleen Margaret Brown. ( both pictured below )
The Puttock crew was posted to 576 Sqn in early Jan 43
This crew flew a hard tour from the end of Jan and onto D Day and beyond They were lost on their 21st op to Sterkrade on the 16/17th June 1944.
27/01/1944 - Berlin - ME586 - Sgt A Puttock
30/01/1944 - Berlin - ME586 - Sgt A Puttock
15/02/1944 - Berlin - ME583 - F/S A Puttock
19/02/1944 - Leipzig - ME583 - F/S A Puttock
20/02/1944 - Stuttgart - ME583 - F/S A Puttock
20/04/1944 - Cologne - ME586 - W/O A Puttock
22/04/1944 - Dusseldorf - LL794 - W/O A Puttock - Crashed on take off. Aircraft swerved on take off and caught fire
24/04/1944 - Karlsruhe - JA868 - W/O A Puttock
26/04/1944 - Essen - JA868 - W/O A Puttock
27/04/1944 - Friedrichshafen - JA868 - W/O A Puttock
30/04/1944 - Maintenon - JA868 - W/O A Puttock
03/05/1944 - Mailly-le-Camp - JA868 - W/O A Puttock
07/05/1944 - Rennes St Jacques - JA868 - W/O A Puttock
10/05/1944 - Dieppe - LL800 - W/O A Puttock
19/05/1944 - Orleans- LL800 - W/O A Puttock
21/05/1944 - Duisburg - LL800 - W/O A Puttock
22/05/1944 - Dortmund - JA868- W/O A Puttock
24/05/1944 - Aachen- LL800 - W/O A Puttock
27/05/1944 - Aachen- LL800 - W/O A Puttock
05/06/1944 - St Martin-de-Varreville/Crisbeq - PA997- P/O A Puttock
14/06/1944 - Le Havre - PA997 - P/O A Puttock
16/06/1944 - Sterkrade - PA997 - P/O A Puttock - FTR - Crashed NNW of Dorsten, Germany.
Crashed at RHADE 9 km NNW of DORSTEN where those who died were first buried. Reported as flak victim. It is likely that the Lancaster started to break up in mid air because F/Sgt Jefferson's body was found East of Dorsten at HERVEST. All now rest in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery.
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P/O Alec Puttock RAFVR - Pilot - 25 – 576 Sqn - Son of Adelaide Victoria Puttock of Stevenage, Hertfordshire - Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany.
F/S L R S Templeton RAFVR – 576 Sqn – POW - Camp L7 - POW No 194
F/S John Brown RAFVR – Air Bomber - 22 – 576 Sqn - Husband of Kathleen Margaret Brown of West Croydon, Surrey - Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany.
F/S Thomas Jefferson RAFVR - Navigator - 22 – 576 Sqn - Son of Norah Jefferson of Bury, Lancashire - Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany.
F/S D Warr RAFVR – Wireless Operator – 576 Sqn - POW - Camp L7 - POW No 199
F/S Herbert Edgar Lillicrap RAFVR – Air Gunner - 19 – 576 Sqn - Son of Herbert Lionel and Kate Beatrice Lillicrap of Erith, Kent - Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany.
F/S Charles Philp RAFVR – Air Gunner - 20 – 576 Sqn - Son of Charles and Christina Cook Philp of Dunfermline, Fife - Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany.
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16 June 44 – Sterkrade – Germany - Synthetic Oil Plant - Night. 21 aircraft detailed. 10/10ths cloud covered the whole route there and back. Target, a synthetic oil plant, was obscured by cloud and crews bombed on the glow of the TIs or by H2S.
Flak was moderate to heavy predicted and intense barrage. Sightings of enemy aircraft were numerous and many combats were reported.
F/L Stockdale and crew and P/O Puttock and crew failed to return. All the rest of the crews returned to base.
Flt/O Sawyer had an abortive due to failure of navigation aid.
( 321 aircraft. Bombing was scattered but some loads fell in the plant area. The bombers passed near a German night fighter beacon at Bocholt which the German controller had chosen as his holding point. Consequently the fighters made early contact with the stream and took a heavy toll of the attacking force. )
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N.B. The Alec Puttock and Ken Murray crews were great friends. Murray's crew came back off their end-of-tour leave to find their friends had gone missing. It was quite a blow.
Compiled by David Fell mostly from 103 and 576 Squadron ORBs and Middlebrook’s Bomber Command War Diaries with photos from the Brown family
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