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Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.
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69 Squadron Crest
23.02.1943 69 Squadron Baltimore II AG796 Flt Sgt. F.R. Oldrieve

Operation: Reconnaissance flight

Date: 23rd February 1943 (Tuesday)

Unit: 69 Squadron

Type: Baltimore II

Serial: AG796

Code: D

Base: RAF Luqua, Malta

Location: Mediterranean Sea

Pilot: Flt Sgt. Francis Reginald Oldrieve 1281595 RAFVR Age 22. Missing - believed killed

Obs: Fg Off. Richard Alexander Heywood 115165 RAFVR Age 28. Missing - believed killed

WOp/Air Gnr: Flt Sgt. James Chandler 403686 RAAF Age 28. Missing - believed killed

WOp/Air Gnr: Flt Sgt. John Bernard Sullivan 402891 RAAF Age 25. Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off from RAF Luqua in Malta at 10:25 hrs on an operational Reconnaissance flight - failed to return and assumed to be lost over the Mediterranean Sea.

No further details but we welcome any additional information that you may have?

Above and below: 69 Squadron at Luqua, Malta (courtesy IWM)

Burial details:

Flt Sgt. Francis Reginald Oldrieve. Alamein Memorial. Panel 270. Son of Mr. and Mrs. H.R. Oldrieve, of 35 Beresford Street, Stoke, Devon, England.

Fg Off. Richard Alexander Heywood. Malta Memorial. Panel 6, Column 2. Son of Richard Henry and Catherine Ann Heywood, husband of Mildred Doreen of 215 Denton Greens Lane, Heywood, St. Helens, Lancashire, England.

Right: Malta Memorial.

Flt Sgt. James Chandler. Malta Memorial. Panel 11, Column 2. Born on the 13th August 1914, the son of William and Alice Louise Chandler, of 40 Hattersley Street, Arncliffe, New South Wales, Australia. Prior to enlisting on the 2nd March 1941 he had been employed as a clerk.

Flt Sgt. John Bernard Sullivan. Malta Memorial. Panel 12, Column 1. Born on the 27th February 1917 the son of Christopher Patrick and Eliza Edith Sullivan, of Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia.

Researched for Dianne Galofaro of Longueville, New South Wales, Australia who sent in some great information on her relative, Flt Sgt. James Chandler - she has also kindly sponsored this page. For further details our thanks to the following sources shown below as well as information supplied by Alan Storr - Australian researcher and ex RAAF.

KTY - 23.10.2016

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Acknowledgements
Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and MWO François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
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