Crews posted to 462 Squadron RAAF, Bomber Command, UK:-

462 Squadron RAAF, 4 Group at Driffield in Yorkshire from August to December 1944, or to
462 Squadron RAAF, 100 Group, Foulsham in Norfolk from January to September 1945.

For crews stationed in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia (1942/1943/1944) please visit 462 Squadron RAAF, Middle East.

Link to photos of 462 Squadron at Driffield, August 1944 to end December 1944; also some more recent photos of the former RAF Driffield site.

Link to photos of 462 Squadron at Foulsham, January and September 1945, but mostly during February/March/April 1945 – full Squadron with Halifax; Pilots; Navigators; Bomb Aimers; Wireless Operators; Flight Engineers; Air Gunners A Flight, Air Gunners B Flight; Special Duties; "Top Brass".

Operational Air Crews August 1944 to May 1945.

Special Duties (WINDOW) Twelve Wireless Operators were Posted TO 462 Squadron Foulsham in January 1945, to dispense WINDOW. A second group of 12 W/Ops carried out Special Duties (WINDOW) from late April 1945. Names for both groups are listed in separate tables on this page.

Special Duties (Radio Counter Measures) Twelve Air Force personnel, with various former roles, were Posted TO 462 Squadron in early 1945 to carry out Radio Counter Measures. A second group of 10 personnel who arrived in April 1945 also belong to this section. Names for both groups are listed in separate tables on this page.

Un-aligned Air Crew personnel Names of those who were POSTED IN with other Air Crews between August 1944 and April 1945, but who were not listed in any subsequent Ops. They are listed by month of arrival, but they have not yet been matched with any crew, and their crew positions are not yet known. This list was updated for 6 April 2017.

Non-Operational Crews POSTED IN during late April or May 1945, or in June, July or August 1945, listed by month of arrival. The named crews were identified by Pilot and Crew members, after contact by some former Veterans of these crews, or by their family or friends. These Crews are not listed in Squadron Operational flights, but carried out training flights, and may have flown on Ruhr Tours, and bomb disposal by jettisoning over the North Sea. Some may have transported Senior personnel to and from Germany or Denmark, and possibly transported of ex-Luftwaffe PoWs to the UK. Such flights were mentioned in the Squadron ORB, however Pilots were not usually listed by name, but when they were, the names of the crew were not included.

Non-Operational personnel POSTED IN May to August 1945, but not yet identified by crew. This list was updated for 6 April 2017.

Office Staff and Ground Crew are listed separately, and names will be added when personnel are identified.
No list has yet been located of other non-operational staff, e.g. cooks and mess staff including waitresses, Officer's batmen and batwomen, drivers, Control Tower staff, radio operators, plotters, meteorologists; Intelligence Section staff; Photographic Section staff, etc, many of whom would have been WAAFs.

WAAF Staff (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) – posted to RAF Station Driffield, 4 Group (466 Squadron and 462 Squadron), OR to RAF Station Foulsham, 100 Group (192 Squadron RAF, and 462 Squadron). This list is incomplete.

Wanted please: Photos of crews of 462 Squadron at Driffield or Foulsham, or during their prior training at OTU or HCU; or photos of individual crew members; also names of non-operational personnel including WAAFs. If you can assist with photos, or wish to advise of errors on this page, or can provide full names etc., please make contact, including your source of information for verification. All contributors will be acknowledged. Thank you.

Information has been sourced from 462 Squadron Operational Record Books (ORBs); WW2 Nominal Roll; National Archives of Australia (NAA, Service Files, Casualty Files, and Aircraft Loss Files); Australian War Memorial; New Zealand Defence Force (Personnel Archives and Medals); Air Force Lists; London Gazette; and Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Various books and websites were also consulted to compare details, however discrepancies were noted between official records and authors. ORBs also contained typographical and factual errors. Some pages of the Squadron ORBs are difficult to read, especially when the carbon paper on the original pages had obviously required replacement, and the type-writer keys were worn and/or misaligned. This may be the reason for the differences in Names and Service Numbers, as quoted by various authors. Those names without Service Numbers and Air Force (i.e. RAF/RAFVR, RNZAF, RCAF), will have those details added after verification. Further errors have been noted in that some members were listed as POSTED IN, but were not in the POSTED OUT lists; others were not in the POSTED IN lists, but were later POSTED OUT. Some complete crews or groups were omitted in some month's documents (e.g. not POSTED IN were Breusch's Crew 30 during September 1944, Friend's Crew 36 during September or October 1944; Ely's Crew 39 during November 1944, and Lodder's Crew 44 during November 1944, Scharer's Crew 54 early January 1945; and a second group of 12 W/OPs for SD/WINDOW duties in April 1945). To further confuse issues, some members were listed in POSTING IN for two consecutive months (e.g. Langworthy's crew 34 POSTED IN October 1944 and again November 1944), similarly some members were POSTED OUT twice (e.g. Joseph Davidson DFC in July and August 1945). The lists of names on this web page have been compiled from monthly Squadron POSTING IN lists, monthly POSTING OUT lists (ORB Forms 540), and crew names from Ops (ORB Forms 541). Due to the state of the original records, these lists may still be incomplete.
(Please refer to Acknowledgements page for details of books and internet sites.)

Operational Air Crews August 1944 to May 1945

The list below is an amalgamation of information from all sources, following attempts to verify the accuracy of information.
Column 1 – Crew number. There does not appear to be any official list of crew numbers allocated by 462 Squadron during WW2. However on this site, the number relates to each crew, in the sequence of their posting to 462 Squadron. This system was used in "Phoenix – Book 2: The Reincarnation" by A.G.Batten; also by Authors of "Brave & True" (466 Squadron); as well as by the 466-462 Squadron Association for their records. Other authors simply refer to each crew by the Pilot's name.
Column 2 – Pilot, listed alphabetically by surname.
Columns 3 to 8 – Crew members, listed by their Role in that crew. Some crews had a sequence of members over time. These have been listed as 1, 2, 3 etc, in the relevant crew position. Some personnel flew with more than one Pilot, or flew with a different crew to "catch-up" on Ops if they had missed an Op with their usual crew. Others were not assigned permanently to a particular crew, see also see Column 9.
Column 9 "Special Duties" – additional 8th Crew member who was EITHER ....
.... the "Spare Bod" with no permanent crew or someone who wanted to "catch-up" an Op, and who dispensed WINDOW; OR ....
.... the German-speaking Special Duties Operator (SDO) who operated the Radio Counter Measures Equipment.
On some occasions, if both were required for a particular Op, there were 9 in that crew.
The substantive role for the "Spare Bod" (WINDOW Dispenser) when on ops with their usual crew is included in brackets after their name, e.g. Column 9 Special Duties, Leslie Edward Miles (F/Eng) 1894484 RAFVR was Killed in Action (KIA) in the role of Special Duties dispensing WINDOW with the Astill Crew, but he was usually a Flight Engineer with another crew (pilot Donald Grant Uther).

Those who were not permanently with any crew may also be listed separately. However, if they were on an Op with a crew that did not return, they are listed with that crew. Details of aircraft loss, grave sites, and PoW/Evader status will be included in each crew's page, to be created as an ongoing project.
Those with two Service Numbers include those who were commissioned, and whose original Service Number was changed (e.g. RAF/RAFVR). Note that some of the RAAF Service Numbers begin with the upper-case letter O, not the number zero/nought 0. On this web page, the Service Number as initially recorded in the Squadron ORBs is placed first.

Please note that this list is still a work in progress, initially concentrating on crews who were Killed in Action (names in RED), or who already have a page on this site, or who were mainly RAAF and records are therefore readily accessible. Click on the blue hyperlinks to go to a Crew page or to a page for an individual crew member which may include a photo of their crew.
PoW (in red) after a crew member's name indicates that he was taken Prisoner of War after the loss of that crew's Halifax.
Evader (in red) after a crew member's name indicates that he evaded capture (with or without assistance), and returned safely to the UK.
Any name followed by a ..... (?) .... indicates that details require verification.

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Special Duties (WINDOW) – The table below lists the first group of 12 RAAF Wireless Operators, all Flight Sergeants, who were Posted TO 462 Squadron Foulsham in January 1945, to dispense WINDOW. They were not permanently assigned to any one crew.

The following table lists the second group of 12 RAAF Wireless Operators, who were also SD WINDOW Dispensers from 17 April to 2 May 1945. They were Posted TO 462 Squadron Foulsham in early April 1945. They were not assigned to a permanent crew.

Name (Special Duties, WINDOW) April & May 1945	Service Number	Force
Lionel Owen BILLIN	433888	RAAF
Robert Ernest BURNS	430838	RAAF
Kenneth John DANSON	431279	RAAF
Percy Herbert Bryce EDWARDS	431769	RAAF
John Campbell EMSLIE	429541	RAAF
William Henry GELL	433869	RAAF
John Crosby HANTKEN	442423	RAAF
George Sandford KING	436814	RAAF
Keith Jefferey MACNISH	436925	RAAF
David John McRAE	436439	RAAF
William THOMSON	437601	RAAF
Henry Richard WILLIS-JONES	431650	RAAF

Other Airmen also carried out multiple Ops as Special Duties, WINDOW, e.g. Alexander Gordon TAYLOR, 423491 RAAF, who was initially a WOP/AG, later WOP, with several crews; but carried out 16 of his 25 Ops as WINDOW Dispenser with various crews. There is no record of his POSTING TO 462 Squadron in the ORB, but his Ops were recorded from 4 November 1944 to 2 May 1945.
Individual members of various crews also occasionally carried out WINDOW duties to "catch-up" on Ops.

Please refer to Special Duties (WINDOW), created for site update on 06 August 2017, for further details, and individual and group photos.
Two photos of some WINDOW personnel in VE Day celebrations, may also be seen on the 462 Squadron Foulsham page, with additional information there about the "non-WINDOW" personnel in the photos.

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Special Duties (Radio Counter Measures) – Twelve Special Duties Operators (SDOs), were posted TO 462 Squadron Foulsham in early 1945, to operate the Special Top Secret Equipment used in Radio Counter Measures. Only a select number of the Squadron's aircraft were fitted with this equipment. Some Ops were described as Protective Patrols (PP), others as Special Duties. These RCM/PP Ops commenced in mid-March 1945 and continued until early May 1945.

Table 1: SDOs, RCM – with Ops (may contain errors).

Ten RCAF and RAFVR personnel, some with names of possible German descent, were posted in during April 1945, but they were not listed in any Ops prior to cessation of hostilities.

Table 2: SDOs – RCM – No Ops (may contain errors).

Please refer to Special Duties – Radio Counter Measures for further details, and photos – created for site update on 06 August 2017.

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Un-aligned Air Crew personnel (24) who were POSTED IN with other Air Crews between August 1944 and April 1945 but who were not listed in any subsequent Ops. They are listed below by month of arrival, in the order of their arrival with Officers first, then NCOs. They have not yet been matched with any particular crew, and their crew positions are not yet known, but arrival sequence may indicate crew groupings. RAAF and RNZAF names and Service Numbers have been confirmed, as have those for RAF/RAFVR Officers. However errors may occur in the listings for RAF/RAFVR NCOs or RCAF personnel, as the ORB's are frequently difficult to read, and details differ between POSTING IN and POSTING OUT.
There were 12 new arrivals in April 1945. Of those 12, Cleyn carried out 1 Op in the RCM role, so is listed in the Table 1 above (SDO – RCM – with Ops). 10 of the 12 are now listed in Table 2 above (SDO – RCM, no Ops), having now been identified as previously serving as ABC Operators at 101 Squadron, but not carrying out any Ops in that role at 462 Squadron. Several have names of German extraction, and were possibly able to speak the German language as required for the RCM role.
If you can assist with corrections or crew identifications, please make contact.

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Non-Operational Air Crews POSTED IN to 462 Squadron during April and May 1945, and June, July and August 1945 after cessation of hostilities. The first table below lists identified crews, in order of arrival by month. They were identified by Pilot and Crew, after contact by some former Veterans of these crews, or their family or friends.

April 1945, 19 aircrew personnel were POSTED IN, one crew of 7 listed below, and the other individuals listed in the tables above.
May 1945, 35 aircrew personnel were POSTED IN. This indicates possibly 5 crews of seven, but crews have not yet been identified.
June 1945, 36 aircrew personnel were POSTED IN. Five complete crews have been identified by name and crew position, and are listed below in order of crew arrival. Two RAAF members of Forte's crew arrived on 31 May 1945, but the ORB lists the crew's POSTING TO the Squadron as June 1945.
July 1945, 3 aircrew personnel were POSTED IN to the Squadron, and in August 1945 another 11 were POSTED IN, possibly a complete crew of seven plus extras, but these have not yet been identified by crew.
September 1945, there were only POSTINGs OUT, due to the Squadron's disbandment.
RAAF and RNZAF names and Service Numbers have been confirmed, as have those for RAF/RAFVR Officers. However errors may occur in the unverified listings for RAF/RAFVR NCOs or RCAF personnel. The ORB's are difficult to read, and details often differ between POSTING IN and POSTING OUT. If you can assist with corrections, please make contact.

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Non-Operational air crew personnel POSTED IN during May, June, July or August 1945. The majority are RAAF, except for three RAFVR Officers in June and July 1945. Some of the names have been matched with a particular crew, and some of their crew positions have also been identified. For others, the crew and crew position are not yet known.

Known crews have been grouped together, otherwise the names are listed by month of arrival, in the order of their arrival with Officers first, then NCOs. There appears to be a code to identify the crews of 7, but one first needs to identify the Pilot, to then match up the other six crew members in a pre-determined sequence. Can you assist? If so, please make contact.

Arrivals for July and August 1945 appear to have been listed in numerical order of Service Numbers, so may or may not be complete crews.

This list was updated for 6 April 2017, after information was received from Michael Stark advising that ten had been posted from 192 Squadron, with Pilot Matthew and W/Op Dixon from the same crew. The list was again updated for 6 May 2017, with extra detail about the former 192 Squadron personnel.

Information has also been sourced from the relevant RAAF Service Files to identify some who were posted from 199 Sqdn, or 171 Sqdn, or other Halifax Squadrons, as the ORB does not list the locations of previous or later postings. Their crew positions were also sourced from the Service Files.

Actual dates are as recorded in the relevant RAAF Service Files, otherwise postings are by the month as per the 462 Sqdn ORB. The ten ex-192 Squadron personnel were all posted TO 462 Squadron on 28 May 1945, as were several from 199 and 171 Squadrons.

9 ACHU – 9 Air Crew Holding Unit, RAF Gamston.
11 PDRC – 11 Personnel Despatch and Reception Centre, Brighton.
192 Squadron – RAF Foulsham, flying Halifax
171 Squadron – North Creake, flying Halifax
199 Squadron – North Creake, flying Halifax

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Office Staff and Ground Crew.

Adjutant – Dudley Gilbert HIGHMAN, 406394 RAAF, POSTED IN 19 August 1944 at the rank of Flying Officer; Mentioned in Despatches June 1945 (London Gazette 37119, 14 June 1945); POSTED OUT September 1945 at the rank of Flight Lieutenant; was one of three members of the "Board of Survey for Disposal on Disbandment".

Arthur Howarth Sydney BROWN, 437673 RAAF; POSTED IN December 1944 at the rank of Flying Officer; crew position as Rear Gunner for S/Ldr Alan Gibson SWANN (crew 55); POSTED OUT Sept 1945 at the rank of Flying Officer; was the second member of the "Board of Survey for Disposal on Disbandment".

Ronald Charles BRAZIER, 31419 RAAF; date POSTED IN not recorded in ORB; POSTED OUT Sept 1945 at the rank of Sergeant; was the third member of the "Board of Survey for Disposal on Disbandment".

As members of the "Board of Survey for Disposal on Disbandment", F/Lt Highman, Sgt Brazier and F/O Brown were the last three from 462 Squadron to leave RAF Station Foulsham.

WAAF Staff (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) – List is incomplete

WAAFs at RAF Station Driffield, 4 Group – shared by 462 Squadron (August to December 1944) and 466 Squadron.

Rank included, if known ........
ACW2 – Aircraftwoman 2, equivalent to AC2, Aircraftman 2 for RAF
LACW – Leading Aircraftwoman, equivalent to LAC, Leading Aircraftman for RAF
Cpl – Corporal, same as for RAF
Sgt – Sergeant, same as for RAF
F/Sgt – Flight Sergeant, same as for RAF
Sec/O or S/O – Section Officer, equivalent to rank of Flying Officer in RAF

Sec/O Officer M STEVENS – Intelligence Section
Cpl Dorothy ISHERWOOD – Intelligence Section
LACW Muriel SMITH – Intelligence Section
LACW Josie UNDERHILL – Intelligence Section

Sgt Catherine CAMERON ("Tommy")
Sgt Catherine CAMPBELL
Sgt Dorothy PETTMANN
Sgt Annette JAMES ("Jimmy")
Sgt Marjorie GILBERT
Sgt Nancy WILSON
Sgt Kay IRVINE
Sgt ........ (a cook)
F/Sgt ........ (admin staff)
Sgt ...... 2 un-named (in group photo)
Sgt Nancy GIBSON
Sgt Maureen K McMASTERS ("Mack")
Betty ....... – Transport Driver
Peggy MILLS – General Duties, batwoman at Officer's Mess
Ann PENNY
Margot ...... (married name DAVIS) – Wireless Operator, Signals (in photo with José WOOD-BROWN)

Cpl Catherine Josephine WOOD-BROWN (José) – Meteorological Section
LACW ...... DAVIES – Meteorological Section
LACW ...... HAWKINS – Meteorological Section
LACW ...... 2 un-named – Meteorological Section (in group photo)
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WAAFs at RAF Station Foulsham, 100 Group – shared by 462 Squadron (January to September 1945) and 192 Squadron RAF (and other Units).

Un-named – Waitress, Squadron Mess
ACW2 Winifred Joan HAWGOOD – Signals, Control Tower
Joan BAXTER – Signals, Control Tower
Sheila ...... – Signals, Control Tower

For photos and further details, please view the page for WAAFs at Driffield & Foulsham

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Please visit again to view additional personnel information after monthly updates.

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