Young, Henry Melvin, son of Henry George Melvin Young, solicitor, of Hertford, and Fannie Forester, d. of George Dobbridge Rowan of Los Angeles; b. 20 May 1915; adm. May 1932 (B); left July 1934; Trin. Coll. Oxf., matric. 1934, rowed against Cambridge 1938; PO RAFVR Sept. 1938, FO Mar. 1940, Flt Lieut. Apr. 1941, Sqdn Ldr June 1942, DFC (Germany) May 1941, Bar to DFC (Middle East) Sept. 1942; m. 10 Aug. 1942 Priscilla, d. of Hobart Ranson of Kent, Con­necticut; killed in raid on Mohne and Eder dams 16 May 1943.

Henry Melvin “Dinghy” Young was born at Belgravia, London on the 20th of May 1915 the only son of Henry George Melvin Young, a solicitor, and Fannie Forester (nee Rowan) Young of 117, Fore Street, Hertford in Hertfordshire. He was educated at Amesbury School, Hindhead until 1928 when his family moved to California. He went on to Kent School in Connecticut in 1930 where he started rowing. He returned to England where he attended Westminster School where he was up Busby’s from May 1932 to July 1934. He matriculated for Trinity College, Oxford in 1934 where he was the winner of the Oxford University Coxless Fours in 1936. He rowed for the Leander Club at the Henley Regatta in 1937. He rowed in the Head of the River race in 1938 and was a member of the University Boat Race crew which defeated Cambridge in 1938 where rowed at No. 2. He was awarded a Blue for Rowing in 1938. He became a member of the Oxford University Air Squadron in 1937, where he was described by his instructor, Charles Whitworth, as: - “not a natural pilot”, as he was apparently heavy handed with the controls. He later wrote that he had: - “improved considerably.... was very keen and has plenty of common sense.”
He was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on the 13th of September 1938.
Following the outbreak of war, he reported for operational training to No. 1 Initial Training Unit, Royal Air Force on the 25th of September 1939 before going on to No. 9 Service Flying Training School.
During this period he wrote the following in a letter to the headmaster of Kent College: - “Since we had to have a war, I am more than ever glad that I am in the air force ...... though I haven’t yet had to face any of the conflict and killing of war. I am not frightened of dying if that is God’s will and only hope that I may die doing my duty as I should. In the meantime, I remain as cheerful, I think, as ever and try to keep others so”.
He was promoted to Flying Officer on the 13th of March 1940 and, on completion of his pilot training, he was posted to 102 Squadron, in June 1940.
On the 7th of October 1940, Henry Young took off in Whitley Mk V P4995 DY-P for a convoy escort mission over the Channel. During the mission the aircraft suffered from engine failure and was forced to ditch into the sea. All five of the crew managed to climb into the dinghy before the aircraft sank less than five minutes later.
The crew was: -
Flying Officer Henry Melvin Young (Pilot) (Killed in action 17th of May 1943)
Sergeant Ralph Collier (2nd Pilot) (Killed in action 28th November 1940)
Sergeant Burns
Sergeant Bird
Pilot Officer Forsdyke
They spent twenty two hours in their dinghy before they were rescued by the destroyer HMS St Mary. Their rescue was documented by Life Magazine which had one of its reporters on the board the destroyer who was writing a piece on air sea rescue operations.
The following appeared in Life Magazine’s edition of the 2nd of December 1940: - “Their raft is a huge orange doughnut, and within its circle five men are squatting, one of them frantically waving a canvas paddle aloft . . . One fellow paddles frantically until the raft bumps the ship’s side. Now our propellers boilingly backwater at the command and ropes go writhing down toward their grasping hands. A ship’s ladder goes over our side . . . One of the aviators rises wildly, unsteadily grapples at a rope, is too weak to wrap it around him, topples into the sea. Instantly a sailor goes over our rail, comes up behind the man with the loose-rolling head and wild eyes just out of the water. He ties the rope under his arms and pushes him to the dangling ship’s ladder. But he’s too weak to manage the rungs with cold hands and feet, so three sailors pull his sea-chilled body up and over out of sight of land in spite of all they could do. the side. The others with a little help from our sailors mount the wooden rungs and reach the solid safety of steel deck, and are half led, half carried down to the cozy warmth of our wardroom. Lying limp on the table, sprawled on the chairs, they are too weak even to raise their arms as we strip off their wet wool uniforms to be taken to the boiler room to dry. Their sea-water soaked flesh feels cold and dead, the texture of cold boiled oysters. Slowly then they mumble out the story. Their big bomber on patrol came down in the sea yesterday. They had just 60 seconds after it struck the water to toss their inflatable life raft in the sea and climb on before the plane sank. That afternoon they drifted. All night they slapped and rubbed each other to keep awake, which meant keeping alive. The water seemed warmer than the air. An hour after dawn they sighted a ship, waved frantically. She came within a hundred yards. They shouted and screamed at her but she passed without seeing them. They were getting ready for another night. They’d saved half their flask of brandy, intending to drink it in one big party at midnight. No, they don’t want food. Just a drink of water and then sleep. So, rubbing them down with hot, rough towels, we roll them into thick wool blankets, tuck them into our bunks where they sink immediately into sleep.”
Henry Young and his crew took off from RAF Topcliffe at 5.25pm on the 23rd of November 1940 in Whitley Mk V T4216 DY-F for an operation to Turin as one of four aircraft from the Squadron. Henry Young’s aircraft dropped two sticks of bombs on the city’s railway station from a height of 9,500 feet scoring hits on the target and adding to the large fires seen on the ground. On its return from the raid the aircraft ran short of fuel and was forced to ditch into the sea off Start Point below Topcross in Devon at 4.45am, some fifty miles out to sea. Although two of the crew were slightly injured they managed to climb into the dinghy. A search and rescue operation was mounted and the dingy was spotted by a Lysander at 5.20pm. The crew was picked up some twenty miles off the coast of Portsmouth after spending many hours at sea.
The crew was: -
Flying Officer Henry Melvin Young (Pilot) (Killed in action 17th of May 1943)
Pilot Officer Frederick George Malim (2nd Pilot) (Killed in action 13th of March 1941)
Sergeant R.G. Bristow
Sergeant Walter Edward Craven (Killed in action 8th of April 1941)
Sergeant Alfred Pearsall Clifford-Reade (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner) (Killed in action 15th of April 1941)
The crew was treated for shock and minor injuries at the Royal Naval Hospital at Plymouth.
These two events led to him being given the nickname “Dinghy”.
He completed his tour of operations with 102 Squadron in February 1941 and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, which was announced by the Air Ministry on the 9th of May 1941.The citation read: - "This officer has carried out 28 bombing missions involving 230 hours flying as well as 6 convoy patrols on which some 40 hours were spent in the air. His operational flights include attacks on important targets in Germany and Italy. On two occasions he has been forced down on the sea, on one of which he was in the dinghy for 22 hours in an Atlantic gale. On both occasions his courage and inspired leadership, combined with a complete knowledge of dinghy drill, were largely responsible for the survival of his crews."
He was promoted to Flight Lieutenant on the 6th of April 1941.
He served for a while in a training unit before joining 104 Squadron in September 1941 and serving with them in Egypt and Malta. On completion of his second tour of operations he was awarded a Bar to his Distinguished Flying Cross, which was announced by the Air Ministry on the 18th of September 1942.
He was promoted to Squadron leader on the 1st of June 1942.
Following the completion of his second tour of operations, he was posted to the Royal Air Force Delegation in Washington DC in July 1942. While he was there he proposed to Pricilla (nee Rawson) of Ravenscroft Farm, Kent, Connecticut, who he had met when he had attended Kent School. They were married at Kent School Chapel on the 10th of August 1942 in a service which was conducted by the Reverend W.S. Chalmers.
On his return to England in February 1943 he was posted to No. 1660 Conversion Unit based at RAF Swinderby, where he began training with a new crew on Lancasters on the 1st of March 1943. He joined 57 Squadron, based at RAF Scampton on the 13th of March 1943 where he was placed in command of C Flight. Within a few days of arriving at Scampton he, his crew and the four other aircraft from C Flight were transferred to 617 Squadron which was being formed at RAF Scampton by Wing Commander Guy Gibson from the 21st of March 1943. It was being assembled specifically to carry out a mission code named “Operation Chastise” and would be using a new bomb code named “Upkeep” to attack the German dams in the Ruhr. As the dams were protected by anti torpedo nets the bomb had been designed by Barnes Wallis of the Vickers Aircraft Company to skip across the water and to sink against the dam walls. The attack was to be delivered by specially adapted Lancasters at night and at very low level during the full moon in May.
He and his crew transferred to the other side of the airfield where they began an intensive program of low flying over water at night.
The crews received their final briefing for the operation at 6pm on the 16th of May 1943, which lasted for two hours. Henry Young’s crew, were to be in the first wave of nine aircraft which was to head for the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams and would take off in groups of three at ten minute intervals. The second wave was to consist of five aircraft which would head for the Sorpe while the third wave, made up of five aircraft would take off 5 hours and 30 minutes later as a reserve.
Henry Young and his crew took off from RAF Scampton at 9.47pm on the 16th of May 1943 in Lancaster Mk III ED887 G AJ-A for the operation. One of the aircraft in the first wave had an engine problem and took off 20 minutes after the others had departed.
The leading wave arrived over the Möhne dam at 12.15am where Gibson assigned five of his remaining aircraft to make the attack. His was the first aircraft to attack, under fire from three light anti aircraft towers on top of the dam, and he dropped his bomb at 12.28am. The bomb landed against the dam wall, some 150 yards from the centre of it, where it exploded but did not breach it. Two further attacks had been made with no success when Henry Young began his run towards it for the fourth attack.
Mickey Martin’s Lancaster flew alongside him to bring fire onto the anti aircraft guns and to draw their fire away from Young’s aircraft. Young’s bomb also landed against the dam, did not breach it but created a crack in it which was seen by crew of the next aircraft to attack. The fifth attack also landed against the dam sending a 1,000 foot plume of water into the air but with no breach. As Gibson gave orders for the next aircraft to begin its attack run the dam began to crumble and then collapse, sending a wall of water down into the valley below.
Gibson then led the three aircraft still carrying their bombs towards the Eder dam which was breached by the third and last aircraft to make its attack. The code word sent back to Scampton to confirm the destruction of the Eder Dam was “Dinghy”. On its return home, Henry Young’s aircraft was crossing the Dutch coast at Castricum-aan-Zee when it was hit by anti aircraft fire from an enemy coastal flak battery and crashed into the sea at 2.58am with the loss of the entire crew.
The crew was: -
Squadron Leader Henry Melvin Young DFC and Bar (Pilot)
Sergeant David Taylor Hosfall (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Wilfred Ibbotson (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Vincent Sanford MacCausland RCAF (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Lawrence William Lauire” Nichols (Wireless Operator)
Flight Sergeant Charles Walpole Roberts (Navigator)
Sergeant Gordon Arthur Yeo (Front Gunner)
Five of the crew’s bodies were washed ashore over the next thirteen days, with Henry Young’s body and that of David Horsfall being washed ashore on the 29th of May 1943. They were buried two days later.
He is commemorated by the Melvin Young Room at Kent School, the Admissions office through which every new student passes through on their arrival at the school.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Trinity College, Oxford.
A memorial to the crew was unveiled at Castricum-aan-Zee on the 18th of May 2018.
He is buried at Bergen General Cemetery Plot 2, Row D, Grave 4.

Zoephel, Peter Charles, son of Ernest Charles Zoephel of Chislehurst, Kent, and Dorothy Frances Gertrude, d. of Capt. William George Romeril MN, of Blackheath; b. 8 Sept. 1921; adm. Sept. 1935 (R); left Apr. 1939 and went to Milton Academy Boston, Mass.; Harvard Univ.; PO RCAF Ferry Command; lost at sea in the South Atlantic Jan. 1943.

Peter Charles Zoephel was born at Blackheath, Kent on the 8th of September 1921 the eldest son of Ernest Christopher Zoephel. Chairman and owner of the British Domolac Company Ltd, paint works of Woolwich, and Dorothy Frances Gertrude (nee Romeril) Zoephel of “Elmstead Garth”, Chislehurst in Kent, later of Little Common, Bexhill-on-Sea. He was educated at Carn Brea Preparatory School, Bromley from 1931 to 1935 and at Westminster School where he was up Rigaud’s from September 1935 to April 1939. He served as a Cadet in the Officer Training Corps from September 1935 to 1939. He went on to the Milton Academy, Wilton Massachusetts for a short time in 1939 before entering Harvard University later the same year as a member of the Class of 1943, where he read Economics and Languages, but left for Canada in late 1940 to volunteer for military service.
He attended a medical examination on the 4th of January 1941 where it was recorded that he was 5 feet 10 and 3/8ths of an inch tall and that he weighed 152lbs. It was also recorded that he had hazel eyes, brown hair and a fair complexion. He attested for service as an Aircraftman 2nd Class in the Royal Canadian Air Force for the duration of the war at the Royal Canadian Air Force Recruiting Station at Montreal on the 7th of February 1941. He was posted to No. 4 Bombing and Gunnery School at Fingal, Ontario on the 2rd of March 1941 and to No. 1 Initial Training School at Toronto on the 29th of March 1941. He was promoted to Leading Aircraftman on the 20th of August 1941 and joined No. 10 Elementary Flying Training School at Hamilton, Ontario on the 21st of August 1941 where he trained as a pilot. Having ceased training as a pilot at his own request, he was posted to No. 10 Air Observers School at Chatham, New Brunswick on the 27th of October 1941 to receive training as a navigator. On the 15th of March 1942 he was posted to No. 29 Navigators School at Pennfield Ridge, New Brunswick. He was promoted to Sergeant on the 14th of March 1942 and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer on the 13th of April 1942. He was posted to No. 31 General Reconnaissance Squadron at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on the 9th of May 1942 and was attached to the Ferry Command, Royal Air Force at Dorval, Quebec on the 23rd of July 1942. He was promoted to Flying Officer on the 13th of October 1942.
On the 16th of January 1943, Peter Zoephel and his crew boarded Liberator C87 41-11708, of 12 Squadron, 12th Ferry Group United States Transport Command, at Accra in Ghana as passengers, bound for the United States air base at Natal in Brazil and then on their base at Dorval. On board was a crew from the United States Air Transport Command, who had ferried a Boeing B-17 aircraft from Miami to Africa and were returning home. Also on board was a crew from Royal Air Force Ferry Command and four other passengers. The aircraft took off at 11.30pm that night but failed to arrive at its destination and all on board were lost.
The crew was: -
Captain Orval Eknes (Pilot)
Captain Felton Barton Lancaster (2nd Pilot)
Second Lieutenant Joseph F. Peoples (Navigator)
Master Sergeant Alvin A. Young (Radio operator)
Sergeant James N. Clauss (Crew Member)
Master Sergeant Charles W. McKain (Crew Chief)
The passengers were: -
The United States Air Transport Command crew was: -
First Lieutenant John Allen Byler (Navigator)
First Lieutenant Hugh Parker Minor Sr. USAAF (2nd Pilot)
Major Arthur Mills USAAF (Pilot)
Corporal Joseph P. Braniff USAAF
Corporal Grover Kirby Trees Jr. USAAF
The Royal Air Force Ferry Command crew was: -
Flight Lieutenant Herbert James Martin (RCAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Harold Victor. Lamb RAAF (Wireless Operator)
Flight Sergeant John Henry Warman RCAF (Navigator)
Captain Paul Bleecker Makepeace (American Civilian Pilot)
Radio Officer Clinton Blackwell Berry (Canadian Civilian Wireless Operator)
Flying Officer Peter Charles Zoephel RCAF (Navigator)
Captain William Richard Nixon (Canadian Civilian Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Norman Patrick Drury (Radio Operator)
Flying Officer William Thomas Wright Smithson (Navigator)
Sergeant John Lowery Bell (Navigator)
Flying Officer Geoffrey Addison Clegg (Pilot)
Radio Officer Otway Cecil McCombie (Canadian Civilian Wireless Operator)
The passengers were: -
Lieutenant Colonel Russell Reed Brunner US Army (Pilot)
Colonel Douglas Cornell MacKeachie DSM US Army (Director of Procurement European Theatre of Operations)
Major Arthur Mills US Army
Air Commodore Desmond Herlouin De Burgh AFC
An extensive search was mounted which lasted until the 29th of January. On the 4th of February, the destroyer USS Kearney found a life raft some 60 miles from the coast of Brazil, to the east of Ponte Negro. It contained the body of one of the passengers. The following day another raft was discovered containing the body of Major Arthur Mills and with six life jackets on board. The evidence on board the raft led to the conclusion that there had been others on board who had died and had probably been buried at sea by others, other than the last man to have died.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Harvard University.
He is commemorated on the Ottawa Memorial Panel 2, Column 3.

Long-Hartley, Paul, son of Arthur Norman Long-Hartley and Rosa Pauline, d. of Paul Long; b. 18 Apr. 1924; adm. Sept. 1937 (B); left July 1938; Flt Serg. Pathfinder Force RAF; killed in action 16 June 1944.

Paul Long-Hartley was born at Islington, London on the 18th of April 1924 the only son of Arthur Norman Long-Hartley and Rosa Pauline (nee Long, later King) Long-Hartley of 49, Barrington Court, Muswell Hill in Middlesex. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Busby’s from September 1937 to July 1938.
He enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve where he trained as an Air Gunner and rose to the rank of Flight Sergeant.
On the night of the 15th/16th of June 1944, Bomber Command dispatched 119 Lancasters, 99 Halifaxes and 9 Mosquitos for operations on the railway yards at Lens and at Valenciennes. The weather was clear and the target was accurately bombed.
Paul Long-Hartley and his crew took off from RAF Little Staughton at 11.55pm on the 15th of June 1944 in Lancaster Mk III ND502 60-N for the operation on Lens. Paul Long-Hartley was not a regular member of this crew but was on standby that night as the crew’s regular mid upper gunner had burned his hand and he agreed to take the injured man’s place. Having bombed the target the aircraft was heading home when it was attacked by two enemy night fighters and shot down. It crashed at St Catherine near Arras at 1.20am with the loss of all but one of the crew.
The crew was: -
Pilot Officer Norman James Tutt (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Sidney Parr (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Harold Harris (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Richard Harry Ames (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Paul Long-Hartley (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer William Thomas Williams (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Robert Frederick Boots (Wireless Operator) (Evaded)
Theirs was one of six aircraft which were lost during the raid on Lens.
The only survivor from the aircraft was wireless operator Robert Boots, who later wrote: - “After bombing the target at Lens we were attacked by two enemy aircraft and the order was given to bale out. As the dead body of the navigator was blocking the escape hatch, I could not get out there. Flames enveloped the aircraft and suddenly I was blown out and found myself in mid-air. I landed at about 0100 hours in a field SW of Lens, and walked until I reached a cemetery where I slept the night.”
In the morning he made his way to Arras and on to Beugnatre where he was taken in by the village Mayor. He was moved to Billy Montigny which was liberated by Allied troops on the 2nd of September 1944 and he returned to England on the 11th of September 1944.
His mother received the following letter dated the 21st of June 1948: -
“It is with deep regret that I refer again to the sad loss of your son Flight Sergeant Paul Long-Hartley, but I wish to inform you that investigations undertaken by the Royal Air Force Missing Research and Enquiry Service in France have now been completed, and the following facts made known. His aircraft was shot down over the target area by a German night fighter and crashed at St. Catherine, in the northern suburbs of Arras, at 1.20am on the 16th June, 1944. Unhappily, the only survivor was Flight Sergeant Boots, who bailed out and successfully evaded capture. Upon arrival at the scene of the crash, the Germans recovered the bodies of the other six members of the crew and identified one as Pilot Officer Tutt, whom they buried in Grave 9, at St. Catherine Cemetery. Three others, whose identities could not be determined, were interred together in Grave 10, while the remaining two were taken to the Institute Pathologique, Arras prior to burial elsewhere. Enquiries made locally indicated that these two airmen were your son and Flying Officer Williams, and it was believed at first that they had been buried together in the 1914-18 British Cemetery at Arras, in Grave 4, Row 8A. Exhumation subsequently undertaken however, disproved this theory, and further extensive enquiries revealed that they had in fact been buried as unknown in Grave 69 and 71 at Arras Communal Cemetery. In an endeavour to confirm identity, exhumation was undertaken, but unhappily, it was found that both had been buried without clothing and neither could be identified. In such circumstances it was decided that in order to provide for their correct commemoration, they should be re-interred with their unidentified comrade in the grave adjacent to Pilot Officer Tutt’s at St. Catherine Cemetery. Grave 10 has therefore now been made the communal place of burial of all five members of the crew not individually identified, and re-registered accordingly in the names of Flight Sergeants Ames, Parr and Harris, Flying Officer Williams and your son. In conveying these final burial details, I wish to add that his pay book, identity card and driving licence have now been received with captured German documents relating to the crash. I am enclosing the driving licence for your retention but the other two items will be retained with your son’s official records”
He is buried at Ste. Catherine Communal Cemetery Row 2, Collective Grave 5.

Mango, Anthony Constantine John, son of J. T. Mango, ship broker; b. 11 Dec. 1921; adm. Jan. 1935 (H); left July 1938; PO RAFVR July 1943; killed in action over northern France 29 Feb. 1944.

Anthony Constantine John Mango was born at Paddington, London on the 11th of December 1921 the son of John Anthony Mango, a shipbroker, and Marie John (nee Kararodori) Mango of 71, Portsea Hall, Connaught Square, Knightsbridge in London. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Homeboarders from January 1935 to July 1938.
He enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve where he trained as a navigator and rose to the rank of Sergeant before being commissioned as a Pilot Officer on the 21st of June 1943. He was promoted to Flying Officer on the 21st of December 1943.
Anthony Mango and his pilot, Flying Officer Robert Wilgar Offler RCAF, took off from RAF Hunsdon at 9.45am on the 29th of February 1944 in Mosquito FB Mk IV LR403 YH-U to attack a V1 rocket “Doodlebug” launch site at Calleville. As the aircraft crossed the French coast it encountered severe snowstorms and heavy icing. It was last seen flying in a snowstorm at 3,000 feet about one and a half miles to the east of Eurville but did not return from its mission.
Theirs was one of two aircraft from the Squadron which were lost during the raid.
He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial Panel 207.

Kiralfy, Dennis Maurice Gerald, son of Gerald Archibald Kiralfy MBE and Margaret Milner, d. of John Milner Harker; b. 19 Mar. 1913; adm. Sept. 1926 (H); left Dec. 1930; Pembroke Coll. Camb., matric. 1932, BA 1935; swam and played water polo against Oxford 1936; Brit. Avia­tion Insurance Co. 1936-9; Dept. of Civil Aviation Air Ministry 1939; FO RAFVR 1938; killed on active service 1 Jan. 1941.

Dennis Maurice Gerald Kiralfy was born at Kensington, London on the 19th of March 1913 the only son of Gerald Archibald Kiralfy MBE, an architect, and Margaret Milner (nee Harker) Kiralfy of 9, Addison Crescent, London, later of Oak Grove, Churt in Surrey. He was christened at the Church of St John the Baptist, Kensington on the 3rd of June 1913. He was educated at Linton House School from 1921 to July 1926 and at Westminster School where he was up Homeboarders from September 1926 to December 1930. He matriculated for the City and Guilds Engineering College at South Kensington in September 1931 and was accepted as a student member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers on the 17th of November 1931. He resigned his membership on the 2nd of January 1933.
He matriculated for Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1932 where he achieved a BA in 1936. He represented Cambridge University at swimming at Wembley against Oxford University on the 27th of June 1936 and also was also a member of the University at Water Polo team in 1936. He was on the staff of the British Aviation Insurance Company from 1936 to 1939 when he left to join the Department of Civil Aviation Department at the Air Ministry where he was appointed as a Junior Operations Officer in the Directorate of Operational Services.
He was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the Reserve of Air Force Officers on the 22nd of September 1936 and was promoted to Flying Officer on the 22nd of March 1938. He resigned his commission in order to accept a commission on the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve with the rank of Pilot Officer on the 20th of October 1938 and was promoted to Flying Officer from the same date, with seniority from the 22nd of March 1938.
Dennis Kiralfy took off from RAF Bircham Newton in Hudson Mk I T9287 for a transit flight to a satellite airfield where the aircraft was to drop off three airmen and then continue on for an orientation flight of the general area. The aircraft was flying at low level near to the satellite airfield when its port wing hit a barn at Barn Field, North Street, Longham in Norfolk. The aircraft crashed into a ploughed field at 2.48pm where it caught fire, killing all on board.
The crew was
Flying Officer Henry Edward Middleton Featherstone (Pilot)
Leading Aircraftman Kenneth Charles George Gilder (Air Gunner)
Leading Aircraftman William Arthur Meller (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Robert Arthur Plowright (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Roy McKenzie Mansell (3rd Pilot)
Pilot Officer John Buttemer Allen (2nd Pilot)
Flying Officer Dennis Maurice Gerald Kiralfy (4th Pilot)
Aircraftman 1st Class George Alexander Meridew (Air Gunner)
His father received the following telegram dated the 2nd of January 1941: - “Deeply regret to inform you that your son Flying Officer Dennis Maurice Gerald Kiralfy is reported to have lost his life as the result of an aircraft accident on January 1st 1941. Letter follows. The Air Council express their profound sympathy.”
An inquiry into the accident concluded that: -“All the occupants were killed and the exact cause of the accident will never be fully established. The pilot was very experienced and had a reputation for steadiness and reliability, the error of judgement that he made with such tragic results is in this case almost inexplicable. The pilot’s instructions were to drop 3 airmen at the satellite aerodrome to work on an aircraft which was urgently required, then to take 2 new pilots round the district to show them various landmarks, the situation of the satellite and the orientation of the aerodrome generally.”
His funeral took place on the 7th of January 1941.
He is buried at St Alban’s Church, Hindhead.

Groves, Louis Grimble, son of Keith Grimble Groves, barrister-at-law, and Dorothy, d. of Louis Herbert Moore; b. 1 Apr. 1921; adm. Jan. 1935 (R); left Dec. 1938; Univ. of Glasgow; RAF in WW2 (Serg. Met. Air Observer); killed on operational duties 10 Sept. 1945.

Louis Grimble Groves was born at Chelsea, London on the 1st of April 1921 the only child of Major Keith Grimble Groves, a barrister at law, and Dorothy (nee Moore) Groves of 4, York House, Kensington in London, later of “The Varrey”, Kirk Maughold on the Isle of Man. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Rigaud’s from January 1935 to December 1938. He went on to the University of Liverpool where he was studying naval architecture when the war broke out.
He enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, trained in Canada and rose to the rank of Sergeant. On his return to the UK he was based at the Metrological Office at RAF Brawdy.
Louis Groves and his crew took off from RAF Brawdy on the 10th of September 1945 in Halifax B (Met) Mk III RG380 X9-N on an “Epicure” sortie, to gather information on the weather over the North Atlantic. On their return to base, they were diverted to RAF Weston Zoyland due to bad weather. There was fog over Weston Zoyland when they arrived there and the aircraft was seen to pass over the airfield but, due to radio interference, communications were poor and it turned away. The aircraft was flying at a height of 1,000 feet when it crashed in dense fog into an escarpment in the Quantock Hills above Crowcombe Hall, to the south west of Williton in Somerset at 7.54pm, killing all on board.
The crew was: -
Pilot Officer Keith Gordon Proverbs (Pilot)
Flying Officer John Joseph Frederick Hobden
Flying Officer Lindsay George McMillan
Flying Officer Patrick Alfred Bee
Warrant Officer Roy Donald Cartwright
Flight Sergeant Dennis Norman Everett
Sergeant Louis Grimble Groves (Metrological Observer)
Sergeant John Macilrick Bryce Gordon (Metrological Observer)
Flight Sergeant Robert William Vinton
His funeral took place on the 15th of September 1945.
A Correspondent wrote of him: - “Louis Grimble Groves was a fine young man, a fine sportsman and extremely popular with all who knew him. He spent all his holidays in the Isle of Man and his many friends here and elsewhere will deeply regret his untimely death.”
The L. G. Groves Award was established in his memory by his parents in September 1946. The award is made to recognise those who work to improve safety in the aviation industry. A memorial was placed at the crash site in 2016.
He is buried at St Maughold’s Church.

Halsall, David Richard, son of Leslie Albiston Halsall, East India merchant, of Bombay, and Gwynedd May, d. of William Llewellyn Preece; b. 30 Oct. 1920; adm. Sept. 1934 (KS); left Dec. 1938; RMA Woolwich; RE 1940-2 (Lieut.); killed in a bomb disposal accident (Middle East) Sept. 1942.

David Richard Halsall was born at Bombay, India on the 30th of October 1920 the only child of Leslie Albiston Halsall, an East India merchant, and Gwynedd May (nee Preece) Halsall of Bombay, later of “Gwyn”, Rances Lane, Wokingham in Surrey. He was educated at Westminster School, where he was admitted as a King’s Scholar, from September 1934 to December 1938. He was a member of the Photographic Society and won its First Prize in 1938.
He left school early when he accepted a place at the Royal Military College, Woolwich from where he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on the 18th of February 1940. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 18th of August 1941. He worked in bomb disposal in the UK but by January 1942 he had been posted to the 4th Field Squadron, Royal Engineers in the Middle East.
He was killed in a bomb disposal accident in Egypt.
He is buried at El Alamein War Cemetery Plot XXVII, Row G, Grave 6.

Harston, Michael George Sirdefield, son of Maj. Sir Ernest Sirdefield Harston CBE, Chairman Brit. Commonwealth Ex-Service League, and Ruth Barbara, d. of Sir George Shirtcliffe KBE, of Wellington, NZ; b. l 2Jan. 1920; adm. Sept. 1932 (A); left July 1938; Peterhouse, Camb., matric. 1938; RNVR 1940-3 (Lieut.), lost in HMS Beverley (Atlantic) 11 Apr. 1943.

Michael George Sirdefield Harston was born at Wellington, New Zealand on the 12th of January 1920 the only son of Major Ernest Sirdefield Harston CBE, Chairman of the British and Commonwealth Ex Service League, and Ruth Barbara (nee Shirtcliffe) Harston of 12, Wyndham Place in London W1. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Ashburnham from September 1932 to July 1938 and was a distinguished athlete while he was at the school. He was a member of the Officer Training Corps where he achieved Certificate A in November 1936 and was promoted to Corporal in September 1937. He matriculated for Peterhouse College, Cambridge in 1938 but did not graduate as he left the College for military service.
Following the outbreak of war he enlisted in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and was commissioned as a Sub Lieutenant on the 12th of January 1940. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 12th of July 1942. He was posted to the destroyer HMS Beverley (D64), under the command of Lieutenant Commander Rodney Athelstan Price RN.
On the 4th of February 1943, HMS Beverley and the destroyer HMS Vimy (D33) were escorting Convoy SC118 on route to Londonderry, when they attacked the U Boat U-187, under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Ralph Münnich. They sank her with depth charges and t The U Boat sank with the loss of nine men from her crew of fifty four; her Captain was among the dead.
At 6pm on the 1st of April 1943, HMS Beverley was sailing off Rankin Island, County Antrim when she joined the convoy ON-176, which consisted of forty one merchant ships. She was to act as one of its escorts on its journey to Canada and on to the United States. At 10.10pm on the 9th of April, she was seriously damaged in a collision with the British steam merchant SS Cairnvalona while in fog. She was holed in the forward starboard side and took station at the rear of the convoy while the damage was being repaired.
At 5.49am on the morning of the 11th of April 1943, the German submarine U-188, under the command of Korvettenkapitän Siegfried Ludden, fired a torpedo at the convoy, which was to the southwest of Iceland at the time. He observed a hit on a tanker after 1 minute 34 seconds, which finally sank 45 minutes later with a broken back. At 5.50am, two more torpedoes were fired at the convoy and after 1 minute 58 seconds and 2 minutes 11 seconds hits on two ships were heard. At 5.52am two more torpedoes were fired which, after 1 minute 58 seconds, hit a fourth ship which began to settle by the bow. However, Allied records later indicated that only HMS Beverley was actually hit, between the forward and aft boiler rooms. The explosion on board the destroyer was followed by a complete power failure and a severe lurch to port, after which the ship sank by the stern about a minute later at the position of 52º19'N, 40º28'W. As she slipped beneath the surface there was a large underwater explosion. She was lost with one hundred and fifty one of her crew from a ship's complement of one hundred and fifty five officers and men. Michael Harston was among the dead. Although seven of her crew were picked up over the next hour, three of these were either already dead, or died a short time later.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Peterhouse College, Cambridge.
He is commemorated on the Portsmouth naval Memorial Panel 81, Column 1.

Horton, John Corbett, son of Henry Beavan Horton, of Blackheath, Kent, by Jean May, daughter of Thomas Spurr, of King's Lynn, Norfolk; b. Sept. 4, 1899; adm. April 30, 1914 (A); left March 1918; 2nd Lieut. 3rd Batt. R. Sussex Regt. Oct. 30, 1918; a timber merchant, director of B. Horton and Son, Ltd.; Capt. King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, Feb. 26, 1940; transferred to Durham Light Infantry; Major; m. Aug. 22, 1931, Eileen Mary Dowman, daughter of William Edward Riley, F.R.I.B.A., of Blackheath, Kent; d. on active service Dec. 3, 1944.

John Corbett Horton was born at Blackheath, London on the 4th of September 1899 the eldest son of Henry Beavon Horton, a timber merchant, and Jean Mary (nee Spurr) Horton of 15, Eliot Vale, Blackheath in London. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Ashburnham from the 30th of April 1914 to March 1918. He was a member of the 2nd Football XI in 1916 and of the 1st Football XI in 1917 and 1918. He was a member of the Officer Training Corps where he was promoted to Lance Corporal in September 1916, to Corporal in November 1916 and to Company Sergeant Major in November 1917.
He enlisted into the army at Whitehall as Private 60564 on the 5th of April 1918 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment on the 30th of October 1918. After the war he joined the firm of B. Horton and Son Ltd, timber merchants, where he was later appointed as a director. He retired to the Territorial Army Reserve of Officers and was promoted to Lieutenant in the 20th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Blackheath and Woolwich) on the 23rd of December 1928. He was promoted to Captain on the 13th of June 1934.
He was married on the 22nd of August 1931 to Eileen Mary Dowman (nee Riley) and they lived at 16, Blackheath Rise, Lewisham and later at 11, Oakcroft Road, Lewisham in London. They had a son, Richard John, born on the 23rd of January 1934.
Following the outbreak of war he was mobilised in 1940 and was appointed as a Captain in the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry on the 26th of February 1940. He transferred to the Durham Light Infantry at the same rank on the 13th of June 1940 where he was appointed as second in command of No. 41 Infantry Training Company based at Brancepeth Castle, County Durham.
He died there following a short illness.
He is buried at St Brandon’s Church, Brancepeth.

Byam Shaw, George, eldest son of John Byam Liston Shaw, of Kensington, artist, by Caroline Evelyn Eunice, daughter of John Nott Pyke-Nott, of Bydown House, North Devon; b. Oct. 6, 1900; adm. April 30, 1914 (H); left July 1917; R. M.C. Sandhurst 1919; 2nd Lieut. Royal Scots Dec. 23, 1921; Lieut. Dec. 23, 1923; Capt. Nov. 9, 1934; Major, Dec. 23, 1938; killed in action in France May 1940; unm.

George Byam-Shaw was born at Kensington, London on the 6th of October 1900 the eldest son of John Byam Liston Shaw, an artist, and Evelyn Caroline Eunice (nee Pyke-Nott) Byam Shaw, an artist, of 62, Addison Road, Kensington. He was christened at St Barnabus’ Church, Kensington on the 1st of November 1900.
He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Homeboarders from the 30th of April 1914 to July 1917. He went on to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst where he boxed for the College at featherweight against Woolwich in 1921. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Scots (Royal Regiment) on the 23rd of December 1921. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 23rd of December 1923 and to Captain on the 9th of November 1934. He was promoted to Major on the 23rd of December 1938.
Following the outbreak of war the 1st Battalion, Royal Scots deployed to France on the 21st of September 1939. On the 10th of May 1940 the Germans invaded France and the Low Countries. That morning the Battalion was at Lecelles and, as a number of officers were away on leave, George Byam-Shaw was appointed as the second in command of the Battalion. The day was spent packing to leave and the bulk of the Battalion departed for Overysche at 9.15pm with George Byam-Shaw leading the remainder of the men away at 11.10pm that night.
By the 20th of May, the Battalion was at Froidmont when it received orders to make a reconnaissance of the banks of the River Escaut near Calonne, to the south of Tournai where they were to relieve the 8th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment that night. The handover was made at around midnight and was carried out under shell and mortar fire with several casualties being suffered. On the 21st of May 1940, the Battalion was heavily shelled and mortared throughout the morning by the end of which their flank was exposed. D Company carried out several counterattacks which eased the situation but the shelling continued through the afternoon. George Byam-Shaw was killed outright while pausing to have a cigarette during the fighting. By the end of the day the Battalion had suffered 150 casualties but had held their ground. The Padre buried some of dead during the night and buried George Byam-Shaw the next morning.
Only a handful of men from the Battalion were eventually evacuated from Dunkirk.
He is buried at Bruyelle War Cemetery Plot II, Row A Grave 1.