January 2021

16 Buckden Roundabout January 2021 RAF Gransden Lodge Postcript to the RAF Gransden Lodge articles Richard Storey, Secretary to the Buckden Local History Society writes: A few weeks after my first article on RAF Gransden Lodge ap- peared in the Roundabout I got an email from Carole Adams who lives in the village. She and her husband had moved to Buckden from Scotland and it was only after a few years they realised that a cousin of Carole ’ s, Alan Hazlehurst, had been aircrew with 405 Squadron at RAF Gransden Lodge. Alan was killed on operations over Berlin on the night of 30/31 January 1944. He was 21 years of age and sadly for Carole she never met him. Alan enlisted on 18 July 1940 and was accepted for wireless operator/air gunner (WO/AG) training. Following initial train- ing he commenced advanced training with number 17 Opera- tional Training Unit (OTU). Here he met two Canadians, pilot Gordon Drimmie and navigator John Evans. Like many airmen who met at OTU, Alan, Gordon and John formed a crew and went on to fly Bostons with 88 Squadron between 1st Novem- ber 1942 and March 1943. Following conversion to medium bombers and then to heavy bombers, the trio joined with four other men to operate Halifax MkV heavy bombers with 428 Squadron RCAF at RAF Middleton St George, Co. Durham. By 30 August 1943 they were a very experienced team and they all transferred to RCAF 405 Squadron (Pathfinder Force - PFF) at RAF Gransden Lodge. Although it was a great privilege to fly with the Pathfinders, each man knew the additional risks they were taking. Between mid September and the end of November Alan ’ s crew flew 13 operations before John Evans left for conversion to PFF Mosquitoes. Three operations were completed in December. On the afternoon of 14 January 1944 Alan ’ s crew was selected for an operation against Brunswick in Lancaster ND423. Alan, however, was not well enough to fly and was probably suffer- ing from the influenza virus that was circulating RAF Gransden Lodge at the time. Tragically for Alan his comrades did not re- turn, Lancaster ND423 having been shot down with no survi- vors. We cannot contemplate how the loss of his trusted friends affected Alan. He had been pilot Gordon Drimmie ’ s WO since June 1942 and together they had flown 31 sorties against the enemy (a total of 179 hours 2 minutes). To compound his loss, Brunswick was considered a “ soft target ” compared with heavily defended Berlin and the raid was considered a failure with little damage reported. Alan joined a new crew piloted by F/Lt Warren Roberts RCAF and crew: F/O Ernest Guiton RCAF, Navigator; F/O Douglas Hackett DFC RCAF, Bomb Aimer; P/O Joseph Boileau RCAF; F/O Bennett Shultz RCAF, Air Gunner and Sgt Edward Smedley RAFVR, Flight Engineer. The Crew flew again on 20 January. By now the Battle of Berlin was resulting in heavy losses of both airmen and Lancasters, and PFF airmen were now much less experienced than before. Nevertheless, the crew flew four more ops prior to their last, Berlin, on 30th January 1944 in Lancaster ND462. Nothing was heard from the crew after take off and next of kin were notified the crew were missing. It was not until 1948 that Alan ’ s parents received confirmation from the Air Ministry that their son ’ s plane had been shot down with no survivors. A witness to the crash interviewed after the war cited the night - fighter attack and that the plane was in flames and exploded on the ground at Loburg. The remains of the crew members could not be individually identified. The seven young men, all wrapped in a single parachute, were bur- ied by the Germans in a communal grave in the local cemetery. After reburial they now lie together in the Berlin 1939 - 1945 War Cemetery and are commemorated in perpetuity by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. WO Alan Hazlehurst RAFVR My grateful thanks to cousins Carole Adams and Marion Hayes for sharing their memories of their late cousin, WO Alan Hazlehurst.