Frederick Ronald Rhodes Lowe

HMS Grebe, a shore base in Eygpt used for repair and maintenance of aircraft from aircraft carriers.
Mansfield Chronicle Advertiser: 30/7/1942: Air Gunner Missing.
Frederick Ronald Rhodes Lowe (21) wireless operator and air gunner in the Fleet Air Arm, son of Mr & Mrs Frederick Lowe is reported missing in the Middle East.
He joined the Navy seven years ago and was later transferred to the Fleet Air Arm.
D S M London Gazette 11/6/1942:
Frederick Ronald Rhodes Lowe a native of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. No11B Telegraphist/Air Gunner's course at Worthy Down between Aug 1939 to Jan 1940 following which he joined No 826 Squadron Fleet Air Arm and would quickly have seen action in the Dunkirk operations when the squadron's Albacores operated out of Detling. Over the coming months, operating out of Bircham Newton under Coastal Command, in fact between June & November 1940 826 sqd carried out 22 night attacks against coastal targets in Belguim, France and Holland dropping 7 tons of mines and 56 tons of bombs in addition to escorting 92 convoys. It was on one of these bombing missions against invasion barges off Calais on the 11th September 1940 in Albacore L-7097 that Lowe fought off an attack by 109's nonetheless, his pilot, Sub Lieu A H Blacow was injured and their aircraft severely damaged.
Embarked for the Mediterranean in HMS Formidable in Nov 1940 826's aircrew remained actively employed in shipborne operations in that theatre of war until coming ashore in the summer1941, a period encompassing anti-submarine patrols and bombardments spotting in addition to torpedo attacking the battle of Matapan at the end of March and the bombing raid on Scarpanto airfield during the evacuation of Crete in May.
Once ashore initially based in the Eastern Mediterranean but later in the Western Desert operations continued apace, successful flare illumination co-operation work with the 7th Cruiser Squadron leading 826 sqd carrying out similar duties for the Army and the Desert Air Forces more often than not on the El-Alamein Front in the months leading up to that famous battle, 826 sqd dropped 12,000 flares in addition to carrying out regular bombing strikes against enemy troops to the occassional "special missions" such as that flown by nine Albacores on the 9/10th July, a mission 250 miles behind enemy lines to the salt flats of Sidi Barrani where refuelled by Bombay Transport Aircraft they went on to deliever an attack on an enemy convoy approaching Tobruk.
Sadly on the night of 23/24th July 1942 operating out of grebe, the Naval Air Station at Dekheila, near Alexandria in Albacore X-9256. Low was killed in action in a strike against landing ground at Daba so too his fellow crew, Sub Lieutenants J D N Nunnerley and M G A Whittle.
Aged 21 years Lowe was buried at El-Alamein War Cemetery.

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