Norman Rhodes Hartley
- Family History
- Military history
- Extra information
- Photographs
Norman Rhodes was the son of Norman Price Hartley and his wife Frances (née Mackay).
His father was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, in 1888, and his mother in Dublin in 1889. His parents were married in Dublin in 1914 (J/A/S); it is possible that his father was serving in the Army at the time as the 1921 Census recorded that he was a 'motor driver & mechanic Army, out of work'.
Norman Rhodes was born in Dublin in October 1914 and his sister, Joan, in Thirsk in 1919.
Norman snr. and his six year old son were recorded on the 1921 Census living with his parents, Rhodes and Jeanie Hartley, and their two daughters, on Westmoreland Street, Harrogate. His wife, Frances, a millworker (winder), and their daughter were boarders in a household in Bradford.
Both Norman and Frances remarried; Frances 'Hartley or Mackay' to George Ashton in 1925 (d. 1928) and Norman to Kate Kellett in 1926.
Norman Rhodes was recorded on the 1939 England & Wales Register living with his widowed mother, an office cleaner, and his sister, a photo lithographer, at 7 Atlas Street, Bradford. He was already serving in the RAF (A&N935693). His father, a driver mechanic, and his wife were living in Harrogate.
Norman Price Hartley died in 1971 and Frances Ashton in 1981.
Served at RAF Syerston with 61 Squadron, 5 Group. Air Gunner, Mark 1 Lancaster (R5613).
Norman and five other members of the crew were killed when their aircraft was shot down by fighters while returning from a bombing raid over Essen, Germany. One crew member, Sgt Griffiths, survived after baling out and eventually escaped to Britain. The aircraft had taken off from RAF Syerston at 0001LT.
www.bbc.co.uk/news News report published on-line, 14 July 2018, 'Belgian's mission tracing Welsh airman rescued by his aunt.’
The following is abridged from the news report:
The title of the report refers to the one airman, Air Gunner Sgt William Roch Griffiths, who survived the crash in which Flight Sergeant Hartley was killed. Griffiths was assisted by local people and the Resistance to evade capture and reached Gibraltar from where he returned by sea to the UK.
The following information is taken from a statement (classified ‘Secret’) made by Griffiths on his return.
Crew: P/O R Clark DFM (1st pilot), Sgt SH Lincoln NZAF (2nd pilot), Sgt EE Pachette (Navigator),F/Sgt G Makelvie DFM ( 1st W/Operator), Sgt Beswick (2nd W/Operator), F/Sergeant N Hartley (Mid/Up.Gnr), Sergeant WR Griffiths (Rear-Gunner).
The aircraft, a Mk 1 Lancaster (‘B for Beer’) QRL, 61 Squadron 5 Group, was returning from a bombing raid over Essen in the early hours of 3 June 1942.
Griffiths’ statement describes how a Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter attacked and hit the Lancaster which was also hit by fire from another fighter. The pilot had ordered the crew to bale out. The statement continues, ‘Sgt Griffiths had great trouble opening the doors of the turret which had become jammed, but after a terrific effort managed to force them open. He made his way to the fuselage door where he found the mid-upper gunner Sgt Norman Rhodes Hartley. As Hartley did not seem too keen on making the jump, Griffiths pushed him out and then sat on the edge, from which he slipped off at probably 10,000ft. The burning Lancaster crashed with five crew still onboard who were killed. Sgt Hartley was never found.’
Norman Hartley is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial (Panel 74).
CWGC Additional information: ‘Son of Norman and Francis Hartley, of Harrogate, Yorkshire’
Airmen Died in the Second World War, additional information: 'Native of Harrogate Yorks'
Photo of Norman Rhodes Hartley
Commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial (www.cwgc.org)