John Richard Drewry

144 SqdnOn the night of 23rd/24th August 1940, Drewry took off from Hemswell flying a Hampden 1 Aircraft P 2117 PL on Operation Brest but on return crash landed at Boscombe Down, Wiltshire.The airframe of this aircraft was salvaged and became 2270M for instructional purposes.Drewry survived the crash but was killed in a car accident on the 12th September 1940. He died from a fracture of the skull when the car that he was driving hit another motor vehicle. The accident happened on the Lincoln to Brigg road and his death registered in Welton, County of Lincoln.The other crew members were Flight Lieutenant Boyan, Sergeant H Wathey and Sergeant N Elcoat. All survived but Flying Officer Herbert Wathey DFM, along with four other airmen, was lost without trace aboard Hampden 1 AT175 on 12/2/1942 on an operation to bomb German ships during the 'Channel Dash'. He was 29. Flight Sergeant Norman Elcoat was lost at sea in Blenheim 1 K7125 on 2/5/1944 aged 26 (cause of crash unknown).

Rothley Cemetery, Section A, Grave 142144 Sqdn RAF144 Squadron RAF was first formed in 1918 during the Great War, operating as a bomber squadron in the Middle East. Disbanding at RAF Ford on 4 February 1919,144 reformed on 11 January 1937 and moved to RAF Hemswell in Lincolnshire on 8 February 1937. In March 1939 as part of Bomber Command 5 Group, the squadron re-equipped with Handley Page Hampdens which it flew intensively from Hemswell and North Luffenham. In April 1942, the squadron transferred to Coastal Command for training as a topedo-bomber squadron, in which role it operated successfully until the end of the war. 144 Sqdn flew 324 World War Two raids in Hampdens - 276 bombing, 42 minelaying and 6 leafleting. The squadron's Hampdens flew 2,045 sorties and lost 62 aircraft (3%).A third incarnation saw 144 serving as a strategic missile squadron during the late 1950s and early 1960s.Sources: Rothley Parish Council's website, 1939 Register, 1911 Census, CWGC Debt of Honour Register, The Bomber Command War Diaries, An Operational Reference Book 1939-1945 by Martin Middlebrook & Chris Everitt, rafcommands.com website and Wikipedia.Research by David Nunn