Den Helder

Date

23 December 1942

Target

Den Helder

Force dispatched

24 aircraft

Sortie details (which aircraft from which squadron, which crew flew, the outcome) will populate this page once the TNA AIR 27 squadron-diary importer arrives.

The fallen

58 airmen in this archive died on 23 December 1942 or the day that followed. For a raid of this kind these are overwhelmingly the night's losses, though a death-date match is not by itself proof an individual flew this operation.

• Leading Aircraftman Thomas Desmond Berndt (20)
• Sergeant Joseph Frederick Bootle (22)
• Sergeant Ronald Arthur Brant (21)
• Flight Lieutenant Gillian Lorne Campbell (22)
• Flying Officer Ralph David Charters (20)
• Sergeant Keith Gilbert Chote (22)
• Sergeant Reginald Mervin Clark (30)
• Aircraftman 2nd Class Jack Frederick Damant (22)
• Sergeant Alan Roland Newnham Davis (21)
• Sergeant Francis Gordon Dolphin (21)
• Flight Lieutenant Arthur Ernest Downing
• Corporal David Drysdale (33)
• Corporal Daniel James Stewart Duff (24)
• Sergeant John McArthur Dunbar (27)
• Flight Lieutenant James Lloyd Ellam (26)
• Warrant Officer Class I Joseph Lucien Gaucher (21)
• Sergeant Ronald Thomas Hand (24)
• Sergeant Cyril Clifford Hayes (21)
• Leading Aircraftman Terence John Hempenstall (24)
• Sergeant William Desmond Patrick Hindle (22)
• Leading Aircraftman David James Hinsley (20)
• Warrant Officer Charles Anthony Howard
• Leading Aircraftman Kenneth Bell Hunter (26)
• Aircraftman 1st Class William Kirk (20)

See all 58 who died on 23 December →

Source: RAF Bomber Command Campaign Diary (60th-Anniversary website, via the Wayback Machine) →