Francis Harold Robertson

Francis Harold Robertson was born in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia, the son of Percy and Alice Robertson; he was 27 years old when he died and served in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve with the service number 42264. A pre-war officer whose earliest Gazette entries date to December 1939, he rose to the rank of Squadron Leader by mid-1942 and was appointed to No. 106 Squadron at RAF Coningsby, one of the first Bomber Command units to re-equip with the Avro Lancaster after its difficult experiences with the Manchester. On the night of 26/27 July 1942 he piloted Lancaster I R5748, code ZN-R, as part of a 403-aircraft force sent to attack Hamburg — a raid that caused widespread destruction in the city but cost 29 bombers. His aircraft was intercepted over the Dutch province of Friesland by Oberleutnant Lothar Linke of 5./NJG1 and came down between the villages of Rottevalle and Opeinde at around 02:05 hours on 27 July; Robertson and two of his crew were killed, while three others were taken prisoner. His Distinguished Flying Cross was gazetted on 31 July 1942 — four days after his death — in the supplement to London Gazette issue 35654, a posthumous recognition of his service with the squadron. He is buried at Smallingerland Protestant Cemetery (Opeinde), Netherlands.