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Brian Middleton's report follows: On the night of the 4th May 1942 a plane took off from Lakenheath in Suffolk on a bombing mission to Germany. The young crew of 8 had newly arrived at Lakenheath when their unit, 149 Squadron of Group 3 Bomber Command, transferred from Mildenhall airfield just across the meadows. The pilot, Pilot Officer Cheetham was, at 27 years of age, among the oldest on board. The youngest, flight engineer Sergeant Smith, was 21. Among the crew were the observer, a New Zealander seconded from 115 Squadron and a Canadian. The crew did not return to Lakenheath as their plane, probably a 4 engine Stirling Mk 1 bomber, came down in or around Laon. The entire crew were killed. The circumstances of the downing are unknown to us.
They are buried at Laon in the St Just cemetery just below the ramparts. Alongside the 8 dead from the Stirling is the single grave of Flight Sergeant E. A. Harrison of 90 Squadron who died on the 13th April 1944. The Bomber Command diary does not give any insight into his mission. Extract from the Bomber Command diary http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/diary.html
Details about those buried in the 9 war graves at St Just can be found at http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search.aspx |
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![[Under Construction]](images/undercon.gif)
During
the 2004 visit to Laon, a visit was made to St Just Cemetery, where wreaths were
laid on the graves of nine airmen shot down over Laon during World War 2.
149
squadron used Lakenheath to continue the night offensive for the next two years,
using its Stirlings to carry a heavy bomb load each night against the Reich. At
this time it was the fashion in the four-engine bomber squadrons to have a
conversion flight to bring crews from the OTUs up to scratch on the Stirling
before going on operations. Later in the same month, on the 30 May 1942, the
squadron participated in the first of the 'thousand bomber' raids, on Cologne,
putting up 17 aircraft together with four from its conversion flight, a maximum
effort indeed. The long and dangerous routine of night raids against Germany
continued all through 1942.