PEOPLE I'VE MET ON THE WAY

(Last updated: 07.09.08)

The eleventh person to include within this section is Eric Crowe

PERSON No. 11: Richard Crowe on Eric Crowe (WOp/AG)

Richard contacted me after he came across the section on John Owen (Person No. 2 in this section), as his father Eric Crowe was one of the crew members on that fateful flight on December 14th 1942. That incident was around 7 months before Richard was born, hence he never knew his father. However he had managed to trace his postings via Eric's Gran and Aunts and found out he was with 206 Squadron from mid 1941. Below are photographs sent over by Richard...

Eric Crowe

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Interestingly Richard has a copy of a photograph from Eric's time in Silloth in No.1 OTU from June 1941. I'm certain there will be other faces linked to 206 Squadron. Having checked Ken's logbook I see Eric was there at the same time as Ken's recorded flying exercises from 18.06.41 through to 09.08.41. On the back of the photograph is the following...

No.6 (Hudson) Op. Training Course, No.1 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit

Silloth, June 1941

Top Row: 3rd from Left - Eric Crowe

 

Richard also has copies of Eric's Wedding from 12th October 1942 & crew members shown below

                   Wedding Day                                      Eric Crowe - C.Neill - R.N.Hildred

                       

This is the same photograph that appears on John Owen's page taken the day before their fateful flight

13th December 1942

 Back Row: F/Sgt E.Crowe - Sgt D.Bryan - F/O J.Owen - Sgt C.Neill

Front Row: Sgt R.N.Hildred - Sgt W.Shanks - Sgt W.J.Parnell

 

In September 2008, with the help of Richard Crowe I found another photograph of John Owen's crew in front of Fortress FL452 'G', it was in 'Naught Escape Us' by Peter Gunn

13th December 1942

F/Sgt E.Crowe - Sgt R.N.Hildred - Sgt W.Shanks - F/O J.Owen - Sgt C.Neill - Sgt D.Bryan - Sgt W.J.Parnell

On investigation of Eric Crowe in Ken's logbook I found 3 entries that contained a match, 2 of which were just a month prior to the crash...

  • 18th September 1941 - Wills was the Pilot, Ken was 2nd Pilot, A/S Sweep (Hudson AM650)
  • 1st November 1942 - Ken was the Pilot, A/S Sweep (Fortress FK208 'B')
  • 11th November 1942 - Ken was the Pilot, A/S Sweep (Fortress FK208 'B')

 The November flights were with Ken's normal crew of Anderson, Roberts, Miller, Morgan and Clemson, with the addition of Eric Crowe.

When I checked the National Archives I found out that Eric was part of a Hudson Crew that attacked a U-boat with 4 depth charges on the 14.02.42 with the comments 'Oil Seen' and a crew of P/O A.J.Davey, Sgt R.Lenton. The pilot was F/Lt L.M.Nelson who happens to be (Person No. 10 in this section)! Simon Nelson has validated this against his father's logbook.

There was another entry in 1942 on the 11.12.42 stating that Eric was part of a crew that attacked 2 U-Boats and faked a third as they had run out of depth charges. That crew was made up of F/O J.Owen (Person No. 2 in this section), Sgt R.N Hildred, F/S J.T.Rutherford, Sgt W.Parnell, P/O D.E.Bryan, Sgt W.Shanks 

Richard has a copy of his Service Record & Pay Book which tells us he joined 206 on the 14.05.41 and details the following…

Promotions

  • 30th April 1940 – AC2
  • 13th April 1941 - LAC
  • 17th May 1941 – Temp Sergt as a WOp/AG
  • 1st December 1942 – F/Sgt

Special Qualifications

  • WOp – 61%
  • AG – 56%

Thanks to Richard for supplying a wealth of information