HOME
Contact
Links
Sources
LogbookAIRCREW
Troup
Naylor
Herrick
Hewson
TACTICS
Training
Blenheim
Weapons
Formations
Tasks
MISSIONS
Scharnhorst
St Nazaire
Brest
Schiff 24
UJ 126
Condorcet
MEMORIALS
|
|
Plt Off C E
Greville-Heygate DFC
The Final Mission
On 26 June 1941 two Blenheim Mk IV aircraft of No 53
Sqn RAF Coastal Command were ordered to attack three
German naval ships which had been sighted off the
south-west coast of Brittany. After take-off from RAF St
Eval at 11.08 AM, nothing further was heard from either
aircraft. Both of them failed to return to base.
The crew of aircraft PZ-Y were Plt Off Charles
Greville-Heygate DFC (pilot), Plt Off Geoffrey Troup
(observer), and Sgt Charles Naylor (wireless operator/air
gunner). Posted as 'missing', the details of their fate
remained a mystery to their family and colleagues alike.
60 Years Later - The End of an
'Enigma'
Almost exactly 60 years later, previously Top Secret
documents were discovered in the Public Record Office at
Kew: these showed that the aircraft had been shot down by
anti-aircraft fire during their attack on the three
anti-submarine vessels numbered UJ 126, UJ D and UJ E.
These ships were part of the 3rd Sicherungsdivision's
12th U-Jagdflottille, a coastal defence unit of the
German Navy. Although details of the aircrafts' loss must
have been known to British Intelligence services, this
information had been obtained by the decoding of
intercepted 'Enigma' radio messages from the German
ships. Consequently, the details could not be released
for fear of compromising this new and crucial ability to
crack the German codes.
The Website
The aim of this website is to reveal the story of a
RAF Coastal Command Blenheim crew and their flying
missions from RAF St Eval. In addition, I hope it can
provide some links, suggestions, and sources for others
who are carrying out research into the history of one of
their relatives. It is a small tribute to just a few of
the very many.
Research is still underway: please help me by sending
any additional information, corrections, or observations
to gbh1f@aol.com
TOP
|
