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Looking for relatives of Sgt Leonard COTTON RAFVR

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I am researching the loss of a Halifax bomber during WW2. The details I have listed below.

 

Halifax V coded NA-H LK635 of 428 Squadron RCAF (6 Group bomber command) based at Middleton St George.

 

This aircraft took off at 18.28 on the night of 22 September 1943 to bomb Hanover Germany. This is the last that is officially heard of this plane and its crew. It was reported as lost without trace and its crew are commemorated on the Runneymede Memorial.

During my research 4 crew members graves have been found buried in Germany but they are shown as "Unknown". The 4 graves are shown with the date 22 September 1943. These 4 graves are the only ones with that date in the area and could be serious possibilities for the crew of LK635. It could also be possible to locate the aircrafts final resting place but it has been full of pitfalls and the lack of information on the British & Canadian crew has hampered my research.

 

The crew were:

 

F/O H.E.McRae RCAF J/20195 KIA (Pilot) (8 Ops) of Huxley Alberta Canada

Sgt W.E.Dickson RCAF R/156913 KIA (6 Ops) of Toronto Ontario Canada

Sgt E.G.Miller RCAF R/183626 KIA (6 Ops) of Mitchell Ontario Canada

Sgt Donald Ernest Jeffery RAFVR 1862968 KIA (6 Ops) of Bekenham Kent

Sgt Arthur Reginald Bohn RAFVR 1415741 KIA (6 Ops) of Kennington London

Sgt J.Wright RAFVR 1590868 KIA (6 Ops) (my relative) of Hull East Yorkshire

 

Sgt Leonard Cotton RAFVR 1516171 KIA son of Leonard & Nellie Cotton, Sheffield.

 

Leonard COTTON was the Navigator and had previously flown 6 Operations before being lost.

He named his father as his next of Kin. The address of the family home was 63 Canada Street, Sheffield.

 

 

Has or are there any researchers doing the COTTON family tree and have this man in there family?

Or has anyone come across him during their research?

Could anyone point me in the right direction which would enable my research to progress? if newspapers could be used which ones? are there any other message boards for Sheffield that may have a more diverse readership?

 

It has now been 65 long years since these men were lost, many of the families have moved away or even died out. Links to the name may have been forgotten especially if only daughters carried the name on. But these men lived with a time frame that is part of living memory and someone may have the vital little piece of info that tracks down the family.

 

I have made contact with researchers in Germany and they are trying to track down the information that may be available from German archives. An article is to be placed in German newspapers asking for eyewitnesses from that night, which in the past has come up with alsorts of gems.

 

The end result will I hope be a recognition that the crew are buried in Hanover and their final story can be told. Contacting family members is twofold, involvement in the research and if all goes well a ceremony for the crew.

 

 

 

Regards

 

Nick

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To avoid duplication of searches...this is the information already given to Nick.

 

Birth

Leonard Cotton 1921 APR/MAY/JUNE Sheffield mothers maiden name Sanders 9c 1254

 

Marriage of parents

Leonard Cotton married Nellie Sanders 1917 OCT/NOV/DEC Sheffield 9c 907

 

The father Leonard COTTON is still living at 63 Canada Street which is the Pitsmoor area of Sheffield in 1954. Listed in Kellys directory of Sheffield and Rotherham.

 

Tuppie

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Thanks for the replies.

 

I have looked at the school entry and although the death note is out by 7 months it is him. No Leonard Cotton's on CWGC site that fit the age etc.

 

I am slowly building up a picture of the family.

 

Thanks again

 

Nick

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Nellie is still at 63 Canada Street 1968, gone by 1973, as a memory jogger for anyone who knew Canada Street there was a Tripe dressers at the back of 63.

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There is a death registration for Nellie COTTON in Sept 1971 ref Sheffield 2d 158. This gives her date of birth as 19th Nov 1892.

 

Can't seem to find Leonard. I'll have another go tomorrow.

 

Tuppie

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Not only am I most interested in your research, I too would like to make contact with any relatives, although am not aware of any surviving.

 

Leonard was a close friend of my late father’s. Indeed my father was with him at the Wicker cinema on his last period of leave, the night before he died. I also knew his mother as a child, and remember talking to her about her son whose photograph was proudly displayed in her living room.

 

On an occasion I took my father to the memorial at Runnymede ( where Leonard’s name is inscribed on panel 146) , he talked to me about him.

I would like to see his flying log book, to tie up what my father told me about him.

 

His mother was later told by a fellow squadron member that their plane was coned by searchlights near the target and dived (and presumably failed to come out of it).

 

From what my father said, one of his earlier raids was to Berlin, and another operation (probably the one before he was killed) was to Munich, where they came back by a long westerly route following the Alps for some way, which were clearly visible as daylight had already broken.

Their fuel tanks were almost empty when they made an emergency landing at Shoreham in Sussex, from where Leonard and some of his fellow crew members returned to Middleton St George by train.

 

I believe he would have been born in 1921, and had worked in the Manor Top / Intake area. I believe before joining the RAF he worked as a clerk, for a social welfare board.

 

I believe his navigator training was undertaken at Millom in Cumbria, although I have some recollection (although am not entirely sure), that he may also have gone to Canada.

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Ahhhh duh! I was having a blonde moment, there. I was being a bit hard-of-thinking!

 

I thought "Ooh, he sounds like he must've got Norwegian or Swedish heritage with a name like Cotton Rafvr! What a really unusual name!"

 

like i said.. "duh!"

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Ahhhh duh! I was having a blonde moment, there. I was being a bit hard-of-thinking!

 

I thought "Ooh, he sounds like he must've got Norwegian or Swedish heritage with a name like Cotton Rafvr! What a really unusual name!"

 

like i said.. "duh!"

 

So Did I

Hazel

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Ahhhh duh! I was having a blonde moment, there.

 

You don't mind upsetting blonde haired people with your hypoctritical comments then?

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Not only am I most interested in your research, I too would like to make contact with any relatives, although am not aware of any surviving.

 

Leonard was a close friend of my late father’s. Indeed my father was with him at the Wicker cinema on his last period of leave, the night before he died. I also knew his mother as a child, and remember talking to her about her son whose photograph was proudly displayed in her living room.

 

On an occasion I took my father to the memorial at Runnymede ( where Leonard’s name is inscribed on panel 146) , he talked to me about him.

I would like to see his flying log book, to tie up what my father told me about him.

 

His mother was later told by a fellow squadron member that their plane was coned by searchlights near the target and dived (and presumably failed to come out of it).

 

From what my father said, one of his earlier raids was to Berlin, and another operation (probably the one before he was killed) was to Munich, where they came back by a long westerly route following the Alps for some way, which were clearly visible as daylight had already broken.

Their fuel tank was almost empty when they made an emergency landing at Shoreham in Sussex, from where Leonard and some of his fellow crew members returned to Middleton St George by train.

 

I believe he would have been born in 1921, and had either previously lived or worked in the Intake area. I believe before joining the RAF he worked as a clerk, for a social welfare board.

 

I believe his navigator training was undertaken at Millom in Cumbria, although I have some recollection (although am not entirely sure), that he may also have gone to Canada.

 

This is just the kind of information Nick is looking for geocol, brilliant. Does anyone on the Forum have any family ties?

Regards,

Duffems

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You don't mind upsetting blonde haired people with your hypoctritical comments then?

 

Why should I be precious about having blonde hair?

 

I always joke about my blonde hair, in regard to my being a bit scatterbrained. I'm blonde, I'm scatterbrained. It's the way I am.

 

And your problem with me having blonde hair, exactly is, erm... what?

 

and if I knew what this new word, "hypoctritical" meant, I'd be able to give you a fuller and more detailed answer. Ok?

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