Handley Page Hampden, Donegal, October 1941

In the early hours of October 2nd, 1941 three young men from the Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force took to their parachutes from their stricken bomber over what they thought was Scotland.  By the early morning hours they would find that they were in fact in County Donegal in neutral Ireland, and for them, for now, the war was over!

Three of the men on landing made their way to the house of local man and member of the Local Defense Force (LDF), Joseph Carr where they were taken in and were allowed to sleep until the morning.  The remaining crew member landed in the hills around the Glenveagh Estate, now a tourist attraction.   Given the darkness he chose to sleep in his parachute until day light.  Come the morning, he took off down hill and was met by the estate manager of the estate, Mr Butler, who brought him to a house of one of the caretakers.

Thus by early morning, it was known that four airmen were in the area, the local LDF were aware and word was being sent to the nearest irish Army Military garrison.  The details of the four began to be recorded and they were:
Pilot, Sgt. Herbert Newby, Cardiff, Wales
Observer, (Navigator) Sgt Frederick Tisdall from Moncton, New Brunswick in Canada.
Gunner David Reid from North Berwick, Scotland
Wireless operator, Sgt. James Wakelin from Newcastle, in England.

The Irish Army from Rockhill House in Letterkenny arrived in the area the following morning to collect the four men and they were sent to that barracks and allowed to stay overnight.  The following day all four were sent to Athlone and from there they were brought direct to the Allied Internment Camp and taken into custody.

The following message sent from the UK legation to the Air Ministry in the early hours of the 3rd of October.

CONFIRMING PHONE MESSAGE.
DEPT. EXTERNAL AFFAIRS STATE HAMPDEN BOMBER IS REPORTED TO HAVE CRASHED IN EARLY HOURS ON 2/10/41 REPEAT 2/10/41 IN GLENCAN MOUNTAINS NORTH OF LETTERKENY Co. DONEGAL. CREW OF FOUR BALED OUT AT 0300 REPEAT 0300 HOURS. AND ARE IN THE CUSTODY OF EIRE AUTHORITIES.
NAMES - SGT. PILOT HERBERT JOHN NEWBY. SGT. FREDERICK TISDALE CANADIAN NAVIGATOR. SGT. JAMES WATELIN WIRELESS OPERATOR. SGT. DAVID REID REAR GUNNER. NEWBY SLIGHTLY INJURED REMAINDER UNINJURED. REMAINS OF PLANE HAVE NOT REPEAT NOT YET BEEN LOCATED.  CREW STATE FUEL SUPPLY EXHAUSTED AND AIRCRAFT ON FIRE WHEN THEY BALED OUT.
SEEKING FURTHER INFORMATION. ENDS

The day before the crash and arrival of the crew of four, the Royal Air Force's 106 Squadron prepared for their nights mission at their base at Coningsby in Lincolnshire.  According to their operations Record book and Bomber Command records, they were detailed to bomb railway marshaling yards in the German city of Karlsruhe in south western Germany.  The Squadron dispatched just five aircraft on this raid, to join forty other aircraft attacking the city.  A difficult to read narrative in the ORB states:  Five aircraft were dispatched in an attack on "RAILWAY MARSHALLING YARDS at KARLSRUHE but approximately 2 1/2 hours after take off (21:00 hours) recall was "????" by Group.  Returning one aircraft bombed CALAIS and another an AERODROME 20 MILES S. of LILLE.  Another landed without having dropped its bombs.  One aircraft (S/L Stenner) ?/??? and bombed the target, but the fifth (Sgt Newby) came down in Eire.

None of the other four aircraft made it back to base, each having to land at alternative locations in England. 

And so the crew of Handley Page Hampden, Air Ministry serial number AD768 found themselves incarcerated for the foreseeable future.

Sgt Newby provided the following statement to the Air Attache on the 6th October 1941 and it was sent from Dublin by that office:
Sir,

I, 968590, Newby H.J. (Sgt.) have the honour to report that on the afternoon of the 1st October at 6 p.m. I took off from England on an operational trip to Germany.  When we were within 5 minutes of the target we were recalled, but as we were so near the target I decided to bomb, so (flying at 10,000 ft.) at 2135 hours we bombed the target and saw a lot of explosions caused by our incendaries.  We also started a fire.  We set course straight away but were badly harassed by searchlights and flak, and I had to take violent evasive action to avoid being caught or hit.  At the French border we were intercepted by 3 Me. 110's (9,000 to 4,000 ft.) and it took me about 20 minutes to shake them off.  All this trouble had put us a lot off course and I had used up considerably more petrol than I would have normally used.  By this time the cloud was nearly 10/10 and the mist was thickening so we failed to purpoint ourselves on the French coast, so we carried on and when half way across the channel we tried to get radio help but there was bad electrical interference and sparks were flying from the trailing aerial, so it had to be wound in. Our petrol was getting short so I gave orders for a S.O.S. to be sent out, but we still received no reply. We sighted land at 01.30 hours and followed the coast line looking for a land-mark, but at 0300 hours had still failed to find anything we could recognise and we could still get no radio help and I only had about 10 minutes petrol left, so I headed inland and climbed for height and at approx. 0315 hours I gave the order to bale out (5,000 ft.) I waited for each of my crew to go, and then jumped myself. I landed in the mountains and twisted my knee. I at once tried to find my way to a road or house but it was very dark and the ground was very marshy and I could hardly walk owing to the pain in my knee. It was about 0700 hours when I saw a road which I followed until I found a house, where I found my navigator and wireless operator. We were told we were in the Irish Free State so decided to try and make the border, but just as were getting ready to start two policemen came in and we were caught.

They were interned first at the Curragh Internment Camp up to October 1943, when with ten other internees, including the remaining crew members of Wellingtons Z1676 and T2506.they were moved to a new Camp on the east coast north of Dublin at Gormanstown.  These ten were retained in internment because their arrival in Ireland was undeniably due to having been on operational missions.  It served a political purpose for the Irish government in that it gave them a case to present to the German authorities for the continued internment of their countrymen.

The pilot of the aircraft was Herbert John Newby.  He was born in 1914 in Cardiff to Harold Leo and Ella Newby.

Herbert's brother Thomas was killed in action with 9 Squadron in the summer of 1942. 

He married a local woman Elizabeth Mary O'Neill at Christchurch, Leeson Park in Ranelagh, Dublin on the 5th October 1943.  Elizabeth was from Grangemore, Kilcullen.  Herbert was like the other crew members released from internment in Gormanstown on 15 June 1944.  His escape and evasion interview report was much shorter than Fred Tisdalls, recording only:
My experiences up to the time of baling out are as related by P/O TISDALL in his report.

I baled out and landed in a bog near CHURCHILL, Co. DONEGAL, EIRE on 2 Oct 41. I was arrested by the police and interned at the CURRAGH Camp until 16 Oct 43, and at GORMANSTON until 15 Jun 44, when I was sent to the U.K.

I was concerned in the tunnel attempt started in Dec 43, which is described by P/O TISDALL in his report.

He was commissioned as a officer in 1945.  The Royal Aero Club archives hold a card for him dated from 1947, recording his having obtained a private pilots license in 1947 with Cambrian Air Services.  His profession is listed as Air Traffic Control on the record card.  In 1952, a newspaper article in

Herbert was for many years the Air Traffic Control manager of Aberdeen Airport in the 1970's and appeared in many newspaper articles relating to the airport, especially when members of the British royal family passed through the airport.

Herbert Newby passed away in 1998 in Bucksburn, Scotland.

Frederick William Tisdall was born on 2nd December 1915 in Toronto, Canada to Frederick and Jemima Tisdall
 

Fred married Majorie E Wilson in October 1940 in XXXX

Frederick enlisted in Moncton on the 21st June 1940.  His initial postings indicate that he was first sent to train as a pilot, but was later reasinged as a trainee Observer, or navigator.  His name was published in Canadian newspapers as having graduated from No,1 Bombing and Gunnery School in March 1941 and from there he was posted to No.1 Air Navigation School, Rivers, Manitoba.  He trained there for the following two months and was embarked for the United Kingdom on 18 May 1941. His escape and evasion report recorded his starting RAF service on 6 Jun 1941.  He arrived in Ireland with the rank of sergeant and the enlisted man serial number R/64726 and left as a commissioned officer with serial number CAN/J38641.

All members so the crew recorded their presence at No. 16 Operational Training Unit at Upper Heyford, and this is likely where they first formed a crew before posting to 106 Squadron.

His internment in Ireland was announced in various Canadian newspapers on the 8th October 1941, when initial news reached his family.  He was officially posted as missing, but word had reached his father as early as October 7th that he was apparently in Eire. 

Moncton Airman Reported Missing MONCTON, N. B. Oct. 6-(Special)- Word was received here today that Sergeant Observer Fred W. Tisdall, of the R.C.A.F. is missing following air operations overseas. Sergeant Observer Tisdall is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Tisdall, Brydges Street, and enlisted time ago in the R.C.A.F. gaining his observer's half wing and proceeding overseas shortly after. He was a well known athlete and played on several Moncton softball clubs, being one of the best outfielders turned out in this locality.

His wife is the former Marjorie Wilson. Ralph Tisdall is brother while Mrs. Sammy McManus and Mrs. Ralph Barnett are sisters.

On the 8th of November 1941, newspapers across Canada published various versions of a newspaper report where Frederick Tisdall had written to his wife and extracts were published country wide.

Upon his release, he was interviewed by the MI9 organisation and the following file was created of his recollections.   It is not understood what the reference is to Frankfurt as the target of his bombing mission.

1. Internment.

I was a member of the crew of a Hampden aircraft which left CONINGSBY on 1 Oct 41 to bomb FRANKFURT. We reached our target and dropped our bombs, and on the return journey we were chased by fighters and got badly off our course.

After encountering various difficulties we ran out of petrol and were compelled to bale out over EIRE, coming down near CHURCHILL, Co. DONEGAL on 2 Oct. We were then interned in the CURRAGH Camp.

2. Attempted Escapes.

I was concerned in both escape attempts from the CURRAGH Camp -
the ladder attempt on 9 Feb 42 and the gate-lifting attempt on 17 Aug 42 as described by Lieut. GIRDLESTONE (I.S.9(W)/REP/E/21), but did not get out of the camp.

In Oct 43, when the previous party were repatriated, we were moved to GORMANSTON Camp, Co. MEATH. There were then 10 of us, but since then Sgt. TAYLOR (I.S.9(W)/REP/E/24) and Sgt. ROSS have been repatriated.

In Dec 43 we started a tunnel at GORMANSTON. The opening to the tunnel was underneath our sleeping quarters. The hut in which we slept was built on a low concrete wall, and we managed to make an opening in one of the unoccupied cubicles and work down and then towards the wire.

Late in Apr 44 the camp with authorities had a raid and stopped the tunnel.  They told us that they had known for some time that we were working at it.

Repatriation from EIRE.

On 13 Jun 44 a representative of the United Kingdom office came to the camp and told us that negotiations were under way to repatriate us.

On 14 Jun we were confined to camp after 1800 hrs. At about 1930 hrs representatives of the United Kingdom office told us that we were leaving next
morning at 0600 hrs. We were taken to KINGSTOWN, where we met S/Ldr. GARDINER, who escorted us to this country.

We left KINGSTOWN at 0800 hrs and arrived at HOLYHEAD at 1200 hrs on 15 Jun.

It is not clear what if any service he carried out after his release from internment but he was returned to Canada 12th August 1944 and posted to No.1 Air Observer School (AOS) in September 1944 before retiring from the services in February 1945.  The ORB of No 1 AOS recorded his arrival at the training unit as his arrival for refresher training from No 1 Repatriation Depot.

Frederick died on 7th Nov 1992 Pinellas, Florida and is buried in Fair Haven Memorial Gardens, Moncton.

The third crew member was James Wakelin, born in 1921 in Stoke on Trent to Thomas and Mary Wakelin.  By 1939, they can be found living in Newscastle-under-Lyme at the family home named Roselea.  James gives his occupation on the 1939 register as

On the 10 of October 1941, his local newspaper published his photo along with a short article

Perhaps as an illustration of the nature of internment in Ireland, when his father Thomas died on 13 June 1943, James was allowed to go to England for 2 weeks for the funeral!  On his father's wills calender entry, James Wakelin, Traffic Clerk, is listed as beneficiary.  Just two days before his fathers death, James engagement to Irene Hughes was printed in the local paper, the Evening Sentinel.  In it he is described as "Sergeant James Wakelin W/O A/G RAFVR prisoner of war in Eire, only son of Mr and Mrs T Wakelin."

Like the others, he was released in June 1944, arriving in Holyhead on the 16th.  He filed just a short report after his MI9 interview, worded exactly the same as Newby.

Following his return home, he married Irene Hughes, and they had two daughters.  James died in December 2002 in Stoke on Trent,

The last member of the crew was David Reid, the Rear Gunner, from North Berwick in Scotland.  David was born in November 1915 in Langholm to XXX

His post internment interview is the same as Newby and Wakelin, other than he records having landed on a mountain near Churchill.  His RAF service had begun in May 1939.

Some of the men appear in two group photos that came from the family of G C Slator, a crew member from Wellington Z1676 who remained interned with AD768's crew until June 1944.  By comparing with the Tee's wedding photo and some other photos,  those below seem to show the following personnel:
Top Step, left to right: Reid, Diaper, Wakelin
Front row, Newby and Thomas

In addition to those, it appears that at least three of the internees, two from this crew, were members of Drogheda Rugby Football Club during the 1943-44 season.  The side image is that of a D E M Ross, G C Slater is named at the front right and the man at the rear left hand side is a D Reid.

Compiled by Dennis Burke, 2024.