A review of the Operational Records Book (ORB) for 201 Squadron reveals the flying history of the 11 men.

F/O Guy Nelson WILKINSON 51121 was posted in to 201 Squadron with effect from 3 August 1943.
F/Lt Charles Seymour GROSSEY 45199  was posted to 201 Squadron on 1st June 1943
F/Lt Arthur Charles GRIFFIN 62311 Was posted in to 201 Squadron with effect from 3 August 1943
F/Sgt Norman Baron PICKFORD 657043 can be found in the ORB from at least Sept 1942, earlier than that, only men of Warrent Officer rank and upwards are recorded.
F/Sgt Joseph William BURTON 1287499 His name appears on just one other operational flight on August 17th in the ORB, so this tragic mission was possibly only his second sortie with the squadron
F/Sgt John Robert COSTER 1259732 + F/Sgt Coster's name can be found in the ORB from at least November 1942.
F/Sgt Walter Noel PITTS 749904 + F/Sgt Pitt's name can be found in the ORB from at least November 1942.
Sgt George Frederick Walter TILT 1338702 + Sgt Tilt's name can be found in the ORB from at least July 1943.
Sgt John Sidney APPLEGATE 647007 Sgt Applegate's name can be found in the ORB from at least Nov 1942.
Sgt George William DAVIES 952226 Sgt Davie's name is be found in the ORB from at least February 1943.
F/Sgt William MCLEAN 996639 F/Sgt Mclean's name can be found in the ORB from at least Feb 1943.

The core of the crew had thus come together during the summer of 1943 and flown a number of missions under the command of F/Lt Grossey, however, it is worth noting that crews swapped and changed quite a bit in 201 Squadron.

F/Lt Charles Seymour GROSSEY 45199, 1st Pilot, Captain, 

CWGC records F/Lt Grossey was the husband of Adelaide Lily Ann Grossey, of Kidlington, Oxfordshire.  The couple had married in 1938 in London and Adelaide and their daughter are found in the 1939 register living at RAF Station Little Rissington.  His mother lived in St Pancreas, London.  His brother, Raymond, was missing in action on 4th September 1939 having been lost on an early bombing raid on Heligoland Bight, Germany.

Their parents were Charles and Louise Grossey and they had two other brothers, Dennis who served with the RAF during and after the war, and Ralph who was a Royal Navy officer. 

Charles had joined the RAF back in 1929 and trained early on as a Wireless Operator/Mechanic, and flying for a time in India with 28 Squadron.  He then transferred to Egypt, joined 4 Flying Training School and trained as a pilot, before being posted to 84 Bomber Squadron in Iraq.  Following this, he was posted back to England and joined the Staff of 6 SFTS and spent some time at the No. 2 Central Flying School.  he spent four months of 1941 at the RAF College, followed by various postings as an instructor.  He remainder an instructor until February 1943 when transferred to No. 3 School of General Reconnaisance.  Two months later he was at 4 (C)OTU finishing up with a transfer to 201 Squadron on the 1st of June 1943.

At the time of his death, Adelaide and Charles had a young daughter Barbara and it was through the kindness of her family in 2024 that this photo of Charles was provided.

His daughters family had these photos of Charles with other personnel and in tropical climates.

F/Lt Arthur Charles GRIFFIN 62311, 2nd Pilot

Arthur was the son of Charles and Emma Griffin of 27 Queen Street, Leighton Buzzard.  He had been an employee of the of the I & R Morley Ltd. clothing company according to the book, The Secrets of Q Central: How Leighton Buzzard Shortened the Second World War by Paul Brown and Edward Herbert.

The photo of Arthur was very kindly provided by the daughter of his parents neighbours.  She also found a copy of the memorial service held in his honour at the families local church on 27th August 1943.  His name was placed on his parents headstone and on the local baptist church war memorial.

F/O Guy Nelson WILKINSON 51121, 3rd Pilot

The family of F/O Guy Nelson WILKINSON 51121 were instrumental in efforts to remember this crew.  His daughter Maureen and her husband Les Ingram traveled to Ireland to visit his grave and reached out to try and contact families of the other airmen.

Guy was born in 1915 to Guy and Mary Wilkinson in Lancashire.

F/Sgt Norman Baron PICKFORD 657043, Navigator on the crew, lived at Maythorne, 90 Holmfield Road, Leicester and formerly off 'Broadholme', Manor Rd, Leicester. He was the son of Edith and James Pickford and had been born in Babiwell Derbyshire in July 1948..  His mother had passed away shortly after he was born.  Norman had travelled with his father and step sister Elsie.

He enlisted in the Territorial Army before the war, and in June 1941, transferred to the RAF.  He at first began pilot training at 15 Elementary Flying Training School, but after a month in September 1941, he transferred instead to training as an observer or navigator with No. 1 Air Observer School.  January 1942 would find him at No/ 10 AOS finishing with a posting to 4 (C) OTU in May.  Two months later, he was being posted to 423 RCAF Squadron for only a month before a final posting to 201 Squadron in early August 1942.  He remained with the unit for the remainder of the twelve months leading up to the crash.

His entry on the calendar of wills for 1944 records him as "PICKFORD, Norman Baron  otherwise Norman otherwise Norman Byron of Maythorne 90 Holmfield-road LEICESTER died 22 August 1943 on war service".

Sgt George William DAVIES 952226, Flight Engineer

George, one of the survivors gave his next of kin and address as his wife at 116 Kensington Road, South-end of Sea, Essex.

His family were able to provide this scan of his log book, which rather understates events as many wartime documents do.  It is noted that he had flown mostly that month with F/O E F H Bent J5910 and had been posted into 201 Squadron only in July 1943.  His log book earlier confirms his posting to 201 Squadron in February 1943.

Sgt Davies was no stranger to the dangers of war time flying having survived the crash of 120 Squadron Liberator AL519 on 3rd November 1942.  That aircraft had taken off from Ballykelly on night flying training when it crashed into Benevenagh mountain near the airfield.  The pilot was killed but the remaining crew survived.

F/Sgt John Robert COSTER 1259732, Wireless Operator/Air Gunner

John was the son of Rosina and John Coster, having been born in 1920 in .  John was married to Ivy May Carlier in 1940.  Ivy would remarry in early 1945 only to loose her second husband in the crash of a Mosquito fighter in Holland a few weeks later.

F/Sgt William MCLEAN 996639 DFM, Air Gunner

Sgt William McLean 996639 had an address at Alwinton, Harbottle, Morpeth in Northumberland recorded by the Irish Army and had had an already busy wartime career.  He had already served a tour of duty with Bomber Command's, 7 Squadron on Stirling bombers.  On the night of 6 Dec 1942, his aircraft, Stirling R9259 was shot down over France.  Of the crew of seven, six lost their lives with only Sgt McLean managing to escape the aircraft and then evaded capture and escaped through Belgium to neutral Spain and thereafter making his way back to England.  AS can be seen above from the 201 Squadron ORB, he back in service with Coastal Command in February 1943.

Les Ingram provided the following information about Sgt Mclean.  Sergeant W McLean was recommended for the DFM by his squadron commander, Wing Commander O R Donaldson, in a letter dated 24 January 1943 (PRO AIR2/4947 2449) - 'Whilst over the target the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and the rear turret was put out of action. Sergeant Mc.Lean made his turret function under manual control and when the aircraft was later attacked by a night fighter, his conduct, courage, determination and devotion to duty were of the highest order under very harassing circumstances'. Despite this statement the recipient, in a letter dated 19 October 1980, regarded the award of his decoration as being due to his successful 'evasion' and escape from German occupied Europe following the destruction of his aircraft. His letter states: 'We were returning from a raid..in a Stirling of No.7 Squadron, in which I was a rear gunner. When over Belgium the aircraft had a direct hit in the port wing, and burst into flames. The aircraft started to go down, and pieces of wing was (sic) breaking off. I could get no contact with my skipper, so I decided to bale out. I managed to get out with difficulty as the aircraft was going straight down, and I landed in a ploughed field. I managed to evade capture by hiding for several days until the search for the survivors of the aircraft crash by the German army had been called off. After 5 days I went to a remote farm and the farmer gave me a civilian suit of clothes, and put me in touch with an escape organization. From then on I travelled to Brussels, Paris, Bayonne. I then walked over the mountains into Spain, and contacted the British Consul in San Sebastian. From then on I went by road to Madrid, Saville (sic) and by ship to Gibraltar, and back to England by air. I was the only survivor of the crew....I was awarded the DFM for escaping from Germany in 1942'.

It is understood William was born in Morpeth in 1912 and passed away in 1988 in Northumberland.

Sgt John Sidney APPLEGATE 647007, Flight Mechanic Engines/Air Gunner

Sgt Applegate gave the Irish Army his next of kin details and address as his wife, at Bee Hive, Port Dinorwic, in North Wales.

He was the son of Sydney and Annie Applegate and the family lived in Kent.  In 1942, he married Vera Pennington, and their son was able to recount his father telling him about the crash that I left him with nightmares after the war.  He also recalls his father commenting that local people had gone through the wreckage and looted items from the crash site.

John passed away in Wales in 2005 and is buried in his native Kent.

Sgt George Frederick Walter TILT 1338702, Wireless Operator/Air Gunner - Seeking photo

Born in 1905 in Bromsgrove, Worcs, George was the son of Frederick Charles and Eliza Tilt and the husband of Jessie Tilt, of Rednal, Birmingham.  He and Jessie had married in late 1936 in Birmingham.

His widow, Jessie, passed away in 1982

F/Sgt Joseph William BURTON 1287499, Wireless Operator Mechanic/Air Gunner - of Essendonbury Cottage, Essendon Hill, Hatfield

Son of Joseph and Florence Lilian Burton, of Essendon.  The 1939 Register finds Joseph living with his parents and brother Ronald in Essendonbury Cottages, where Joseph is listed as a bricklayer.

He joined the RAF in September 1940, and passed through the various training establishments, until completing gunnery training with 9 Air Gunnery School. his service record is a little difficult to read but he was posted after to 4 OTU and perhaps 1447 Flight.  He then appears to be posted to 228 Squadron for a short period after a posting which is redacted on his service file and may indicate sickness.  He was sent back to 4 (C) OTU and eventually he is found posted to Castle Archdale in Northern Ireland on the first of April 1944.

F/Sgt Walter Noel PITTS 749904, Flight Mechanic Airframe/Air Gunner.

Walter was the son of Cicily and Walter Pitts, of Paignton, Devon and was born in 1920 in Richmond, Surrey.  He appears to have been an only child.  His parents were living in Ealing, London in 1939, but Walter does not appear on the 1939 Register, he was likely already in the services at that point based on his low service number.

His remains were returned to Paignton for burial.  His cousin was kind enough to provide the photo shown.

If you can provide any help in finding relatives of the crew members listed above with no photos I would be most grateful.

The photo below was published in a post war newspaper, likely in the 1990's, the date is to be confirmed.  It shows the white painted tail of the aircraft.

A similar photo, with additional people visible was found on the Irish Military Archives 2024 Calender.  In this case the contents are much clearer.  The view shows the aircraft's tail section, the rear of the fin and rudder are nearest the camera.  The rudder is present but hanging to one side.  The damged ring of the tail turret mount is just about visible, while the people at the right of the photo may be sitting in the rear turret.

The funeral of the deceased personnel was photographed on the day and forwarded it seems to relatives.  These four images were provided by Charles Grossey's daughters family.

The following photos were taken during a hike up the slope of Slieveglass in July 2007. They show some of the remains of Sunderland DD848 which lie on the mountain side. All four Pegasus engines can be found in the heather.