Personnel Index - Detail

Name
BALL
First Names
Leslie
Rank
Sgt
Service
RAF
Service Number
745177
Crew Position
Pilot
Age
23
Date of Death
20/11/1940
Cemetery

 

Photographed by Malcolm Brooke

From the panel at Runnymede
 

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Sgt Leslie Ball (left) with his brother Peter (killed August 1942). A third brother (Ken) was killed in April 1942. The family lost three out of five sons.

Leslie Ball (on left) with his brother Peter (killed later flying with 44Sqn).

In common with an earlier generation in WW1, there were few families in WW2 who remained untouched by the ravages of war. The Ball family of Coalville in Leicestershire suffered grievously, losing three of their five sons. Brothers Leslie and Peter Ball are pictured here shortly after gaining their pilot's wings. Leslie (left) was a 23-year-old sergeant pilot with 49 Squadron; his Hampden, X3024 'H-Harry', failed to return from bombing Lutzkendorf on 19/20 November 1940. Peter was a 22-year-old flying officer when he and his 44 Squadron Lancaster crew were lost without trace on operations to Essen on 4/5 August 1942. Another brother, Ken, also a bomber pilot, had been killed on active service four months earlier.19/20 November, 1940; LÜTZKENDORF:
The squadron detailed 5 aircraft to attack the oil refinery at Lützkendorf. The Ball (X3054) and Bowden (P1176) crews both made attacks on the primary, the latter crew landing back at North Coates - a third aircraft bombed an alternative target; a fourth crew returned with their bombs (both of these a/c returned to Hemswell). The fifth aircraft failed to return; it is presumed that the crew, piloted by 21 year old Basil Fulton (X3024) ditched somewhere in the North Sea. All four crew members remain listed as 'missing', and their names are recorded on the Runnymede Memorial.

Hampden X3024 (EA-H)
Sgt B.T.M. Fulton Pilot (Missing)
Sgt T.H. Mellon (Missing)
Sgt L. Ball (Missing)
Sgt D.G.B. Steell (Missing)