Personnel Index - Detail
Awarded the DFC
10/11 February, 1941; HANNOVER:
Bomber Command dispatched 222 aircraft against industrial targets in Hannover. 49 Squadron had 12 aircraft airborne, following a briefing in which the Scampton Intelligence Officer had exhorted crews to cause 'maximum destruction' of their specified target. Whilst over Holland, Canadian pilot F/Lt John Green DFC (X3001) and crew fell victim to a German night fighter piloted by Lt Leopold Fellerer of II/NJG.2. The doomed aircraft crashed near Zuidscharwoude in Holland.
Three members of the crew survived and were taken prisoner; sadly Sgt David Cruickshank, who had also baled out, was already dead when his parachute came to earth at Broek op Langendijk. He had sustained a head wound and it is presumed that he struck the tail plane when jumping; Sgt Cruickshank is buried in Alkmaar Cemetery, Holland.
Hampden X3001 (EA-H)
F/L J.H. Green DFC Pilot (P.o.W.)
Sgt D.A. Cruickshank A/OB (Killed)
W/O A.L. Bryceson W/AG (P.o.W.)
W/O H.E. Fisher W/AG (P.o.W.)
Recent information from artist Lionel Jeans of Bournemouth in Dorset:
In 1947 Flt Lt John H Green DFC was killed when his aircraft crashed into the sea off Bournemouth. He was performing a final victory roll in a Spitfire Mk XVIII at the request of a child in the crowds lining the seafront and raising money for the RAF charity.
Both photographs are courtesy of Amanda and Dave Jones
Click this link to view more details of this memorial
Flight Lieutenant J H Green is buried in the Brookwood Military Cemetery.
Image courtesy of David Thomas.
David recently discovered that the Bournemouth plaque was in very poor condition. For a range of personal reasons, David has had the plaque replaced.......entirely at his own expense.
The 49 Squadron Association would like to thank David for this extraordinary act of generosity.
Although a new plaque is to be placed at the memorial site, the old one has been restored and is here photographed in his garden. It will shortly be varnished and donated to the RAF Heritage Centre at Scampton.