THE 10 SQUADRON RIBBON STONE
AT THE INTERNATIONAL BOMBER COMMAND CENTRE (IBCC), LINCOLN
The 10 Squadron Stone was laid in the IBCC, Lincoln ‘Ribbon Pathway’ in April 2022 but its ‘official’ viewing wasn’t achieved by the Association until later that year in early October. Our very grateful thanks go to those whose pockets became somewhat lighter, as a result of their generosity when asked to contribute to our crowd-funding appeal which bore the cost of the stone’s production and installation. It now lies among many others forming either side of the Ribbon Pathway, dedicated to those who will never be forgotten and our stone remembers all those who have ever served on No 10 Squadron, since its formation in the Royal Flying Corps on 1 January 1915.
A small group of Association members was honoured to be accompanied at the first viewing by the then OC10, Wg Cdr Tim Rushworth, after finding the stone to have been laid on the right-hand side of the Pathway about halfway along, towards the Spire.
At the end of the Pathway, the names of all the 55,000+ Bomber Command personnel who lost their lives during World War II are listed on rust-coloured, treated-steel panels. They surround the central ‘Spire’ focal point, whose height is that of the wingspan of a WW2 Lancaster bomber aircraft.
The IBCC has an excellent café, shop and museum, and it is well worth a day’s visit. Situated on the south side of Lincoln in Canwick, views of the city and its cathedral can be enjoyed from the grounds. Google ‘IBCC Lincoln’ to find out more.
Click on this link to read more and see photos of the 10 Sqn IBCC Stone when first viewed on 2 October 2022.
WG CDR ARTHUR T. WHITELOCK
In 2019 a small headstone was discovered in the Cemetery of the picturesque Gloucestershire village of Bibury, just a few miles to the west of 10 Squadron's present base at RAF Brize Norton. The stone marked the place where the ashes of a former Officer Commanding No 10 Squadron had been interred in 1964, to be later followed by those of his wife in 1972. It was in a very weather-beaten condition and its surfaces with engraved scripts were eroded and almost illegible, whilst also being covered with a hard fungal residue. The site held the ashes of Arthur and Frances Whitelock.
After painstaking and lengthy research to discover if there were relatives of the Whitelocks from whom permission might be obtained to replace the stone, no immediate family members were found: the couple had no children.
The 10 Squadron Association then submitted a formal ‘faculty’ to the Diocese of Gloucester asking for permission to replace the stone, which after some delay because it was in the Covid-19 pandemic year, took a while to eventually be granted. After a crowd-funding project amongst the 10 Squadron Association members had achieved the desired amount, a new stone was duly ordered and placed in situ on the site of the old one and a small ceremony held was by Squadron and Association members on 8 May 2021; numbers attending being limited by Covid ‘distancing’ rules.
Wg Cdr Arthur T. Whitelock had been the commanding officer of 10 Squadron from April 1929 to August 1930 whilst the Squadron were based at RAF Upper Heyford flying Handley Page Hyderabad bombers and it was he who conceived the idea of the Squadron Badge and Motto. The ‘winged arrow’ was considered to denote a modern bomb delivered from the air at great speed and the Latin motto translates to mean, ‘To Hit The Mark’.
Whilst this following website selection of 10 Sqn Memorial items have been found for locations distant from the known graves of the former 10 Squadron members, an exception has been made in Arthur Whitelock’s case in order to honour his memory for creating the badge and motto, which were later given Royal Approval in 1937, some seven years after his time on the Squadron.
The Runnymede Air Forces Memorial Entrance
The Air Forces Memorial, usually known as The RAF Runnymede Memorial, is situated at:
Cooper's Hill Lane, Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey TW20 0LB
Opened in 1953, it is the location where all those without a known grave are remembered.
There are numerous memorials throughout the UK, Europe and indeed other countries too, which are dedicated to the RAF personnel who lost their lives whilst serving on 10 Squadron. Many are situated on church walls, or other prominent public places in the deceased's local hometown area, whereas some have also been erected close to known crash sites. The images and narratives which follow are in addition to any which may appear on an individual's grave headstone.
Articles are in Date Order so please SCROLL DOWN below to find most recent date:
RAF Melbourne. East Yorkshire
THE 10 SQUADRON MEMORIAL
Pictured above, at the entrance to the former RAF Melbourne, Yorkshire, the 10 Squadron Memorial remains the main focus for the memory of all personnel who have lost their lives whilst serving on the Squadron, be it in peace or wartime. A Service of Remembrance is held here annually on Remembrance Sunday. All are welcome to attend.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Angus (Gus) Walker gives his left-handed salute at the 10 Squadron War Memorial inauguration on
15 September 1985.
The Memorial was designed by architect and aviation artist Norman Appleton (1926 - 2022)
(Click on the Plaque image above, to enlarge)
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RAF Leeming, North Yorkshire
Situated close to what was the original Main Gate of RAF Leeming (until it's redevelopment several years ago) is a memorial stone and plaque remembering all the operational flying squadrons that were based there during WW2: 10 Sqn arrived from nearby RAF Dishforth in July 1940 and left for RAF Melbourne in August 1942.
Images donated to the IBCC Memorials Project and reproduced with the kind permission of Steve Dobson
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Readers may see that we now include below a continually growing list of more individual and private markers where the memories of lost ones may long be remembered. Their plaques and memorials are separate from any individual grave inscription, if such exists for the deceased, and most are not in the location of subsequent burial.
Much of the information below has come from Tony Hibberd, who is a volunteer researcher at the International Bomber Command Centre, (IBCC) Lincoln. We are most grateful to him in allowing us to share his research.
We must also mention the Scottish Military Research Group for kindly allowing us the use of some of their images.
If you know of any other memorials, not yet listed below, please get in touch with us. A photograph of the general site location and another of the memorial's inscription would be much appreciated, as would be a photograph of the individual so commemorated.
Scroll down from Here
to find memorials which are listed in the date order of aircraft loss and
CLICK ON THE IMAGE OF EACH PLAQUE OR MEMORIAL BELOW
to 'Read More' in a pdf file which will then open
(Not all images are linked in this way: -those which are linked show a 
hand pointer when your cursor is scrolled over the memorial image)
Whitley: Missing in action following the first WW2 raid to Berlin 1-2 October 1939
In memory of the crew of K 9018
Large wooden plaque held by 10 Sqn at their RAF Brize Norton HQ
Victor: Crash in Cyprus – 16 June 1962
In memory of the crew of XA 929
Wooden plaque held by 10 Sqn at their RAF Brize Norton HQ
York Raceway Plaque: in Taxiway-light Concrete Block - RAF Melbourne
In memory of all who lifted off at this point to engage in bombing missions during WW2 (No additional pdf text link)
Note: This plaque is situated on Private Property
Whitley: Flying Accident 23 January 1939
Memorial to Plt Off Allan F.W. MILES in the Garrison Church, Southsea, Portsmouth
TH/IBCC
Whitley: Crash in Tredegar, Wales - 13 November 1940
(No additional pdf text link)
In memory of Sgt Peter D. GOLDSMITH pilot of VT 4232
Note:
We have found, since this was first posted here, that Sgt Goldsmith was in fact the 2nd pilot on this crew and his captain was a Fg Off Peter W.F. Landale, later promoted to squadron leader rank. Whilst Landale survived this crash and subsequently rejoined 10 Squadron, we now learn that he was later Missing in Action - possibly over the North Sea when his Whitley Z 6624 failed to return after a Hanover raid on 25/26 July 1941. Memorials to him are to be found in his home area of Dalswinton and Kirkmahoe, Dumfries, Scotland. Having no grave he is remembered at the Runnymede Memorial.
Plaque mounted on stone at Parc Bryn Bach Visitor Centre
(Nth-East of Merthyr Tydfill)
TH/IBCC
Whitley: Crash in Schuinesloot, Netherlands 5/6 July 1941
Click here to read a pdf file about the Memorial to the crew of Whitley MkV - Z 6793
which was shot down by a night-fighter and crashed near the eastern Dutch border.
Plt Off R. Goulding - Pilot, Sgt R.I.H. Aird - Gunner, Sgt D. Morrison - Observer, Sgt R.H. Jordan - Wop
Whitley: Missing over The North Sea off the Dutch Coast 25/26 July 1941
In memory of the pilot of Whitley Z 6624 Sqn Ldr Peter W.F. Landale DFC
(Click on the window image below to open pdf file)
The owner of the Dalswinton Estate today, also named Peter Landale, who is the great nephew of Sqn Ldr Landale, has printed a version of our text which now rests beside the stained-glass window in the Dalswinton Church, so that all visitors may read about the background to the Window.
Sqn Ldr Peter W.F. Landale DFC is remembered in the stained-glass window
at Dalswinton Barony Church, Dumfries & Galloway
1941/1942/1943 The Blackpool Fish Brothers
BLACKPOOL – Seventh Day Adventist Chapel, Bolton Street
¾ mile south of Blackpool Tower, on a road parallel to Blackpool’s ‘Golden Mile’ and just off Lytham Street, in nondescript-looking Bolton Street, is a very small Seventh Day Adventist chapel. Above the door on the external wall, is a weathered memorial tablet remembering three brothers from the town who were all killed, serving with the RAF during WW2. One of them served at RAF Melbourne, Yorks, as a Halifax pilot on 10 Squadron. To read more, click on the image of the tablet below:
Halifax: Crash on Hood Hill, Sutton Bank, North Yorks 5 May 1943
An accident in which 5 Halifax crew members were killed when their aircraft hit high ground.
Halifax: Crashed at RAF Tangmere, West Sussex 19 November 1943
In memory of a crew who were all killed when their severely damaged Halifax crashed into a hangar, after numerous attempts to land at Tangmere after a raid on Germany.
Memorial to all the crew of Halifax HX 181 (ZA-K) whose aircraft crashed into a hangar at RAF Tangmere
(Enquire at the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum (TMAM) to access the Memorial at the edge of the old airfield, not far from the Control Tower)
A further link to the individual crew members named on the Memorial may be found here:
Dedication to the Crew - read at the Memorial's Unveiling ceremony
A small plaque shown below, in the TMAM Garden of Remembrance also remembers the crew.
REMINDER -
To open a subsequent article about any memorials shown,
Click on the image of it
Halifax: Shotdown over Ost Wippengen, Germany 27 September 1943
In memory of Sgt Ernest J. E. JARMAN, air bomber on Mk2 Halifax JD272 (click on image below)
Halifax: Missing in Action - Berlin Raid, 20 January 1944
Pilot FS Douglas Alexander ARTHUR, of Halifax JD 470 is remembered at St Timothy's Church, Slinn Street, Crookes, Sheffield. - Missing in action with his crew, who are all remembered at the Runnymede Memorial.
(Note: The Squadron records Douglas Arthur as a flight sergeant at the time of his last flight, whereas this memorial plaque in St Timothy's lists him as a sergeant. He was the son of John and Edith Arthur of Liversedge, Yorks.)
Images courtesy: Mark Hanson
Halifax: Shot down near Perles, Aisne, France 29 June 1944
In memory of Sgt Jonathan Cuffey.
This memorial must be unique in that a street is named after a 10 Sqn tail gunner who lost his life when his aircraft crashed near Perles in France in June 1944. Sgt J. Cuffey was the only one on his crew to lose his life and he is buried near the Perles village church, where he is remembered every year on Memorial Day (8 May). Click on the image below to read the story.
Halifax: Mid-Air Collision - Taillette, France 17-18 December 1944
In memory of the crews of Halifaxes LV 818 & NP 699 (432 Sqn)
Taillette Village War Memorial
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See also: a link below for the Canadian crew whose pilot Fg Off Max Krakovsky was the sole survivor
https://aircrewremembered.com/krakovsky-max.html
In the link above there is also a further link to a similar Aircrew Remembered article about the other aircraft involved: 10 Squadron's LV881. Images there supplied by David Mole, were found during his long quest into what had happened to his father's aircraft and crew in December 1944.
Flt Lt W. (Bill) Gorley DFC - 29 March 1946 - Burma Dakota KP 270
Flimby Village Cemetery War Memorial, Nr Workington, Cumbria CA15 8TJ
For many years WW2 10 Sqn Nav Leader Douglas Newham wondered if a Memorial had ever been erected anywhere to commemorate his great friend Flt Lt Bill Gorley who had died in a Dakota crash in north-east Burma at the end of March 1946. Although married with a Surrey address, Doug knew that Bill had been raised in Cumbria and thanks to Doug’s dedication, fine memory and superb research help given to him by BBC Radio Cumbria, Bill’s name was finally found in 2020.
It is on the War Memorial located near the entrance to the cemetery adjacent to St Nicholas Church, in the coastal village of Flimby, some four miles north of Workington. 75 years after Bill Gorley loss of life and Doug’s subsequent quest started, Bill's name was found and Doug was able to pay his final respects to his friend.
Sadly Doug himself aged 100, was to pass away in March 2022. Like his friend, he will be sadly missed.
See: https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/171027/
WW2 veteran 'emotional' at fallen friend Flimby memorial find - BBC News
Click here to read: A Very Sad Day for 10 Squadron in Burma
29 March 1946
OC 10 Sqn (1942) - Plymouth Hoe Memorial, Devon - Don Bennettt (1910 - 1986)
In his then rank of a wing commander in 1942, Air Vice Marshal D.C.T. Bennett CB, CBE, DSO, commanded No 10 Squadron at RAF Leeming. On leaving the Squadron he formed the renowned 'Pathfinder Force' of No 8 Gp, Bomber Command.
His ashes rest beneath the Plymouth Hoe Memorial commemorating RAF losses from 1939 - 1945.
