Douglas Thicke (photo Mrs Dale Plante, via Mr L Green).
Douglas Thicke was the son of Frank and Margaret Thicke, of Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada. Information regarding Doug Thicke's life and early flying career is not yet known. At the time of the fatal accident he was coming to the end of his Heavy Conversion Unit training with 1664 HCU and taking part in this raid with the Evans crew in preparation for him and his own crew joining an operational squadron. This flight, known as a "Dickie" flight was to give him operational experience, he was acting as second pilot to David Evans and would have flown in the foldable second pilot's seat in the cockpit of the aircraft. He was twenty one years old when he was killed in the crash near Kepwick Bank and was buried at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
P/O Doug Thicke's headstone at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Upon his death Douglas Thicke's own crew were joined by another pilot to continue their training and eventually begin their operational flying with 434 Squadron. The new pilot, F/Lt James Murray Parrott RCAF (J/21253), joined the existing crew comprising of:
Navigator - F/O Samuel Henry James Pearce RCAF (J/27505).
Bomb Aimer - Wo2 Allan Edward Kurtzhals RCAF (R/110453).
Mid Upper Gunner - F/Sgt Alexander Divitcoff RCAF (R/209473).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Leslie Homer Janzen RCAF (R/98704).
Rear Gunner - F/Sgt Gordon William Olafsen RCAF (R/182540).
Wireless Operator - P/O Herbert Browne RCAF (J/???).
On the 18th December 1944 their Halifax NR118 crashed in Belgium killing all but P/O Browne. All are buried in Leopoldsburg War Cemetery, Belgium. This crash has been researched in full by Mr Leslie Green, who's uncle, Harry Pearce was killed in the incident. A memorial now lies at the crash site of NR118. The photograph of Doug Thicke was a product of his research which initially came from the Kurtzhals family in Canada, via Margaret Nystrom (his sister) and Mrs Plante to Mr Green. I would like to thank Mrs Plante and Mr Green for their help in researching Doug Thicke.
I also detail a further crash on this website in which another member of Thicke's crew, F/O Pearce, was involved in. This crash happened near Sowerby, Yorkshire on 15th April 1944. For my webpage on this incident please click here.