Halifax R9532 at Dalton airfield.
On the night of 1st / 2nd June 1942 this 102 Squadron aircraft took off from Dalton airfield at 23.25hrs to undertake an operational flight to bomb a target at Essen. The crew released their bomb load from 14,000 feet onto the primary target but the aircraft was damaged by flak. The squadron records do not mention any landing incident however other records state that control was lost in the final moments of the approach to land at Dalton airfield at 04.45hrs resulting in the aircraft crashing into a field. The damage saw the aircraft being written off.
Pilot - F/Sgt Brian James Treloar RAAF (404268).
? - Sgt Jack Powell RAF (623638).
Navigator - Sgt David Boston Patterson RCAF (R/71614).
? - Sgt L Williams RAF (620603).
? - Sgt J K Baker.
Air Gunner - Sgt Albert George Frampton RAFVR (1251802).
Brian Treloar (with bag) was born on 1st October 1917 in Maryborough and had worked for the Commonwealth Bank prior to enlisting in Brisbane on 19th July 1940. He underwent initial training at Tarnworth, New South Wales prior gaining his Waings at Amberley in 1941, he was presented with his Wings by Queensland Governor Sir Leslie Wilson (pictured below).
On arrival in the UK he begun further training at 19 OTU on 3rd August 1941 before posting to 102 Squadron on 9th October 1941. Following this minor accident he returned to his normal duties and was the pilot of Halifax W1107 on the night of 8th/9th July 1942 detailed to bomb Wilhelmshaven. All of the above named (with the exception of Baker) where with him on this night when the aircraft was attacked from below by a night-fighter which killed the mid-upper gunner. The port wing was also struck and the fuel tanks caught fire. This fire could not be put out so the crew abandoned the aircraft at 11,000 feet. The remaining crew were soon captured on the ground near Eenrum. Brian Treloar had completed some sixteen operational flights prior this one, he saw out the War as a PoW and returned home to Austalia after the War.
I would like to thank Mr Robert Thomson for contacting me in August 2011, his father Alan Thomson, had known Brian Treloar very well before both men enlisted into the RAAF in 1940 together. Mr Thomson survived the War being awarded the DFC in 1945. He and Brian Treloar remained in touch until at least the mid-1960s. The Thomson family photograph albums contain a number of photographs of Treloar and I have been allowed to show some of them on this page. I thank Mr Robert Thomson for contacting me and for the additional information he has been kind enough to provide. The photograph above shows Alan Thomson on the left and Brian Treloar on the right with the bag. I also thank Dr Reg Mulder for contacting me and correcting some of the information on the later accident in Holland.
Boston Patterson was a native of Winnipeg but spent his childhood in Owen Sound and worked for a local printing firm before enlisting into the RCAF in August 1940 and arriving in the UK in early 1941.
Halifax R9532 was built to contract 692649/37 by Handley Page Ltd. at Radlett. It was taken on charge by 102 Squadron at Dalton on 29th March 1942. As a result of the damage sustained on 2nd June 1942 Cat.E/FB damage was the assessment and it was written off. The AM Form 78 gives the date it was struck off charge as being 2nd June 1942.
