In memory of Sgt Thomas Charles Pugh and the crew of Wellington Bomber R1512
The German coastline off Wesselburen immediately north-east of the mouth of the river Elbe and the port of Hamburg is grey, flat and desolate. It was here in the early hours of the morning of May 11th 1941 that Wellington Bomber R1512 call sign OJ-H and her crew of six simply vanished without trace into the North Sea. Her Captain was Sergeant (Sgt) John Keymer RAFVR with Sgt Thomas Charles Pugh known as “Charles” as Co Pilot. Charles had just completed 18 months of bomber pilot training and the crew had been together for under a month. It was their tenth night time sortie from the Suffolk airbases of Mildenhall and Lakenheath.
For seventy-one years, Charles’s family knew nothing of these events. He was recorded as missing, presumed killed in action, exactly where or how he had died, remained a mystery. The Squadron Operational Record (ORB) records indicate that OJ-H took off from Mildenhall bound for Hamburg at 22.37 on the 10 May and then went “missing”. The family were told that there had been a radio fault which partly accounted for the lack of any further information.
On the Forces War Record website he is simply recorded as killed in action but it was here that I managed to find his official service number, his squadron and the serial number of his plane. I also discovered a bundle of his letters home tied with white ribbon amongst his sister’s papers. I also read about his early days in her handwritten memoirs, I felt compelled to try and find out more about the disappearance of Charles.
Charles was born in October 1911 to the Rev Thomas Rowland and Mabel Theodora (Dora) Pugh at the Rectory, Hampnett in Gloucestershire. Both parents were descended from a long line of habitually interbred and rather dour Welsh Anglican Clergy and were third cousins. They led a comfortable and privileged lifestyle, a way of life that would vanish altogether in the subsequent 20- 30 years. The living for a Clergyman at the turn of the 19th century in a rural and affluent area was often in the gift of the local Patron and was the ideal income earning solution for second or third sons of the upper middle or Aristocratic classes.
His father Thomas was Rural Dean for a wide area of the mid Cotswolds including neighbouring Northleach. He rarely left the hallowed confines of his study apart from a weekly visit to the cinema in Cheltenham. There was just one elder sister Myfanwy and the children led an idyllic rural life climbing trees, bird nesting and running through the woods with their butterfly nets. They were often out in the local meadows and woods all day. The large and comfortable Rectory had 4-5 servants and the children had a Governess at home for their first 5 years of schooling. They played with other relatively well to do children from the local area and one little girlfriend used to arrive in a small carriage drawn by two white goats with Nanny (of human variety not goat) running behind. They did not mix with the local village children.
At the age of 10 years, Charles was sent to a small boarding school in Somerset and passed the next 6-7 years there without event or much in the way of academic achievement. When he left school and returned to the rectory he had very little idea of what he wanted to do in life. He is described as being very affable, easy going, with a quick wit. He played a great deal of competitive tennis and enjoyed local dances, parties and Hops. He was very mechanically minded and maintained his father’s Baby Austin Seven and Morris. A family friend suggested he should become a Bank Clerk with a view to a career in banking and he joined Barclays in Cheltenham. The discipline of working life came as an enormous shock to his system! He was a practical, outdoorsy sort of chap and he became incredibly bored very quickly. However he stuck at it and actually found that meeting and greeting young Cheltenham ladies over the bank counter significantly enhanced his social life. He purchased a motorbike and won a local newspaper competition for flying lessons at the Cotswold Aero Club. It was here he discovered an aptitude for flying and received a pilot’s certificate on a DH Gypsy Moth 1 on the 15th April 1939.
With war looming, Charles tried to enrol in the RAFVR but was turned down owing to a minor eye complaint. This responded to treatment and Charles re-applied for the next vacancy. He became very frustrated with the bureaucratic application process to sign up when it was obvious that RAF was going to need to train as many pilots as possible, very quickly. He was eventually allocated to an 18 month Bomber Command pilot training programme. This bit of his history is unclear. His sister records that he also trained on Spitfires and participated in the Battle of Britain but there is no absolutely no evidence of this. His letters home record some of the details of pilot training which seemed to involve a fair amount of classroom work, exams and maths and navigation lectures etc. He regularly moved around various south coast towns like St Leonards on Sea, where they slept on straw mattresses on the floor of shared hotel rooms, sometimes six or more to a room and hot water was luxury. They kept their own knife, fork, mug and mess tins and ate whatever they could whenever they could. Occasionally planes broke down somewhere remote and many idle hours were spent awaiting the arrival of engineers by bus or air to fix the problem. The only upside was they might get a good breakfast in the Sergeant’s mess followed by another one in the Officer’s mess. More ominously, sometimes groups of young trainees were sent to accompany funeral details which Charles found a bit gruelling although he rarely knew the deceased Airmen or their families. His motorbike came in very handy to get out and about to the cinema or to grab a few hours swimming and sunbathing on a local beach. He had a passion for sea bathing. He did not communicate any particular worries or concerns in his letters home but this was probably deliberate so his parents were less anxious.
In March 1941 he completed his training and was assigned to 149 Squadron known as “Fortis Nocte” at RAF Mildenhall. His remit was night flying but very little of his experience is recorded in his letters home. He also decided at very short notice to marry a Cheltenham girl, Gwen Burnell on the 5th April 1941, just before his posting to Mildenhall. It was brief ceremony with about 5-6 guests. Gwen and Charles found temporary rented accommodation in Suffolk. Unfortunately Charles was not at home very much during April as shortly after this, blanket bombing of the North West German mainland commenced and briefings and sorties kept him on the base most of the time. There are no details of his sorties in his letters or of his relationship with his new crew.
Then I found a letter to his mother Dora from his wife Gwen dated 11 May 1941. Charles and the crew were missing presumed lost. There was no further information other than the hope that they may have crash landed somewhere on the German mainland and possibly survived and been taken prisoner. It is impossible to read this plaintive and sad little letter without a tear in the eye. Gwen and Charles had been married just 5 weeks. The family got no further information at all for several months and Gwen had to collect Charles’s kit from the Mess on the day he went missing so another pilot could occupy his bed that night. Gwen and Charles had had no time to conceive a child of their own but Gwen subsequently re married. Her daughter has been in touch with the family and returned some photographs. Charles’s parents and sister were never to know what happened that night. They even presumed this had been his first sortie and that he was the pilot. They never met the relatives of the other crew members and of course, there was never a funeral. Charles simply vanished forever. He was Dora’s favourite child and she never really recovered from his loss.
I did a great deal of background reading on Bomber Command, Wellington Bombers and the events of May 1941, the search for information became compelling. The real breakthrough came when I found a Facebook page dedicated to 149 Squadron and posted a request for information on Wellington R1512, OJ-H on the 10-11th May 1941. I eventually discovered Alan Fraser, 149 Squadron Historian, who filled in the final gaps. Much information has recently been forthcoming from German night fighter base operational records and it was finally through Vol 1of the Nachtjagd Diaries by Theo Boiten that we discovered what happened to OJ-H and many other British planes reported missing without trace over German or North Sea territories.
As war approached, No 149 (East India) Squadron, which had served briefly in World War 1, was reformed in 1937 at RAF Mildenhall as a heavy night bomber unit. They were initially equipped with the ageing Handley Page Heyford bombers but not for long. In early 1939, these were replaced with the new geodetic structured Vicker’s Wellington Bombers designed by Barnes Wallis, of Dam Buster fame. These were sturdy, reliable aircraft and they could absorb a large amount of structural damage and still limp home. Charles’s plane on his final mission was a Vicker’s Wellington series 1C, serial number R1512, coded OJ-H, she had arrived from 18MU (maintenance unit) which was dedicated to storing and scrapping Wellingtons. She arrived at 149 Squadron on the 20th April 1941.
Charles’s crewmates were:
- Sgt Keymer R J Captain and 1st Pilot
- Sgt Pugh T C 2nd Pilot
- P/O Adams G R N Observer
- Sgt Sutherland L G Wireless Operator
- Sgt Ockendon F C Air Gunner
- Sgt Menage T N Air Gunner
The full Keymer crew operational history from Squadron records is as follows:
1st Op 15 April 41 – Wellington 1C serial R1408 OJ-J – Target Keil
Take Off (T/O) at 21.05 Lakenheath, landed at 04.00. Not an auspicious start for team Keymer. They were unable to find their target and brought their bombs back.
2nd Op 17th April 41 – Wellington 1C serial R2248 OJ-G – Target Cologne
T/O at 00.50 Lakenheath, landed at 05.30. Bombed from 10,000 ft on flarepath and across aerodrome. Bursts seen. Incendiaries burning well. The crew had redeemed themselves and had a successful mission.
3rd Op 23 April 41 – Wellington 1C serial R1506 OJ-D – Target Brest.
T/O at 20.19 Lakenheath, landed 03.31. Bombs released in one stick from 9000ft south to north on the submarine station.
4th Op 26th April 41 Wellington 1C serial R1512 OJ-H – Target Emden
T/O at 21.29 Lakenheath. Forced landing at Acklington at 04.15. Bombs released on Emden. This was their first encounter with R1512 and the forced landing was not an auspicious start to the relationship
5th Op 30th April 41 Wellington 1C serial R1512 OJ-H – Target Kiel
T/O at 20.52 Lakenheath, landed 03.41. Weather over target 7/10th cloud and heavy ground haze. Bombed in one stick. Thought to have fallen south east of southern end of the harbour as water could be seen in the flash. Other Aircraft were unable to find the target.
6th Op 3rd May 41 Wellington 1C serial T2713 OJ-G – Target Cologne
T/O at 21.18 Lakenheath, landed at 03.30.1 stick at 10,000ft, fire already burning in buildings NE to SW. No landmarks located to 10/10ths cloud with few small gaps.
7th Op 5th May 41 Wellington 1C serial G2713 OJ-G – Target Mannheim
T/O at 22.33 Lakenheath, landed 05.25. 1 stick at 040 degrees at 12,000ft on concentration of light and heavy flak. No landmarks seen due to heavy haze and 10/10ths cloud.
8th Op 7th May 41 Wellington 1C serial R1512 OJ-H – Target Brest
T/O at 22.23 Lakenheath, landed 04.25. 2x 2000lb bombs 1st stick W to E across ship alongside of quay of TR station. One burst seen which appeared to be directly on forepart of the ship followed by large explosion which illuminated the whole ship.
9th Op 8th May 41 Wellington 1C serial R1512 OJ-H – Target Texel Aerodrome.
T/O at 22.16 Lakenheath, landed at 02.05 unable to attack primary target due to complete failure of intercom.
10th Op 10th May 41 Wellington 1C R1512 OJ-H – Target Port of Hamburg – final mission. T/O 22.37 Mildenhall. Lost without trace
I now know much more about what happened on the night of 10th May. OJ-H proceeded to target uneventfully, one of 99 bombers that took off from the South of England that night for a major planned offensive against Hamburg. A small force was sent further east to Berlin. It was a clear, starlight night and by the time she arrived over the target, fires were already burning on the ground filling the sky with an orange haze. The flak barrage was abundant and there was always the risk of German fighter plane intervention. It is likely that she successfully let go her stick of bombs at about 10,000ft and then turned north to fly up the coast a little way before finally turning west again at Wesselburen, close to the Danish border, to fly back across the North Sea avoiding land and the inherent risk of flak and fighters. Doubtless, the crew were probably able to relax a little with the mission accomplished and the threat of flak receding. They must have been exhausted after 10 sorties in quick succession and very little sleep. They had bonded as team of equals with just one commissioned officer amongst them but apart from the first salute of the morning, they would have been on relaxed, familiar christian name terms at all times with plenty of humorous banter to diffuse the stress. Sgt Menage, Air Gunner, was the most experienced crew member and had participated in the Battle of Britain as a gunner on Blenheims.
Little did they know as they flew over the beach at Wesselburen heading for home and breakfast, that not far away; OFW Johann Schonherr of 6./NJG1 was cruising in his ME 109 looking for British bombers, like a sleek grey shark looking for unsuspecting prey. He had successfully brought down a Wellington over North West Germany the week before. It was a clear night and he must have known that the bombers would be heading for the North Sea route home. At 03.03hrs, he spotted OJ-H as she turned west and out over the sea. He went in to attack. Although she had guns to the front and rear, as an early Wellington 1C production model, she was largely unprotected broadside and above. Luftwaffe pilots knew about this vulnerability and would fly above the bomber and then attack to either side.
There was little the Gunners could do. OJ-H finally fell into the cold, grey North Sea and disappeared, this is where she and her crew remain today. Charles is a long way away from his idyllic beginnings in Hampnett but we now know where he and his companions lie. Johann Schonherr did not shoot down any more aircraft as he became a pilot trainer but in 1944 he was slightly injured when he bailed out of his plane due to engine failure, he made it through the insanity and futility that is war.
Johann initially reported his kill as a Blenheim Bomber but it is now known that it was the Keymer crew’s Wellington of 149 Squadron. In all ten British aircraft were shot down that night by German night fighters including four Wellingtons.
The pace of these night time bombing missions could not be maintained and following a disappointing raid on Mannheim a few nights later, the main bombing force squadrons were stood down for a few nights following which attention shifted to the large railway centres linking the Ruhr to the central parts of Germany. And on the 20-21st June, 115 bombers tried to attack the Tirpitz at Kiel. Although accurate bomb aiming at night from 10,000 feet was very difficult, the sheer intensity of these early bombing missions kept the German fighter force pre-occupied and away from the UK mainland and the focus of German aircraft production at that time was focussed on fighter planes for defence rather than bomber planes for offensive attack.
Without question, the courage of those airmen who flew with the heavy bomber squadrons in the spring and early summer of 1941 cannot be overstated. Few, if any of them, had any illusions about the dangers facing them and yet they rose to the challenge magnificently.
Post Script: Johann Schonherr did make it through WW2 had a family and died about 10 years ago. He agreed to meet an RAF Historian just before he died and gave him the medal he received for shooting down Charles’s plane. A picture will be sent to us. He was not comfortable with or proud of this episode of his life.
Submitted by Gill Barnes
