CREW: LOCKHART
CREW MEMBER: RYLE, Georgie
DETAILS: All crew killed when shot down 27/28 April 1944. Lancaster a/c crashed at Reichenbach.
CREW LIST:
W/Cdr W G Lockhart, DSO, DFC*
Sgt J E Johnson
S/Ldr J L Martin, DFC*
F/Lt L D Goldingay, DFC
W/O2 W W Bigoray, DFM, RCAF
S/Ldr G Ryle, DFC
Sgt F W Shields
CREW NOTES: Currently no pictures or details of crew except as mentioned below.
LOCKHART NOTES: Lockhart was the squadron CO. He had previously been the CO of 692 Squadron, PFF, which flew Mosquitoes. His loss is mentioned in 692 Squadron’s diary. Lockhart was the replacement for Group Captain Rampling who had been shot down and killed on 22 March 1944, only four weeks earlier.
BIGORAY NOTES: Immediate DFM, London Gazette, 12 January 1943
RYLE NOTES: Georgie Ryle was an unusual airman, a Squadron Leader and a gunner in his late thirties. The diary written by his wife, Peggy Ryle, ‘Missing in Action: May-Sept 1944’ (W H Allen, London, 1979), contains details about him and Lockhart.
DONOR: Copy of ‘Missing in Action’ originally owned by Joan Layne, wife of Wally Layne, together with copy of letter Joan Layne wrote to Peggy Ryle – given by David Layne