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Brooke-Taylor, Keith

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Personal Information

Rank P/O
Forename(s) Keith
Surname Brooke-Taylor
Gender M
Age 21
Decorations
Date of Death 07-04-1940
Next of Kin Son of Roydon and Ida Winifred Brooke-Taylor, of Wellington City, New Zealand.
BROOKE-TAYLOR K

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Handley Page Hampden I
Serial Number L4054
Markings OL-

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Chevington Cemetery
Grave Reference Sec. H. Grave 286.
Epitaph OF WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND. HE CAME AND GAVE ALL

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 1
Panel Number 13

Enlistment Information

Service Number 41251
Service Royal Air Force
Group 5
Squadron 83
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin United Kingdom

Other Memorials

Location RAF Wyton, Cambridgeshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Memorial Stone & Inscribed Metal Plaque
Memorial Text Commemorating 83 Sqn Lancaster, one of the Pathfinder Sqn's operating from RAF Wyton 1942 - 1945
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Location St. Michaels's Church, Coningsby, Lincolnshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Wooden Plaque & 83 Sqn Badge
Memorial Text This Chapel was furnished by members and friends of 83 Pathfinder Sqn and is dedicated to the memory of those airmen who lost their lives on flying operations from RAF Coningsby in WWII
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Casualty Pack Number Find Out More

AIR 81/1979 (P351550/40)

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/686/8

Fellow Servicemen

McNicol A (Sgt)
Roberts W (P/O)
Sharpe D W (AC1)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 06-04-1940
End Date 07-04-1940
Takeoff Station Scampton
Day/Night Raid Night (1% moon)
Operation Patrol, Tactical Reconaissance
Reason for Loss Ran out of fuel and was abandoned at 04:15 on 7th April 40 over Whitley Bay, on the Northumberland coast. The Hampden crashed into the sea off St Marys Lighthouse. This aircraft actually crashed on landing. There is a very detailed report on its loss at the National Archives. The wireless operator, Denis Sharpe, stayed in the aircraft, probably because he was dead or injured, and was lost in the explosion which rocked the area in the middle of the night. His last resting place was found in a search led by Russ Gray, a member of the North East section of the Air- Crash Investigation and Archaeology Group. Hampden L4054 of 83 Squadron, left RAF Scampton on the night of April 6, 1940, at 7.15 for a security patrol and offensive operations against the enemy in the district of the Sylt coast in north Germany. The aircraft was fired on in that area and nothing was heard again from her until she appeared in the vicinity of St Mary's Lighthouse at 2.45am the next day where she circled for about one-and-a-half hours, signalling SOS repeatedly on a lamp. The SOS was challenged by the then lighthouse keeper, Harold Owen Hall, who, after receiving the correct reply, contacted the appropriate authorities. No other Morse signal was picked up from the aircraft except the SOS. Standard procedure to aid lost aircraft was followed. Searchlight beams over a wide area were trained towards Acklington, the nearest RAF base equipped to land the stricken aircraft. The base lit the flare path at 3am and instructions on how to find Acklington were transmitted to the bomber by Morse lamp, the signal reading "St. Mary's Lighthouse, follow the beam for Acklington". Each separate word was acknowledged by a dash on the aircraft signalling lamp, but the pilot made no attempt to follow them. The plane continued to circle until one engine appeared to fail and shortly after 4am three crew left the aircraft by parachute before she crashed and exploded. The RAF concluded that the fact that the pilot disregarded the instructions to fly to Acklington suggested the aircraft was damaged in such a way as to render a landing hazardous. The plane did not jettison the bomb load over the sea, indicating that the bomb doors or bomb release gear was damaged. And the wireless operator remained with the aircraft because he was probably badly wounded or had been killed. The wireless silence from 9.53pm onwards supported this theory. RAF chiefs surmised that the hydraulic system was so badly damaged the aircraft could not lower the undercarriage or open the bomb doors and it would have been too dangerous to attempt a belly landing at Acklington carrying a cargo of bombs.

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Casualty Pack

IBCC is delighted to introduce a unique facility to link the Losses Database to the relevant RAF Casualty Pack on the National Archives website. This project is the result of on-going collaboration between IBCC, the MOD Records Office and National Archives, Kew. This document describes what Casualty Packs are, when they were created, the process of making them available to the public and then goes on to describe the process by which you can view the contents of the packs. Casualty Packs (CPs) were created by the RAF whenever there was serious injury or loss of life associated with operational activity within the RAF. This includes operational flying losses, enemy action due to air raids, road accidents either on station or even off-station if they involved RAF vehicles. Deaths due to natural causes in service or accidents that did not involve RAF vehicles did not generally give rise to a CP.

CPs were originally given a unique reference number by the RAF. Each begins with the letter ‘P’ and is followed by six digits, then an oblique (forward slash) and the finally the year in which the incident took place- for example P396154/42.

The CPs are in the process of being made available to the general public as they are passed from the MOD Records Office, Portsmouth to National Archives, Kew. This process requires some rework to the files which is very time consuming, so the process of making them all available to National Archives will take several years. They are being made available in increasing date order.

Once CPs arrive at National Archives they are assigned a unique AIR81 number, so each CP has both a P-number and an AIR81 number. Both are searchable on the National Archives website under ‘Search the catalogue’ and both are included on the IBCC website.

The AIR81 reference on the IBCC website is a link to the file on the National Archives website. When you click on it, the relevant page will open in a new tab on your browser.

There is currently no plan to digitise AIR81 files, partly because they are fragile and partly because the information they contain can at times be sensitive, even harrowing, since they may contain exhumation reports and even photographs of corpses. Family members wishing to read the AIR81 files relating to their ancestors are advised to exercise caution and be guided by National Archives warnings where appropriate.

There are two means for accessing AIR81 files- to attend in person or to order a copy by post.

To attend in person, the attendee should first create a Reader’s Ticket. This can be done online by following this link: https://secure.nationalarchives.gov.uk/login/yourdetails. Then click on the AIR81 reference on the IBCC website and click Order in Advance. Enter your Reader’s Ticket number and state the date on which you intend to visit. National Archives will have the file ready for you when you arrive, saving you time. When you visit Kew, you must quote the Reader’s Ticket number and take along two forms of ID- one bearing your signature and one bearing your address. When you view the files, you are permitted to take photographs of each page, should you wish.

Alternatively, if you wish to order a copy by post, please be aware that there is a charge for this service based on the number of pages in the file. Click on the AIR81 reference on the IBCC website and then click Request a Copy. There is an £8.40 charge for National Archives staff to access the file and give you a quotation for the copying service. The process takes around 24 days to complete and can be expensive.

IBCC wishes to thank the staff at the MOD Records Office and National Archives for their engagement and assistance in making this facility available to our website users.