Davidson, Francis Joseph
Personal Information
Rank | Sgt |
Forename(s) | Francis Joseph |
Surname | Davidson |
Gender | M |
Age | 30 |
Decorations | |
Date of Death | 18-11-1943 |
Next of Kin | Son of Francis and Elizabeth Davidson, of Sunderland, Co. Durham Husband of Georgina (Ina) Davidson, of Felling, Gateshead, Co. Durham. |
Aircraft Information
Aircraft | Handley Page Halifax II |
Serial Number | LW239 |
Markings | VR-K |
Memorial Information
Burial/Memorial Country | Germany |
Burial/Memorial Place | Rheinberg War Cemetery |
Grave Reference | Coll. grave 9. D. 4-7. |
Epitaph | IF IN YOUR HEARTS YOU KEEP A PLACE WHERE WE MAY LIVE, HOW CAN WE DIE? |
IBCC Memorial Information
Phase | 2 |
Panel Number | 153 |
Enlistment Information
Service Number | 1590344 |
Service | Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve |
Group | 6 |
Squadron | 419 (Moose) |
Trade | Flight Engineer |
Country of Origin | United Kingdom |
Other Memorials
Location | Outside Former St. Georges Hotel, Teesside Airport, County Durham |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Inscribed Slate Memorial Tablet on Stone Memorial |
Memorial Text | A memorial to Nos 419, 420 and 428 Sqns RCAF who flew from RAF Middleton St George during WW2 |
Miscellaneous Information
The bodies of this crew were not located until four years after they were lost, in November 1947. |
Tom, Francis's brother, reports that his mother Ina used to leave a place set every time she left the house with a note saying where she was going and when she expected to be home. Tom ended his communiqué with the following apt footnote: "The tragedy of war". |
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The National Archives
Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1822/44 |
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1822/43 |
Fellow Servicemen
Last Operation Information
Start Date | 18-11-1943 |
End Date | 19-11-1943 |
Takeoff Station | Middleton St. George |
Day/Night Raid | Night (59% moon) |
Operation | Mannheim. 395 aircraft, 23 losses (5.8%). This was one of the larger diversionary raids and accounts for the high losses. By comparison, the main raid (On Berlin) registered 2.0% losses. There was cloud cover over the target and bombing was scattered as a result. Most of the damage fell to the north of the town, where the Daimler Benz car plant suffered a 90% loss in production as a result. 21 deaths on the ground and 7500 people were bombed out. |
Reason for Loss | Shot down by a Bf110 night-fighter piloted by Oblt. Albert Walter of 1./NJG 6, from Mainz-Finthen airfield and crashed east of Brodenbach, Germany. |