Robson, Dorothy
Personal Information
Rank | Miss |
Forename(s) | Dorothy |
Surname | Robson |
Gender | F |
Age | 23 |
Decorations | BSc |
Date of Death | 05-11-1943 |
Next of Kin | Daughter of Shafto Robson and Myra Lily Robson (née Moore) of Guisborough, North Yorkshire. Her father served as a chemist in the trenches during WWI working with poison gases. |
Aircraft Information
Aircraft | Handley Page Halifax V |
Serial Number | LK681 |
Markings | MP-A Hetty the Heffulump |
Memorial Information
Burial/Memorial Country | United Kingdom |
Burial/Memorial Place | Cremated and ashes scattered from the air |
Grave Reference | |
Epitaph |
IBCC Memorial Information
Phase | 2 |
Panel Number | 234 |
Enlistment Information
Service Number | - |
Service | Royal Aircraft Establishment |
Group | 4 |
Squadron | 76 |
Trade | Passenger (Scientist) |
Country of Origin | United Kingdom |
Other Memorials
Location | Behind old Main Guardroom, former Holme On Spalding Moor Airfield, East Yorkshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Stone Pillar with inscribed Metal Plaques |
Memorial Text | In Remembrance of the aircrew members from the UK,Australia,New Zealand,Canada and Norway,who gave their lives in the cause of freedom in operational sorties against the enemy from 76 Sqn 1941-1945 and to the ground personal who lost their lives by enemy |
Location | All Saints Church, Holme On Spalding Moor, East Yorkshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Stained Glass Window and Roll of Honour within Wooden Box with inscribed Metal Plaque |
Memorial Text | S G Window In memory of 76 Sqn R.A.F / Roll of honour In memory of those members of 76 Sqn R.A.F who were killed on active service 1939-1954 |
Miscellaneous Information
23-year-old Dorothy Robson was an expert in the development of bomb sights at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough and died two days after the crash. She was born in Guisborough but moved to Hartlepool when her father (a chemist) purchased a chemists shop. She studied physics at Leeds University, graduating with a BSc in 1940. She applied to join the RAF but was too short and was instead accepted by the RAE where she developed bomb sights. An attractive young lady, she was popular around the bases on which she worked and became variously known in the RAF as 'Bomb Sight Bertha' or 'The Girl with the Laughing Eyes'. She spent much of her time on Yorkshire bomber airfields, debriefing bomb aimers and studying bombing photographs. At her request her ashes were scattered over Yorkshire from a small 76 Squadron aircraft that she had occasionally flown under supervision. |
Fred Hall, the crew's Navigator/ Bomb Aimer: "Now I find it difficult to pen these words - I was the navigator of the aircraft in which Miss Robson was killed. On the morning of the 3/11/43 I was preparing charts for operations that night when it was decided to take up the aircraft for an air test. Being a new aircraft it had not flown before on operations. As I was engaged with charts the pilot decided that because Miss Robson would be checking the bombsight down in the nose (where I sat at the plotting table) he would not call on me to fly. The duration of the flight would only be about 30 minutes within the vicinity of the airfield. The morning in question was hazy with intermittent 8/10s cloud. Tragically for reasons unknown, the aircraft crashed at Enthorpe 3 miles north east of Market Weighton. All 6 members of the crew were killed and Miss Robson". |
The National Archives
Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/651/22 |
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/651/21 |
Fellow Servicemen
Last Operation Information
Start Date | 03-11-1943 |
End Date | 03-11-1943 |
Takeoff Station | Holme-on-Spalding-Moor |
Day/Night Raid | Day |
Operation | Air test |
Reason for Loss | Crashed NE of Market Weighton, Yorkshire |