Sergeant (W.Op./Air Gnr.) 1039496 Arthur Bailey

Family details:
Son of Francis and Mary Ellen Bailey, of Thatto Heath, St. Helens, Lancashire.

Census details:
1939 Register. Unfortunately Arthur and one other member of the hiousehold are redacted. Father Francis Bailey born 05/09/1901 a Collier Hewer Below Ground, mother Mary E Bailey born 28/12/1900 an Unpaid Domestic and sister Rita O'Brien (Bailey) born 20/02/1932 At School are living at 7 Elephant Lane, Thatto Heath, St Helens

Further Information:- Bombing Mission took off 7th October, aircraft lost over Stuttgart. The crew was as follows:- Aircraft, Avro Lancaster ED836 WS/C. Five crew buried in Durnback War Cemetery. LT Eric George Roberts USAAF, aged 23 of Merchantville, Camden, New Jersey (Pilot). Sgt Percy Shaw aged 39. F/O Frank George Arliss of Refrord aged 27 years. P/O W Chadwick - POW. SGT Arthur Bailey aged 23 of St.helens. Sgt Thomas Henry Tibbles. Number 9 Squadron was one of the most famous units of the RAF in the Second World War. The Second World War began with the unit one of the few equipped with modern aircraft, the Vickers Wellington bomber, flying out of RAF Honington; the Wellington later gave way to the Avro Lancaster, with which the unit would complete its most famous sorties. On 4 September 1939, the squadron's Wellington aircraft and crews were the first to hit the enemy, the first to get into a dogfight, possibly the first to shoot down an enemy aircraft, the first to be shot down by one and, towards the end of the war, the first to hit the German battleship Tirpitz with the Tallboy 12,000 pound bomb, an achievement by the crew of a Lancaster on her 102nd operation with the squadron. No. 9 fought with RAF Bomber Command in Europe all the way through the Second World War, took part in all the major raids and big battles, pioneered and proved new tactics and equipment, produced several of the leading figures in The Great Escape, as well as Colditz inmates - including the legendary 'Medium Sized Man' Flight Lieutenant Dominic Bruce OBE MC AFM originator of the famous 'tea chest' escape; they became one of the two specialised squadrons attacking precision targets with the Tallboy bomb, and led the final mainforce raid, on Berchtesgaden, 25 April 1945. The battleship Tirpitz had been moved into a fjord in Northern Norway where she threatened the Arctic convoys and was too far north to be attacked by air from the UK. She had already been damaged by a Royal Navy midget submarine attack and a second attack from carrier born aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm. But both attacks had failed to sink her. The task was given to No. 9 and No.617 Squadrons who, operating from a base in Russia, attacked the Tirpitz with Tallboy bombs which damaged her so extensively that she was forced to head south to Tromso fjord to be repaired. This fjord was in range of bombers operating from Scotland. There in October from a base in Scotland she was attacked again. Finally on November 12, 1944, the two squadrons attacked the Tirpitz and she capsized. All three RAF attacks on the Tirpitz were led by Wing Commander JB "Willy" Tait, who had succeeded Wing Commander Leonard Cheshire as CO of No. 617 Squadron in July 1944. [pic]imgs/WW2_headstones/Sgt_Arthur_Bailey_Grave.jpg[/pic][caption]Thanks to Keith O'Brien[/caption]