Flight Sergeant 619801 Ronald Critchley

BMD details:
Birth of Ronald Critchley son of Richard & Theresa E Critchley nee Case reg Q3 1920 Prescot. Vol 8b page 1580

Family details:
Son of Richard and Teresa Ellen Critchley (nee Case), of St. Helens, Lancashire.

Census details:
1939 Register. Unfortunately Ronald and one other member of the household are redacted. Father Richard Critchley born 16/11/1894 and a Transport Inspection Public Service Worker and mother Teresa C Critchley born 23/05/1897 an Unpaid Domestic are living at 13 Jackson Street, St Helens. Surnames are transcribed Crithcley.

As a boy he attended the Holy Cross School and on leaving he became a compositor apprentice at a local printing firm. On the 24th July 1941 Ronald was wireless operator in the crew led by Sgt J S Bucknole which was to take part in a daylight attack on the German battleship Gneisenau in Brest harbour. The crew were as follows :- Sgt J S Bucknole RAF Sgt G J Beckwith RAF F/O R Shaw RAF F/S F Barker RAF Sgt R Critchley RAF Sgt E C McDonald RNZAF 3 Squadron detailed 6 Wellingtons and crew for this operation which would fly in 2 formations of 3 aircraft each. On approach to the target both formations were attacked by German Bf109s. The Wellington of Sgt Critchley was hit in the starboard engine which caught fire. It slowly fell out of formation and the enemy fighters concentrated on this aircraft. The engine fire was seen to go out but the Wellington was unable to regain height. It was last seen at 8000 feet when the rear gunner shot down one of the attacking fighters which was seen to spin down and crash into the sea. Sgt Critchley's Wellington crashed into the sea and sadly there were no survivors from this crew. The body of Sgt Beckwith was later found and is buried at Kerfautros Cemetery. The remaining crew members, including Sgt R Critchley, have no known grave and are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. Ronald was a very experienced aviator having flown on numerous missions against heavily defended targets on the continent. These included a daylight low level attack on enemy bridges during the Battle of France in 1940; attacks on shipping and the port facilities at Calais; oil storage facilities at Rotterdam. On the 13th June 1941 he was part of an all volunteer crew led by P/O Anderson, a New Zealander, which took part in an extremely dangerous glide bombing night attack against German warships and port facilities at Brest. This was accomplished successfully in spite of very heavy flak and searchlight activity. The Wellington bombed from 3000 feet but had to take very violent evasive action and was forced down to 900 feet. Soon afterwards Ronald was offered a promotion to Flight Sergeant and a transfer to a training unit in Scotland. He refused this as he wanted to await a posting closer to home. On the 24th July 1941 Ronald was wireless operator in the crew led by Sgt J S Bucknole which was to take part in a daylight attack on the German battleship Gneisenau in Brest harbour. The target was very heavily defended by flak and fighters and the Wellingtons were to make their attack from 15000 feet. There was to be no fighter escort as the target was beyond the range of single engined fighters at that time. 103 Squadron detailed 6 Wellingtons and crew for this operation which would fly in 2 formations of 3 aircraft each. On approach to the target both formations were attacked by German Bf109s. The Wellington of Sgt Bucknole was hit in the starboard engine which caught fire. It slowly fell out of formation and the enemy fighters concentrated on this aircraft. The engine fire was seen to go out but the Wellington was unable to regain height. It was last seen at 8000 feet when the rear gunner shot down one of the attacking fighters which was seen to spin down and crash into the sea. Ronald has no known gave and his name is listed on the Runnymede Memorial. [pic]imgs/WW2_misc/Critchley_619801.jpg[/pic][caption]Courtesy Jeff Keenan[/caption] [pic]imgs/sppics/runnymede36.jpg[/pic][caption]Ronald is remembered on the Runnymede Memorial (Picture by PaulC)[/caption] [comment]The page http://www.walter9.info/13Base/html/ron_critchley_103_sqdn.html which was used in an iframe is no longer working[/comment]