Eric Ronald Harper
A Sergeant (Observer) with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Eric died on 14th January 1942 aged 19.
Eric was born at Lowestoft on 2 May 1922, a son of William and Hilda Maud Harper. In 1939 his family lived at 56 Kent Road and Eric was a journalist.
Eric moved to Tottenham, London. He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve between September 1939 and June 1940. By January 1941 he was an Observer serving with 207 Squadron.
On 14 January 1942 he was a member of the crew of a Manchester 1A bomber, number L7524 EM-M, which had flown from Bottesford, Leicestershire, in a raid on the Hamburg shipyards. On its return the aircraft crashed and caught fire at Cliff House Farm, Holmpton, near Withernsea, Yorkshire.
WITH THANKS TO:Malcolm Barrass
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He was an apprentice reporter for the Lowestoft Journal before he joined the RAF in 1940. He was the Observer/Bomb Aimer in Manchester L7523. The Manchester was not a very successful or popular bomber and it is widely believed that more were lost as a result of engine failures/fires than were lost to enemy action. When the troublesome Vulture engines were replaced with 4 x Merlins the same basic aeroplane became one of the most outstanding bombers of the war - the Lancaster CREDIT - Bob Collis
He was my dad's cousin! He and my dad were great friends too and dad often spoke about him. - Marion Hunneybun
Eric Harper
56
Kent Road
Lowestoft
United Kingdom
52.47940872068, 1.7364706
Comments
Interesting so many are…
Interesting so many are listed as buried in the UK (except those on the Runymede Memorial, indicating they were KIA and have no known grave. Many RAF losses occurred in training often due to Navigational errors and or unintentionally flying into clouds stuffed with mountains.
I was certainly a dangerous game before goin on ops and progressively more so after. ?If you could survive your first 5-10 trips your chances improved immeasurably but the reaper still hovered.
Per Ardua Astra
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