John Keith Turner
A Flying Officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, John died on 23rd of January 1945 aged 23.
John was born at Lowestoft on 8 May 1921, a son of John Pater Turner and Hilda Beatrice Turner. He was baptised at Saint Peter’s Church, Kirkley, on 4 June 1921, and his grandparents, Alfred J. and Elizabeth M. Turner, lived at Walmer House, London Road South.
John, and his parents, lived at 73 Saint George’s Road, Newbury, Berkshire, in 1921, and by 1939 their home was at 32 Howard Road, Newbury, and John was a first year medical student.
John joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve after August 1940, service number 1393109. He was commissioned as a Pilot Officer on 7 February 1944, service number 175060, and Flying Officer on 7 August 1944. In January 1945 he was a Navigator/Bomber serving with 69 Squadron based at B 58 Melsbroek, Belgium.
On 23 January he was a member of the crew of a Wellington XIII bomber, number NC607, flying on a sortie to Maasniel-Krutchen. The aircraft crashed and only two of the crew survived and these were captured.
My uncle John Keith Turner was known by everyone as Keith although his first name was John.
He was one of three navigator / observers in a Wellington XIII of 69 Squadron which was on low-level reconnaissance of battle front. They would drop flares and take photographs of the terrain from about 3000 feet, the data obtained being for use by the troops on the ground.
69 Squadron was part of the Photographic Reconnaissance Wing of 2nd Tactical Air Force that worked for the Headquarters of 21st Army Group. It was based at Melsbroek in Belgium and their mission on 23rd Janauary was to photograph the German held area around Maasneil in Netherlands. They must have stayed too long as they were brought down by ground fire. The Pilot and radio operator survived and became POWs but the three navigator / observers and the rear gunner were killed.
The Wellington XIII was equipped for specialised night visual tactical reconnaissance and low-level photography, hence the extra observer / navigators, one navigating, one making ground observations from the bomb-aimer’s position and the other operating the camera. There were extra perspex panels in the nose, the radar had been stripped out and the only armament was two twin Browning .303 machine guns in the rear turret.
They would drop flares from 3000 feet and photograph from 1000 feet from an open shutter moving film camera with each image slightly overlapping. This type of photography required straight and level flight which at 1000 feet in a large aircraft made a good target for anti-aircraft fire. CREDIT: Mike Sims
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John Turner
Walmer House
London Road South
Lowestoft
United Kingdom
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