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Dennis Harrington, 37 Squadron
Dennis Harrington, 37 SquadronAuthor: Harry
Time Stamp:
10:25:58 Wednesday, October 6, 2004
Post:
After the discovery of a diary belonging to my late father, I am very interested in finding out more about his wartime history. His name is Dennis Fredrick Leonard Harrington, Service No.1334114. I think he was a member of 37 squadron flying Wellingtons. Unfortunatly the first 3 months of the diary are missing, but I do know that he was based in the Foggia area in Italy prior to being shot down on a raid over Timesoara in Rumania on the night of 16/06/1944. The rest of the war was spent as a POW.
Would anybody know of any information concerning him, his aircraft or any of the ops flown by his squadron.
Having read with great interest many other letters, I have seen mentioned "ORB"s as a possible place of getting information. What are these and how can they be accessed?
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thank You.
RE: Dennis Harrington, 37 Squadron
Author: Jim Robinson (Guest)
Time Stamp:
00:54:08 Saturday, November 6, 2004
Post:
Harry,
ORBs are Operational Record Books. Each unit of the RAF was obliged to keep a record of events. They are in two parts, one is a daily diary typically listing the aircraft that flew on a particular day, the crew, the target, results, and so on. The other part is a monthly summary of events.
They can be looked at on microfilm at the National Archives at Kew.
http://www.pro.gov.uk/
cheers
Jim
RE: Dennis Harrington, 37 Squadron
Author: errol.martyn@xtra.co.nz (Guest)
Time Stamp:
01:34:46 Saturday, November 6, 2004
Post:
Harry,
Your father's last op is recorded in Patrick Macdonald's 'Through Darkness to Light: The night-bomber offensive against Romanian Oil 1944', pub by Pentland Press (no longer in business - went bust some years ago) in 1990 (reprinted 1991). Pages 108-110 described the raid against Timisoara, while on p290 there is an appendix entry detailing the aircraft loss as follows (the only one to go down on the raid):
HF524 'H'
Shot down SW of Szeged (Hungary). All 6 PW -Germany
FS M E Holloway (captain)
FS H Cartright
Sgt D F Harrington
FS W G Wastell
Sgt A Grant
Fg Offr B Watson
You may be able to pick up a second hand copy of the book via the likes of the ABEbooks website.
Errol
RE: Dennis Harrington, 37 Squadron
Author: Henk Welting (Guest)
Time Stamp:
17:25:49 Saturday, November 6, 2004
Post:
attn Davy,
Do you have air force numbers for the crew; have problems checking their names in the PoW-register.
Regards,
Henk.
RE: Dennis Harrington, 37 Squadron
Author: DavyGco
Time Stamp:
19:26:11 Saturday, November 6, 2004
Post:
Henk,
Unfortunately the details I have concerning Sgt. Holloway's crew are not much different to those provided by Errol Martyn.
I have noted however that this crew took part in the same operation in which my Uncle lost his life - The 'Manfred Weiss Armaments Factory' raid on the night of 3/4 April '44.
The 540 Orb record for that night shows that Wellington LN 643 successfully bombed the target area. The list is as follows:
Sgt. Holloway M.F. (Captain)
F/S. Basham F.V. (Navigator)
Sgt. Harrington D.L. (W/T Operator)
Sgt. Wastell W.G. (Air Bomber)
Sgt. Grant (Air Gunner)
Sorry I can't make out the initial of Sgt.Grant !
David
RE: Dennis Harrington, 37 Squadron
Author: Harry
Time Stamp:
10:04:13 Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Post:
Errol
Thanks for the info regarding the book "Through Darkness To Light". I Think I have managed to trace a couple of copies through Abebooks and they are quite local, so Im off to get them now.
Thanks also for the details of aircraft & crew.
Regards Harry
RE: Dennis Harrington, 37 Squadron
Author: Mark Harrington (Harry) (Guest)
Time Stamp:
09:54:42 Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Post:
Jim
Thanks for the info on ORB,s. Looks like a trip up to Kew in the near future. Sorry not to have replied before now, a little thing called work occationally gets in the way of all this research.
With Regards Harry
RE: Dennis Harrington, 37 Squadron
Author: DavyGco
Time Stamp:
16:58:18 Saturday, November 6, 2004
Post:
Harry,
The later edition of 'Through Darkness to Light' is still available at some outlets.
I bought my copy a couple of years ago from 'Amazon' and the ISBN number is : 1 897817 17 7
Price (Hardback): %A318.50
I've also been researching my Uncle, (a 37 Sqdn Airgunner) who was k.i.a. over Hungary so therefore I may be able to help you out a little.
There seems to be very little information available on 37 Sqdn so if you would like to get in touch (off board) don't hesitate!
David Griffith
DavyGco.A T.aol.com
RE: Dennis Harrington, 37 Squadron
Author: Harry
Time Stamp:
10:26:59 Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Post:
David
Thanks for the info about the book "Through Darkness To Light". Im now just off to get a copy Ive Managed to locate locally.
Have you been researching long and how easy have you found it?
I noticed in a posting to Henk that you say my father took part in the Manfred Weiss Armaments Factory raid on the 3/4 April '44, as did your Uncle. I thought you may like to see my fathers diary entry for 4th. It reads as follows:
Ops early this morning.
Target "BUDAPEST".
BLOODY HOT SHOW with
light and heavy intense
flack. Though not accurate,
searchlights seen. No
fighters encountered.
Manfred & Wiess
Armament Works was pranged
with deadly results.
1 huge fire & numerous others.
With Regards Harry
RE: Dennis Harrington, 37 Squadron
Author: DavyGco
Time Stamp:
12:35:24 Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Post:
Harry,
Interesting that your Father's Diary reads 'No enemy fighters encountered' The Orb record for 205 Group's attack on the Manfred Weiss Works reads:
'April 3rd/4th Target - MANFRED WEISS WORKS AT BUDAPEST
87 Sorties. 8 Liberators of No. 240 Wing and 79 Wellingtons of Nos. 231,236 and 330 Wings operated against this important target. One Liberator and 3 Wellingtons returned early for various reasons. The target was easily identified by 79 aircraft, who reported incendiaries well concentrated on target buildings and many H.E. also well in target area. Several fires were started, including one visible 60 miles away. Some explosions were also seen, one of these in the target area. Opposition was described as moderate heavy and intense light flak with explosive tracer. There were many reports of single and twin engine aircraft, including FW.190's & JU.88's over the target and on route out.
Wellington 'V' of 37 Sqdn, Captain F/O Stanton claims to have shot down a FW.190 on way back.
Four Wellingtons are missing:- "Z" of 37 Sqdn,(Sqdn/Ldr. Beale)
"M" of 37 Sqdn,(Lt.Davie)"Y" of 150 Sqdn, (Sgt. Pemberton)"G" of 104 Sqdn (P/O Green)
One Wellington "Y" of 40 Sqdn,(F/Sgt)Redden, ditched off TERMOLI, but the crew were rescued'
As I mentioned in my previous reply, my uncle was an airgunner (with Sqdn/Ldr Beale) and I know for a fact that their Wellington LN 853 "Z" was brought down by a ME 110 G4.
I'm also told by a relative of an one of the other airgunners that it too was brought down (Forced to ditch) on Lake Balaton when it came under attack by a ME 110.
I guess Harry that since there were 87 aircraft taking part in this particular op then each individual man on each of those aircraft has a different story.
Hope you enjoy reading the book and keep a regular eye on the board
David Griffith
RE: Dennis Harrington, 37 Squadron
Author: Harry
Time Stamp:
16:33:52 Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Post:
David
Perhaps his comment about "no fighters encountered" was ment literally in that his particular aircraft did not come under direct attack. Who knows?
There are quite a few more entries regarding other targets between 4/4/44 and 16/6/44. Targets as follows:
11/4 Ploesti Oil fields
7/5 Bucharest
10/5 Budapest
12/5 Piombino
13/5 Arezzo
25/5 Viterbo Roads & Rail
29/5 ? Feuersbrunn A/D
30/5 ? Subillco Rds & Transport
1/6 Zsolnok
3/6 Rome Ostia BDR
5/6 Viterbo Rds & Transport
9/6 ?
16/6 Timesoara
Do you know where the targets/entries for the 29/5 & 30/5 are? I cant find them in any atlas (they are probably spelt incorrectly).
Also, do you know what the target may have been on 9/6?
Look forward to hearing from you or anybody else who may have info about any of the above.
Regards Harry
RE: Dennis Harrington, 37 Squadron
Author: David Griffith (Guest)
Time Stamp:
17:25:36 Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Post:
Harry,
Please check the message in your private box !
David Griffith