Race to find family of Lancaster's Shropshire pilot
Fatally hit during a raid over Germany, a Lancaster bomber with 29-year-old Shrewsbury pilot Flight Lieutenant Douglas Stewart at the controls plunged to the ground and exploded, killing all on board.
It was the crew's 30th mission, the last of their operational tour, and had they returned home safely that night they would have enjoyed some leave and the prospect of less hazardous non-operational duties.
Now there is a race against time to trace any relatives of Flight Lieutenant Stewart as the field in Germany in which the aircraft crashed just over 70 years ago has been earmarked to be sold for new housing.
As his body was never found and identified, it is possible that his remains – and those of three other missing crewmen – lie in that field, deep underground amid the shattered wreckage of the bomber.
The hunt has been launched by Julie Barton, of Beddau, near Pontypridd, whose paternal grandfather Ronald Pascoe Barton was the flight engineer on the aircraft, Lancaster PD214, of 106 Squadron, which had left its base at RAF Metheringham in Lincolnshire on its final flight to take part on a raid on Bremen on October 6, 1944. He too was never found.
Julie and her sister Debbie Bartlett of Essex have been researching the crash for the last 18 months and, with the help of a German aviation archaeologist and German eyewitnesses who were children at the time, have pinpointed the exact spot near Varrelbusch, which is about 45 miles west of Bremen. Earlier this year they made an emotional visit to the snow-covered site and placed eight red roses in memory of the eight crew.
"We regard that site as our grandfather's grave. They never found him, and he was not one of the people they were able to identify – they didn't find anything of four of the men," said Julie.
The housing plans present the sisters with a dilemma, but also raises the possibility that the missing men's remains may be recovered and of them being given a military funeral.
"We want to make sure that the site is treated with sensitivity when the excavation happens.
"We are trying to find other family members because we believe we will have a stronger case if other family members are involved, and we would ultimately like to have a memorial at the crash site."
She knows from records that Douglas Stewart was son of John and Ada Stewart, and husband of Vera Elizabeth Stewart, all of Shrewsbury, although there are no exact addresses available. Her efforts to find out more and track down any living relatives of his have not borne fruit, so she has turned to the Shropshire Star to help with an appeal.
"It would be so brilliant if we could find somebody from the Stewart family. I'm hoping they're still in your area. He has proven very elusive. He was the pilot for all the missions they flew together and they would have been close comrades and friends.
"We would very much like to find his family. We know he was married and as he was 29 it's possible he had children.
Anyone who can help Julie in her quest to trace the Stewart family can contact her at 07900 406738 or at juliebarton@hotmail.co.uk
Julie said: "As children, me and my sister always knew our grandfather had been lost in the Second World War in a Lancaster. My father didn't really like to talk about it an awful lot. When we went on holiday to Swansea we were taken to see my grandfather's name on the war memorial.
"We lost our father just over two years ago, and started to think we should find out about his father.
The full list of the crew is: Flt Lt Donald Stewart, pilot; Sgt Ronald Pascoe Barton, Flt Engineer; Flt Sgt George Kirby, navigator; Flt Sgt Clyde Service, , air bomber, who was Canadian; Sgt Gordon Grogan, wireless operator; Flt Sgt James Fell, mid upper gunner; Sgt Ronald Paul, rear gunner; Flt Lt J C Barlow, trainee pilot, who was an Australian.
