Shropshire Star

French quest to honour Broseley bomber hero and crew

An aviation historian from France is appealing for help in tracking down relatives of a Shropshire pilot who was shot down during a desperate mission to support beleaguered British and French troops in June 1940.

Published
Cyril Bartlam

Sergeant Cyril Bartlam of Broseley and another crewman bailed out of the stricken Blenheim bomber, but the third crewman was killed.

Now the mayor of Eletot, the small Normandy village near the Channel coast where the bomber crashed, would like to hold a ceremony to honour the crew.

Local postman Laurent Viton, 51, who has been researching the crash, is hoping to find relatives of the men so that they can be told about the plan and invited along.

Laurent has been looking into Allied air losses in his area for 20 years and also aims to compile a book honouring the sacrifice of so many young airmen.

Anyone with information about Sergeant Cyril Bartlam, who was taken prisoner and survived the war - if he is still alive he will have turned 100 in October - can contact Laurent at laurent.viton@neuf.fr by email.

Bartlam and his crew, serving with 40 Squadron, had taken off from RAF Wyton on June 12, 1940. Their Blenheim was hit by anti aircraft fire while supporting British and French troops surrounded at the port of St Valery-en-Caux.

It crashed at Eletot , four miles east of Fécamp .

"Sergeant Bartlam and the wireless operator Sergeant Edward Rodgers bailed out from the burning bomber but unfortunately the navigator Sergeant David Dorris did not have time to jump and was lost when the plane hit the ground," said Laurent, who lives at Goderville, not far from the crash site.

"Bartlam and Rodgers were captured and sent to a Dulag Luft in Germany. They were liberated in April 1945 .

"Cyril Duncan Watson Bartlam was born on October 20, 1917, at Madeley. He was married to Charlotte Bartlam and his address in 1940 was 31 High Street at Broseley.

"I'll appreciate very much hearing from relatives as I'm looking for documentation regarding these brave airmen, so if by chance readers could help I'll be very grateful."

Laurent says Sergeant Dorris was last seen with his parachute above the escape hatch but for some reason he did not leave the burning aircraft.

"He was killed when the plane hit the ground a few hundred yards from the cliff. Dorris' remains were buried by the wreckage but his grave was lost during work in the field, so after the war he was declared as missing and therefore he is commemorated on the Runnymede memorial.

"The mayor of Eletot would like some kind of ceremony to honour this crew - either a plaque to be unveiled, or a place or a street named after Dorris, for example. That's why I'm tracing relatives when possible.

"David Dorris was from Glasgow and Edward Rodgers was from Dublin so I'll also try an appeal in newspapers there.

"Remembering the sacrifice of RAF airmen during the Battle of France is important. Many fighters and light bombers were shot down in France in 1940, just before the Battle of Britain. The fact is usually overshadowed by D-Day and other major World War Two operations."

According to a contemporary newspaper report, Bartlam, an old boy of Wrekin College, had been married the previous Christmas. He was the son of Archibald Watson Bartlam of South View, Church Hill, Ironbridge.