Sergeant (Pilot) J. C. Beardmore
78 Sqn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
918433
Killed in action, 17 August 1941, Netherlands. Aged 22.
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John Clifford Beardmore was born in 1919 and served with 78 Squadron RAF based at Middleton St. George near Darlington. The squadron was equipped with Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk. V twin engined medium bombers and operated as a full time night bomber squadron under Bomber Command.
On the evening of 16 August 1941 John boarded Whitley Mk. V Z6754 as it prepared to leave on a bombing mission to Cologne. After final flight checks the bomber took off at 2305.
Whitley Mk. V bomber
The aircraft crashed at 0350 the following morning near Buggenum, Holland. All five crew members were killed. The cause of the crash is unknown but some sources claim the aircraft was shot down by a German night fighter. Three Whitleys of 78 Sqn. were lost on this mission.
The crew of Z6754 were as follows:
Sgt. (Pilot) John Malet-Warden - KIA.
Sgt. John Beardmore - KIA.
Sgt. (Obs.) Anthony Millard-Tucker - KIA.
Sgt. (w/o and gunner) George Buchanan (RCAF) - Canadian. KIA.
Flt. Sgt. Arthur Brown - Aged 23 from County Durham. KIA.
John Beardmore is buried (together with the other four crew members) in Jonkerbos War Cemetery, near Nijmegen, Netherlands (coll. grave 12.B.1-3). He is also remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking and on Byfleet war memorial.
Jonkerbos War Cemetery
(Copyright CWGC)
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Last updated 3 April 2010
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Aviation safety network
Woking County School magazine
