Keith James Kinchington

The Search for Sgt. Keith Kinchington, RAF and the Crew of a WW2 Lancaster

By Bert Barnhurst 

Back in May, when the Library was closed for conversion to ‘self selection’, we received a request from a M. Frederic Vincent, who lives in France. He wanted to know if we could help to trace the whereabouts of any members of the Kinchington family who might be related to one of the crew of a WW2 Lancaster bomber that crashed in June 1944 near his village of Bois d’Arcy and who came from Epsom. While Jean Walsh checked the records for the family, I checked for the aircraft. We soon had details of him, his parents and one ‘Kinchington’ who lived in West Byfleet. Details of his Squadron, crew, and aircraft call sign were to follow. The RAF Museum at Hendon were unable to come up with a photo of the actual ‘plane, or indeed any of the aircraft that the crew flew in their brief time together but with the help of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and a visit to The National Archives at Kew the crew’s history began to unfold. While all this was happening, and unbeknown to us, M. Vincent had also written to the local ‘Guardian’ requesting information about the family. Although a Mr. Kinchington did not see the paper, a friend told him about the enquiry. From this we were put in touch with this Mr. Kinchington by our old contact at the Guardian, Kevin Barnes. However, this Mr. Kinchington did not know of the other Mr. Kinchington in West Byfleet, who by now had got in touch with us. The reason for all this activity was that there was to be major commemoration ceremony in Bois d’Arcy, just outside of Paris, on the 20th June 2007. M. Vincent’s hope was that relatives of the crew members who had perished would be able to attend. As chance would have it Mr. Kinchington visited his father’s grave at Clichy New Communal Cemetery near Paris only last year. Sadly he never knew his father who had been killed in the June as he was born in that autumn of 1944. B Newsletter No. 17 Page 4 of 10 September 2007 After some research at Kew it would seem that the crew in question all joined 625 Squadron on 18 April 1944, being transferred from 11 Base and first flew operationally on 24 April on a raid to Karlsruhe. 

Find A Grave record

Flew in Lancaster W4263.

Subsequent missions included: 11 May 44 ND472 to Haslett Mission aborted 21 May 44 LM427 to Duisburg 22 May 44 ND639 to Dortmund 24 May 44 LM427 to le Clipon 27 May 44 LL956 to Merville 28 May 44 LM512 to EU coastal batteries (EU maybe shorthand or code but is not the EU acronym that we know today) 31 May 44 LL897 to Tergnier Mission abandoned due to icing up port outer engine. One of 3 to return to base 7 June ME733 to Foret de Cerisy 10 June ND472 to Acheres Aircraft lost On the 10th June 1944 the Crew of Lancaster Mk III. ND 472 of 625 Squadron, call sign CF – F, took off from RAF Kelstern in Lincolnshire at 23.32 hours. All the crew were members RAFVR. ND 742 was presumed shot down by night fighters on the night of 10th /11th June 1944 while attacking rail facilities at Archeres. The aircraft came down near Bois d’Arcy, to the west of Versailles. The crew are buried together in two graves at Clichy New Communal Cemetery, although Sgt. Keith Kinchington is in a separate grave in another row. It might seem strange at first that he should be ‘on his own’ and there could be many reasons to do with discovery or identity - war was never a pleasant thing. Sgt. Kinchington is of course recorded in the ‘Book of Remembrance’ of those local people who fell during WW2, which can be found in Epsom Town Hall on display in the lobby. It should be noted that this book is displayed in alphabetical order and not on date of death. Out of interest, details of the full crew members are: 

Rank Name Position Ser no. Age Family Details – if known. 

P/O James Dudman Pilot 174032 26 

Sgt Geoffrey Laurence Mills Flt/Engineer 1891587 20 

From Walthamstow Essex. P/O John William Wells Navigator 175072 34 

From Wibsey, Bradford, Yorkshire. F/Sgt Peter Cowie Air Bomber 177640

N/K F/Sgt John Taylor W/Op 1079856 

N/K From Beckingham, nr. Doncaster. 

Sgt Robert Bruce Hodgins RCAF Air gunner R/197404 20 From Ontario, Canada

Sgt Keith James Kinchington Air gunner 1338708 22 From Epsom, Surrey 

To be completed