CREW MEMBER PROFILE

Surname:

THOMAS

First Name/s:

Peter Alfred

Service No/s:

(1319481) 172593

Service:

RAFVR

Branch:

Pilot

Awards:

DFC
Return

SERVICE RECORDS

Date

Event

Aircraft Flown
01 Mar 1944

Joined No. 576 Squadron. 'B' Flight, at Elsham Wolds, Linconshire.

Lancaster
28 May 1941

Enlisted at Oxford, Oxfordshire, as Aircraftman Second Class (AC2), mustering as Air Crew Hand (ACH)/Pilot.

29 May 1941

Attended No. 15 Aviation Candidates’ Selection Board, XXX; recommended for training as Pilot/Observer.

29 May 1941

Transferred to the Reserve, pending call-up.

08 Sep 1941

Called up to No. 1 Air Crew Reception Centre (ACRC), Lord’s Cricket Ground, St John’s Wood, London.

09 Sep 1941

Remustered as under training (u/t) Pilot

20 Sep 1941

No. 7 Initial Training Wing (ITW), Bellavista Hotel, Newquay, Cornwall.

01 Nov 1941

Promoted to Leading Aircraftman (LAC).

24 Jan 1942

No. 50 (Training) Group Pool, Watchfield, Berkshire.

18 Mar 1942

Embarked UK for Rhodesia (vessel & port n/k).

01 Apr 1942

Date unknown – Disembarked Durban, South Africa tbc (port n/k)

27 Apr 1942

No. 1 Initial Training Wing (ITW), Hillside, Bulawayo.

09 Jul 1942

No. 27 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS), Induna, Bulawayo.

Tiger Moth, Cornell
14 Oct 1942

No. 21 Service Flying Training School (SFTS), Kumalo, Bulawayo.

Oxford
24 Dec 1942

Appointed Acting Sergeant.

26 Mar 1943

Awarded Pilot’s flying badge, promoted to Sergeant, and remustered as Pilot.

19 Apr 1943

Home Embarkation (HE); embarked Durban, South Africa (tbc) for the UK.

11 May 1943

Disembarked in the UK (port n/k).

12 May 1943

No. 7 Personnel Reception Centre (PRC), Harrogate, Yorkshire.

21 Jun 1943

No. 1 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit (AFU), Shawbury, Shropshire.

Oxford
21 Jun 1943

Attached to No. 11 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit (AFU) satellite, Condover, Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

06 Jul 1943

Attached to No. 1520 Beam Approach Training (BAT) Flight, Holme-on-Spalding Moor, Yorkshire.

Oxford
13 Jul 1943

Returned to No. 11 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit (AFU), Shawbury, Shropshire.

Oxford
17 Aug 1943

No. 28 Operational Training Unit (OTU), Wymeswold, Leicestershire (Wellington); selects his crew.

Wellington?
18 Nov 1943

No. 1 Base, Lindholme, Yorkshire; administrative Base for No. 1 Group heavy bomber conversions.

01 Feb 1944

No. 1662 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU), Blyton, Lincolnshire.

Halifax/Lancaster
29 Feb 1944

Discharged on appointment to a Commission.

01 Mar 1944

No. 1 Lancaster Finishing School (LFS), Hemswell, Lincolnshire (if Lancaster not flown at HCU); date unknown.

Lancaster
01 Mar 1944

Appointed to commission to be Plt Off on probation (emergency) from Sergeant (London Gazette, 11 Apr 44, p1667).

30 Apr 1944

No. 582 Squadron, Little Staughton, Huntingdonshire, with crew (often listed as R L Thomas)
Ops (35)
19 May 44 – Boulogne
21 May 44 – Duisburg
22 May 44 – Dortmund
28 May 44 – Mardyck
31 May 44 – Mont Couple
16 Jun 44 – Renescure; unable to identify target so did not bomb; load mostly jettisoned
23 Jun 44 – Coubronne
24 Jun 44 – Middel Straete
26 Jun 44 – Appointed Acting Flying Officer
28 Jun 44 – Blainville
30 Jun 44 – Villers Bocage
02 Jul 44 – Oisemont-Neuville
05 Jul 44 – Wizernes
06 Jul 44 – Coqueraux
07 Jul 44 –Awarded Temporary Pathfinder Force badge
09 Jul 44 – L’Hey; hit by flak over Dunkirk
10 Jul 44 – Nucort
15 Jul 44 – Appointed Acting Flight Lieutenant.

Lancaster
08 Aug 1944

RAF Station, Little Staughton, Huntingdonshire (supernumery non-effective sick).

24 Aug 1944

Returned to No. 582 Squadron, Little Staughton, Huntingdonshire
11 Sep 44 – Castrop (Rauxel); did not bomb; load hung up
12 Sep 44 – Frankfurt
13 Sep 44 – Osnabruck
15 Sep 44 – Kiel
23 Sep 44 – Dusseldorf
30 Sep 44 - Sterkrade
05 Oct 44 – Saarbrucken
12 Oct 44 – Wanne-Eickel
14 Oct 44 – Duisburg
15 Oct 44 – Wilhelmshaven
19 Oct 44 – Stuttgart
18 Nov 44 – Munster
20 Nov 44 – Koblenz
21 Nov 44 – Worms
27 Nov 44 – Neuss
04 Dec 44 – Karlsruhe
06 Dec 44 – Merseburg (Leuna)
17 Dec 44 – Ulm

Lancaster
01 Sep 1944

Promoted to Flying Officer (war substantive) (London Gazette, 15 Sep 44, p4262), retaining Acting Flight Lieutenant.

Lancaster
22 Dec 1944

Distinguishd Flying Cross (DFC) Gazetted 01 Jun 45 p2793, wef 22 Dec 44. Awarded posthumously on 582 Squadron; citation unknow.

23 Dec 1944

Cologne; lost in PB523 60-J, aged 22

'Flt Lt Peter Thomas in Lancaster PB523 withstood a series of fighter attacks, but with his aircraft ablaze was obliged to give the order to bail out. Four of his crew got out and survived; a fifth, the flight engineer Flt Sgt Viv Hobbs, also made it clear but his chute cruelly failed to open. Thomas stayed at the controls with one of the wounded gunners, WO ‘Tex’ Campbell. Neither made it home.' The aircraft crashed at Oppiter, Limburg, Belgium.

Thomas was buried initially in Oppiter Roman Catholic Cemetery and later reinterred at the Heverlee War Cemetery, grave 6.D.21

‘IN MOST SINCERE, EVERLASTING AND LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF OUR OWN DEAREST PETER’

Lancaster

576 Squadron FLYING RECORDS

Date

Aircraft

Code

Flight Details

T/O

Land

Flt Time

Crew

09 Apr 1944

JA715

UL-L2

VILLENEUVE-ST-GEORGES

2055

0230

5h35

P1   Plt Off P.A. Thomas
P2   
FE   Sgt V.G. Hobbs
AB   Sgt M.F. Lindsley
NAV  Sgt B.G. Johnson
WOp  Sgt H. Fuller
MUG  Sgt S.A. Orme
RG   Sgt A.R. Jackson RAAF

NOTES:

Marshalling Yards Load: 12x 1000lb, and 4x500lb bombs.

10 Apr 1944

JB460

UL-V2

AULNOYE

2340

0500

5h20

P1   Plt Off P.A. Thomas
P2   
FE   Sgt V.G. Hobbs
AB   Sgt M.F. Lindsley
NAV  Sgt B.G. Johnson
WOp  Sgt H. Fuller
MUG  Sgt S.A. Orme
RG   Sgt G.G. Haigh

NOTES:

Marshalling Yards Load: 12x 1000lb, 4x 500lb

11 Apr 1944

LL799

UL-H2

AACHEN

2010

0025

4h15

P1   Flt Lt S. Slater
P2   Plt Off P.A. Thomas
FE   Sgt C.P. Rudland
AB   Flt Sgt J.M.W. Pasley
NAV  Sgt D. Waterhouse TBC
WOp  Sgt P. Harris TBC
MUG  Sgt R.E. Rogers RCAF
RG   Plt Off M.A. Frost

NOTES:

Marshalling Yards Load: 12x 1,000lb bombs and 300x 4lb incendiaries.

18 Apr 1944

JA715

UL-W2

ROUEN

2130

0210

4h40

P1   Plt Off P.A. Thomas
P2   
FE   Sgt V.G. Hobbs
AB   Sgt M.F. Lindsley
NAV  Sgt B.G. Johnson
WOp  Sgt H. Fuller
MUG  Sgt C. Lister
RG   Sgt G.G. Haigh

NOTES:

Marshalling Yards (2 APs) Load: 12 x 1000lb, 4 x 500lb bombs.

20 Apr 1944

LL838

UL-K2

COLOGNE

2345

0450

5h05

P1   Plt Off P.A. Thomas
P2   
FE   Sgt V.G. Hobbs
AB   Sgt M.F. Lindsley
NAV  Sgt B.G. Johnson
WOp  Sgt H. Fuller
MUG  Sgt C. Lister
RG   Sgt G.G. Haigh

NOTES:

Built-up areas to N and W of city centre Load: 1x 4000lb ‘Cookie’, 108x 30lb and 1170x 4lb incendiaries.

22 Apr 1944

ED767

UL-G2

DUSSELDORF

DNTO

nk

N/A

P1   Plt Off P.A. Thomas
P2   
FE   Sgt V.G. Hobbs
AB   Sgt M.F. Lindsley
NAV  Sgt B.G. Johnson
WOp  Sgt H. Fuller
MUG  Sgt C. Lister
RG   Sgt G.G. Haigh

NOTES:

Built-up area to the north of the city centre Load: 1x 4000lb ‘Cookie’, 108x 30lb and 1170x 4lb incendiaries. Hit by Q2 ND362 which swung on take-off No injuries to crew Did not take off (DNTO)

24 Apr 1944

LM439

UL-X2

KARLSRUHE

2145

0410

6h25

P1   Plt Off P.A. Thomas
P2   
FE   Sgt V.G. Hobbs
AB   Sgt H.L. Arrowsmith
NAV  Sgt B.G. Johnson
WOp  Sgt H. Fuller
MUG  Sgt S.A. Orme
RG   Sgt G.G. Haigh

NOTES:

Built-Up Area Load:1st wave: 1x 4,000lb ‘Cookie’, 96x 30lb, and 1,170 x 4lb incendiaries 2nd wave: 1x 4,000lb ‘Cookie’, 84x 30lb, and 1,170x 4lb incendiaries 3rd wave: 1x 4,000lb ‘Cookie’, 96x 30lb, and 1,050x 4lb incendiaries Supporters: 6x 2,000lb bombs.

26 Apr 1944

LM439

UL-X2

ESSEN

2245

0345

5h00

P1   Plt Off P.A. Thomas
P2   
FE   Sgt V.G. Hobbs
AB   Sgt H.L. Arrowsmith
NAV  Sgt B.G. Johnson
WOp  Sgt H. Fuller
MUG  Sgt S.A. Orme
RG   Sgt G.G. Haigh

NOTES:

Built-up area and the Krupps works Load: 1st Wave: 1x 4,000lb ‘Cookie’, 108x 30lb and 1,170x 4lb incendiaries 2nd Wave: 1x 4,000lb ‘Cookie’, 60x 30lb and 660x 4lb incendiaries 3rd Wave: 1x 1,000lb, 1x 500lb bombs, 84x 30lb and 1,050x 4lb incendiaries 4th Wave: 1x 4,000lb ‘Cookie’, 60x 30lb and 600x 4lb incendiaries 5th Wave: 1x 1,000lb, 1x 500lb bombs, 84x 30lb and 960x 4lb incendiaries.

27 Apr 1944

ME726

UL-X2

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN

2145

0630

8h45

P1   Plt Off P.A. Thomas
P2   
FE   Sgt V.G. Hobbs
AB   Sgt M.F. Lindsley
NAV  Sgt B.G. Johnson
WOp  Sgt H. Fuller
MUG  Sgt S.A. Orme
RG   Sgt G.G. Haigh

NOTES:

Marshalling yards Load: 1st Wave: 1x 1,000lb, 1x 500lb bombs, 84x 30lb and 1,050x 4lb incendiaries 2nd Wave: 1x 4,000lb ‘Cookie’, 30x 30lb and 600x 4lb incendiaries 3rd Wave: 1x 1,000lb, 1x500lb bombs, 84x 30lb and 960x 4lb incendiaries One (unidentified – possiblyT2?) aircraft lost an engine in the target area due to flak – target still attacked.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Details

Peter Alfred Sydney Thomas was born on 22 July 1922 in Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales, the son of Alfred Nicholas Thomas (1900–1994) and Dorothea May Davis (nee Shurmer) (1902–1979). He was baptised on 2 September 1924 at St John the Evangelist Church in Canton, Glamorgan.

Peter grew up with four siblings: Cameron Victor (1924–2004), Jean Kathleen May (1925–1999), Alfreda Mary Cecily (1930–1994), and Rose Marie (1933–1977). The family later moved to London, where Peter attended Clapham Central School.

By 1939, at the outset of the Second World War, he was living with his mother at 37 Hazelbourne Road, Balham, London, and working as a laboratory assistant. His father may have been away from home at the time, likely due to his work with the BBC where he was a wireless engineer.

Peter served in the Royal Air Force during the war. He tragically lost his life during air operations over enemy territory on 23 December 1944, at the age of 22. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross posthumously.

PHOTOS & DOCUMENTS

Details

Gravestone

CWGC

Memorial at the crash site 1

Memorial at the crash site 2

Peter Thomas

Roy Haverson

Peter Thomas and crew

Roy Haverson

Sutton & Epsom Advertiser 7 June 1945

Sutton & Epsom Advertiser