Thomas Burton Booth
Date of birth: 1922
Date of death: 13.08.1944
Area: Ferrybridge, Knottingley
Regiment: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Family information: Son of Joseph William and Jane Marguerite Booth nee Arnold
Rank: Flying Officer
Service number: 154279
War Service
Thomas Booth was a Flying Officer (Navigator) with 12 Squadron RAFVR. He died on 13th August 1944 aged 21 and was buried in Hanover War Cemetery coll.grave 8.B. 12-17.
A force of 379 aircraft, comprising 242 Lancaster and 137 Halifax bombers, were despatched on a mission to bomb Braunschweig. The raid was experimental insofar as no Pathfinders accompanied the bomber force, thus there was no target marking. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if a successful raid could be carried out with the individual crews bombing the targets as indicated by their own H2S ground scanning radar system. It proved unsuccessful with no concentration of bombing. Those falling on Braunschweig fell mainly in the central and Stadtpark areas, but towns as far away as 20 miles were bombed in mistake for Braunschweig. 17 Lancaster and 10 Halifax bombers were lost.
Thomas Booth took off from RAF Wickenby (some 8 miles NE of Lincoln) at 9.17 p.m. in Avro Lancaster PB247 but never returned, with 6 crew members killed and 2 taken prisoner. He is commemorated on 12 & 626 Squadron Roll of Honour at RAF Wickenby.
Pontefract & Castleford Express p3
“MISSING
Mr T Booth of the RAF, the son of Cr., J W Booth of Ferrybridge Road, Pontefract, has been reported missing.”
Pontefract & Castleford Express 25 August 1944 p6
“MISSING AIRMAN
Cr and Mrs J W Booth of Ferrybridge, have now received official confirmation that their son Flying Officer Thomas B Booth, is missing after an operational flight. Flying Officer Booth, who is 21, has been in the RAF for two years, and received his commission in Canada. Educated at the King’s School, Pontefract, he had completed his articles as a surveyor to the Knottingley Urban Council (Mr J Laverack).”
Family Life
Thomas Burton Booth was born in the 4th quarter of 1922 and registered at Wakefield as the son of Joseph William Booth and Jane Marguerite Booth nee Arnold. Joseph William and Jane Marguerite had married in the third quarter of 1911 and this was registered at Pontefract.
Hanover Military Cemetery
