Fred Seddon Langton

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Additional information

Grave location: II. B. 2.

Aged 23. Son of Ernest Langton and Hannah Langton-Rimmer of Southport, Lancashire.

Fred Seddon Langton had enlisted in the RAFVR at No. 3 Recruits Centre in Padgate, Lancashire, on 15 March 1941, but he was not called up for service until September of that year. On 16 September 1941, he was assigned to No. 10 (Signals) Recruits Centre in Blackpool, and subsequently to the Parachute & Cable Establishment in Denham, Uxbridge, on 26 November 1941. From there, on 14 March 1942, he was assigned to No. 65 Maintenance Unit, Fred Edlin’s Garage, Blaby Wharf, Leicester, where he remained until 22 June 1943, apart from a two-week temporary placement at No. 7 Radio School in London. He then went to No. 80 Maintenance Unit in Escrick, Yorkshire, where he remained until 25 October 1943. During his time in Escrick, he spent a day at the Aviation Candidates’ Selection Board in Doncaster.

This probably set him on the right path to transfer from maintenance to aircrew, as after leaving Escrick he was first posted to No. 3 Air Crew Reception Centre, Regent’s Park, London, followed shortly afterwards by No. 14 Initial Training Wing in Bridlington, Yorkshire, on 13 November 1943. He then went to the Elementary Air Gunners’ School in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, on 8 January 1944, and subsequently to No. 8 Air Gunners’ School in Evanton, Ross & Cromarty, Scotland, on 26 February 1944. On 16 May 1944, he was posted to No. 4 Operational Training Unit at Alness, Ross & Cromarty, Scotland, before moving on to No. 14 Operational Training Unit at Market Harborough, Leicestershire. From there, on 23 August 1944, he was posted to No. 51 Base at RAF Swinderby in Lincolnshire, although he was immediately sent to No. 5 Group Air Crew School (a Lancaster Finishing School) for a short period.

On 2 November 1944, he was posted to No. 50 Squadron at RAF Skellingthorpe in Lincolnshire, together with the rest of the crew with whom he flew on that fateful night.

• Pilot: Flying Officer Peter Gordon Anderson
• Flight Engineer: Sergeant Denys William Lewis
• Navigator: Flight Sergeant Roy Campbell
• Air Bomber: Flight Sergeant Denis Alphonsus McCauley
• Wireless Operator/Air Gunner: Flight Sergeant Ward Rex Southcott
• Air Gunner (Middle); Flight Sergeant Donald Alexander McFayden
• Air Gunner (Rear); Sergeant Fred Seddon Langton

That evening, at 17:02, they took off from RAF Skellingthorpe in an Avro Lancaster I (VN-X) with serial number LL741, named ‘Expectant’. This was a Mark 1 which had been delivered to 50 Squadron in 1943 and had already completed 92 operations by 1945. They flew alongside approximately 165 Lancasters and 12 Mosquitos in an attempt to breach the Mittelland Canal near Gravenhorst. The mission was successful, with reports stating that the target had been rendered completely unusable. However, 13 Lancasters were lost, with 53 crew members killed, 19 taken prisoner and 11 escaping.

LL741 managed to drop fourteen 1,000-pound bombs over enemy territory at 20:37 from an altitude of approximately 10,000 feet. During the bombing run, it was hit, presumably by anti-aircraft fire. According to witnesses, however, all four engines were still running when the Lancaster began its return journey.

At approximately 09:15, as the aircraft approached Deurne at 7,000 feet, it was attacked by a German night fighter, presumably Hauptmann Heinz Rokker of 2./NJG2 (Nachtjagdgeschwader 2).

Peter Gordon Anderson ordered the crew to abandon the aircraft. Denys Lewis walked towards the front emergency hatch when he saw that Denis Alphonsus McCauley was also preparing to jump. Both crew members left the aircraft, but it turned out that Denis Alphonsus McCauley’s parachute was on fire, causing him to fall to his death. The rest of the crew, including Fred Seddon Langton, were unable to escape the aircraft and were killed when it crashed. Denys Lewis injured his right leg on landing and spent the night wrapped in his parachute, trying to sleep. He was found by two Dutch soldiers, as he had landed in the part of the Netherlands that had already been liberated. He returned to England and resumed operations in April 1945.

On the morning of 22 February 1945, rescue and recovery teams, consisting of ground crew members (volunteers), were dispatched to search for three Lancaster bombers that had crashed in the area the previous night. They found the remains of LL741 in Helenaveen, and the wrecks of the other two Lancaster bombers in Weert and Ysselsteyn. Eight bodies recovered from the three wrecks were buried with full military honours the following day at ‘De Oude Toren’ Cemetery in Woensel, including those of Fred Seddon Langton and Denis Alphonsus McCauley. Roy Campbell, Peter Gordon Anderson and Ward Rex Southcott were buried at the Canadian War Cemetery in Groesbeek. A day later, on 24 February, the body of Donald Alexander McFayden was recovered. He was also buried on 27 February at the Canadian War Cemetery in Groesbeek.

In 1947, the remains of Fred Seddon Langton and Denis Alphonsus McCauley were reinterred at Overloon War Cemetery.

Hauptmann Heinz Rokker