Letter to Frank Claydon's Wife from the British Red Cross
Title
Letter to Frank Claydon's Wife from the British Red Cross
Description
The letter offers news regarding events when her husband's aircraft was shot down. The German authorities confirm that six airmen had lost their lives.
Creator
Date
1944-05-31
Temporal Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
One typewritten sheet
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
EAmpthillMClaydonVG440531
Transcription
COPY
British Red Cross Society
7 Belgrave Square,
London, S.W.1.
DJLM/RMB/RAF/C.10618
31st May, 1944
Dear Mrs Claydon
We are writing to you again concerning your husband, Flying Officer F.E. Claydon 130537, because we know how anxiously you are waiting for even the smallest piece of news, and having now received an unofficial statement from Wing Commander C. Scragg, the pilot of your husband’s plane who is a
Prisoner of War, we hasten to pass it on to you trusting you will forgive us if in doing so we should cause you further suffering.
Wing Commander Scragg says that on the night of January 14th he took off to attack a target in Germany. On the outward journey the intercom failed and whilst over the target, the emergency system also failed. They were then attacked and severely damaged, followed by another attack which destroyed the elevator controls. Wing Commander Scragg adds that he was unable to give any orders (owing presumably to the failure of the intercom) and he did not know which members of his crew were hit, for the aircraft went into a spinning dive and he himself was thrown half-way through a hole in the roof. Fortunately he was able to fling himself clear and, after pulling the ripcord, he landed in a ploughed field within a minute. He goes on to say that the attack was so rapid and the aircraft began spinning so quickly that he believes his crew could not possibly have got to their parachutes or their exits in time to escape.
The Germany[sic] authorities confirmed this tragic statement by informing him that an aircraft had crashed near Brunswick, and six men had lost their lives in the disaster, only one of them being identified, namely, Flight Sergeant Taylor.
This letter comes to you with our deep sympathy, in which Wing Commander Scragg asked to be included, and the assurance that our enquiries on your behalf are continuing and that immediately any further news comes through it will be sent to you either by the Air Ministry or by this Department.
Yours sincerely,
MARGARET AMPTHILL
Chairman
British Red Cross Society
7 Belgrave Square,
London, S.W.1.
DJLM/RMB/RAF/C.10618
31st May, 1944
Dear Mrs Claydon
We are writing to you again concerning your husband, Flying Officer F.E. Claydon 130537, because we know how anxiously you are waiting for even the smallest piece of news, and having now received an unofficial statement from Wing Commander C. Scragg, the pilot of your husband’s plane who is a
Prisoner of War, we hasten to pass it on to you trusting you will forgive us if in doing so we should cause you further suffering.
Wing Commander Scragg says that on the night of January 14th he took off to attack a target in Germany. On the outward journey the intercom failed and whilst over the target, the emergency system also failed. They were then attacked and severely damaged, followed by another attack which destroyed the elevator controls. Wing Commander Scragg adds that he was unable to give any orders (owing presumably to the failure of the intercom) and he did not know which members of his crew were hit, for the aircraft went into a spinning dive and he himself was thrown half-way through a hole in the roof. Fortunately he was able to fling himself clear and, after pulling the ripcord, he landed in a ploughed field within a minute. He goes on to say that the attack was so rapid and the aircraft began spinning so quickly that he believes his crew could not possibly have got to their parachutes or their exits in time to escape.
The Germany[sic] authorities confirmed this tragic statement by informing him that an aircraft had crashed near Brunswick, and six men had lost their lives in the disaster, only one of them being identified, namely, Flight Sergeant Taylor.
This letter comes to you with our deep sympathy, in which Wing Commander Scragg asked to be included, and the assurance that our enquiries on your behalf are continuing and that immediately any further news comes through it will be sent to you either by the Air Ministry or by this Department.
Yours sincerely,
MARGARET AMPTHILL
Chairman
Collection
Citation
British Red Cross, “Letter to Frank Claydon's Wife from the British Red Cross,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed February 10, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/43435.