Bartlett, Richard Edward (Lt Commander)

Prisoner of War 1940-June-13

Lt Commander Richard Edward Bartlett RN FAA

Birth Date: 1919-April-21

Born:

Parents: Christopher Pennycuick and Dora Margaret (nee Smales) Bartlett, of Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan. Brother of W/C CS Bartlett (RAFVR)

Spouse:

Home: Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan

Enlistment:

Enlistment Date: unkown date

Service

RN FAA

Unit

803 Sqn- Squadron (FAA)

Base

HMS Ark Royal

Rank

Lt Commander

Position

Pilot

Service Numbers


PoW: 92

Home
Google MapFort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan
Saskatoon Star Phoenix 1994-June-21.

Born on Apr. 21, 1919 in Fort Qu'Appelle, Sask. After completing his senior matriculation he was accepted in 1938 by the Fleet Air Arm. After six months of general naval training aboard H.M.S. Courageous he took flying training with the Royal Air Force (R.A.F.) and was awarded his wings in 1939, at which point he became an acting sub-lieutenant. In Apr. 1940 he joined No. 803 Squadron (Skuas) in H.M.S. Ark Royal. During the Norwegian campaign air cover was provided for the retreating British army. At Trondheim harbour he was wounded and shot down while attacking the German battle cruiser Gneisenau and spent two weeks in a Norwegian hospital. He was transferred to Germany to an Air Force interrogation centre (Dulag Luft), then to Stalag Luft 1 on the Baltic coast. Describes camp conditions, low rations, first "escape committee". Enemy discovery of an escape tunnel resulted in two weeks of solitary confinement. Later, in retaliation for German prisoners held in poor conditions at Fort Henry, Kingston, Ont., they were sent to the fortress of Thorn (now Torun) in Poland and placed in dungeons. Eventually transferred to Warburg (now West Germany) where he participated in an escape.

Captured in a railyard, placed in punishment cells. Finally to Stalag Luft 3 in Silesia where the "great escape" was well under way. Not an active participant. Fifty of those who escaped were later shot as an example to others. Secret "death zones" were established by the Germans which tended to reduce the zeal for escape. In Feb. 1945, to avoid the approaching Russian Army, the prisoners were marched to the west for days, living in the open. Some died when attacked in error by British fighter aircraft. Liberated by the British army and flown to England by the R.A.F. on May 5, 1945. Bartlett rejoined the Fleet Air Arm that year and transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in 1946. from University of Victoria Archives (British Columbia Canada)

Took off in Skua #2955

Shot down after dive bombing attack on the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau

Sub Lt (A) R E Bartlett (RNFAA) and TAG L G Richards (RNFAA) force landed in Trondheimsfjord, Norway 13 June 1940. Taken Prisoner of War by the Germans 31 August 1940

German POW at Stalag XXA underground fort at Torun, Poland 1945. Liberated May 1945

Lt(A) Bartlett was BROTHER of W/C C S Bartlett (RAFVR)(Can), killed in action 1944-06-13 on 434 Squadron Halifax LW 173 WL-K during an operation over Arras, France

Canada's Naval Aviators by John MacFarlane and Robbie Hughes pages 8-9

unvetted Source Black Thursday - a disasterous Fleet Air Arm raid I Naval Air History

Skua serial: 2955

British Dive Bomber, Balckburn Skua.

The Blackburn B-24 Skua was a carrier-based low-wing, two-seater, single-radial engine aircraft by the British aviation company Blackburn Aircraft. It was the first Royal Navy carrier-borne all-metal cantilever monoplane aircraft, as well as the first dive bomber in Fleet Air Arm (FAA) service. The aircraft took its name from the sea bird which 'divebombs' any potential predators that come too close to its nest.

The Skua was designed during the mid-1930s to Specification O.27/34, and was a radical design for the era, combining the functions of a dive bomber and fighter. Its enclosed cockpit and monoplane configuration were obvious shifts from preceding FAA aircraft such as the Hawker Nimrod and Hawker Osprey biplanes. On 9 February 1937, the first prototype performed its maiden flight; it was ordered straight off the drawing board to accelerate its development. In November 1938, the Skua was introduced to FAA service; 33 aircraft were operational by the outbreak of the Second World War. Wikipedia