Houghton, Kenneth Hugh Leslie (Flying Officer)

Killed in Flying Accident 1945-August-02

Flying Officer Kenneth Hugh Leslie Houghton RAF

Birth Date: 1919

Born:

Son of Francis Cyril and Moira Kathleen Houghton, of Ramsgate, Kent

Home: Ramsgate, Kent, England

Enlistment:

Enlistment Date: Unknown

Decorations: DFM & Bar

Service

RAF

Unit

6 FU- Ferry Unit (RAF)

Base

Bermuda

Rank

Flying Officer

Position

Pilot (Captain)

Service Numbers

55226

Home

Ramsgate, Kent, England

The then Flight Sergeant KHL Houghton had been shot down by a night fighter while with 207 Squadron RAF 1941-10-13 in Manchester L7373 and became an Evader, escaping to Switzerland through the Pyrenees. In June of 1942, Houghton made his way over the border into France with the aid of various escape groups and from there eventually made his way too Lisbon, from where he was flown back to the UK 1942-07-24/25

RAF Evaders, The Comprehensive Story of Thousands of Escapers and Their Escape Lines, Western Europe, 1940-1945 by Oliver Clutton-Brock pages 126, 375

unvetted Source Escaper List

unvetted Source MI9 nos 500 to 999

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

www.findagrave.com

Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Crew or Other Personnel

Liberator KN826

Flying Officer Stanley Albert Bennett RAFVR

Flying Officer Bennett, Stanley Albert (RAFVR)
Pilot
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-August-02
British Military Cemetery, Rabat St, Ramla, Israel

Sergeant Ralph Robinson Gibson RAFVR

Sergeant Gibson, Ralph Robinson (RAFVR)
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-August-02
cemetery unknown

Sergeant Maurice Albert Hammond RAFVR

Sergeant Hammond, Maurice Albert (RAFVR)
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-August-02
cemetery unknown

Sergeant Lloyd Russell Hollett RAFVR

Sergeant Hollett, Lloyd Russell (RAFVR)
Bomb Aimer
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-August-02
British Military Cemetery, Rabat St, Ramla, Israel

Flying Officer Kenneth Hugh Leslie Houghton RAF

Flying Officer Houghton, Kenneth Hugh Leslie (RAF)
Pilot (Captain)
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-August-02
cemetery unknown

Sergeant Dennis Gordon Longhurst RAFVR

Sergeant Longhurst, Dennis Gordon (RAFVR)
Air Gunner
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-August-02
cemetery unknown

Flying Officer Allister Maycock RAFVR

Flying Officer Maycock, Allister (RAFVR)
Pilot Instructor
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-August-02
cemetery unknown

Flight Sergeant Ralph Meanley RAFVR

Flight Sergeant Meanley, Ralph (RAFVR)
Flight Engineer
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-August-02
cemetery unknown

Sergeant Robert Reade Milligan RAFVR

Sergeant Milligan, Robert Reade (RAFVR)
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-August-02
cemetery unknown

Sergeant Terence Philip Pipe RAFVR

Sergeant Pipe, Terence Philip (RAFVR)
Air Gunner
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-August-02
cemetery unknown

Sergeant William Frederick Reeks RAFVR

Sergeant Reeks, William Frederick (RAFVR)
Air Gunner
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-August-02
cemetery unknown

Sergeant Eric Frederick Rogers RAFVR

Sergeant Rogers, Eric Frederick (RAFVR)
Navigator
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-August-02
cemetery unknown

Flight Lieutenant James Alexander Sprigge RAF

Flight Lieutenant Sprigge, James Alexander (RAF)
Pilot
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-August-02
cemetery unknown

Mission

Liberator B 24 KN826

Transport 1945-August-02 to 1945-August-02

45 (T) Group (RAF) Lydda, Palestine

45 Group, RAF Transport Command (Ferio Ferendo) Liberator BVIII aircraft KN 826 flew into the ground after a night take-off from Lydda, Palestine on a delivery flight

Flying Officer SA Bennett (RAFVR)(Can), Flying Officer KHL Houghton DFM and Bar (RAF) (a former Evader), Flight Lieutenant JA Sprigge DFM (RAF), Sergeant EF Rogers (RAFVR), Sergeant RR Gibson (RAFVR), Sergeant MA Hammond (RAFVR), Sergeant DG Longhurst (RAFVR), Sergeant RR Milligan (RAFVR), Sergeant TP Pipe (RAFVR), Sergeant WF Reeks (RAFVR), Sergeant R Meanley (RAFVR), Sergeant LR Hollett (RAFVR)(Nfld), Flight Lieutenant A Maycock (RAFVR) were all killed in this flying accident

Lance Sergeant F Woolley of the North Staffordshire Regiment may also have been a passenger lost in this accident (J Baugher)

Ocean Bridge, The History of RAF Ferry Command by Carl A Christie pages 330, 395

The Liberator in Royal Air Force and Commonwealth Service by James D Oughton with John Hamlin and Andrew Thomas page 246

unvetted Source [Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database]...

Liberator serial: KN826

(DND Photos via James Craik) (Source Harold A Skaarup Web Page)
Consolidated Liberator G.R. Mk. VIII, RCAF (Serial No. 11130) ex-USAAF Consolidated (Vultee) B-24L Liberator USAAF (44-50154)
ex-RAF (Serial No. 5009), ex-Indian Air Force (Serial No. HE773).
Currently preserved in the Canada Aviation and Space Museum Ottawa Ontario.

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber flown by the RCAF during the Second Word War. It was designed with a shoulder-mounted, high aspect ratio Davis wing which gave the Liberator a high cruise speed, long range and the ability to carry a heavy bomb load. Early RAF Liberators were the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean as a matter of routine. In comparison with its contemporaries the B-24 was relatively difficult to fly and had poor low speed performance; it also had a lower ceiling compared with the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Of the roughly 18,500 B-24s built in the USA during the war, 148 were flown by the RCAF on long range anti-submarine patrols, with the B-24 serving an instrumental role in closing the Mid-Atlantic gap in the Battle of the Atlantic. The RCAF also flew a few B-24s post war as transports.

Roughly half of all (RAF) Liberator crews in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theatre were Canadian by the end of the war. John Muir of Vancouver flew the longest mission of the war: 24hrs, 10mins from Ceylon to Burma and back. (Kyle Hood) Harold Skaarup web page

YouTube Liberator bomber