St Edmund's
In Remembrance of Old Edmundians
Merrick Haslegrave (RAF, World War II)
At this time of year, with Remembrance Day approaching, I always spend some time reading through our records of former pupils who died in the two world wars. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be profiling some of them.
My Great Uncle Flight Sergeant Edward Marnham flew with Bomber Command and was killed in an air accident in April 1944 preparing for the aerial component of D-Day. So I was particularly interested to learn about Old Edmundian, Merrick Haslegrave, also a Flight Sergeant with Bomber Command who died in combat over Germany in October 1943…
Merrick Haslegrave, born on 28th March 1923, attended St Edmund’s School between 1936 and 1939. He was a member of Wagner House. His family were from Newton Linford in Leicestershire.
During the Second World War, he served with 156 Squadron, which was part of Bomber Command. He flew in Lancaster Model III from RAF Warbuoys in Cambridgeshire. He was a Flight Sergeant.
On 4th October 1943 at 18.29, Merrick’s Lancaster JB 242 took off for a bombing raid on the German City of Frankfurt. It was a large-scale raid involving 402 British aircraft.
Remarkably, the photograph below is of Merrick’s plane over England leaving for its final mission.
Sadly, JB 242 never returned and was shot down over Germany.
We have an account from a survivor of the raid from a different squadron who described it thus:
“Concentrated fires and enormous explosions being seen, the fires were still visible on the homeward journey. Anti-aircraft fire was negligible, there were many search lights which were cooperating with enemy night-fighters. The weather was poor on the outward and return journeys, but clear over the target, visibility was good except for smoke haze.”
Merrick’s plane was shot down, most likely by a night fighter on this evidence.
He is now buried at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Durnbach, south of Munich.
Newton Linford War Memorial
