Former squadron leader Stanley Booker, from Christchurch in Dorset, died in January and a memorial service is taking place later.

He was 22 years old when his aircraft was shot down over northern France in June 1944 and was the last of the "lost airmen of Buchenwald".

Mr Booker, who was born in Gillingham, Kent, was imprisoned until May 1945 and later received an MBE for his post-war work with British intelligence.

He was one of 168 Allied airmen imprisoned at the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany.

Photo credit Sean Feast/BBC

As it was now over six weeks since contacting Cotswold Archaeology Fieldwork officer Adrian Scruby (26th August 2025 Archaeological Survey) and also providing him with crash documentation relating Mosquito HK304, along with our offer of help and assistance, I was there for surprized when I phoned him yesterday to be told without explanation that their excavations were finished, which is strange as they had started numerous trenches over a wide area? I was also told that my request for the society to help survey the finds had been denied by the property developers Persimmon Homes, who own the land and intend to build 170 new dwellings on this prime arable land. The documentation relating to Mosquito HK304 had also been forwarded to Persimmon Homes.  David King.

Multiple reconstructed Luftwaffe remembrance pages have been added to the website recently, alongside our new search features which includes our built in search engine and squadron filters.

Over the last few months we have been corresponding with Christopher Thomson regarding the loss of his Uncle Lt. Robert Caldwell Maclaren, who was tragically on the 24th April 1950 in the crash of Supermarine Seafire XV SR611 at Highmore Cross, Oxon. Chris who is also the cousin of the pilot’s son Peter MacLaren, who was sadly less than one year old at the time of his father’s death, informed us that both of them had very little information about the loss of Robert until Chris came across the society’s remembrance page for Robert. At the time of our recovery of the aircraft back in 1994 we were unable to trace any relatives of Robert and it was a great privilege and honour to pass on the knowledge we had been able to research and preserve over the years. Chris informed us that he would be passing on our detailed information to Peter on the 75th Anniversary of Roberts loss, and that at the beginning of this month he would be visiting Peter at his home in Vermont U.S.A. We decided that we would like to pass on something to Peter in memory of his father to coincide with Christopher’s visit. We therefor selected a poignant item recovered from the Seafire crash site, the Altimeter Instrument face from the pilots blind flying panel framed up, and also had a photograph album printed covering our crash site investigation and research. Attached (1) Our two gifts photographed before posting (2) Peter seen after receiving his gifts, (3)   Lt. Robert Caldwell Maclaren seen here while serving on H.M.S. Implacable during 1949 and other poignant framed items held in our Heritage collection, The Rolls Royce Griffin Engine plate, a button and piece of fabric from the pilots tunic.

We are working through many section on the site, including The People’s War History Project, Aircraft Losses & The Societies Archive Library.

New records being added daily over the coming weeks to our Luftwaffe losses, Airforce, Navy, Army & Home Front sections in our project and more.

We are working our way through many of our historic remembrance pages, this week we have been adding more Luftwaffe pages.

Please check our Aircraft losses for many new additions.

Born May 20 1920, death announced August 16 2025
Victoria Cross citation
The announcement and accompanying citation for the decoration was published in a supplement to The London Gazette, reading
Air Ministry, 1st September, 1944.
The King has been graciously pleased to confer the Victoria Cross on the undermentioned officer in recognition of most conspicuous bravery: —
Flying Officer John Alexander Cruickshank (126700), Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. No. 210 Squadron.

On the 17th, Geert Rottiers contacted us regarding USAAF B-26B Marauder named Snafu, with serial number 41-17751. 

The pilot was Captain Donald G. Smith. Research has now been undertaken to assist Geert, regarding his search for the crash location, something the relatives of the pilot have also been trying to find out for many years

I am searching for the exact crash location of this aircraft. Various locations have been suggested, including Huntingdon, Huntington, Hunninton, and Honiton, making it difficult to determine the precise site. The family of Captain Smith has been searching for this information for many years.

Ruth Bourne, left, and fellow veteran, Jean Valentine, stand in front of a replica Turing Bombe machine. Pic: AP

Many new individual entries added over the last few days and today across all sections.