CAPTAIN: SCOTT

LANCASTER C-CHARLIE - JB117
Crashed near Graveley

CREW
Pilot: F/S Ian Macdonald Scott
        Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Cambridge City Cemetery
Flight Engineer: Sgt Charles William Collishaw
        Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Nottingham South Cemetery
Navigator: Sgt Samuel Joseph Peek
        Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in City of London & Tower Hamlets Cemetery
Bomb Aimer: Sgt Douglas Raymond Irvine
        Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Cambridge City Cemetery
W/Op: Sgt Sidney George Parrott
        Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Liss (St Mary's) Churchyard
Mid-Upper Gunner: Sgt Kenneth Edgar Foxcroft
        Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Cambridge City Cemetery
Rear Gunner: Sgt Clifford Lionel Hope
        Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Cambridge City Cemetery


CREW: Ian Macdonald Scott, Charles William Collishaw, Samuel Joseph Peek, Douglas Raymond Irvine, Sidney George Parrott, Kenneth Edgar Foxcroft, Clifford Lionel Hope


DETAILS
Flight Sergeant Scott's Lancaster came down one and a quarter miles north-east of Graveley, at an unknown time. The wreckage was not found until just after seven o'clock on the morning of 17th December. After crashing, the aircraft had caught fire. There was no one to help and there were no survivors. It was the Australian pilot's second operation; he was only twenty years old.



Samuel Joseph Peek
The photograph to the left is the only known photograph of Samuel and shows him as a boy of about 10 years old. He is with his brother and mother, and is on the lefthandside, the taller and older of the two boys.
This is a very sad picture. Samuel's brother, Charles Frederick, also served in the war, in the army -  he was injured and sent home. Hiwever, when Samuel was killed, he felt it his duty to go back and sadly he did not make it home either. He died on 6th April 1946 of an unknown cause whilst serving with the Grenadier Guards 3rd battalion, and is buried in Benghazi.
Samuel usually flew with a pilot called Roberts. This crew was as follows
        Pilot: F/Sgt W.N.Roberts
        F/E: F/Sgt V.A.Davis
        Nav: F/Sgt S.J.Peek
        B/A: F/O L.C.Jones
        W/Op: Sgt D.E.Harvey
        M/U Gunner: F/Sgt J.R.Chapman
        Rear Gunner: F/Sgt E.L.Wright.
It appears that the crew were on a month's leave - they flew on the 3/4 December raid on Leipzig but do not appear in the ORB again until the 14/15 January 1944 raid on Brunswick.
On 16/17 December 1943, for some unknown reason, Samuel was still on the station and chose to fly with Scott on the fatal Berlin operation. 
Samuel's DFM for a tour of service was published in the London Gazette of 15th February 1944.

Two pictures of Foxcroft, the M/U Gunner, on his enlistment in the RAAF
Aircrew on Berlin op - December 16/17 1943