The Airmen's Stories - AC2 G Charnock

Gerard Charnock was born on 11th November 1911, one of five boys raised at the Heaton Bridge Inn outside Ormskirk, Lancashire.

He joined the RAF around June 1940 and trained as a Wireless Operator, he was probably also radar trained when he joined 25 Squadron in late September 1940 as an AC2. He flew operationally for the rest of the Battle.

Above: Charnock is standing far left, as best man to one of his brothers in June 1946.

In the early hours of 5th June 1941 Beaufighter R2157 of 25 Squadron, flown by Sgt. H Gigney with Charnock, now a Sergeant, as crew member was patrolling over the Wash. They intercepted and damaged He111H-5 3793 5J+FS of 8/KG4 from Leeuwarden in Holland. The aircraft force-landed at South Reston, Alford, Lincolnshire however four crew members had already baled out and were drowned, only the pilot, Oblt. H Pass, survived.

Those lost were:

Oblt. G Trukenbrodt
Uffz. H Walther
Uffz. P Weber
Fw. Heuser

Charnock's subsequent service is currently undocumented though his family are sure that he ended the war as a navigator in a Pathfinder Mosquito squadron.

He married Elizabeth Massam in late 1944.

Charnock died in Ormskirk, Lancashire on 29th June 1988.

All five brothers served in the war, two in the Army, two in the RAF and the eldest, Eric, as a Fire Warden in the Liverpool Blitz. All survived.

Additional research courtesy of Anthony Aughton (nephew).