Sergeant Ernest Short Flight Engineer
RAF, 35 Squadron 56709
Date of Birth: June Quarter of 1918
Place of Birth: Teignmouth, Devon
Date of Death: 26th of July 1941, aged 23
Buried: Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Grave 8. Z. 3.
Mentioned in despatches and awarded the 1939-45 Star and the War Medal 1939-1945
Son of Sam Perkins Short and Maud Florence Janet Short (née McCleod) of Teignmouth, Devon.
Halifax L9507
Was one of two No. 35 Squadron aircraft detailed to attack Berlin on the night of the 25th and 26th of July 1941. Its seven-man crew comprised, ERPS Cooper (Pilot) JMR Cruickshank (2nd Pilot) RV Collinge (Observer) AJ Heller (WOP / Air Gunner) DJ Mennie (WOP / Air Gunner) RA Bates (Air Gunner) E Short (Flight Engineer).
L9507 failed to return and the squadron’s Operations Record Book shows, “This aircraft was not heard of again and is now officially reported missing”.
Wartime activities relating to the loss on the 26th of July 1941 - the squadron informed Bomber Command, the Air Ministry and the RAF Records Office that the aircraft and crew were missing. A telegram, along with a follow-up letter from the Commanding Officer, was sent to the next of kin of each crew member advising them that he was “missing as the result of air operations on the 25th and 26th of July 1941.
Sergeant Frank Griggs of 214 Squadron, points to some minor damage to his Stirling, N3751/BU-P, after crash-landing at Stradishall, 28th of June 1942. The aircraft was damaged by flak and fighters after attacking Bremen © IWM CH 17359
The crew’s kit and personal belongings were removed from their lockers and catalogued; kit was returned to stores and personal belongings sent to the RAF Central Depository at RAF Colnbrook. The Air Ministry Casualty Branch, which was responsible for investigating, monitoring and reporting on the status of missing aircraft and airmen, subsequently published the following information regarding the crew, Air Ministry Communique No. 79 (Flight 18/09/1941) reported RV Collinge and DJ Mennie as “missing, believed killed in action”.
Presumption of death enabled a death certificate to be issued; personal belongings could then be returned to the next of kin, along with any monies due No. 35 Squadron’s Operations Record Book shows the following information was received relating to the crew on the 16th of August 1941, Information received, passed on from International Red Cross Society, that F/S Collinge and Sgt Mennie of PO Cooper’s crew, missing on operations on the 25th and 26th of July 1941, were killed.
Post War search for the missing crew members After the war, an investigation officer from the Royal Air Force Missing Research and Enquiry Service (MRES) was tasked with locating the remains of the missing crew member(s). Original German documents, burial records and eye witness accounts were utilised to establish the location of the crash site, the cause of the loss and the initial fate of the crew, information was recorded in an MRES Investigation Report.
Halifax B Mark VI, NP831, awaiting delivery at Radlett, Hertfordshire, following completion by Handley Page Ltd © IWM ATP 13205D
As part of the process, any remains that were located were exhumed, identified, wherever possible, and reinterred at one of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC) Cemeteries in the country that they fell, in accordance with Government policy at the time. Graves were marked with a simple wooden cross, which was replaced by the familiar CWGC headstone during the 1950s.
Missing airmen who could not be found, or formally identified, had their names commemorated on the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede, which was unveiled in 1953. CWGC records show that the remains of all members of the crew were located at Doberitz Standortfriedhof.
Their remains were exhumed, identified and reinterred at Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery on the 29th of October 1946 as follows:
Identified -
Heller, Albert James, Flight Sergeant ‘552112’ Grave 8. Z. 1.
Collinge, Robert Victor, Flight Sergeant ‘581204’ Grave 8. Z. 2.
Short, Ernest, Sergeant ‘567019’ Grave 8. Z. 3.
Communal Grave -
Mennie, Douglas James, Sergeant ‘940550’ Coll. grave 8. Z. 4-7.
Bates, Reginald Arthur, Flight Sergeant ‘751214’ Coll. grave 8. Z. 4-7.
Cooper, Ernest Ronald Peter Shackle, Pilot Officer ‘87050’ Coll. grave 8. Z. 4-7.
Cruickshank, John Milne Rigg, Sergeant ‘1051632’ Coll. grave 8. Z. 4-7.
Sergeant Ernest Short Flight Engineer, RAF, 35 Squadron 56709 commemorative certificate
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Theo Boiten (Nachtjagd Combat Archive) - Hit by unidentified Berlin-based Flak and crashed near Brieselang, 7 km. North East of Wustermark, time unknown. P.4 (Cas), Casualty Branch Files The following casualty file is available at the National Archives: AIR 81/7893 Pilot Officer ERPS Cooper, Sergeant JHR Cruickshank, Sergeant Collinge, Flight Sergeant AJ Heller, Sergeant DJ Mennie, Flight Sergeant RA Bates, Sergeant E Short, killed in action.
Aircraft shot down and crashed near Wustermark, Germany, Halifax L9507, 35 Squadron, on the 26th of July 1941 It provides the following information, “The Halifax aircraft took off from its base at 10.45 on the 25th of August 1941 to attack a target in Berlin and failed to return. A telegram from the International Red Cross Committee in Geneva quoting information from Berlin states that six men were killed in a Halifax machine on July the 26th, the names of two members of the crew (Mennie and Collinge) being given. As the crew consisted of seven, one man remains unaccounted for”.
