Pilot Officer Denis Ralph COLLYER (80427)
158 Squadron Royal Air Force

Date of birth: 1st June 1911
Date of death: 11th December 1942

Killed in action aged 31
Buried at Villeneuve-en-Montagne Communal Cemetery, Collective Grave
He was born at Enfield, Middlesex on the 1st of June 1911 the son of Albert Henry Dixon Collyer, land agent, and Ethel Mary (nee Mahon) of 8 Culloden Road, Enfield.

He was educated at Nevill House School, Eastbourne and at the King's School Canterbury from September 1925 to December 1928 where he was a member of the Rugby XV and was in Langley House.

On leaving school he went to Canada on board the SS Scythia, landing at Halifax on the 9th of March 1930 from where he made his way to a ranch in Saskatchewan where he worked as a hand. He returned to England, on board the SS Duchess of Yourk, landing at Liverpool on the 21st of November 1931. He later moved to Cotton Station, Gatooma in Southern Rhodesia where he was a farmer.

He enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and rose to the rank of Sergeant. He qualified as an Air Gunner, one of the oldest in Bomber Command. He trained with 10 Operational Training Unit before completing his training as a member of Pilot Officer Charles Sparke's crew at 158 Heavy Conversion Unit on the 11th of July 1942. When the crew became operational they were posted to 158 Squadron, operating Halifax aircraft, based at RAF East Moor and flew their first mission together to Nantes on the 21st of July 1942.

On the night of the 31st of July/1st of August 1942 they took off in Halifax W7777 for an operation on Dusseldorf. While over the target their aircraft was hit by flak which put aircraft into a loop and caused a loss of control. Sparke put the aircraft into a dive at 330 mph before he managed to regain control and returned to East Moor, where they landed safely in the early hours of the morning, with no injuries to the crew reported.

He was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on the 18th of September 1942.

On the 10th of December 1942 Bomber Command dispatched 82 aircraft, being 48 Halifaxes, 20 Lancasters, 8 Stirlings and 6 Wellingtons for an operation on Turin. More than half the force was forced to turn back before they reached the Alps due to severe icing conditions but twenty eight crews went on and claimed to have bombed the target. The city claimed that only three high explosive bombs landed on the city of which two failed to explode.

Denis Collyer and his crew took off from RAF Rufforth at 4.45pm on the 10th of December 1942 in Halifax Mk II DT579 NP-V for the operation. The aircraft came down at 8.45am the following morning near the village of Villeneuve-en-Montagne, eight kilometers to the east of Le Creusot, just thirty meters from a farm building owned by Monsieur Monneret, with the loss of the entire crew.

The crew was:-

Flying Officer Jack Biddulph Aris (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Denis Ralph Collyer (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Ronald Edlington Flight Engineer
Sergeant John William Furniss (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Harry Middleton (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Charles Lionel Sparke (Pilot)
Flying Officer Rayden Frederic Watson RCAF (Air Bomber)

Thiers was one of 4 aircraft which failed to return from the mission.

The crew were buried in the local cemetery in a ceremony which was attended by all the people of the town, led by their Mayor, Monsieur Bourogoyne, in spite of the presence of the Germans. A stone memorial was placed at the crash site in 1992.

He is commemorated on the war memorial at Felixstowe but is not currently commemorated on the memorial at the King's School Canterbury.
Langley House

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