Barry Martin Smyth Henderson

Barry Martin Smyth Henderson was born on 18th November 1919 at 28 Wilkie Street, Glasgow.


Wilkie Street was in the east end of Glasgow, by what is now The Forge Shopping Centre:

His father, who had the same name, was from County Antrim, and worked as a compositor for the Daily Record.  He married 

Sadly, we know nothing specific about Barry’s life after this.  His parents moved to 207 Milngavie Road, Bearsden, in the early 1930s and given his age he very probably lived there.


Modern street view of Milngavie Road, 207 on the left.

Barry joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in the Second World War.  He was posted to 142 Squadron on 1st October 1941 as a flight sergeant.  In the aircraft his role was wireless operator/air gunner.

In early 1942 the squadron was based at RAF Grimsby and flying Wellington bombers.

Looking at the Squadron’s records suggests the missions Barry flew in these months were as follows

6th January – Brest (France)

8th January – Brest

26th January – Hannover

31st January – St Nazaire

10th February - Bremen

27th February - Kiel

8th March - Essen

10th March - Essen

12th March - Kiel

25th March – Essen

On 26th March 1942 they were sent back to Essen again, Barry's 11th mission.

The modern commercial flight from Humberside to Dusseldorf approximates the distance from RAF Grimsby to Essen

Take off was 19.50 but on the return journey their plane was picked out by a searchlight and shot down by flak.  It crashed at Keilerstrasse Oberlohberg Wald, north-east of Dinslaken, about 30km north-west of Essen.

Barry was killed as well as the following crew members:

Co-Pilot: Harold Selby, age 27, a married man with a son, from Thorne, Yorkshire

Co-Pilot: John Nigel Tillard, age 19 originally from Cheltenham but lived in Bedford

Observer: Maurice Victor Ward, age 30, a married man from Brentford

Wireless Operator/Air Gunner: Brian Henry Forster, 21 from Beckenham

Air Gunner: Herbert Leslie Price

The bodies were originally buried in Dusseldorf North Cemetery, but were reinterred and are now in the the CWGC Cemetery at Kleve called Reichswald Forest.


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