Bartholomew's Story.
Bartholomew McKeon was born in 1918 to parents Mr and Mrs B McKeon of Crewe. Before the war he worked in the LMS Railway Company office.After qualifying as a pilot, he was assigned to 515 Squadron RAF. 515 Squadron was involved in top secret Electronic Warfare missions flying the Boulton Paul Defiant II aircraft. The role of the squadron was to fly “Mandrel” missions. Mandrel missions involved a number of Defiant aircraft flying in circles offshore near German early warning Freya radar stations and jamming the radar using powerful on-board transmitters. The Mandrel missions were coordinated with RAF Bomber Command missions to bomb Germany so that the Germans wouldn’t get advanced warning of the incoming bombers.
The aircraft involved in Mandrel operations were directed to the correct location by specialist flight controllers then they had to circle whilst operating the radar jamming transmitter. Operation of the equipment was carried out by the gunner who had to leave his guns to operate the equipment. This left them extremely vulnerable to attack from behind.
Typical Mandrel flight pattern
515 Squadron Defiant
Flight of 515 Squadron Defiants
515 Squadron Group photo
On 16th February 1943 Bartholomew had a lucky escape when the undercarriage of his aircraft collapsed on landing
Operation Report for 11/12 April 1943
On the night of 10/11 April 1943 Bartholomew was assigned to aircraft AA417 with his gunner Flying Officer Eric Ferguson. Along with other 515 Squadron aircraft they were assigned to jam the radar located near Den Helder in Holland. As they were circling around 35 miles West of Den Helder, they were intercepted by a BF110 night fighter flown by Georg Kraft of 12/NJG1 and shot down. Their aircraft caught fire and landed in the sea. McKeon and Ferguson were listed as missing initially but in June 1943 their bodies were washed up on the shores of Denmark. Ferguson being found on 14th June and McKeon on 16th June. Both men were buried at Lemvig Cemetery in Denmark.
Bartholomew's grave
Bartholomew’s younger brother Michael Finbar McKeon who also served with the RAF was killed when his aircraft was shot down during a mission in Tunisia
