Edmund Thomas Tunstall                 Updated: 18 MAY 2022                        Photos from Neil Smith 51 History Society, 51 Squadron.com.Tunstall

Airman: e777918.htm Surname: Tunstall Init: E T Rank: F/O Service: RAF Sqdn: 051

P_link: p482.htm Plane: HAL MZ349 Operation: Bomb G Crash_site: The North Sea

Crash_d: d130844 Buried_d: e777 C_link: e777.htm At_Next: NO KNOWN

Den 13. august 1944 omkring kl. 02.00 nødlandede HAL MZ349 i Nordsøen på tilbagevejen fra et bombetogt til Brunswick (Braunschweig her). Det brændte på grund af et angreb fra tysk side. (Kilde: Lost Bombers)

Mange flere end de 112 fly nævnt i Fly klar i AirmenDK styrtede i Nordsøen, men dette medtages i www.airmen.dk fordi
F/O Edmond T. Tunstall fra dette fly senere blev skyllet i land på Fanø (der er her, nærmere på her).
Fra august 1944 var det en stående tysk ordre, at omkomne flyvere skulle begraves "på stedet".

Dette skete også med Bomb Aimer  E. T. Tunstall - og efter krigen var det umuligt at finde liget af ham igen!
Se Flyver begravet på Fanø?  i Fanø Ugeblad torsdag den 4. april 2019, også i internetudgave.  Sønderho Ny Kirkegård.

 Flying Officer Edmund Thomas Tunstall, 23 år, var søn af James Miller Tunstall og Mary Esther Tunstall, Liverpool, UK.
Hans navn er på Panel 209 på the Runnymede Memorial blandt mere end 20.000 navne på flyvere, der ikke har en kendt grav.
Kilde: CWGC)
 Se dokumenter fra Neil Smith 51 History Society, 51 Squadron.com om ham:
 Et tysk brev af 13. december 1944 fremhæver at folk på Fanø slet ikke kunne lide begravelser på stranden.
Et brev fra Air Ministry af 20. marts 1946 fastslår at Tunstall blev begravet på stranden og beviste det ved at vedlægge hans runde
ID-brik, se foto. (Det smager stadig af salt fra havet!)
Et afsluttende brev fra Air Ministry af 12. juni 1947 fastslår, at det ikke har været muligt at finde E. T. Tunstall "utvivlsomt på
grund af den bestandigt skiftende strand forårsaget af tidevand og vind."

I 2010 ville Jack og Doris Tunstall meget gerne have rejst et minde af en slags for Edmund Thomas Tunstall.

F/O A. A. A. Bradley har ingen kendt grav. Sgt J. Gregory blev fundet ilanddrevet den 4. september 1944, og han blev begravet
i Tyskland. 4 flyvere blev krigsfanger og blev sendt til Tyske krigsfangelejre. Sgt E. T. Boyes og Sgt I. P. Cundall blev sendt til  Stalag Luft 7 Luckenwalde, mens F/Lt A. Hannay og F/O R. A. McDonald blev sendt til Stalag Luft 3 Sagan.
(Kilde: Lost Bombers) 7 flyvere. Flere links i engelsk version. Se foto af besætningen og hans bedste ven Jack Boyes.

On 13 August 1944 at about 02.00 hours HAL MZ349 ditched into the North Sea on the return flight from a bombing raid on Brunswick (Braunschweig here) - set on fire by enemy action. (Source: Lost Bombers)

Many more than the 112 planes mentioned on Planes ready on AirmenDK crashed into the North Sea, but this is included in
www.airmen.dk because F/O Edmond T. Tunstall from this plane later was found washed ashore on the island of Fanø
(which is here, at closer range here). From August 1944 it was a standing procedure for the Germans that perished airmen were
to be buried "on the spot". This also happened to Bomb Aimer E. T. Tunstall - and after the war it was impossible to find his body again!
See the article Airman buried on Fanø?  in Fanø Ugeblad Fanø Weekly.  Sønderho New Cemetery.

Flying Officer Edmund Thomas Tunstall, 23, was the son of James Miller Tunstall and Mary Esther Tunstall, of Liverpool, UK.
He is remembered on The Walls of Names at the International Bomber Command Centre, Phase 2, Panel 256. 
He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 209, among more than 20,000 airmen who have no known grave. (Source: CWGC)

See documents from Neil Smith 51 History Society, 51 Squadron.com about him:
A German letter of 13 December 1944 emphasizes that people on Fanø did absolutely not approve of burials on the beach.
A letter from the Air Ministry of 20 March 1946 states that Tunstall was buried on the beach. His Identification Disc, see photo (nick name: Dog Tag) was recovered
by the Germans and it was enclosed in the letter. (It still has a taste of salt from the sea!)
A final letter from the Air Ministry of 12 June 1947 states that it has been impossible to find E. T. Tunstall "undoubtedly due to the ever changing conformation of the beach caused by the actions of the tides and winds."

In 2010 Jack and Doris Tunstall would very much like to erect some sort of memorial to Edmund Thomas Tunstall.
F/O A. A. A. Bradley has no known grave. Sgt J. Gregory was found washed ashore on 4 September 1944 and he was buried in Germany. 4 airmen became
Prisoners of War and they were taken to German POW-Camps. Sgt E. T. Boyes and Sgt I. P. Cundall were taken to L7 Luckenwalde, while F/Lt A. Hannay and
F/O R. A. McDonald were taken to L 3 Sagan. (Source: Lost Bombers) See Crew Photo and his best friend Jack Boyes.

See No. 51 Squadron RAF - Wikipedia * The 51 Squadron Website * Google Map 51 Squadron. The IBCC has details at the end of the description of perished airmen.
Halifax * Halifax-BC Museum.Canada * Halifax-RAF Museum * Halifax-The Yorkshire Air Museum. See Halifax Print and Halifax - Bless 'Em All.
Halifax III MZ349 MH-U took off from RAF Snaith at 21:09 on 12 AUG 1944. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this + Archive Report.) 7 airmen