Windsor Thomas Henry Gale

Windsor Thomas Henry Gale was born in Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales in 1920. His parents were George Windsor Gale and Sena Smith.

During the Second World War Windsor Gale was appointed as a pilot officer in the RAF Volunteer Reserve on 11 January 1945. His service number was 190271. Windsor was stationed at Leuchars Station, Fife on the east coast of Scotland where he was a Flight Engineer in 206 Squadron, Coastal Command. The role of the Coastal Command was to observe the path of German naval vessels, including submarines, in the North Sea.

The B-24 was not a comfortable plane to fly in and some of the crew had to sit on the floor. It was cold with lots of drafts. It was difficult to move around the plane and the crew often collided with structures and equipment within the plane. When the plane was refuelled the plane filled with fumes and aircraft doors would have to remain open until the fumes cleared.

Consolidated B-24 Liberator- Aviation History

On 21 April 1945 Windsor Gale was one of eleven crew members aboard a B-24 Liberator VIII which left Leuchars at 20:11 the previous evening on an anti-shipping patrol. The plane was shot down by a night fighter on a night patrol to Kattegat and crashed into the western part of the Rold Forest, nine miles north of Holbro, Denmark. All the crew died. Windsor was 24 years old.

International Find a Grave

The crew consisted of:

Pilot Lieutenant-Commander Nicodeme Guilonard of the Royal Netherlands Navy,
Second pilot Flying Officer Anthony Richard Tenison Smith,
Navigator Flying Officer Alan James Harding,
Navigator Warrant Officer George Henry Topliff,
Wireless Operator-Air Gunner Flight Lieutenant Peter Stevens Leinthall Laycock,
Wireless Operator-Air Gunner Warrant Officer Walter William Spencer,
Wireless Operator-Air Gunner Warrant Officer Thomas Keith Theaker,
Air Gunner Warrant Officer George Charles Kenneth Long,
Air Gunner Warrant Officer Kenneth Alwyn Albert Emery, 
Wireless Operator-Mechanic/Air Gunner Flight Sergeant Frederick Ralph Orritt and
Flight Engineer Pilot Officer Windsor Thomas Henry Gale.

Photo of the crew - PO Gale bottom right- Airwar over Denmark

The bodies of the crew, initially buried by German soldiers, were rediscovered in 1947. They were reburied in the Arestrup Kirkegård cemetery. The priest conducting the service concluded his speech for the fallen with the words: Now we will lay to rest our unknown friends.

International Find a Grave

A memorial stone was erected in Torstedlund Forest, in the western part of Rold Forest, where the Liberator had crashed.

Memorial Stone - Rebildporten

Two and a half weeks after the plane was shot down by the Germans, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allies on 8 May 1945.

RAF Leuchars - Wikipedia

RAF Leuchars Remembered - Scottish Saltire Aircrew Association 

Flight Over Kattegat - BBC 

Consolidated B-24 Liberator GR Mk VIII; KH410; PQ-N - Aviation Safety Network

Consolidated B-24 Liberator VIII -  Aviation History

Windsor Thomas Henry Gale - International Find a Grave 

B 24 GR8 KH410 crashed in Torstedlund Skov Forest -Airwar over Denmark 

World War Two in Rebild - Rebildporten