The Lost Airman :The final flight of Sgt. Harold Thompson, RAF

Based on research by Willem De Jong & Carole Atkinson. Edited by John Swash

Foreword

As webmaster of this site, I occasionally receive enquiries about former pupils. Last year, Dutch volunteer air combat researcher Willem De Jong contacted me seeking the story behind one of the names on our 1939-1945 memorial plaque: Sergeant (Navigator) Harold Thompson. Born in 1922 to George and Mary Elizabeth Thompson of Armley, Harold was just 21 when he was reported missing in action over the North Sea. Initially, I had no information other than the name and date engraved on the school memorial plaque.
Thanks to the combined efforts of Willem and Carole Atkinson , a UK researcher, we have been able to flesh out Harold's life and final mission. Some leads - such as a possible photograph of a younger brother - led nowhere, but public and wartime records have allowed us to assemble this tribute. What follows is the result of their meticulous research, honouring an old boy who never returned from a perilous flight over the North Sea.

Early Life of Harold Thompson

His parents were George Flintoff Thompson and Mary Elizabeth Thornton, married in 1902 at Christ Church, Upper Armley. Their early years were defined by heartbreak; by the 1911 census, they were living at 10 Far Fold, Armley, having lost all three of their children-George, Ethel, and Gladys-in infancy. Harold was born on 31 July 1921. As the only surviving child of a house painter, he was the focus of his parents' hopes. However, tragedy struck again in 1932 when his father passed away, leaving Mary to raise Harold alone on Far Fold.

Education and Early Career

Despite these hardships, Harold proved to be an academically gifted student. After attending Christ Church Cof E infants school, he earned a place at West Leeds Boys' High School, almost certainly as a scholarship boy. In an era where secondary education was often beyond the reach of working class families, passing the entrance exam was a significant achievement. It marked Harold as a child of considerable potential, funded by the local education authority to provide him with a path out of manual labour.
No18 & 19 FarFold viewed from rear garden .

By the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, an 18 year old Harold was living with his widowed mother at 18 Far Fold. He had already begun to put his education to use, working as an industrial chemist at a local Fireclay Works. Whether he walked or cycled to the nearby sites in Wortley and Farnley or took the tram to the larger Leeds Fireclay Company (LEFCO) works in Burmantofts, Harold was part of the vital industrial backbone of Leeds.

Harold's education at West Leeds Boys' High School provided the foundations in mathematics and science essential for his future as a navigator in the Royal Air Force. As the war intensified, he transitioned from a civilian chemist in Armley to an RAF airman, enlisting for flight duties. By the age of 21, in 1943, he had attained the rank of Sergeant (Navigator/Wireless Operator)-a role of immense responsibility. The precise technical knowledge and navigation skills required for such a position were undoubtedly honed during his formative years at WLBHS , transforming a gifted student into a key member of a combat aircrew in No. 143 Squadron, RAF Coastal Command

Coastal Command 1943 - North Coates Strike Wing

The North Coates Strike Wing was formed in late 1942 as part of RAF Coastal Command’s effort to disrupt the increasingly well-defended German convoys operating in the North Sea. Carrying iron ore, timber, fuel, and military supplies, these convoys were vital to the German war economy and were shielded by layers of Flak-armed trawlers, minesweepers, and Vorpostenboote, making them exceptionally dangerous targets.
By 1943, Harold had joined Coastal Command during the creation of its first dedicated Strike Wing at North Coates, Lincolnshire. This elite formation—comprising Nos. 236, 254, and 143 Squadrons—flew the formidable Bristol Beaufighter and undertook some of the most daring operations of the war: low-level attacks against heavily defended shipping in the North Sea.
Harold flew the standard Bristol Beaufighter as a member of 143 “Gamecock” Squadron. The aircraft carried four 20 mm Hispano Mk II or Mk III cannon in the lower fuselage, supported by six .303-inch Browning machine guns in the wings. 143 Squadron’s role was flak suppression—neutralising the escorts’ anti-aircraft guns long enough for torpedo aircraft to make their runs. Cannon-armed Beaufighters, including JL892, swept in at mast height, raking escort vessels with 20 mm fire. Their targets included Vorpostenboote and minesweepers, which mounted the heaviest Flak. This phase of the attack was always the most perilous: the escorts were already alert from earlier sightings, and the open sea offered almost no cover.

Life as a Beaufighter Navigator / Wireless Operator in a Strike Wing was brutal and physically demanding. While the pilot focused on the target, Harold's role was to guide the aircraft to the convoy through a wall of anti aircraft fire while skimming the waves at mast height to avoid radar and enemy guns. His world was a map table lit by a small lamp, the hiss of radio static, the ticking of instruments, and the trust of the man flying the aircraft. In the chaos of a low level strike, his calm precision was as vital as any weapon. He was the voice in the pilot's ear, the mind calculating bearings at sea level, the one who kept the aircraft connected to the world beyond the roar of engines.
The environment was deafening and chaotic; the navigator worked in a cockpit that vibrated violently from the recoil of four 20mm cannons firing directly beneath him. It was a world away from the quiet laboratories of the Leeds Fireclay Works-a transition that required immense bravery and the peak of the technical skills Harold had first learned at West Leeds.

Internal and external views of the navigator w/ops cockpit in a Beaufighter

However, the convoy's anti aircraft guns took a severe toll on the attacking aircraft. At least three Beaufighters were shot down during the engagement. Among them was JL892, carrying Wilsdon and Thompson. Their aircraft was seen to fall and "splash in the drink," as airmen said, at approximately 18.07 hours (local time).