One of a series of stories and place-based sketches exploring locations that sit at the edges of the narrative told in The Écrivélo Book.
A Blenheim Goes down over Frévent.
At 06:30 on Saturday, 18 May 1940, in the skies above the village of Frévent in Pas-de-Calais, Aircraftsman First Class William August Christie was killed.
We do not know the exact circumstances. Perhaps the aircraft was attacked. Perhaps there was an engine failure. We may never know. What we do know is that William August Christie was only 18 years old, serving as the gunner on a strategic reconnaissance mission.
This is his Commonwealth War Grave in ST. HILAIRE CEMETERY, Frévent, where he is buried alongside his pilot, Pilot Officer Huggett. The observer on the aircraft was Sergeant A. Gothard.
There were two Christies in 53 Squadron.
When the book Six Weeks of Blenheim Summer was published in 2014, based on Flying Officer Alastair Panton’s memoirs, it muddied the waters. In the narrative, FO Panton always refers to his observer as Christie, describing him as “the old man of the crew.”
According to Blenheim Summer, on that same morning that W. A. Christie, Huggett and Gothard lost their lives, Flying Officer Alastair Panton woke in a military hospital in Brussels, having been unconscious or semi-conscious for seven days. The German Army had advanced to a point dangerously close to the city.
In the ward with him lay AC2 Benny Bence in one bed and Sergeant John Christie (service number 517808) in the other.
This therefore raises an important question of correct identification.
The prologue of the book, which was not written by Alastair Panton, is the only place where the name “Sgt W. A. Christie” appears in the text:
“Grandfather and his crewmen … Sergeant William A Christie and AC2 R. Bence, were all members of 53 Squadron.”
This statement is incorrect
So, to be clear.
William August Christie, an Aircraftsman 2nd Class (not a Sergeant) of 53 Squadron, was killed in action at 06:30 on 18 May 1940, aged just 18.
On that same day we have witness testimony that Sergeant John Christie was in a Belgian hospital. John survived the Battle of France and continued flying operational missions. As a Flying Officer, he later lost his life in the early hours of 27 July 1944.
Two different men.
Two different stories.
Écrivélo, it’s time to set the record straight.
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