Photo: James Pasby

Mathew Rowntree was the son of Mathew and Margaret Jane Rowntree, of North Shields; husband of Jane Burton Rowntree, of North Shields. He served in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Sergeant Mathew Rowntree was serving with 427nd R.C.A.F. Squadron. He was a crew member of Halifax III MZ304 ZL-H which took off from Leeming for mine-laying duties over Danish waters as part of Operation Gardening. The aircraft crashed into the North Sea in Spey Bay. All 7 crewmen died.

427 Squadron was formed at Croft, Co Durham, Englandon the 7th November 1942 as the RCAF’s 25th – eighth Bomber – squadron formed overseas, the unit flew Wellington, Halifax and Lancaster aircraft on strategic and tactical bombing operations. After hostilities in Europe, it remained in England as part of Bomber Command’s strike force, under which it airlifted Allied prisoners of war, and British troops from Italy, back to England. The squadron wasdisbanded at Leeming, Yorkshire on the 1st June 1946.

Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War: 1944; W.R. Chorley; 1997; Midland Counties Publications; ISBN 0 904597 91 1

London Passenger Transport Board. This Halifax was a batch of 180 aircraft. Contract No ACFT/2595, requisition HA10/E11/42. Deliveries commenced 31st March 1944, (MZ282). B/Met MkIII MZ282-321, MZ334-378, MZ390-435, MZ447-495.

Source : The Handley Page Halifax, K. A. Merrick. ISBN 0946627606 1990.

RCAF 427 Squadron Association
The CWGC entry for Flight Engineer Rowntree