WOOLDRIDGE Frederick

Frederick Wooldridge was born on the 3rd April 1911 and was the son of Sidney and Elizabeth Wooldridge of Lye. He married Winnifred Brettell in August 1936 and lived at €œClee View€, Hayes Lane, Lye. He was employed as an insurance agent before volunteering on 21st December 1940 for air crew in the Royal Air Force. He trained as Wireless Operator and Air Gunner and by March 1943 was stationed at an Operational Training Unit. Soon afterwards he was posted to 463 Squadron (RAAF) at Waddington which flew Lancasters. He flew 23 operations from August 1943 to January 1944, with targets at Milan, Mannheim, Stuttgart and Berlin. In January Bomber Command was particularly engaged in the Battle of Berlin and on the 30-31st a force of 544 aircraft was sent to bomb the German capital. Fred Wooldridge took off in Lancaster III ED 772 at 17.02 with complete cloud cover into Germany. However, enemy night fighters shadowed the bomber stream throughout the time the aircraft were over Germany. At 21,000 feet his Lancaster was shot down by a Junkers 88 and crashed near Wittstock. It was one of 33 aircraft lost that night. Two men from the seven man crew survived and became prisoners of war. Sergeant Frederick Wooldridge died in the crash. He left a widow and a young baby, Janet, who still lives in Lye.