F/Lt John Craven

28 May 1915 – ?

About: An RAF flight lieutenant of 50 Squadron (◐ a navigator, with the DFC) shot down over Oene near Epe on 21/22 June 1944 and hidden at Apeldoorn, Epe, Nunspeet and Doornspijk; by one historian's account (Noordman) in the barn at Harskamp on 24–25 November 1944 with Murphy, Hardy and Davison and four American airmen. He crossed the Waal about the middle of March 1945 after the winter at a farm at Hoogland.

Unit or role: ✓ Flight Lieutenant, No. 50 Squadron, 5 Group, RAF, born 28 May 1915; ◐ a navigator, by Aircrew Remembered's crew list; "Evasion: Holland, 22 June 1944", by the catalogue entry for his escape report, WO 208/5408/39, former reference I.S.9.(W.E.A.)/1/308/2402, dated 17 March 1945, which names among others "Flight Sergeant Kenneth Ingram" and "Flying Offiecer [sic] Blackmore" (the catalogue entry). ◐ Service number 127012 in the London Gazette, where a John Craven is commissioned in 1942, promoted in 1943 and 1944 and awarded the DFC with No. 61 Squadron in 1943 (below); the catalogue entry and one Dutch table have 127010 (see Where the sources disagree). He was not of the Fortress crew shot down on 21 November 1944, the four Americans named with him in the barn.

Where: Oene near Epe, Apeldoorn, Epe, Nunspeet, Doornspijk, Elburg; the Veluwe at Westerhuis and Kootwijkerbroek; Bunschoten (the farm Valkenhoef at Hoogland); Scherpenzeel, Leersum, Amerongen; Groot-Ammers and Sliedrecht.

Evidence: ✓ Kliest's table, p. 11, and De Vries's, p. 3; ✓ Stearns's E&E 2870; ✓ the helpers' lists at Groot-Ammers and Sliedrecht; ✓ the Gazette (1942, 1943, 1945); Noordman, p. 285; the Americans' cards (below).

Born, commissioned, decorated. ✓ Kew's catalogue gives his birth as 28 May 1915 (the entry). The Gazette of 22 September 1942 has "1430160 John CRAVEN (127012)", an airman commissioned on 11 August 1942 (issue 35712, p. 4116; the heading, p. 4115); "J CRAVEN (127012)" is a Flying Officer from 11 February 1943 (issue 35946, p. 1313); the Air Ministry's awards of 10 September 1943 have the Distinguished Flying Cross for "Flying Officer John CRAVEN (127012) Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, No. 61 Squadron", with no citation (issue 36165, p. 4013; the heading, p. 4012); and "J. CRAVEN, D.F.C. (127012)" is a Flight Lieutenant (war substantive) from 11 August 1944 (issue 37074, p. 2483, 11 May 1945).

◐ Are the DFC man and the evader one? Aircrew Remembered, a secondary page compiled from archive and service sources, lists as the navigator of 50 Squadron's Lancaster I LL840 (Sqn Ldr Thomas B. Cole DFC), lost on the Gelsenkirchen oil raid of 21/22 June 1944 and crashed at Oene, 5 km east of Epe, "Fg Off. John Craven DFC 127012 RAFVR Age 29. Evader", and says of him that 1430160 LAC John Craven was commissioned on 11 August 1942, Flying Officer on 11 February 1943, awarded the DFC with 61 Squadron (Gazette of 10 September 1943) and Flight Lieutenant from 11 August 1944, and was interviewed by IS9 on 18 March 1945 (the page). Kew has the evader as a flight lieutenant of 50 Squadron, and names Cole, Ingram and Beresford among the "other names mentioned" (the entry), which ties him to the LL840 crew without Aircrew Remembered; its 1915 birth (above) gives his age, 29 in June 1944, independently. But Kew says nothing of the DFC man: the only link from the Gazette's John Craven DFC (127012, with 61 Squadron, not 50) to that evader is Aircrew Remembered's "Fg Off. John Craven DFC 127012" on the crew list. The Gazette's promotion to Flight Lieutenant on 11 August 1944 falls before November 1944, when the Sliedrecht lists and the Americans' cards call him a flight lieutenant; the number is the sticking point.

✓ Shot down 21 June 1944, hidden at Oene, Apeldoorn and Epe. The Apeldoorn helper A. J. Kliest's table, checked on the image, has "Jack Craven", RAF, shot down "21-6-44" at "Oene nr. Epe", hidden from "24-6-44" for "±98" days, on the line after Eric Blakemore and Kenneth Ingram (Kliest's file, p. 11). G. A. de Vries of Apeldoorn has him "21.6.44 … Oene nr. Epe", hidden "24.6.44", 99 days, received from J. C. Mennink of Bartelsweg, Apeldoorn, and passed on to Nunspeet (his file, p. 3). The Americans' summary of Mennink's form, of 29 December 1945, has "Jack Craven – RAF – 1 day" (his file, p. 2). This matches the catalogue's "Evasion: Holland, 22 June 1944" (above) and not the 21 November 1944 of the Fortress crew he was once grouped with.

◐ Heerde, Epe and the Nunspeet camp, to October 1944. Willem Bomhof of Apeldoorn names "Jack Craven and Eric Blackmore" with "Niemeyer, Apeldoorn probably" (his file, p. 3), a weak line written from a questionnaire. Three Epe forms, read on the images, list Craven on the line below Blakemoore and Parsons, all RAF. On Jansen's "1st Oct. 1944" is on Blakemoore's line (received from "Apeldoorn ?", passed to Epe), Parsons is passed to "Uitenboogaart", and Craven has only a ditto mark and a "?" in the shot-down date; on Karsten's "Oct. '44" is on Persons's line, received from "Jansen, Epe" and passed to "Camp, Nunspeet", and Craven's line has only "R.A.F."; on Kwakkel's "1st Oct. '44", "Epe, Wim Jansen" and "Camp Nunspeet" are on Parsons's line and Craven's has only a ditto mark. None gives a date for Craven himself.

◐ The evacuee camp at Doornspijk. Dr W. Wolffensperger's list of the airmen he housed has no Craven (his file, p. 12), but Albertus Dercksen of Nunspeet's table has "Jack Craven 127010", RAF, shot down "Sept. 44 Arnhem", hidden about 30 days, received from "Prinsen Epe (shot)" (his file, p. 14); ⚠︎ the number is the one the Kew entry has (see Where the sources disagree), but "Arnhem" and September are not Craven's. The American card lists, written from the Americans' own reports, have "Flt/Lieut. Jack Craven" with Captain Noble, Carrol Stearns, James Wilson, Hal Knowlton, F/O Parson, "F/Sgt Jeff" and Thomas Reilly under two entries: "Lived in woods for two months. Helped by underground from Nunspeet", "20 August to 20 Oct 44", and the "R.S.V.P. Evacuee Camp, Doornspike", with "unusually good food, tobacco, suit, overcoat", "20-21 Oct 44" (card 2; Reilly's own RAMP-37 return of 8 May 1945 has both entries, p. 138). The home town given for "Lt. Jack Craven" is Lockerbie, Scotland: "Locherie (Scotl.)" in Cornelis den Boer's list (below; his file, p. 36) and "Lockerby, Dumfriesshire" on the form of the Doornspijk helper described next. A Doornspijk helper's form has Craven "Io-20 Nov." with "Joh. v.d. Brake, C.O. Doornspijk", the year not on the page, with an H. J. Blakemore of Bournemouth, Hampshire, beneath (◐ Eric Blakemore or his family) (the file of Jantje E. v.d. Brake, p. 5); ◐ November 1944 is inferred, and "Io-20 Nov." would put him at Doornspijk until about 20 November, across the dates of Pegasus II (17–18 November), which other sources have him in (below). Noordman prints a thank-you note left with Frits Kroeze of the Doornspijk resistance by "John Craven en Eric Blakemore" (fig. 173, credited F. Kroeze, Naarden; Noordman, p. 258).

◐ The Elburg party for Pegasus II, 17–18 November. Three records put Craven in or near the party that gathered at Elburg, none of them his own:

• Charles Noble's own report has the hiding camp in the woods at "PAS OP" near Elburg, with "about 80 people in hiding there, mainly elderly Jews. In addition there were 3 RAF Officers. (Flt/Lt's. BLAKENEY, PARSONS and CRAVEN)", then the evacuee camp near Elburg, three weeks in pairs on farms, and "On or about Friday, 17th Nov we were all collected in a barn near ELBURG to await arrival of transport. Altogether about 20 Allied personnel", who left by lorry the next morning (Noble's report; Charles Noble).
  • ⚠︎ Noble's own later account (unpublished private papers, shared with us privately), told long after the war, has at Pas-op "three English people, Ken Parsons was one of them, Jack Cremer was another", the third forgotten, and "the three British flyers from Pas-op" on the lorry from Elburg. ◐ "Jack Cremer" is probably Craven misremembered: Noble's report of 1945 names Craven among the three, with Parsons, and Dercksen's table has "Jack Craven" (above).
• Adrian Davies, in Noordman, met on the evening of 17 November in a barn near Elburg about twenty Allied men, "onder wie … luitenant Craven, ene Eric, tweede luitenant Caroll en sergeant Jim" (among them … Lieutenant Craven, one Eric, Second Lieutenant Caroll and Sergeant Jim) (Noordman, p. 257).
• Carrol Stearns's report, which does not name Craven, has the party he joined on 17 November go by truck the next night to Otterlo, miss the guides, wait in the woods until the 20th and go on by horse-drawn wagon to "WINTERHUIS" (E&E 2870; the OCR); ◐ the Westerhuis of the cards below.

◐ The barn at Harskamp, 24–25 November 1944. Noordman names the barn as J. van Essen's on the Westerhuisweg at Harskamp, and has Murphy, Hardy and Davison in it with Craven and four Americans of a Fortress shot down on 21 November 1944, Bob Blackburn, Sidney H. Willig, Harry Bonekat and Ray Haydel (the barn, on Pegasus II and Roekel; Noordman, p. 285). Hardy's own report is the eyewitness: in the barn he met "Pte. DAVISON, an R.A.F. Officer, and four U.S. Aircrew, none of whose names I know", the Americans a Fortress crew shot down on 21 November, in a barn "somewhere in the OTTERLO area" he could not place (Hardy's report); the barn's owner and the names, Craven among them, are Noordman's. Noordman says the five stayed in the country until the liberation ("zijn tot aan de bevrijding in ons land gebleven", p. 285), ⚠︎ but Craven was out before it: his escape report is listed as 18-3-1945 (p. 340), and at Kew it is WO 208/5408/39, dated 17 March 1945, not digitised, whose catalogue entry names only RAF ranks (Discovery). The Americans' own reports are held: Willig's, Bonekat's and Haydel's (E&E 2976, 2977, 3057), and none mentions the British paratroopers; no report was found for Blackburn. ◐ Noble's report and Davies's account (above) put Craven in the Elburg party of 17–18 November, which makes a barn near Otterlo a week later plausible without proving it.

◐ After the barn. The American card of James Wilson says he was "with Riley & Knowles at farm near WESTERHUIS on 28 Nov 44; moved by 'DICK' – CRAVEN (British)", IS9(WEA)/1/308/2402 (Wilson's card); Thomas Reilly's card says the same (card 1). Bob Blackburn's card says "F/Lt Craven … met Lt Bob Blackburn and Sgt Ray --- of Fortress crew … in KOOTWIJKERBROEK on 29 Nov 44. Moved to BUNSCHOUTEN at farm called 'VALKENHOEF'" (Blackburn's card). Every card is the Americans' summary of Craven's own report, not the report, so the dates are theirs. They put Craven with the American airmen on the move on 28–29 November, four days after the barn of 24–25 November where Noordman has him (Noordman, p. 285), and they leave out the paratroopers; they neither confirm nor refute the barn. ◐ "Dick" is very probably Dick Kragt: A. J. Kliest's report on R. van Gerrevink of the Apeldoorn underground, who made contact with the group where Kliest worked and its contact man "DICK", says "we heard after the liberation that "DICK" was Capt. Dick Kay", and the table on the same page lists Craven among thirteen airmen (van Gerrevink's file, p. 3, read on the image). That is an Apeldoorn "Dick"; that he is the "DICK" of the Westerhuis cards, and that Kay is Kragt (whom the evaders knew as "Capt Kay", see his page), is our inference. Willig's helpers' list, read on the scan, has a "DICK", 25, who "Wore a British uniform. Was head of underground in area of BARNAVELD", with John Roskamp "DICK's" right-hand man (E&E 2976, Appendix C, p. 1): a Barneveld "Dick" in the same weeks as the cards, and a stronger lead than the Apeldoorn one, though still ours to tie to Kragt.

The Sliedrecht line. He went out by the Sliedrecht line: "JACK CRAVEN, Fl/Lt., R.A.F." is on the list of Klaas Heijboer of Groot-Ammers, who took Allied men over the Lek to Sliedrecht and on to Noord-Brabant (his file, p. 30), and "Jack Craven, F/Lt., RAF", received from Heijboer, on Pieter Visser's of Sliedrecht (his file, p. 29).

✓ Hoogland and the way out. Reilly's card has a Hoogland farm, Valkenhoef, with "Flt/Lt Jack Craven, 2d Lt Carrol Stearns, F/O Ross Stone, 1st Lt Samuel Bryant, P/O James Christie, Flt/Sgt Frank Fuller, S/Sgt Thomas P Reilly" from "2 Jan till 1 Mar 45" (card 3): the same farm and most of the same men as P. van 't Klooster's form (below), which has a Carr where the card has Samuel Bryant. Stearns's own report, E&E 2870, says that on 22 February a note came saying four men could be sent out, and chose "STEARNS, with P/O CHRISTIE, R.C.A.F., F/O STONER, R.A.A.F., and F/Lt. CRAVEN, R.A.F."; they started south on bicycles with two guides, were stopped by a German patrol near Scherpenzeel, reached Leersum, waited about a week at Amerongen, and Stearns crossed the Waal on 14 March (E&E 2870, pp. 2–3 of the report as typed; the OCR). The P/O Christie is Valentine Brock Christie, RCAF, the V. Brock Christie whom the Cornelissens took in at Amerongen in March, so ◐ the card's "James" is very probably a slip (Mr and Mrs Cornelissen). Kew's catalogue dates the files of Craven's, Christie's, Stoner's and Carl Ellement's escape reports all 17 March 1945 (the entries). Cornelis van Woerkom of Sliedrecht, who put evaders up for a day before they crossed to Brabant, has Lt Gesty "13-14/3/'45" and Stearns for 1 day, and "F/Lt. Jack Craven R.A.F." for "15-16/3/45, 1 day", with F/O Ross Stoner, 1 day, on the next row (F/Lt Tapson's row, above, has no date) (his file, p. 20; the typed list, p. 25). The report that carries his name is dated 17 March 1945 (above), so ◐ he crossed about 16 March; Stearns's report does not name him among those who crossed. Cornelis den Boer of Zwijndrecht, who took part in the Sliedrecht–Dordrecht crossings, lists "Lt. Jack Craven" with Stoner and Christie (his file, p. 36).

⚠︎ A Hoogland form that runs to May. A Hoogland helper's form lists "CRAVEN, Jack, R.A.F.", hidden "Jan-May '45", 105 days, with Carrel Stearns, Christie Brock, Brian Dean Carr, Ross Stoner, Thomas Peter Reilly and Frank Fuller (P. van 't Klooster's file, p. 5; checked on the image). The Americans' summary of the form says "Sheltered 7 evaders for 105 days each", but the form itself gives Reilly and Fuller "15 March - 1 April", 14 days, and only the other five rows "Jan-May '45", 105 days, so the 105 is a round figure. "V. Brock Christie, RAF" and "F. E. Fuller, RAF" are on Jan Oosterbroek's summary of Barneveld, with Willig and Bonekat of the Harskamp barn, ten days each (his file, p. 3; checked on the image), which makes this very probably the same group; but a stay to May does not fit Craven's escape report of 17 March 1945 (above), and nothing here settles which is right.

The way out, and afterwards (Aircrew Remembered). ◐ The same secondary page says he was hidden by residents of Apeldoorn, then made his way "with a number of other evaders and escapees to a farm at Hoagland near Amersfoort, called 'The Falkenhoff'", arriving on 31 December 1944, and was smuggled across numerous rivers to reach Allied lines in the week of 12 March 1945; and that "No record has been found for him retiring from the RAF. His grandson informs us that he became a policeman." (the page). The farm name is the "Valkenhoef" of the cards; 31 December 1944 is two days before the cards' "2 Jan".

• How long he was at Hoogland. "Jan–May '45", 105 days, on P. van 't Klooster's form (above); 2 January to 1 March 1945 on Reilly's card; and Stearns's report has him among the four a note of 22 February said could be sent out, with the crossing about 14–16 March. A stay to May cannot be right.
• When he was shot down. 21 June 1944 on Kliest's table and de Vries's, 22 June in the catalogue; "Sept. 44 Arnhem" on Dercksen's table (p. 14).
• Where he was on 24–25 November. In the barn at Harskamp by Noordman, on the strength of Hardy's "an R.A.F. Officer"; in the Elburg party of 17–18 November by Noble's report and Davies's account, and ⚠︎ by Noble's own later account (above); at Doornspijk until about 20 November by one form ("Io-20 Nov."), which overlaps 17–18 November, so one of the two is loose; and on the move near Westerhuis and Kootwijkerbroek on 28–29 November by the American cards. None is dated by Craven himself.
• His service number.
  • 127012 in four Gazette notices from 1942 to 1945 and in Aircrew Remembered; 127010 in the Kew catalogue entry for his report and in Dercksen's table (Kew; Dercksen, p. 14).
  • ✓ The Gazette has 127010 as "W. A. MARSDEN (127010)", in the group dated 11 February 1943, the day of Craven's promotion, beside "W. INGHAM (127014)", "T. H. JACKSON (127008)" and "V. A. NONO (127018)" (issue 36022, p. 2251).
  • ◐ So 127010 is another officer's number, and the Kew and Dutch figures are a slip for Craven's own 127012, if the evader is the DFC man (above); the evidence for that is the name, Kew's crew names tying the evader to LL840, and Aircrew Remembered's crew list (above), not the number.
• When he reached the Hoogland farm. 31 December 1944 in Aircrew Remembered; "2 Jan till 1 Mar 45" on Reilly's card (card 3).

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