B.E.McLaughlin a Portsmouth police officer who joined the RAF and served in Bomber Command is at rest in a Hampshire churchyard.

L. recently sent me a photo of a Commonwealth War Grave in the churchyard of St. Mary’s in Portchester, not too far from her home near The Solent.  The grave was that of Flight Lieutenant B. E. McLaughlin DFC RAFVR, an experienced pilot who was serving with No. 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Sandtoft in Lincolnshire when he was killed.

Benjamin McLaughlin was the son of George Thomas McLaughlin and Ivy Love McLaughlin of Paulsgrove, Hampshire.  At the age of 21 he joined the Portsmouth Police Force and served with them until May of the following year when he went to Palestine to take up a position in the Palestine Police Force.  In December 1937 he returned to England and re-joined the Portsmouth Force.

In July 1941 McLaughlin joined the RAF and on August 5 1942 he was commissioned as a Pilot Officer.  He subsequently flew Lancasters from RAF Wickenby in Lincolnshire with 12 Squadron of RAF Bomber Command’s No.1 Group.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in December 1943 while serving with 12 Squadron and had reached the rank of Flight Lieutenant by that date.

On 21 of his sorties with 12 Squadron McLaughlin flew with Flying Officer Norman Watson as his Navigator.  By a remarkable coincidence they would both have a connection to the Police Force.  Watson survived the war to become Assistant Chief Constable of Liverpool and Bootle Constabulary.  McLaughlin was not so fortunate. 

On July 5 1944 he was instructor pilot in a Handley Page Halifax Mk.V, the Merlin engine version, which crashed while practicing flying on 3 engines at 200 feet.  The aircraft, which was operating from RAF Sandoft in Lincolnshire, came down at Alkborough on the south bank of the Humber.  Nine men were on board including a pilot and three flight engineers under training; there were only two survivors. Sadly, Flight Lieutenant Benjamin Edward McLaughlin, aged 30, was not one of them.

Although Benjamin McLaughlin has no connection with Somerset he served in Bomber Command at the same time as my late father-in-law, Douglas Eyles. He flew from RAF Fiskerton in Lincolnshire as a Flight Engineer with the Lancaster equipped 49 Squadron between November 1943 and May 1944.