The loss of W/C John "Moose' Fulton and his crew on July 29th was felt heavily by all ranks. Fulton the Canadian born RAF squadron commander had been highly popular and an inspirational leader for the squadron. When the task of finding someone to fill this void fell on the RAF, they selected another Canadian born RAF officer, one who also was a veteran of Bomber Command.
London Ontario born W/C Archibald P. Walsh DFC, who had joined the RAF in 1936 had already completed 27 operations before coming to the squadron. As P/O Walsh he recieved his DFC in December of 1940 while with 9 Squadron. He would also be awarded the AFC and the Czechosolvakian Military Cross.


A Time of Change


W/C Walsh arrived at 419 Squadron on August 5th. a little over a week since W/C Fulton had been lost. His former posting was at RAF Hornington which now was being turned over to the USAAF. Walsh's new squadron was in the middle of full scale move to it's new home at Middleton St.George. It was not a straight move, but one of moving to a series of temporary bases before moving on to MSG.
The squadron was basically in stand down, but a few operational sorties were flown during August. Training and other exesises and preparing for more moves were the order of the day.

W/C Walsh Continues on with Operations


While the squadron was at Topcliffe operations got back to normal and W/C Walsh captained a borrowed crew on an opertion to Sarrbrucken on the night of September 1st, his first operation with 419 Squadron. The following night September 2nd., he borrowed the crew of P/O Jost and took part in the operation to Karlsruhe.
Sometime after reaching the target, Wellington X3711 was attacked by a nightfighter and crashed six miles Northwest of Dinant at Warnant, Belgium. All the crew was lost.