Edward Arthur Conybear – Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 12 Squadron

Sergeant Edward Arthur Conybear – Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 12 Squadron

Family Background and Early Life

Frank Robinson Conybear and Florence Alice Hillard marriage certificate St. Mary's Church, Swansea

Edward Arthur Conybear was born in 1919 in Morriston, Swansea, the son of Frank Robinson Conybear and Florence Alice Hillard, who had married at St Mary’s Church, Swansea, in 1914.

1921 Census

At the time of the 1921 Census, the Conybear family was residing at Argoed, Vicarage Road, Morriston. Frank Robinson Conybear, aged thirty‑three, was then employed as a Colliery Accountant by Copper Pit Collieries Ltd, while his wife Florence Alice, also thirty‑three, was occupied at home with their young family. Their children were Joan Florence, aged five; Marjorie Leone, aged four; Edward Arthur, aged two; and Hillard James, aged eight months. Also present in the household were Florence’s parents, James Hillard and Laura Hillard, both aged sixty‑one.

Service with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Edward grew up in Morriston before entering wartime service with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR), where he trained as a pilot and was posted to No. 12 Squadron, then operating from RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire. By 1942, the squadron was engaged in the heavy night‑bombing campaign over the Ruhr, flying Vickers Wellington bombers against some of the most heavily defended industrial targets in Germany. The work demanded skill, endurance, and a calm acceptance of the dangers that accompanied every operation.

Loss on Operations, 9 June 1942

Vickers Wellington Mark II

The night of 9 June 1942 marked one of the most intense phases of Bomber Command’s offensive against the Ruhr, and No. 12 Squadron was once again committed to the long, hazardous flight deep into Germany. Operating from RAF Binbrook, the squadron dispatched a number of Vickers Wellington Mark II aircraft to join the main force tasked with striking Essen, a city whose vast industrial complexes — including the Krupp armaments works — were central to the German war effort. The route to the target was heavily defended, with searchlights, radar‑directed flak batteries, and night‑fighter patrols forming a lethal barrier that every crew had to penetrate before even reaching the Ruhr.

Shortly after nightfall, Sergeant (Pilot) Edward Arthur Conybear and his crew lifted off from Binbrook and set course across the North Sea. The outward journey was marked by deteriorating weather and increasing turbulence as the bomber stream converged, each aircraft maintaining strict radio silence while climbing to operational height. As they approached the Dutch coast, the sky became alive with hostile activity: searchlight cones probed the darkness, flak bursts flickered across the horizon, and reports later indicated that German night‑fighters were particularly active along the inbound route that evening.

Despite these dangers, the Wellington pressed on toward Essen, where the concentration of anti‑aircraft fire was among the heaviest encountered by Bomber Command. Many crews later described the target area as a “wall of fire,” with shells bursting continuously around the bomber stream. Somewhere during this perilous phase of the operation — either on the final approach to the target, during the bombing run itself, or while attempting to withdraw from the Ruhr — Edward Conybear’s aircraft was lost. No distress signal was received, and no definitive account of the final moments survived. The Wellington simply failed to return, vanishing into the darkness over enemy territory.

Edward Arthur Conybear
Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany credit - findagrave

In the days that followed, the aircraft and its crew were posted as missing, and it was only after the war, when burial locations were confirmed, that the fate of the men became known. All six members of the crew had perished, their remains later brought together at Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, where they now lie side by side. The loss of the aircraft on 9 June 1942 formed part of a wider pattern of heavy casualties suffered by Bomber Command during the Ruhr offensive, a campaign that demanded extraordinary courage from every airman who took part. For Edward Arthur Conybear, the mission represented both his duty and his final act of service, carried out in the face of overwhelming danger on one of the most fiercely defended targets in wartime Europe.

Burial and Commemoration

Edward now rests with his comrades at Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany. The crew who died with him were Sergeant M. Bond, Sergeant William Crayton, Sergeant Charles Stewart McIntyre, Sergeant Alastair Charles Robertson, and Sergeant Philip Julian Seckerson. Their graves stand together in honour of their shared service and sacrifice.