Ashtead War Memorials - WWII
Wing Commander James Hogarth Slater AFC RAF
611 Squadron
 453 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force |
 611 (West Lancashire) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force |
The Times January 31, 1944
Obituary: Wing Commander James Hogarth Slater, AFC, previously reported missing, now presumed killed in action, was the only son of Captain and Mrs GH Slater of Milford, Ashtead, Surrey.
Educated at Marlborough he was a cadet at the RAF College, Cranwell and was commissioned as pilot officer on July 27, 1935, when he joined a bomber squadron. In March, 1936, he became personal assistant to the AOC., Central Area, Air Commodore OT Boyd, and seven months later to the AOC, Iraq, Air Vice-Marshal CL Courtney.
From April, 1937, he served with a bomber squadron in Iraq. He was
promoted squadron leader in September, 1940, and a year later was
awarded the AFC for good service as an instructor in the Flying Training
Command. He married in July, 1939, Marian, younger daughter of
Lieutenant-Colonel and Mrs HR Hayter, of Burghclere Grange, Newbury,
Berks.
via Ann Williams
His award of the Air Force Cross was Gazetted on 30th September 1941.
http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/35291/pages/5650
His presumed death was also picked up by Andrews Newspaper Index
Cards, 1790-1976: 3.2.44
SLATER - Missing in March, 1943, in air operations, now officially
presumed killed in action, WING COMMANDER JH (GARTH) SLATER AFC RAF,
only son of Capt and Mrs GH Slater and beloved husband of Marian (née
Hayter).
The Australian War Memorial website lists him because he was (briefly)
CO of an Australian Spitfire squadron:
33174 Wing Commander James Hogarth Slater, AFC
Commanding Officer No 453 Squadron.
Date of death 1943-03-14
http://www.awm.gov.au/units/people_1077929.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._453_Squadron_RAAF
Defeat to Victory: No. 453 Squadron RAAF by John William Bennett. (Point Cook: Royal Australian Air Force Museum, 1994) is a history of 453 Sqn Royal Australian Air Force:
p83 "[The CO] Ratten was sent on a fighter tactics course from mid-month for three weeks, and temporary command of 453 passed to Wing Commander JH Slater AFC of the RAF. Slater led patrols occasionally, and by 3 February Ratten was back in the saddle ... "
Norman Franks, in his RAF Fighter Command Losses of the 2nd World War, Vol 2 p81 shows a photo of Squadron Leader JH Slater AFC kia 14 March 1943, with Squadron Leader HT Armstrong DFC of 611 Squadron and Group Captain Sailor Malan, Station Commander RAF Biggin Hill.
On p87 Franks lists James Slater's death:
14th March 1943 S/Ldr JH Slater AFC +
[aircraft] Spitfire IX EN133 B
[operation] Rodeo 188
[enemy unit cause of loss] JG26
No.611 (West Lancashire) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force's website
records his death, but in a different aircraft:
SLATER, James Howarth AFC Wg Cdr 33174 14/03/43 Shot down near off
French coast in Spitfire IX BS240 of Biggin Hill Station Flight
commemorated at Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, Panel 118. Age 27
http://www.611squadronrauxaf.co.uk/history/Roll.html
Spitfire Flying Legend (Paperback Edition), by John Dibbs & Tony Holmes, adds a little about the circumstances of his death:
p77-78 "However, prior to him taking up his new post with the all-Canadian wing in Surrey, Biggin Hill Wing Leader Dickie Milne was shot down into the Channel by a Fw 190A-4 of II./JG26 and captured on 14 March 1943 following a bitter dogfight over Berck-su-Mer.
Elements of this crack Gruppe commanded by Adolf Galland's brother, Hptm Wilhelm-Ferdinand 'Wurz' Galland, also bagged two other Spitfires during this one-sided skirmish without suffering any losses - one flown by a supernumerary Wing Commander by the name of Slater and the other by the newly appointed No.340 Squadron CO, Coendt Reilhac, who had only just filled the position left vacant by Capt Schloesing, lost again to II./JG26 four weeks before. It was a very much demoralised Biggin Hill Wing that welcomed the veteran Kiwi ace in late March ... "
The photo of James Slater with Sailor Malan referred to above
can be seen at
http://www.611squadronrauxaf.co.uk/pilots/JCMinto/L-R-Wg-Cdr-Slater-Sqn-Ldr-Armstrong-(CO)-Gp-Cpt-Malan-Photo-J-C-Minto.html
An aircraft modeller's website shows what Spitfire IX EN133 B would have looked like:
"This Spitfire flew for the first time on November 16, 1942 and its first and only known affiliation is with No. 611 Squadron, RAF. Among squadron members who were entrusted with this aircraft was Franz Ferdinand Colloredo Mansfeld, a member of Austrian nobility and a US citizen (three confirmed kills and four probables). EN133 was destroyed on March 14, 1943 during an attack on Abbeville airfield in France (operation Ramrod [sic] 188), when Spitfires clashed with Fw 190s from JG26. The pilot of EN133 – W/Cdr. James H. Slater, the CO of No. 453 Sqdn RAAF [sic] – was killed in action.
http://www.eduard.com/store/out/media/8282.pdf (go to sheet B, p12)
He is commemorated in the Church of the Ascension in the village of
Burghclere in Hampshire 'to the men of Burghclere who gave their lives
in the war
1939-1945': rthe connection here is presumably that his wife 1939 Marian
was the younger daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Lt Col Herbert Roche
Hayter DSO and Mrs Hayter, of Burghclere Grange, Newbury, Berks.
http://hampshirewarmemorials.com/IndexesWW2/places/places_b/Burghclere.htm
source: Brian Bouchard
and photos https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gl=allgs&gss=sfs28_ms_f-2_s&new=1&rank=1&msT=1&gsfn=James%20Hogarth&gsfn_x=1&gsln=Slater&gsln_x=1&cp=0&catbucket=rstp&MSAV=1&uidh=000
His widow remarried:
Marian Haytor [sic] married William Geoffrey Rootes, 2nd Baron Rootes,
son of William Edward Rootes, 1st Baron Rootes and Nora Press, on 15
August 1946. Her married name became Rootes. She was widow of Wing
Commander James Hogarth Slater. They had two children [Sally in 1947 and
Nicholas in 1951].
http://www.thepeerage.com/p56166.htm
No.611 Squadron re-formed in 2013 and more information is being sought from their historian what they know of James Slater.
As for his parents, George Hogarth Slater was born in Bolton during
1882, a son of George Slater and Annie Hogarth. His marriage to Agnes
Elsie Hampton was registered at St George's, Hanover Square, 9/1914.
Their son James Hogarth Slater's birth at at Milford House was recorded
at Epsom, 9/1915. George had obtained a commission with the 5th King’s
Royal Rifle Corps with effect from 4 September 1914.
George died in Netherne Hospital, Coulsdon, on 1 April 1951. His widow
Agnes Elsie survived until 5 August 1961 – death reg. Surrey Mid E,
9/1961. Her Executor was Edward Fulton Hampton.
CWGC record: http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=1807289
Wing Commander, 611 Sqdn., he was aged 27 when he died 14/03/1943.
He has no known grave and is commemorated on the RUNNYMEDE
MEMORIAL.
Additional information: Son of George Hogarth Slater and Agnes Elise
Slater; husband of Marian Slater, of Hungerford, Berkshire.
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the editor
page created 5 Feb 2009: last update 7 Feb 2009: 25 Feb 14: 26 Mar 18