Hi Quintrell, I hope you'll find the message I wrote yesterday on your white board. I'm looking forward to the prospect of getting in touch with Sergeant Thomas Luscombe's nephew, as I have with Sgt. Radbourne's nephew last summer. Thank you for acting on behalf of his family. Take care, Blackforest

Hello Quintrell,I would be pleased to hear from you regarding Luscombe (I started the thread offering help for 166 Squadron researchers).Email me direct (you can see my email address on some of the earlier replies on this thread).Cheers,B.

Hello,I cant see a F/Lt Wren on the strength of 166 Squadron at that time.Was he attached to the Station Staff in which case I will look somewhere else in my records.B

HI AGAIN, THE ONLY THING I KNOW OF HIM IS THAT I HAVE HIS FLYING HELMET ( RANK AND NAME INSIDE ) AND THAT ALSO STAMPED INSIDE IS  - STATION HEADQUARTERS RAF STATION KIRMINGTON 15 JAN 1945.  THANKS FOR HAVING A LOOK AND HOPE THIS MAY HELP ID HIM.  REGARDS

I wondered if you had any info regarding flights my dad may have been on during the WW2, from doing some research and other bits I got the following but is doesnt make much sense to me:

 

21 Nov 1941 - Raf moreton-in-marsh 21 operational trg unit

 

24 Mar 1942 - Raf elgin moray -20 op trg unit

 

5 Jun 1942 - 84/43-no1 E.A.G.S

 

17 Apr 1943 -93/43-14ITW -raf bridlington -14 initial trg wing

 

11 Jun 1943 -  41/43-11ags - andreas airfield isle of man 11 air gunnery school

 

27 Jul 1943 - 129/42-29otu raf north luffenham 29operational trg unit

 

31 Oct 1943 - 257/43-1661 cu - 1661 heavy conversion unit

 

9 Nov 1943 - 166/43-admitted raf hosp rauceby(No.4 RAF Hospital Rauceby)

 

11 Apr 1944 - 67/44 61 sqn

 

11 Aug 1944 - 74/44-16otu-raf

 

I am thinking that the numbers at the start are squadron numbers but dont know what the other numbers mean!

 

I have searched the internet on bomber command website etc looking for info but going round in circles from growing up as a child all I can remember my dad telling me he was a Tail Gunner in the Lancaster bombers (one of the lucky ones that got back)

His name was Austin Gerard Harney and was 18 years old when he enlisted into the RAF in June 1941, sadly he passed away in 1989.

 

I would be so grateful if you could help or even point me in the right direction.

Simon...

F/Sgt  E. Farrington, pilot.

Sgt  J. Nimmo, F/E.

Sgt  J.G. Roberts, A/B.

Sgt  S.F. Allen, Nav.

Sgt  L.P. Carter, W/Op.

Sgt  G.W.W. Goodger, A/G. (Mid-Upper)

Sgt  A.W. Pea****, A/G (Rear)

Apparently, for some reason, the forum will not let me complete the last name, how strange !! but it's c.o.c.k

-- Edited by AW on Monday 7th of January 2013 10:27:27 AM

-- Edited by AW on Monday 7th of January 2013 10:29:27 AM

Hello Barnsley,

Is it possible to find out the number of mission my Uncle completed before he was killed.  He was Flight Engineer CG Thompson and was killed with all crew returning to Kirmington from Berlin on the night 16/17 December 1943, crashing to the North of the airfield. Lancaster Serial JB639 Pilot AE Brown.

Regards

Gordon Thompson

*crew

Thank you very much Alan. Very much appreciated.

Kirmington is now Humberside Airport.There is a memorial in the village and memorabilia on the walls of the village pub 'The Marrow Bone and Cleaver' aka 'The Chopper'.

Thanks for the info. It's sad to hear that it has lost its identity but I'm hoping to take some of my family to kirmington to see the memorial etc and to do it in memory of my grandad.its a shame that there isn't much of the old airfield left.

D Hollingworth wrote:

---

My mother's cousin was killed on3rd Aug 1943 and I have only found out today that his name is on the Runnymede memorial.I dont know any thing about where he was killed,what position he had on his Wellington or his fellow crew members.Mum always wondered what happened to him He was Bertram Stanley Harris he was 20 when he died and was in RAFVR.I.d also love info about RAF Kirmington

thanks

---

 http://www.flensted.eu.com/19430078.shtml

 

Wellington X HE578 crashed in the North Sea 3/8-1943.

The aircraft belonged to RAF 166 Sqn Bomber Command and was coded AS-G.
T/O 00:26 Kirmington. OP: Gardening the Elbe estuary.

At 02:03 hours a radio call was received from HE578 asking for help. The position was fixed to 53`43N 02`45E. The Wellington must have crashed into the North Sea killing all onboard.

Pilot W/O Royce R. Burton was laid to rest in Lemvig cemetery late September 1943 apparently on 29/9 1943.

The body of Navigator/Air Bomber F/Sgt David E.M. Carson was found in the sea off Hansted and was laid to rest in Frederikshavn cemetery on 29/9 1943.

W/Op Sgt Bertram S.Harris, Air Gnr. James H. Connel and Air Gnr. Alan Ord have no known grave and are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

Regards,

Dave

A neighbour of mine who is now over ninty flew Lancasters with 166 squadron, are you in touch with him as he may be able to give you more information. His name is Jack Blanchard.

Should you require more information e-mail me at f.nightingale@btinternet.com

I have some extended data material concerning the crash of the Wellington Mk X HE 631  Code AS-V,  4 april 1943,  off the south coast of Brittany. Pilot : Sergeant Arthur RADBOURNE, crewmates : ALDRIDGE, CARTER, LUSCOMBE, STOCK. I am still in a process of enquiry for even more infos, but if you want to check with me the nature and amount of data I can hand over to you (I have two personal photos), you can contact me direct at : djuray7@gmail.com

 

 

 

Hi Anonymus,
does your last post concern the previous message from Blackforest ?
I am talking of a Vickers Wellington Bomber Mk X which crasched in the Atlantic Ocean south of Brittany, France.

Hi Hughie, your uncle was the mid upper gunner in the John Cann crew.the whole crew got out of their lancaster and all evaded capture.They were hidden by the French Maquis and came back to the U.K with a returning SAS unit.They were on their last or 2nd to last op of their Tour and had hoped for a 'softer' Target than Stuttgart to finnish on.Alas not to be.Email me on mjc41uk AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk and I can give you more info.I knew John Cann his pilot.B

Yes Sgt Caldwell 1876964 RAF was the Mid Upper Gunner in the crew of P/O Saunders an Australian pilot.The crew arrived on 166 squadron on 3rd January 1945.They were in 'B' flight 166 Sqn. and completed 24 ops before the war ended.saunders (P),Bissett (FE),Gould (AB),Williams (NAV),Folkard (WOP),Heap (RG).Email me on MJC41UK at YAhoo dot co dot uk (all lower case) Cheers B

my uncle jack bayliss,an aussie was lost on mission over bochum mar 30,1943..in a wellington...any info about anyone who 

knew him appreciated..peter lacy ontario canada

Peter,

The Casualty Repatriation file on your uncle, held by the National Archives of Australia has not been digitized.

But the one for fellow crewman, 401744 F/Sgt Stanley Noel Curtis, has.

Go to www.naa.gov.au and enter "401744" in the search block. That wil take you to another window.

Click on the paper icon to view a 41 page report.

Regards,

Dave

MR. BARNSLEY,

I am Kees Vermeer (Kees Gorinchem of the Shot Down Bomber Story) who initially thought my shot down bomber could have been the Lancaster bomber ND956.  As you can see from my postings, we are now looking for USAAF bomber losses over Holland but we do not know where to go.  The shot down bomber I observed in Gorinchem, Holland happened in broad daylight.

Kees & Rebecca Vermeer

------------ Forwarded message ------------
From: Rebecca Vermeer
Date: Mar 20, 2013
Subject: RE: My SHOT DOWN BOMBER
To: Johan Collee

Hi Johan,
YES, Johan, there are many twists and turns to my bomber story. But like all stories which are not recorded on the spot, they are based on memories. Memories are not accurate. Some memories last longer than others. For instance, I cannot remember what I ate for dinner 10 days ago. Can you? But if events make a strong impression on you, they may last for life.

Certain things I can remember well. The bomber came down in broad daylight. I saw parachutes --at least 2, probably more. I think one disappeared immediately. It went so quick, that I sometimes wonder if it really happened. At least 2 parachutes, perhaps more, floated down.

I think I was seated at the table with my family either for breakfast or lunch. When we heard the noise of a whining plane and explosions, my mother and I ran out of the house. My brother Jan and sister Ali perhaps ran to the upstairs balcony. We could not see the plane in front of our house, so we ran across the street to the neihbors' homes, from where we could see the bomber (direction Hoornaar). From that location we observed what happened. The bomber was going down, then the flak exploded. There may have been a German fighter which shot down the bomber. But if there was a German fighter plane, I did not see it, as I was still inside our house at that time. What I recall is that the flak started to explode all at once when the bomber came down. It seemed the flak was finishing the bomber. Perhaps the bomber was too high earlier for the flak to reach it. These details are not in my original story which I sent to our family.

You asked where the FLAK (anti-aircraft guns ) stood. I remember it well --it was about 1 km from our house in Gorinchem, at the end of the Mollenburgse road where it crosses the A15 Highway. The A15 was at the start of its construction. In the piled-up sand of the planned A15, the Germans had dug-in their anti-aircraft guns. The reason I recall it so well is that your mother (my sister Cato) was hesitant to pass there on her bike to Hoornaar. The anti-aircraft crew whistled at her each time she passed, and shouted something like " Oh mein kleine Schwartzkopf!!" We teased her much about those incidents.

The latest account by Jan Springintveld is very interesting as it mentions a Halifax went down at 02.43 AM near Hoornaar and Hoogblokland on June 12, 1943. But again, the timing is wrong for me to have seen the crash. The bomber I saw was in broad daylight. Perhaps it is time to look for crashes of American bombers which flew at daylight. I wonder who can help us with USAAF losses over Holland?

Kees

P.S.
Across our house in the Emmastraat in Gorinchem lived an older civil servant with the last name VIS (fish). He married a young chick. She must have been still alive when I last visited the Emmastraat as the name VIS was on the door. If she is alive, you should visit her to see if she can remember the bomber incident. If alive, she must be in her nineties.

Perhaps there is no point to visit De Kooi where the wing of my bomber landed. The isolated farm seems to have been transformed into a business operation. But it still may pay off to visit the farms on the Groene Weg near the wing site. If there are people over 80, they may remember the dead airman in my Shot Down Bomber story and where his body was buried. Looking for the burial place for the dead airman is crucial to solving the mystery of my Shot Down Bomber.

I plan to phone the Reformed Church in Hoornaar where there is a cemetery and will make inquiries. If I am not successful, can you contact them? It is much easier for you to do that due to the time difference between Holland and British Columbia. Could you also contact the cemetery at Hoogblokland? Thanks, Johan.

Kees


On Mar 19, 2013, Johan Collee  wrote:

Hi Kees and Rebecca,

The story becomes stranger and stranger reading Pete's attachement. It's almost impossible that the crash you saw and the members of the crew in Goudriaan are connected to the same plane.

The Lancaster was hit at night by an German warplane, the plane you saw was on broad daylight and was shot down by FLAK, by the way where stood that FLAK? In Gorinchem?

I cannot find further information on whatsoever plane crashing in 1943 and 1944 in the area of Hoornaar.

Only a Spitfire crashed in Hardinxveld on 9-16-1944 and a P51 (Mustang) crashed between Meerkerk and Lexmond on 11-9-1944. These planes don't have a crew of 7 so one of these planes cannot be

have been seen by you. The only Lancaster that crashed at that time (5-22-1944) was near Molenaarsgraaf, it was the ND559 (6 men dead, one POW)

But Molenaarsgraaf is not in the direct surroundings of Hoornaar, actually Molenaarsgraaf is nearer to Goudriaan so you would think that the crew of this bomber were buried there but that's not the case.

I also did research on further wargraves in the surrounding of Gorinchem and Zuid-Holland but there are no wargraves were 6 airmen are buried from a Lancaster. I only found the grave of the Spitfire pilot who lays in Hardinxveld General Cemetry.

So I have still no real answers on this story.

Greetz,

Johan

Hello Thank you for your post.I was aware (but by coincidence only very recently) that NG290 may have collided with another Lancaster.NG290's pilot was not an Australian but a Canadian F/O Soper RCAF.There was no F/O Dunlop in the 166 crew.
I would really appreciate you contacting me direct on my email MJC41UK at YAhoo dot co dot uk (all lower case).Best wishes
B

Trying to find out any information regarding flight navigator Leonard Charles Clutterbuck

Thanks

Hi, I hope you can help me with some info. My uncle was in 166, I have his flight book and a few details but hungry for more! He was a flight engineer and name was Ronald Albert Bird, only recently passed away aged 90. Any info or pictures would be fantastic.

Many thanks

Hi Rich,Sgt R.A.Bird was a Flight Engineer with 166 Squadron,arriving at Kirmington 3rd October 1943.His Pilot was Flying Officer Robinson.Somewhere along the way he got parted from his original crew.They were shot down and he wasnt flying with them.I would love to hear from you.Email me on mjc41uk AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk.I will see what other info I have including operation summaries etc.