The Lancaster III LM756 PG-F of 619 Sqn RAF took off at 0419 from Strubby for a daylight raid on Berchtesgaden to bomb the Eagles Nest Chalet and SS Barracks. It was one of the two bombers lost during the raid and crashed at Adnet, Austria.

Crew:
F/O Wilfred Tarquinas De Marco RCAF KIA
Sgt F.J.Cole PoW
WO2 Norman Hubert Johnston RCAF KIA
F/S A.H.Shannon PoW
F/S J.W.Speers RCAF PoW
Sgt Edward William Norman KIA
WO2 Gordon Victor Walker RCAF KIA

Those killed are buried in Austria at Klagenfurt War Cemetery. Sgt F.J.Cole was interned in Camp 1C. No PoW No. Returned to England 22May45. F/S J.W.Speers in Camp 18C. No PoW No. Broke leg on landing. UK 11May45. "

Source:
"Royal Air Force Bomber Command losses, vol 6. Aircraft and Crews Losses 1945", by W R Chorley, ISBN 0-904597-92-X
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dambusters/message/102
http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2805327
http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2805485
http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2805594
http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2805734
http://www.maplandia.com/austria/salzburg/hallein/adnet/

 

Mike.

This was also the last Lancaster lost by No 5 Group Bomber Command during WWII

I was only reading about this loss at the weekend (Lincolnshire Airfields of WWII) a crew photo exists of them all standing infront of PG-D "Dumbo" at Strubby a few weeks before thier last mission. The MUG came from nearby Boston

I believe the Navigator Shannon maybe "Sharman" and I have also read an account in another book that he was killed by a shell splinter as he came forward from his position to view the target - ironically the first time that he had ever done this. The book also detailed the surviving front crew members bailing out, but getting no positive response from the pilot (a pre arranged tugging of the sleeve)

From memory the aircraft was the victim of a very near miss from AA fire which knocked out an engine and set the aircraft fuselage on fire. The pilot may have been either seriously injured (incapacitated) or killed outright. The account mentions Pilot Wilf De Marco's arm was blood stained. The gunners were possibly also incapitated or killed at this point too

The other aircraft to be lost on this raid from 460 Sqn RAAF Binbrook, amazingly glided down to make a force landing with the crew surviving to become (very brief) POW's

Tony H

Hi

Due to return home at the w/e and will bring the book back with me to scan the photo for you.

In the meantime, I discovered the missing account of this loss from one of my collection! 

Peter Marshall's crew was one of six from 619 Sqn put on standby the day before . . . 

 . . ."The six Lancasters of my Sqn were given a duel role. We were to lead the bomber stream on the approach to Berchtesgarten dropping window to disrupt AA fire. Then we were to circle and come in with the last wave to hit the SS Barracks . . .

Meanwhile Marshall was coming back for his bomb run, the target was obscured by smoke. As they slowed in their search of the ground a Lancaster ahead of them suddenly burst into flames

. . . "The pilot was a man by the name of De Marco. I think he has done about twenty or so trips, but this was going to be the end for him. It started to peel away, flames pouring from the wing and then it just disappeared. We thought they had all bought it" . . .

The account then details the following

Two Lancasters had gone down and their crews were missing. One of them was Freddie Cole, Flt Engineer in the plane piloted by Canadian F/O Wilf De Marco which Peter Marshall had seen hit in front of him. They had just released their bombs and were in that most nervous of moments waiting for the automatic camera to record their performance on the target when they were hit by cross fire. Arthur Shannon the Bomb Aimer recalled "I had watched the bombs fall and was pleased to see one hit the SS Barracks. The photoflash had just gone off when there was a big explosion. It was clear we only had a short time to get the hell out of it" He clipped on his parachute and was first out of the escape hatch. Navigator Norman Johnson was dead. He had for once, left his sae cubby hole as curiousity had got the better of him and he wanted to see this particular target. He was standing beside the Pilot when gunfire hit a propeller and sent a sliver of metal shrapnel smashing through the windscreen and into his face. As he fell, he flung is hand out and caught the D-ring of Coles parachute, lying on a seat.The silk spilled ot into the ****pit. Flames were shoting from the back of the Lancaster and there was a yell for everyone to get out. Cole gathered up the folds of his parachute into a big untidy bundle and headed for the escape hatch. Wireless Operator Jackie Speers , another Canadianwas supposed to exit from the rear but the flames forced him forward. He reckoned the two gunners behind him must be dead. He saw the Navigators body, then hit the Pilot's knee hard, the usual drill as you evaccuated to alert him to follow. "There was no response" Speers recalled "The front of the ****pit had been blown away. He could not have survived"

Speers found Cole sitting on the edge of the hatch wrestling with his parachute. He made sure the harness was clipped on and then gave his friend a mightly shove in the back and out of the falling plane. Speers followed immediately.

As the silk billowed out and held him, Cole saw the blazing Lancaster he had just left fly into the side of a mountain and explode. "That was a truely horrendous sight. I knew some of my mates were still on board. As I floated down I was hit hard by the realisation that they were dead. But there wasn't time for tears. They came later. For nowI had to think about my own survival. I came down in a meadow and was immediately captured by SS soldiers. They were very hostile until an officer came along and calmed them down. He stopped them from shooting me"

Cole was taken by truck to Salzburg and imprisoned in the Police Station. Meanwhile Shannon had landed in a fir tree and slid to the ground breaking a leg. "I was lying on the ground in agony with no chance of getting away when the Germans arrived. They kicked me down the mountainside. Once they levelled their guns at me and I thought I was going to be shot"

Speers was picked up by German civilians. At first they treated him well. He had shrapnel in his left legand could not walkand they caried him on a ladder to a farmyard. There he was put in a haycart to be taken to the village and handed over to the Police. On the way, Allied Fighter planes roared into the valley and began shooting up the area with rockets. The people escorting him scattered but when they came back they were angry and women shrieked at him and threatened him with pitchforks. Fortunately for him, soldiers came to his rescue.

"I was taken to a building where Freddie (Cole) and Art (Shannon) were being held, though I was not allowed to see them. Then I was taken to a different town and held captive for two weeks with other wounded prisoners, most of whom seemed to be amputees who had lost hands, feet, ears, noses, legs or arms from frostbite, I think.  I was interrogated many times by the SS, who did not believe we could fly all the way to Bertchtesgarten from England. They insisted we must have taken off from one of the Allied airfields in Italy. By this time my leg was badly infected and I thought I might end up like those other poor sods. But then the Americans arrived and everyone was running around saying Hitler Kaput"

The Fuhrer had shot himself in his Berlin Bunker on 30th April.

Hope this of interest / use to all ?

Account was taken from "Tail End Charlies" by John Nicol & Tony Rennie

Kind Regards

Tony H (Voluntary History Officer) 78 Sqn RAF Benson

(78 Sqn was part of No 4 Gp Bomber Command throught WWII) 

Remember the 55,573 boys of Bomber Command who didn't make it back for their post op Bacon & Egg in the morning

The Bomber Command Memorial will be unveiled on Thursday 28 June 

 

               

 

                

  

 

 

 

 

  

 

Tony

 

 

-- Edited by Tony H on Tuesday 27th of March 2012 11:19:47 AM

My Father Arthur Sharman, a member of F for Freddy lancaster crew shot down on the last raid by 619 squadron in WWll over Berchasegarden, is at present (17/6/2012) alive and at 94 years old Ibelieve is the last of his crew. email:- sharden11@mac.com

Lost over Berchasegarden bombing the Eagles Nest and SS Barracks April 1945

4 crew killed 3 POW