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RAF WICKENBY MEMORIAL COLLECTION NEWSLETTER JULY 2013 PAGE 1

RAF WICKENBY MEMORIAL

COLLECTION

Newsletter July 2013

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

The Regensburg &

Schweinfurt Raids 2

Recent

Acquisition 3

Interesting

Artefact 3

Obituaries 4

A Few of our

Visitors 5

In memory of

F/Sgt James

Mayger RAFVR 6

Lossie Lighthouse 7

Wickenby Wings

& Wheels 8

Trip to Markelo 9

Mailly le Camp 9

Can you help 10

Editor’s Briefing The last few weeks have been extremely busy

and I was beginning to panic and think that I

wouldn't be able to meet the deadline and get

the newsletter out on time. Preparations were

in full swing for our annual Wickenby Wings &

Wheels event with me taking on extra respon-

sibilities for this year’s event, and we have

also been extremely busy with visitors to the

Museum. Anyway, I took a deep breath and

spent a day sorting through the material for

this edition and to my surprise found I had

plenty of items to fill the space. What a relief!

One important thing to report is the change of

address for our website. I had a nasty mo-

ment when I was told on 1st April that our

website was down. When I looked into this I

found that “Flyer” were no longer web host-

ing, but as they didn’t tell me in advance I

couldn't put an announcement on the site

before it closed. Luckily the whole website

was saved to my computer so it was just a

case of uploading it to a new host, the new

address is www.wickenbymuseum.co.uk.

If you have a link to us on your own website

please update it and should you see a link to

our old site anywhere online, please let me

know so that I can contact the site and get

the link corrected.

Before I sign off I would just like to remind

you that our Annual Memorial Service will be

held on Sunday 8 September, meeting at the

Icarus Memorial at 2.30pm, the service will

start at 3pm prompt. Medals to be worn as

per the British Legion’s rules of etiquette and

uniforms should only be worn by those enti-

tled to wear them. Weather permitting we

will have a flypast from the BBMF and this

year they should be bringing the Lancaster,

Spitfire & Hurricane. The event is open to

everyone and we hope to see you there.

I am now off for a couple of weeks in the sun

with my feet up, see you all soon.

Did you know?

RAF Bomber Command controlled

the RAF's bomber forces from 1936

to 1968


The Regensburg & Schweinfurt Raids—

Mission No 84 - 17 August 1943 by Tim Brett

A few months ago you may recall that Anne mentioned that I had left Wickenby and Bomber County and

moved to Suffolk to live deep in the heart of USAAF Mighty Eighth country. Bearing this in mind I hope you will

understand why this contribution has a distinctly Transatlantic theme.

The raid was conceived as an ambitious

plan to cripple the German aircraft

industry. It was also known as the dou-

ble strike mission because it entailed

two large forces of bombers attacking

separate targets in order to disperse

fighter reaction by the Luftwaffe. It was

also the first “Shuttle” mission in which

all or part of the attacking force landed

at different airfields and bombed an-

other target on the way back to their

base in England. After being postponed

several times by unfavourable weather

conditions, the operation known by the

Eighth Air Force as Mission No 84, was

flown on the anniversary of the first

daylight penetration of France by 12

bombers with escorting fighters. Mis-

sion No 84 marked this anniversary

with a striking force of 376 bombers

from 16 Bomb Groups against German

heavy industry targets which were well

beyond the range of escorting fighters.

Regensburg—After crossing the enemy

coast at 10.00 the Regensburg Force

encountered the first German fighter

interceptions which continued with

growing intensity nearly all the way to

the target area. After 90 minutes of

combat, the German fighter force

broke off the engagement as they were

low on fuel and ammunition, but by

at least 15 bombers had been shot

down or fatally damaged. However,

the anti aircraft fire was light over

Regensburg and the visibility was

clear, and of the remaining 131 bomb-

ers, 126 were able to drop 298.75

tons of bombs on the fighter aircraft

factories with a high degree of accu-

racy. The force then turned south to

cross the Alps and at that point two

damaged B17s turned away and

landed in neutral Switzerland where

their crews were interned. One further

aircraft crash landed in Italy and 5

more were forced to ditch in the Medi-

terranean through lack of fuel. In all

24 bombers had been lost and of the

122 surviving aircraft which landed in

Tunisia, 60 were badly damaged.

Schweinfurt—The Schweinfurt force

followed the same route as the Re-

gensburg force but due to prevailing

weather conditions which were dete-

riorating, the Force Commander

elected to fly at a height of 17,000

feet, increasing the bombers vulner-

ability to the fighters and flak. Almost

immediately as the German attacks

commenced, the RAF fighters escort-

ing the force were forced to return due

to low fuel after claiming 8 German

fighters destroyed early in the engage-

ment. The American fighter escort ar-

rived between five & ten minutes later

and like their RAF counterparts had to

return almost as soon as they arrived

due to low fuel.

Losses amongst the 57 B17s of the lead

wing were so severe that many

amongst the airmen were considering

the possibility that the wing might be

annihilated before reaching the target;

however the opposing force had to

break off their attacks in order to refuel

and re-arm but not before they had

shot down 22 of the bombers. Fifteen

minutes after leaving the target, each

task force was circling over the town of

Meiningen to re-assemble its formation

when the German fighters renewed

their attacks, which were concentrated

on the crippled or damaged bombers in

the force. Despite the timely arrival of

the covering force of 95 Spitfires & 93

P47 Thunderbolts, which claimed some

21 enemy aircraft shot down, 3 more

bombers were lost before the force

reached the North Sea, where 3 more

were forced to ditch.

Although the mission resulted in the

Regensburg target receiving heavy

damage this was achieved at a

..... cont’d on page 3


The Regensburg & Schweinfurt Raids

continued catastrophic cost to the raiding force

and resulted in the loss of 55 bomber

crews with 552 crewmen killed or miss-

ing, with approximately half of these

becoming POWs and 20 interned. Sixty

aircraft were lost over Germany with

between 55 & 95 so badly damaged

that they were beyond repair.

As soon as the reconnaissance photo-

graphs were received on the evening of

the 17th, Generals Eaker & Anderson

knew that the Schweinfurt raid had

been a failure. The excellent results at

Regensburg were small consolation for

the loss of sixty B17s, and it is inter-

esting to note that the results of the

bombing was exaggerated and the high

losses were well disguised in the after

mission reports. Everyone who flew on

that mission stressed the importance of

the escorts in reducing losses, but all

the planners had grasped was that

Schweinfurt would have to be bombed

again, soon, in another deep penetra-

tion unescorted mission. This was not

good news for those who had taken

part and who would have to attack the

target again, especially those Groups

who had had heavy losses, like the

100th Bomb Group who had dispatched

21 bombers & lost 9, and the 390th

who had dispatched 21 & lost 6.

The Schweinfurt mission in particular

foretold the failure of deep penetration

raids on Germany without adequate

long range fighter escort, and as a

consequence deep penetration raids

were curtailed for five months.

Recent Acquisition We have recently been lucky enough to obtain the Log Books,

photograph albums and the medals including DFC of W/C JD

Nelson which were loaned to the museum by his son William L

Nelson. W/C Nelson was a Commanding Officer of 12 Squad-

ron and was stationed at Wickenby from February to August

1944. The items will all be on display at Wickenby shortly.

Interesting Artefact The R1155 was a British aircraft communications receiver used alongside

the associated T1154 transmitter. It was used extensively by the Royal

Air Force during WW2, mainly in larger aircraft such as the Avro Lancas-

ter, Handley Page Halifax, Vickers Wellington & the Short Sunderland.

Some were also used in vehicles & air-sea rescue launches.

These sets were manufactured by several radio manufactures including

EKCO, Marconi, Plessey & EMI.

Large numbers of the sets, particularly the receivers were modified post

war by the removal of the DF circuits and installing power supplies and/

or an audio amplifier in their place. They became a popular favourite with

radio hams & shortwave listeners.

The receiver was approximately 17 inches wide, 10 inches high & 12

inches deep, weighing around 32 lbs.

The transmitter was approximately 17 inches wide, 17 inches high & 12

inches deep, weighing around 46 lbs.

T1154 Transmitter

& R1155 Receiver


Obituaries Leslie Spruston

F/L Leslie Spruston DFC, RCAF sadly passed away on 13 April 2013 at the Delta Hospital, Vancouver.

Leslie was a Pilot with 626 Squadron between May & September 1944, he took part in 31 operations

with the Squadron including Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen, Caen, Stuttgart & Brunswick. He will be sadly

missed.

John Edward Holford

John Holford was stationed at RAF Wickenby with 626 Squadron from 4 January 1944 until

he was shot down on 15 February 1944 and taken POW.

John was born in Hednesdford, Staffordshire & began his working life as a miner in one of

the many coal mines in the area. With the outbreak of WW2 and as soon as he was old

enough, he made his intentions known to his employers that he wished to enlist, and ap-

plied to the RAF for Navigator training. However, his employers refused him permission to

proceed with his application, due to the vital role the coal industry was playing in the war

effort. Undeterred, John went to the local recruiting office and asked how he could enlist,

and was told that he could volunteer as aircrew, which he duly did and was accepted.

Following aircrew & gunnery training he was posted to 138 Squadron at Tempsford flying

special missions into enemy occupied territories, dropping as he put it ‘goods or bods’, in

other words supplies to local resistance groups or spies. His role during these hazardous ops

was gunner and dispatcher. It was returning from one such op that they were hit by a Ger-

man night fighter, the aircraft suffered serious damage eventually coming down into the

Thames Estuary, with only John and one other crew member managing to bale out and

parachute into the sea, the remaining crew perishing as they went down with the aircraft.

He was then transferred to 626 squadron, arriving on 4 January 1944, flying his first raid as mid upper gunner, to Stettin.

He then flew on raids to Brunswick, Magdeburg and a further 4 to Berlin. Then on 15 February in JB595 UM-O2 on a raid

to Berlin, they got caught by a night fighter over Erfurt, the aircraft suffering serious damage with the crew having to bale

out. John was taken POW and was taken to Stalag Luft 6. He remained there until the German captors began moving POWs

west due to the advancing Russian Army, in what has become known as ‘The Long March’, in appalling conditions. Eventu-

ally the guards disappeared overnight and he and many others were liberated.

Following his return to the UK and demob, John returned to the coal mining industry, met & married Kathleen and had 7

children, 5 girls & 2 boys, and settled in the Cannock area. Ultimately he was grandfather to 13 children & great-

grandfather to 9.

Always very ‘hands on’, John was an expert at DIY in his home, and also gave valuable help to his family when they were

setting up home for the first time. He even built a 21 foot cabin cruiser in which he and Kathleen spent much time cruising

the inland waterways & rivers.

John retired when he was 59 years old and he and Kathleen spent the best part of the next 30 years travelling the globe.

He even went back to the place where he was shot down and captured in Germany.

In the last few years his health deteriorated as he suffered from dementia, and the past 12 months were spent in a care

home, eventually passing away peacefully on 26 March 2013.

Always a modest man who never dwelt on the past too much, I was able to extract from him much of his experiences dur-

ing his time in the RAF and as a POW over the years, as his son-in-law, as he was not prone to broadcasting about this

period of his life.

Ronald Thomas Percy Diamond

1 February 1925 to 16 March 2013

Warrant Officer - 12 & 166 Squadron, a mid upper gunner on the Lancaster

Much loved husband (of the late Jean), father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

‘Our Hero’

His children - Liz, Richard, Andy & Nick


A Few of our Visitors Members of the French L’Association Mailly 3/4 Mai 1944 came to

Lincolnshire over the Easter holiday and visited both Elsham

Wolds & Wickenby on 31 March. They are pictured here with

Don Hiller from the Elsham Wold Association who presented

them with a framed photograph of the crew of LL753 UM-Z2. P/

O DS Jackson DFC and all his crew were killed on the night of

3/4 May 1944, a further 6 Wickenby planes were also lost that

night with a total of 42 men killed.

A group from Wickenby is hoping to travel to France to com-

memorate the 70th anniversary of this raid in 2014.

A delegation from the Dutch town of Dronten visited Lin-

colnshire during the week 15 - 18 May including in their

visit a trip to Wickenby where they enjoyed a buffet lunch,

a short presentation on the history of Wickenby and a flight

over the airfield.

The town of Dronten is the crash site of 12 Squadron Lan-

caster ED357 PH-S which was shot down by a night fighter

on the night of 11/12 June 1943, during operations to Dus-

seldorf. Five of the crew were killed and 2 became POW. A

propeller from the plane serves as a memorial to the crew

and is situated outside the Town Hall of Dronten.

Ian & Leonie Torrance visited Wickenby in June as part

of a three month tour of the UK. Ian’s father, P/O JT

Torrance DFC of the Royal Australian Air force, com-

pleted a full tour with 626 Squadron between Novem-

ber 1943 & June 1944, he survived the war to return

home to Australia. This was the second time I had met

Ian & Leonie at Wickenby. Ian has spent many years

painstakingly putting together information relating to

his father’s tour, after his Log Book was lost in a fire.

Did you know?

The average age of air

crew during WW2 was 22


In Memory of F/Sgt James Mayger RAFVR by Robert & Fiona George

On 24th April 1944, the crew of Lan-

caster UM-K2, serial No DV177 took off

from RAF Wickenby to carry out a mis-

sion to Karlsruhe in Germany. Aboard

the aircraft that night were four British

& three Canadian airmen. The Flight

Engineer was 21 year old F/Sgt James

Mayger, a former pupil of Jordanhill

School, and my uncle whom I had

never known. Until now I only knew he

had been in the RAF and shot down

somewhere in the South of England. It

was not until I was contacted by Chris

Stanfield, who was researching the

relatives of the crew, that I found out

so much more detail.

The force sent on the mission that

night was made up of 369 Lancasters,

259 Halifaxes and 9 Mosquitoes. A

formidable bombing force. A total of 11

Lancasters and 8 Halifaxes were not to

return to their bases. The crew on Lan-

caster UM-K2 completed their mission

and were returning back to Wickenby.

Not far in from the coast and over UK

territory, a lone German intruder at-

tacked the aircraft just before 4am.

Some ten minutes later the pilot at-

tempted an emergency landing at an

American base near Colchester in North

Essex. It was a very foggy morning and

the crippled aircraft with flames now

coming from the port tanks extending

down the whole length of the fuselage,

tried to land on the main runway. The

Americans took a very unusual step of

exposing the base to possible attack,

by lighting the flare path to help guide

the pilot in. Sadly with less than a min-

ute to reaching the runway the Lancas-

ter went out of control and crashed on

the periphery of the airfield. No-one

survived this impact. Parts of an engine

entered a nearby barracks with person-

nel sleeping within, and by some mira-

cle no one here was killed or injured.

Had the aircraft reached the runway

some if not all of the crew would have

survived.

Having been in contact with Chris

Stanfield, the principal researcher, for

the last year, in April three generations

of the family travelled down to Suffolk

to be present at the dedication of the

memorial. On 25 April 2013 at 11am

the memorial was unveiled and dedi-

cated. Michael Heath and David

Seaborn were asked to carry out the

unveiling; as school boys they had

seen the aircraft fly over in flames, and

later had visited the crash site.

Thirty relatives were in attendance

when the memorial was unveiled.

Some of these had travelled from as

far away as Canada and Australia, such

was the importance they placed on

remembering the airmen in the fami-

lies.

The ceremony was carried out with full

military honours, with a firing party

provided by the 100th Support Squad-

ron American Honor Guard based at

RAF Mildenhall. Padre F/Lt Michael Hall

from RAF Marham carried out the ser-

vice, with Warrant Officer David Car-

ruthers in attendance.

Just before the ceremony an Apache

helicopter from nearby RAF Wattisham

flew over the memorial site as a mark

of respect. During the service profes-

sional opera singer Janet Shell sang a

piece of music called ‘Remembrance’

solo and unaccompanied. Janet is re-

lated to the British Air Bomber on the

Lancaster.

Peter Potter spoke eloquently the

words ‘They shall grow not old as we

who are left grow old, age shall not

weary them nor the years condemn, at

the going down of the sun and in the

morning we will remember them’. Peter

was a rear gunner with the same

Squadron as the lost Lancaster crew.

He was one of the lucky ones!

Three speakers at the start of the cere-

mony were Sir Bob Russell MP for Col-

chester, Colonel Paul Keddy, Air Atta-

ché from the Canadian High Commis-

sion in London, UK & David Mackie

Smith, a Royal Canadian Air Force his-

torian from London, Ontario, Canada.

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight

very kindly flew their historic Lancaster

over the memorial & crash site to com-

plete the ceremony. Although later

than planned, it was very much appre-

ciated by those in attendance. Wind

conditions had caused a delay in take-

off.

The memorial was the result of 18

months of work tracing the relatives of

the seven airmen. Three of these were

Canadians. Eventually one or more

relatives of each of the airmen were

found. Also we were able to display a

photograph of each man from the air-

craft at the unveiling ceremony.

It was a very emotional and moving

experience for all those involved, the

relatives and all those who had taken

part in the preparations for the day.

It is true to say that, although long

overdue, we have remembered them...

The crew of DV177 UM-K2 were:

W/O ML McPherson RCAF - Pilot

F/Sgt JD Mayger - Flight Engineer

P/O FW Gunn - Navigator

F/Sgt JL Shell - Bomb Aimer

Sgt D Randle - Wireless Operator

W/O REH Cameron RCAF - Mid Up-

per Gunner

Sgt EJ Fancy - Rear Gunner

Fiona George & her Grandson Findlay

Cameron standing by the Memorial to

DV177


Lossie Lighthouse

12(B) Squadron has been keeping busy

since its return from Ex (exercise) Red

Flag in the USA in March. In between

adjusting back to flying in the UK, tak-

ing part in Ex Joint Warrior alongside

the Royal Navy and our American, Ca-

nadian & French counterparts and firing

Stormshadows as part of a Storm-

shadow Missile Practise Camp in the

Hebridean Ranges, the Squadron has

also had time to fit in some team-

bonding and socialising before we go

headlong into our work-up for our

forthcoming deployment in support of

Op (operation) Herrick this summer.

In April, there was a fox hunting night

held in the Squadron Bar that raised

over £100 towards our Hangar Bash,

being held at the end of May. The

event also saw farewell speeches from

Stu Alexander, Craig Kidney, Scott

Greer, Jason Green, Matt Gill, Matthew

Gifford & Carl Matthews. This was fol-

lowed over the May Day weekend by a

trip to Dronten in the Netherlands by

10 squadron personnel including OC 12

(B) Squadron and some of the engi-

neers. Ex French Fox involved taking

part in an annual Airmen’s Memorial

Parade commemorating all those 12(B)

Squadron aircraft lost during Opera-

tions over North West Europe in the

Second World War. Over 3,500 local

people and a contingency from the

Lincolnshire Twinning Association and

the BBC turned out to watch the pa-

rade and wreath-laying; a hugely hum-

bling experience especially when com-

bined with the opportunity to chat to

members of the Tailgunners Associa-

tion and hear some truly heroic stories;

such as jumping out of an aircraft with

your parachute on fire! Opportunities

such as this are invaluable to maintain

our links to the Squadron’s prestigious

history and to recognise the sacrifices

that previous members made.

On the same weekend, 4 aircrew flying

2 Tornados along with 3 engineers and

our Intelligence Analyst, headed to

Iceland for an Overseas Training Flight.

The aircraft flew into the old USAF Air-

base at Keflavik before everyone

headed up to the capital Reykjavik.

During the weekend they visited the

famous Golden Circle that included

massive Icelandic waterfalls, magnifi-

cent view of volcanoes and the prehis-

toric natural phenomenon that are

geysers - large holes in the ground that

squirt boiling hot water high into the

air at random intervals. The group was

also lucky enough to have an afternoon

at the Blue Lagoon, swimming in the

hot springs and utilising the saunas,

Jacuzzis and the volcanic mud that is

supposed to be good for knocking off

the years. We are yet to see the re-

sults ...! These trips are an important

part of Squadron training, helping

broaden the crews’ knowledge of oper-

ating aircraft away from Main Operat-

ing Base and working within foreign

airspace, whilst it also gives the engi-

neers the chance to deploy at short

notice and set up a Forward Operating

Base with minimal logistic support, all

in all a hugely valuable experience.

Finally, on 9-10 May, the whole Squad-

ron headed down to Rothiemurchus

Lodge in the Cairngorms for 2 days of

Adventurous Training (AT) and Force

Development (FD), aptly named Ex

Muddy Fox. Everyone was split down

into teams, each with a mixture of

Aircrew, Engineers, Ops, Int, Squippers

& Admin. A range of AT was under-

taken with supervision from the Station

PTIs, including mountain biking, rock

climbing and even skiing in the last

remnants of this year’s snow! The sec-

ond day was spent doing FD activities

including fire building, shelter building

(tested for waterproofness by means of

a very large bucket of water!), and

some team building exercises run by

the Station FD team. The evening in

the middle was spent by the BBQ (with

all the food cooked by the Squadron

Execs) with a few beers and much

chatter. The whole experience proved a

great opportunity to both work to-

gether and socialise away from the

normal workplace.

The aircrew are currently on their pre

deployment training week with the

Force Protection Training Flight whilst

everybody else does some bespoke

training back on the Squadron, working

towards our War Week in June - The

final test to check we are ready to de-

ploy!

Whilst we are away, we have set our-

selves a target of raising £24,000

through donations and sponsorship. In

order to meet this figure, we will be

covering 36,000 miles by running, cy-

cling and rowing, the money raised

being distributed between 12 local and

national charities including the Royal

Air Force Association & the Royal Air

Force Benevolent Fund.

I am sure all our readers would

like to wish 12 Squadron the best

of luck for a safe deployment as

part of Operation Herrick in Af-

ghanistan.

Did you know?

12 Squadron were originally formed on 14

February 1915 as part of the Royal Flying

Corps


Wickenby Wings & Wheels

photographs by Jane Johnson

The weekend of 15 & 16 June saw our eighth Wickenby Wings & Wheels Airshow. After last year’s soggy event we were

hoping for a drier show this year, but in the days running up to the event the storm clouds began to gather. The Saturday

morning dawned brightly but it wasn’t long before the skies started to darken to the south, but someone must have been

doing something right because the storms & heavy showers which had been forecast for the weekend passed us by with

hardly a drop falling on Wickenby. Unfortunately the wind was an issue on the Saturday and some of our bi-plane displays

had to be cancelled, but the spectators were more than compensated for that disappointment by the arrival of the Vulcan

Bomber XH558 which thrilled the crowds with a full 5 minute display. Also displaying on the Saturday were The Blades,

large scale models, CAP232, Xtreme Air XA41, the SWIP Duo, the BBMF Spitfire, and the day was closed by the RAF Red

Arrows.

On the Saturday evening we held our annual “Fun of the Forties” Dinner Dance where guests in period dress ate a 2 course

buffet meal and danced the night away to 1940s music. As usual we raised funds for our nominated charity, which this

year was the Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance.

The Sunday was a much warmer and brighter day and the wind had dropped almost completely. The crowds were enter-

tained by amongst others, Wing Walkers, the BBMF Spitfire & Hurricane, CAP 232, SWIP duo, the Blades, Captain Neville’s

Flying Circus, and the weekend was brought to a finale by the Fokker DR1 and our very own Airco DH2. It is believed that

the crowds Sunday were greater than any we have had in previous years.


Trip to Markelo - 21 June 2013

Mailly le Camp by P/O John Butcher DFC

You may recall in an earlier edition of this newsletter, I told the story of JB405 PH-H and their fate on the

night of 3/4 May 1944 whilst on operations to Mailly le Camp, and as reported on page 5, we recently wel-

comed visitors from the area. Below are the recollections of the event written by Pilot John Butcher who was

on operations with 626 Squadron on that night. This has been reproduced with the kind permission of his son

David.

By May 1944 the air war pattern was

changing. Winter had provided long

dark nights as cover for aircraft to

penetrate deep into Germany. We were

now restricted to a very few hours of

darkness and we were still without

cover, and unescorted. The French

Resistance had reported unusual activ-

ity at Mailly-le-Camp. This was a mili-

tary camp occupied by the Germans

ever since the invasion. And they were

amassing large amounts of tanks, vehi-

cles, and troops. This was reported by

the Resistance who suggested a sur-

prise attack. Our raid took place on a

bright moonlit night. This was a rela-

tively short journey and Bomber Com-

mand had decided that these targets

were relatively “soft”, and, as a result,

were only going to count as a third of

an “op”. That was until Mailly, and the

disaster that struck there. It was a

medium size attack, 362 aircraft, made

up of Lancasters, Halifaxes and Mos-

quitos. Overall control was in the hands

of Leonard Cheshire, then a Group

Captain, who had assumed control of

the 617 Dambusters Squadron. The

confusion arose with the number of

pilots in charge of communications.

When I arrived at Mailly there were

yellow spot markers lighting up the

scene and it was our instruction to

circle these in an anticlockwise direc-

tion, and wait for orders to bomb.

Bright moonlight, big yellow flares, and

at least four, nearby, night fighter sta-

tions, was a recipe for disaster, par-

ticularly when there were delays. The

delay was caused by Leonard Cheshire

not being happy with the markings first

time around, and he required it to be

done again. And then the backing up

markers having to be done again, in

fact 5 Group went through intact, with-

out any problem but other groups, of

which we were a part, were requested

to continue to orbit these flares. Very

soon it was quite obvious that the night

fighters had penetrated the bomber

stream, and in a matter of minutes, six

aircraft were falling out of the sky. For

my part, I widened my orbit of the

flares, hoping to find some darkness,

only to find that I was now circling over

a ground anti-aircraft site which

opened up on me forcing me to alter

my tactics yet again. However we

managed to evade the night fighters

and we were called in eventually to

attack. This had already been further

delayed by a change in radio systems;

one of the controlling pilots had picked

up music from an American radio sta-

tion which blocked off all communica-

tions. I bombed at 7,000 feet. Aircraft

were tumbling out of the sky at one

hell of a rate. And this continued all the

way to Paris on our way back home.

Total losses were 42 out of 362. In

total 255 aircrew lost their lives that

night and some 50 escaped by para-

chute. This was the end of the discus-

sion about the third of an “op” count

because those losses were comparable

with any losses suffered in an “op” on

Berlin.

More than 1,500 tons of explosive were

dropped that night, with great accu-

racy, resulting in the destruction of 114

barrack blocks, 47 transport sheds and

ammunition buildings, 102 vehicles &

37 tanks. Set against the 255 aircrew

who lost their lives it didn’t feel too

successful.

On Friday 21 June 2013 Tim Brett &

Anne Law travelled to Markelo in Hol-

land to commemorate the 70th anni-

versary of the crash of three allied

planes.

Halifax W7877 TL-O from RAF Grav-

eley, part of the Pathfinder Force,

crashed on 2 March 1943 killing 6 of

the crew, the 7th became POW.

Stirling EF399 AA-O from 75 (NZ)

Squadron at Newmarket was damaged

by flak and crashed with the loss of 7

men on the night of 22/23 June 1943.

Lancaster W4861 PH-M took off from

RAF Wickenby on 24 May 1943 for op-

erations to Dortmund. They had

dropped their bombs on the target and

were on the home run when they were

coned by searchlights and then hit by

anti-aircraft fire, seriously damaging

the aircraft, which was then brought

back under control. At around 02.30

hrs at a height of 6,000 feet a night

fighter was spotted on the port side.

Flown by August Geiger the Messer-

schmitt opened fire with a shower of

20mm shells which perforated a fuel

tank, giving only a few seconds for the

crew to abandon the plane. Two of the

crew were able to parachute to safety

but the bodies of the other five crew-

men were found in the wreckage.

Unfortunately on the day of the service

it rained non-stop, but this did not

dampen the spirits of those in atten-

dance who included family members of

those who had died, from both the UK

& New Zealand. Also in attendance

were representatives from the RAF.

We laid wreaths from Wickenby & 12

Squadron who unfortunately were un-

able to attend as they are in prepara-

tion for deployment to Afghanistan.

The crew of Lancaster W4861 PH-M

were:

F/O WN Mounsey - Pilot (kia)

P/O WB Whitaker - Navigator (kia)

Sgt RSG Miller - Wireless Op (kia)

Sgt KG Legg - Mid Upper Gunner

(kia)

Sgt H Pierpoint - Rear Gunner (kia)

Sgt A Dews - Bomb Aimer (pow)

Sgt WB Jowett - Flight Engineer

(pow)


RAF WICKENBY MEMORIAL

COLLECTION

Wickenby Aerodrome

Near Langworth

Lincoln

LN3 5AX

Phone:

01673 885000

Email:

[email protected]

Website:

www.wickenbymuseum.co.uk

Follow us:

Facebook:

Friends of RAF Wickenby

Memorial Collection

Twitter:

@WickenbyMuseum

Curator:

Anne Law

Editor:

Anne Law

[email protected]

Please note that although the museum

is open 7 days a week, the Curator is

not always on site. If you are visiting

Wickenby and need access to docu-

ments and photographs in the archive, it

is important that you make an appoint-

ment to avoid disappointment!

Can you help? by Mike Baxter

The Crew of ED548 PH-V

Back - left to right - Sgt PD Baxter - Flight Engineer,

Sgt NF Prowse - Rear Gunner, P/O CA Dear - W/Op,

Sgt CD Thomas—Bomb Aimer

Front - left to right - S/Ldr DH Villiers - Pilot,

F/O WA Allinson - Navigator,

P/O IW Saunders - Mid Upper Gunner

My father, flight engineer Peter Baxter, flew on many raids with S/Ldr David Hugh Villiers

(87068) for whom he had a very high regard, which he documented in his story of his

war-time service. I am very keen to try to make contact with any relatives of his to share

the pictures and stories I have of him. If you have any information or contact details I

would very much appreciate you getting in touch.

Thanks.

Mike Baxter [email protected]

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