The 15 Sqdn left from Wyton at 1941-08-08 at an unknown time. Loc or duty Essen
On Friday 08 August 1941, a member of the 15 Sqdn, Flight Sergeant R A Ross, took off from Wyton in the United Kingdom. His mission is mentioned elsewhere on Back to Normandy. You can find the other details of this mission by searching here. Training and cargo flights are not separately mentioned as a mission. The plane left at an unknown time .
He flew with a Short Stirling (type I, serial N3658, code LS-E).
Information by Jaques Arts, Groesbeek
The Short Stirling N3658 15 Sqdn. on a Mission August 7-1941 to Essen Germany
Unit Code (Radio) LS-E
Airbase Wyton Huntingdonshire U.K.
Date of Crash August 8, 1941
Time of Crash 2:37 hrs LT.
Location of Crash Overasselt, province Gelderland, Holland
Shot down by night fighter of I/NJG1 From Venlo LWB, Holland.
Night Fighter Flown by Lt. Loos Seven Crewmembers KIA.
Three Civilians were killed (husband , his wife, and their son, seven months old). The House in which they lived totally destroyed
Crew:
F/O, Pilot Frank James Needham (29) 101032 RAF (VR)
S/Ldr, Second Pilot John Vivian (27) 37138 RAF
Sgt. Air Obsever George Wilbert Jeffrey (24) R53751 RCAF
Sgt. Stanley Henry Broyd (33) 618322 RAF
Sgt. WOP/AG John Turner Corbett (24) 977033 RAF (VR)
F/Sgt. WOP/AG Robert Alexander Ross (25) 979551 RAF (VR)
Sgt. WOP/AG Kenneth Leslie Rowley (24) 748690 RAF (VR)
They are all buried at Uden War Cemetery, Holland, plot 4.I.1 to 7. The map gives the location where "De Morsheuvel" has been standing and where the crash occurred.
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Campaign report of the USAAF:
No report
Campaign report of the RAF:
August
The month was marked by poor weather hampering Bomber Command's operations over Germany. In the early days of August, only on two nights did 200 or more aircraft operate (289 was the highest during 5th/6th August) and crews frequently returned bemoaning the cloud which frequently interfered with their work. A special daylight raid was made on the 12th by 54 Blenheims on power stations at Knapsack and Quadreth near Cologne. Ten Blenheims were lost to flak during the low-level attacks which were designed to help the Russians by drawing fighters back from the Eastern Front. Many diversionary attacks were made by bombers and fighters to support the Blenheims, resulting in the loss of two further aircraft. That night, a Wellington carrying out one of the initial trials of 'GEE', a new navigation aid for the bomber crews, was lost over Hannover, but the new equipment was not discovered by the Germans. Seventy aircraft were also sent to Berlin during the night. Two nights later, over 300 aircraft were involved in operations, with Hannover (152 aircraft), Brunswick (81) and Magdeburg (52) the main targets. In a daylight mission over France on the 18th, a Blenheim of No 18 Squadron dropped a spare artificial leg to Wing Commander Douglas Bader, the famous fighter pilot, who had crashed and been taken prisoner. At the end of the month, the first Bomber Command operations in support of Resistance groups in occupied countries were flown by the newly-formed 138 Squadron from its base at Newmarket. These operations often involved parachuting supplies or agents in to pre-determined locations or picking up packages and people and used a number of different aircraft types.
August also saw the publication of the infamous Butt report into the success (or failure) of Bomber Command's raids on Germany.
With thanks to the RAF and USAAF.net!
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