LEST WE FORGET
Air Operations: (No. 464 Squadron Mosquito aircraft HP850), France, 9 October 1943
Mosquito HP850 took off from RAF Sculthorpe between 1105/1116 hours on the 9th October 1943 to attack the aero engine works at Woippy near Metz, France. Twelve aircraft from the Squadron took part in the raid and two of these including HP850 failed to return.
The Squadron Operations Record Book records “the weather was hopeless over the sea, coast and target, with very poor visibility and ten-tenths cloud at 500 feet. One aircraft (Flying Officer Crofts) bombed the target through the cloud while others attacked minor targets. An ME110 was claimed damaged. There was considerable flak in the coastal area and several of out aircraft were hit. The crew of HP850 were new to the Squadron but already ‘of’ the Squadron and were showing great promise.”
The crew members of HP850 were:
Flying Officer Charles Grant MacDonald (J/13787) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Flight Lieutenant Robert Winstone Smith (42902) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
No. 464 Squadron lost Mosquito HX912 (Flight Lieutenant Phillip Charles Copeland Kerr (405106) (Pilot)) on 9 October 1943
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Bibliography:
Lax, M. (Mark) and Leon Kane-Maguire The Gestapo Hunters: 464 Squadron RAAF 1942-5, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 1999
Vincent, D. (David) Mosquito Monograph: A history of Mosquitoes in Australia and RAAF operations, David Vincent Highbury SA 5089, 1982