LEST WE FORGET
Air Operations (No. 466 Squadron Halifax aircraft LW521), off the English Coast, 16 March 1944
Date: 15-16 March 1944
Target: Stuttgart
Total Force: Dispatched – 863, Attacking – 813
RAAF Force: No. 460 Dispatched – 24, Attacking – 24; No. 463 Dispatched – 17, Attacking – 17; No. 466 Dispatched – 17, Attacking – 16; No. 467 Dispatched – 19, Attacking – 19
Tons of Bombs Dropped: 2,609
Total Aircraft Lost: 36
RAAF Aircraft Lost: No. 460 – 1; No. 463 – 2; No. 466 – 2
The maximum strength raid (on Stuttgart) a fortnight later (March 15-16) was almost a complete failure, because after struggling against incorrectly forecasted winds and many attacks by fighters the Australians arrived over Stuttgart to find Pathfinder markers in clusters miles apart with dummy enemy markers further adding to the confusion. Two pilots of No. 460 described the attack as “irresponsible, scattered and unimpressive” and criticised the “wild bombing” which put most of the weight of the attack near fourteen villages to the south-west of the target.
Extracts from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Pages 658-660
Halifax LW521 took off from RAF Leconfield at 1859 hours on the night of 15/16th March 1944 to bomb Stuttgart, Germany. Seventeen aircraft from the Squadron took part in the raid and two of these including LW 521 failed to return. The Operations Record Book records the following: “Attacked primary Bombed Red & Green T.I’s. Attacked and damaged by fighter on run up to target. Short of petrol and ditched 30 miles south of Portland Bill, Navigator missing. All others picked up.” The missing Navigator, Flying Officer Chrimes (RAF), is commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing, Runnymede, Surrey, UK.
The crew members of LW521 were:
Flight Sergeant John Cecil Bond (420433) (Pilot) Killed on Air Operations: 11 April 1944
Flying Officer Oswald Kenneth Chrimes (151348) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant John Neville Keys (426112) (Bomb Aimer) Killed on Air Operations: 11 April 1944
Sergeant Donald Kenneth Messenger (1588224) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner) Killed on air operations: 11 April 1944
Flight Sergeant Brian Leo Sheean (409855) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner) Killed on Air Operations: 11 April 1944
Flight Sergeant Clifford Young Warren (427047) (Rear Gunner) Killed on Air Operations: 11 April 1944
Sergeant John Arthur White (1548168) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) Killed on Air Operations: 11 April 1944
No. 460 Squadron lost Lancaster ND393 (Pilot Officer George Edward Parkinson (413416) (Pilot)) on 15 March 1944.
No. 463 Squadron lost Lancaster ME573 (Flying Officer John Roberts DFC (416893) (Pilot)) on 15 March 1944.
No. 463 Squadron lost Lancaster ED606 Pilot Officer William Alexander Graham (413988) (Pilot)) on 15 March 1944.
No. 466 Squadron lost Halifax HX341 (Flying Officer Harold Callaway Wills (412787) (Pilot)) on 15 March 1944.
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
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll