LEST WE FORGET

Air Operations: (No. 467 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED651), France, 17 April 1943

Date: 16-17 April 1943
Target: Pilsen
Total Force: Dispatched – 327, Attacking – 242
RAAF Force: No. 460 Dispatched – 17, Attacking – 15; No. 467 – Dispatched – 17, Attacking – 15
Tons of Bombs Dropped: 617
Total Aircraft Lost: 37
RAAF Aircraft Lost: No. 460 – 3; No. 467 – 2

This diversion (attack on Mannheim, Germany) was indeed more successful than the main effort because Australian and other crews reported navigational difficulties in locating distant Pilsen. One Australian bombed Nuremberg, two others searched over a wide area without finding the Pathfinder flares and then set course for base, attacking Erlangen and Koblenz en route. Night fighters harried the Lancasters which found that the bright moonlight was hazard outweighing the expected advantage of easier navigation, and this view appears substantiated by the heavy losses. To add to these disappointments the Pathfinder flares were misplaced and most of the bombs fell on a small town south-west of Pilsen.

Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Pages 497-8

Lancaster ED651 took off from RAF Bottesford at 2125 hours on the night of 16/17th April 1943 to bomb the Skoda Works at Pilsen, Czechoslovakia. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. Sixteen aircraft from the Squadron took part in the mission and two of these including ED 651 failed to return. It was subsequently established that three of the crew had been killed in the crash and the other four crew members became prisoners of war but Sergeant Goode who was injured in the crash died of his injuries on 23 April 1943.

The crew members of ED651 were:

Sergeant William Watson Bannatyne (1564310) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Frederick Gabriel Boswell (127118) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer) PoW
Sergeant Robert Dunn (944720) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Harold Frederick Goode (1382764) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner) PoW, Died: 23 April 1943
Sergeant Ralph Henry Pallender (640100) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Robert Stott (127982) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Sergeant Bruce Craig Wilson (408545) (Pilot PoW Discharged from the RAAF: 7 February 1946

In a statement by Sergeant Wilson, he reported “The aircraft was attacked by an enemy fighter after being coned. The left inner port wing was on fire as was the central section. Partly damaged controls. Ordered crew to crash positions and carried out a crash landing. I believe the two gunners Sergeants Dunne and Bannatyne were killed by the fighter attack. The Engineer Sergeant Pallender was apparently killed in the landing. Sergeant Goode died of burns in the hospital. Pilot Officers Stitt, Boswell and I were injured. The aircraft crashed near Cologne.”

No. 460 Squadron lost Lancaster W4331 (Flight Sergeant Ian Gordon Miller (411165) (Pilot)) on 17 April 1943.

No. 460 Squadron lost Lancaster aircraft W4942 (Flight Sergeant John Norman Williams (416135) (Pilot)) on 16 April 1943.

No, 460 Squadron lost Lancaster ED711 (Pilot Officer David Edward White DFM (408896) (Pilot)) on 17 April 1943.

During the diversion attack on Mannheim, No. 466 Squadron lost Wellingtons HE501 (Pilot: Pilot Officer Colin Foley Tozer (406585) (Pilot)) on 16 April 1943.

No. 467 Squadron lost Lancaster ED780 (Flight Sergeant Raymond Clarence Stuart (406702) (Pilot)) on 17 April 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
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll

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