Loss of Lancaster PA970 Le Havre September 1944

I’m fortunate to have a collection of my father’s letters written from the front line in Normandy to my mother back home in Manchester. The following is my father’s letter describing the softening up of the German fortress that was the port of Le Havre by the Main Force bombers of Bomber Command prior to the ground attack that resulted in its liberation and what happened to one of the aircraft taking part.

For the time being we have stopped gallivanting across France and once again are in a static position well below-ground and by degrees forcing the Boche to give up holding this isolated strongpoint. The name of which I can give you only when it has fallen, but I can’t stop you using your imagination.
The rain for the past 3 days here has equalled any Manchester can produce and just being in a clay bound slit trench doesn’t make you exactly cheerful. Anyway it has just stopped now and the sun has peeped out for a moment so I’ll take the opportunity to do a spot of sun bathing whilst I wring my shirt out. We have had the RAF heavies bombing the Boche defences just in front of us and from where I am I have a grandstand view of it all. The bombs must certainly have been effective and even we from 2000 yards back could feel the blast, and my goodness what a concentration. I am sure there must have been close on 400 Lancasters & Halifax’s all dropping the loads in such a short time that it sounded like a super-machine gun firing. One or two aircraft were hit by Flak and the crew of one (Canadians) baled out in our area.
Of course, we invited them to breakfast and gave them a nip of whiskey and generally swapped yarns. They were genuinely surprised that we should live in such discomfort and not get more notice taken of us. They remarked that 12 hours previous they were living in a most luxurious mess, in England, and so suddenly undergo such a change of surroundings. I would have liked to have one of Jerries bombardments laid on for that moment, just to impress these fellows that it is a damn sight more unpleasant sitting tight in one place and being shelled than it is to dodge flak in an aircraft moving at 300 miles per hour. After all they go home and get a spot of leave while the PBI still has to stick it out.

I have been able to identify this aircraft and its crew-members and their story makes interesting reading.
On the 8th September 1944 Lancaster Mk III PA970 (LQ-Y) of 405 (Vancouver) Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force based at RAF Gransden Lodge, Cambridgeshire was piloted by Wing Commander H Morrison who was to act as Master Bomber for the attack on Le Havre. PA970 was one of a total of 333 aircraft – 304 Lancasters, 25 Mosquitoes and 4 Stirlings (Incidentally this was the last time Stirlings were used as bombers) of No’s 1, 3 and 8 Groups which attempted to bomb the German positions at Le Havre but with a low cloud base only 109 aircraft dropped their bombs with indifferent results. Out of the force just two Lancasters were lost, PA970 being one of them, what happened to this aircraft mkes scarey reading.

Lancaster PA970 broke cloud at 2000 feet above Le Havre almost directly above the German anti-aircraft batteries that were protecting the port and they quickly opened fire at a range which meant they could hardly miss. In a matter of seconds 970 was hit three times with fatal consequences. The first hit was in the bomb bay, the impact knocking out two of the crew as well as igniting the target indicators it was carrying and setting fire to a header tank. Not surprisingly the aircraft rapidly filled with smoke and flames. The second hit blew ten foot of the starboard wing off. The third and final hit went right through the same wing between the fuel tanks tearing out another large hole. With such damage the aircraft was doomed and the crew had to act fast to survive at such a low altitude

To aid visibility the pilot Wing Commander Morrison opened a window and then ordered the escape hatch to be jettisoned. He feathered the two starboard propellers, dumped the bomb load and ordered the crew to abandon the aircraft while he tried to maintain enough altitude to allow them to jump safely. The Bombardier and Navigator managed to revive the two knocked out crew members and see them safely bale out. Moving towards the escape hatch in the nose, the Flight Engineer, incidentally the only RAF member of the crew accidentally pulled his parachute and tangled it with the Pilot’s controls. Members of the crew helped him gather it up in his arms and assisted him to the escape hatch, but the hatch had jammed half way open. Brute force was applied to the hatch and eventually, the hatch, Engineer who was clutching his parachute in his arms all dropped from sight, the rest of the crew rapidly followed.
By the time the Wing Commander got out the aircraft was down to 600 feet and his parachute opened just before he hit the ground and he landed on one shoulder bruising it badly. Amazingly that was the only injury suffered by any of the crew. All the crew landed safely in friendly territory apart from the tail gunner who was taken prisoner by the Germans until released when the port was liberated.
The crew returned to flying duties and all survived the war. They were;

Pilot – Wing Commander Howie Morrison, DSO, DFC, from Lauder, Manitoba.
Navigator – Flight Lieutenant Mickey Queale, DFC and Bar, from Victoria British Columbia.
Bomb Aimer and second Navigator – Flight Lieutenant R Swartz DFC and Bar from West Lome, Ontario
H2S Radar operator – Flight Lieutenant R. B. Baroni
Wireless operator – Warrant Officer 2 Red D’Arcy from St. John’s New Brunswick.
Mid-Upper Gunner -. Flight Sergeant Benny Benabo, DFM.
Tail Gunner – Pilot Officer Bill Kubiak, DFC, from Montreal.
Flight Engineer – Flight Sergeant Roy Matcham. DFC, RAF, From Southampton (the only non Canadian in the crew).

PA970 was built at AVRO’s Chadderton works and was delivered to 405 Sqn in June 1944. As a Chadderton built aircraft she would have had a centre section and outer wing panels made at AVROs Newton Heath factory where both my Grandfather and Mother worked so the reference my father made in the letter to ‘your Lancasters’ couldn’t have been more apt.