Trying to find info on an Augsburg Raid crew member

Coincidentally 44 Squadron also has a mention in another thread running at present entitled War Memorial Plea for help – with Flypast. A young pilot by the name of Kenneth Gowing is featured. He also died age 22 just a few months after the Augsburg raid.

Garwells aircraft was hit over the target, this is depicted in Chris Stothard’s excellent painting ” The Augsburg Raid “.

Turns out my friend managed to get in contact with the artist who has a copy of the painting signed by the last surviving crew member of the raid which my friend and his sister are going to get for their father for Christmas 😀 I hope everyone here realises how much this all means to the family, thank you all 🙂

Garwells aircraft was hit over the target, this is depicted in Chris Stothard’s excellent painting ” The Augsburg Raid “. There is also a book about the raid by Squadron Leader Jack Currie now out of print but can be found on ebay, there was also a TV documentary made by Jack Currie and this is available to watch on Youtube.

Reading through all these links has made my friend very teary eyed, thank you for all your help 🙂

I can understand how the family history got a little confused. Having died on a low level Lancaster raid. Augsburg if anything was more traumatic.

@ericmunk thank you so much! and the link appears to be working now, internet is clearly having a funny 5 minutes

[QUOTE=MattCooke;2086768@ericmunk I don’t have permission to see what that link leads to apparently 🙁 but thank you[/QUOTE]

Odd, it’s a public page, with a very complete and at times pretty grim write-up of the mission, which ended in tragedy for a lot of the crews who were part of it.

And here’s his crew:

F/O A. F. Garwell – DFC DFM P.O.W.
Sgt. L.L. Dando – DFM P.O.W.
Sgt. F.S. Kirke -RNZAF DFM P.O.W.
Sgt. J. Watson DFM P.O.W.
F/Sgt. FLUX, ROBERT JAMES, DFM – W.Op. KIA
F/Sgt. Douglas Haig McALPINE RCAF – Air Gnr. KIA
Sgt. Ivor EDWARDS – Air Gnr KIA

The aircraft was Lancaster R5510 (KM-A).

More information in here (page 31 onwards): http://books.google.nl/books?id=P0Qo5jvkNrgC&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=lancaster+r5510&source=bl&ots=kSb61MKinV&sig=QHXGBf5I2L39qVdP-cdgEGCVvcI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tvSAUuzHJ5SZ0QWcxYD4Dg&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=lancaster%20r5510&f=false

@DeltaPapa that will probably be the next thing we do, I’ve literally only been told this stuff this afternoon 🙂

@ericmunk I don’t have permission to see what that link leads to apparently 🙁 but thank you

A write-up of the Augsburg mission here: http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/bombercommandaugsburg17thapril1942.cfm

Judging by the date this *may* have been what he was on? I don’t have the 44 ORB at hand…

This link gives 2 I Edwards one a Sgt age 22 the other a Flt Sgt age 25 – No Squadrons mentioned

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx?cpage=1

Have you tried the 44Sqn assoc and asked if they have any info?

You sure about 617 Squadron? On http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/dambusterscrewandcodewords.cfm it is not possible to find a Sgt. Edwards on the Dambusters flight.

I did find an Ivor Edwards flying with 44 Squadron (http://twgpp.org/information.php?id=1286024) who was killed over Germany in a Lancaster in 1942, aged 22.

Yes I think my friend’s Grandparents have miss interpreted being a Lancaster crew member as being a Dam Buster , I should change the title

and thank you for the link 🙂

Also it really hit’s home when I see the age these men die… 22… That’s my age :/ It’s almost impossible to comprehend… I sure as hell wouldn’t have it in me to go into battle , I struggle with confrontation at the best of times.

You sure about 617 Squadron? On http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/dambusterscrewandcodewords.cfm it is not possible to find a Sgt. Edwards on the Dambusters flight.

I did find an Ivor Edwards flying with 44 Squadron (http://twgpp.org/information.php?id=1286024) who was killed over Germany in a Lancaster in 1942, aged 22.

That’s interesting, thanks for the link 🙂 there is the possibility that wires have been crossed somewhere in the information about being a Dambuster , I’m just repeating what I’ve been told 🙂

He appears to have been lost on the famous Augsburg daylight raid in April 1942 while serving with 44 Sqn.

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2080336/EDWARDS,%20IVOR

I’m sure somebody will come along who can identify which crew he flew with and which particular aircraft.