Anyone have Bomber Command Losses 1944 to hand?

AM – thanks for that!

Wokka, I don’t want to de-rail a thread about a war grave in France by prattling on about gun turrets, especially as we have already discussed them in various threads over the years. Have a look through this one, which includes a line drawing of the .5 Browning gun installation in a Lancaster II.

At the time DS726 was lost, most surviving FN64 turrets were stored in a hangar at RAF Hemswell, having been declared useless for night operations by Bomber Command. The current proposal was to install them in Mitchells for daylight operations but this never happened and they were eventually disposed of as scrap.

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?67563-Lancaster-BI-vs-BIII-differences-(Now-Schr%E4ge-Musik-too)(2007-thread)/page2&highlight=lancaster+gun

That would make P/O Lapierre the evader, which would make a lot of sense if you assume his origins enabled him to pass easily for a local Frenchman. (EDIT: Now I am on a laptop rather than my phone I can see that is covered in the Ancestry documents)

I’m sitting in an hotel on the outskirts of Cambrai, just four or five km from the crash site and CWGC. I can’t help wondering if his evasion route brought him into the city, maybe through the fields I can see outside the hotel.

Thanks for this material everyone.

Moggy

408 Squadron ORB entry:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]254989[/ATTACH]

From S/L Stewart’s Service file via Ancestry.com:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]254990[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]254991[/ATTACH]

In reply to AM:

The FN64 ventral turret was developed from the FN60 fitted to the Blenheim. According to ‘Lancaster at War 2’ it is shown in cutaway drawing inside front & rear covers. The Lancaster Story by Peter Jacobs has a little more info that makes this a plausible fit.

Moggy,

If the crew listing follows normal format, then the bomb aimer became POW, and the mid under gunner is confirmed evading capture in the text.

The Squadron Leader is buried with five of his crew. I had noted the absence of the bomb aimer and hoped he’d made it.

There are two air gunners and a WOP / Gunner interred.

Moggy

Not FN64, more likely the .5″ Browning “lash up” introduced late 1943.

Only available when the aircraft did not have H2S as it used the same position as the radar.

408 Sqn retained Lancaster Mk. IIs until August 1944, some/many of which will have had the bulged bomb bay doors. There was no scheme for installing H2S on these aircraft, hence permitting the retention of the mid-under gun later than most Squadrons.

Just a taster from that wonderful search thingy that I have not verified!

408 squadron carried a mid under gunner on some of its Lanc II’s in the summer of 1944.

Lancaster Mid Under Turret, was the Nash & Thompson FN64.
Early production Lancasters were fitted with rear firing under turrets, but its use was discountinued. Reintroduced in Mid 1944 by a handful of 1 Group Squadrons.
The Gunner sat facing rear, fired by means of periscope sight. Turret in place of H2S set. Mid Upper Gunner manned both turrets!
2 x Browning .303 in
Ammo – 500 rpg.
Source: www.rafcommands.com/archive/02347.php

Not even slightly. But definitely intrigued, this requires a little digging when I get back. Thanks.

Moggy

Am not a Lanc specialist, but 2 x 408 Sqn losses that night carried a mid-under gunner.
Any wiser?

Many thanks for that. Makes sense as the CWGC is at Forenville.

Crew of eight? Special duties or a second pilot on board for experience?

Moggy

408 Sqn – Lancaster II DS726 EQ-Y
Linton-on-Ouse
Op: Cambrai rail facilities
Crashed at Seranvillers-Forenville
6 crew perished, 1 pow, 1 evaded capture (both survivors were RCAF). 6 of the crew were RCAF. S/L Stewart was OC B Flight. 2 other 408 Sqn ac & crews were lost that night.