was fatally wounded during the attack on the a/c & my father took control of the a/c & tried to return it to base. Subsequent attacks rendered this impossible & the surviving crew bailed out of the stricken a/c. You may not have connected with the fact that similar events took place that night over Berlin (I am unsure if Berlin or Dusseldorf was the diversionary raid), where Bill Reid succeeded in returning his damaged Lancaster to base & was awarded the Victoria Cross. All that my Father received was burns to his left arm before/during bail-out. (In November 1945 he was finally awarded his Caterpillar Club membership & pin badge). His lost crew mates were:-
- Sergeant George Edwin BOUCHER: AGE 23
- Sergeant Arthur FOGG: AGE 23
- Sergeant Favel TOMACHEPOLSKY: AGE UNKNOWN
- Sergeant Cyril Terence WHELDON: AGE UNKNOWN.
From my late Mother's recollections, Arthur Fogg's widow later married Arthur's Brother.
Favel's Father was a Jeweller in Hatton Garden.
I was named in honour of my father's pilot.
My father spent some time at Stalag Luft III, where he got to know some of the 50. He rarely spoke of those days. He later was moved to Offlag IVB, from where he was repatriated after the Russians liberated the camp. I can confirm his P.O.W. number (261411) as I still have his last camp Dogtags which he had with him when he returned. Interestingly these are stamped Stalag IVB.
The lost crew of LM365 SR-H were:-
- Sergeant Stanley BEEDLE: AGE 23
- Flight Sergeant James Maurice CUMMINGS: AGE 20
- Sergeant James Henry HARPER: AGE 21
- Flight Sergeant Geoffrey Frank Stuart MAUNDERS: AGE 27
- Sergeant Jack PARSONS: AGE 19
- Sergeant Christopher Joseph POULTON: AGE 35
- Sergeant Norman John SHAKESPEARE: AGE UNKNOWN
- Sergeant Eric George WALL: AGE 23
My parents are no longer able to honour the memory of my Father's lost comrades, but I do not forget.
101 Squadron mounted a maximum effort that night with 26 aircraft sent out. SR-Z aborted & returned to base at 0130 hours because the Gyro went U/S.
Tony Anderson
DV265 was one of 200 lancasters ordered from Metro-vick in 1941 and was transported to Woodford for final assembly and flight testing. DV265 was a Mk.111 and was delivered to No.101 Sqdn with her sister-ship DV266 on 2Oct43. DV265 also took part in the Key Operation against Hannover 18/19Oct43. When lost this aircraft was on its second operation and had a total of 38 hours. DV265 was one of two No.101 Sqdn Lancasters lost on this operation. (See also LM365) Airborne 1713 3Nov43 from Ludford Magna. Set on fire in the central fuselage area by cannon-fire from a night-fighter over the target. All intercom contact with the crew positions aft of the Nav. compartment was lost & Sgt Evans ordered his crew to bale out. Out of control, the Lancaster plunged, in flames into the NE suburbs of Dusseldorf, where those who were killed were buried in the Nordfriedhof. They have been subsequently re-interred in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery.
- Sgt Tomachepolsky was flying as the ABC operator.
- Sgt A.H.Evans KIA
- Sgt R.Anderson PoW
- Sgt R.G.Phillips PoW
- Sgt A.Longstaff PoW
- Sgt A.Fogg KIA
- Sgt F.Tomachepolsky KIA
- Sgt C.T.Wheldon KIA
- Sgt G.E.Boucher KIA
- Sgt R.Anderson was interned in Camp 4B. PoW No.261411 with Sgt A.Longstaff, PoW No.261467.
- Sgt R.G.Phillips was held in the Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre. No PoW No. known