The memorial stone to the Steven crew, lost on 14 January 1944 on Texel, the largest of the Dutch Frisian islands, stands in a wooded place called Fonteinsnol on the exact spot where the aircraft crashed. Three of the crew were found dead at the scene. It is thought that one of them was found sometime after
Today sees the publication of a new article which contains a fascinating conjunction of two accounts, one from the British viewpoint, one from the German viewpoint, of the shooting down of a Mosquito of 109 Squadron on 14 January 1944, eighty years ago. Mosquitos were difficult aircraft to shoot down, which is why the loss
This 97 Squadron crew flew on 16/17 December 1943 (BLACK THURSDAY) in Lancaster OF-S, S-Sugar. Unable to land due to the fog, the crew abandoned the aircraft and parachuted to safety. The crew’s survival on that disastrous night was a piece of great good fortune. Sadly, they were all killed a fortnight later, on 2nd
Every year on Christmas Eve, a most touching ceremony takes place on Texel, at the War Cemetery at Den Burg. This year the annual lighting of the candles for each of the 167 graves took place despite somewhat blustery weather, and the results after darkness had fallen were spectacular. Sea currents meant that a number
Christmas items for the Pathfinders … Firstly, CHRISTMAS 1944 IN A POW CAMP To keep their spirits up, many prisoners created elaborate skit menus of their ideal Xmas meal. Secondly, Christmas 1944 at RAF Graveley, where the menu was of a rather more formal nature. With our very best wishes to all our readers and
Lawrence Nicholson was on the COLOGNE OPERATION OF 23 DECEMBER 1944, and we are delighted to be able to publish his hitherto unpublished experiences of that operation. See: LAWRENCE NICHOLSON, 23 DECEMBER 1944 ‘Nick’ was flying with the Lawson crew that night. The crew would go on to complete 57 trips with 35 Squadron, and
On 16 December 1944, German Panzers spearheaded a surprise attack in the Ardennes that smashed through thinly held Allied lines, catching the Allied commanders completely off-guard. Men from 1st SS Panzer Division in a Schwimmwagen at Kaiserbaracke crossroads, between St. Vith and Malmedy, 18 December 1944 © IWM EA 47958 (Accepted Non-commercial Use). For more
In three months it will be the 80th anniversary of the loss of the Coates crew on 25 March 1944. Prior to this we would be most grateful if friends, relatives, and other interested parties would get in touch. Two kind and dedicated Dutch people, Ad van Zantvoort and Ingrid Verhoeven, are hoping to hold
To our subscribers …. Due to a stupid but seemingly unfixable glitch in the sending of posts to our subscribers, the recent email on the Memorial to Black Thursday has discarded its link back to the website. Hopefully, this post will address the problem for our subscribers. The placing of this memorial on a permanent
It has now been confirmed that the Black Thursday memorial stone will be put in place at RAF Wyton on a permanent basis. John Clifford, one of our trustees and senior curator at the Pathfinder Collection, Heritage Centre, RAF Wyton, wrote to me yesterday: We await the construction of a plinth, from station workshops, to
Every year at this time we remember the Pathfinder crews lost due to fog and low cloud on Black Thursday, 16/17 December 1943. The Pathfinder dead for fog-related crashes were two from 83 Squadron, six from 156 Squadron, fourteen from 405 Squadron, and twenty-eight from 97 Squadron, fifty men in all. Memorial stone for the heavy losses suffered by 97 Squadron on 16/17 December 1943.
We are very pleased to publish the first-hand account by Harry Furner, a mid-upper gunner with the Marsden crew, 35 Squadron, of the attack on his Lancaster by an enemy aircraft in June 1944. It is an amazing story of survival against the odds. A fellow member of 35 Squadron, Kenneth Grantham, saw the aircraft
The Edwards crew went missing on the Courtrai operation of 20/21 July 1944. No trace of them was ever found, and they are commemorated on the Runnymede memorial. The bomb aimer on the crew was Jack Skingley. He was married with two children. His daughter, Jackie Maude, recently gave the manuscript of her father’s poem
Today we remember all the Pathfinder aircrew and their ground crew who lost their lives in the 1939-1945 war. And also the dead in other units of the RAF, and of the Army and the Navy, who fought for our freedom in the same conflict. Image shows the service of mixed rejoicing and remembrance on
The Townsend crew have appeared before on this website. Except for the flight engineer, DEREK CARROTT, they were all Canadians and one of them, WING COMMANDER GRAY, was a thirty-six-year-old of comparatively senior rank flying as a gunner. The crew, who were never found, are remembered at Runnymede with the sole exception of Colin John
