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- No. 178 Squadron Royal Air Force during the Second World War -
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World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945
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Those known to have served with
No. 178 Squadron Royal Air Force
during the Second World War 1939-1945.
- Gordon Frederick Peter. Flt.Sgt.
- Helme Frederick Walter. Flt.Sgt.
- Liversidge John Philip. Sqd.Ldr. (d.17th August 1944)
- Molyneux Norman Buckley. Sgt. (d.14th Oct 1944)
- Turner Desmond Maurice. F/Sgt. (d.19th Mar 1944)
The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List
Records of No. 178 Squadron Royal Air Force from other sources.
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Want to know more about No. 178 Squadron Royal Air Force?
There are:2040 items tagged No. 178 Squadron Royal Air Force available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.
Sgt. Norman Buckley Molyneux 178 Squadron (d.14th Oct 1944)
My great aunt from Church Stretton lost her only child, Norman Molyneux over Budapest, he was shot down laying mines in the River Danube.Roland Ward
Sqd.Ldr. John Philip Liversidge 178 Squadron (d.17th August 1944)
My father, John Liversidge, whom I never really knew because I was so young. He was an educator in the small rural town of Castlemaine in Victoria, Australia. After pre-service training in Australia and Canada he became part of the RAF Bomber Command.In August 1944, 178 Squadron were involved in flying from Italy to Poland to drop supplies in support of the Warsaw uprising. On the night of 16/17th August Squadron Leader Liversidge was navigator of a B-24 Liberator bomber that was shot down over Krakow in Poland. Evidently the plane crashed alongside Oscar Schindler's factory.
Many years later, in 1986, a memorial plaque was placed next the factory. Three airmen are named on the plaque, although more were killed. The crew are buried in the Rakowicki Military Cemetery in Krakow.
Anthony Jones
Flt.Sgt. Frederick Walter Helme 178 Squadron
Frederick Helme was with his crew on a supply run to Polish and was flying from Italy. The mission was completed and they were on the run home when they were attacked by a night fighter. Their plane, a B24 Liberator GC933, was shot down. It crashed in the yard of Oscar Schindler's factory. Three crew including the pilot perished. Three crew got out alive. One man was injured and rescued by the Polish Resistance. Frederick and another were taken prisoner and ended up in Stalag Luft 7. His POW number was 666. He was then on the Long March after the Germans emptied the camps as the Russians advanced from the East.Helme
Flt.Sgt. Frederick Peter Gordon 178 Squadron
My father, Fred Gordon was a very quiet, private man who never spoke about the war. What he did tell us was that it was horrific. He lost friends; had shrapnel in his ribs as a constant reminder and did not want to talk about it.One evening, I wish I could remember the date, my mother called and told me to turn on the television. "Your father is in tears. He keeps saying 'oh my there is....' I wondered where he got to." My parents had been watching a program on CBC about the grandfather of a film student. After the documentary was over it was the only time my mother ever heard my father speak of this time in the RAF. She told me it was like the floodgates had opened up and the details began to pour out.
Later that year, at Christmas, I returned home with my family and at dinner one night he started to tell us stories about collecting bed bugs in a jar and taking them to the front desk of their 'hotel' in Italy so that they could get free rooms. Then there was the time they were flying over the desert. He and his mates had been charged with placing fuses in frozen oranges. Whenever they flew over some tents they would light the fuses, throw the oranges out. As they fell to the ground the would whistle and then explode. If the people in the tents were German military not a single person on the ground moved. If not, the people on the ground would scatter. If they located some German troops they would 'call in the location'. He then told us of flying tree top level behind the lines to drop supplies off to the resistance and how one night they were spotted, that is why he had shrapnel in one rib. He said he lost many friends that night. They were disbanded after that, signed an 'oath of secrecy' and he never saw any of his unit again.
More than that he never shared. I did find, after he died, photos of the military band he played with 'for fun' and copies of New Year's dinner dance menu and a Brigade Bulletin. In the package of his war records there was a notification that he would have received 39-45 star; Italy star; defence medal; CVSM award and clasp. But I never found any of them. I have no idea what he would have done with them
F/Sgt. Desmond Maurice Turner 178th Squadron (d.19th Mar 1944)
Desmond Turner is buried in the Tirana Park Memorial Cemetery, Albania. He is remembered on the Special Memorial E, his grave having since been lost.s flynn
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