Avro Lancaster Mk1 ME617(SR-N) 101 Squadron (1 group) Ludford Magna
Billy as he was known to friends and family alike would have been my Uncle, one of 5 siblings. He was accepted by the RAFVR in March 1943 and reported to Lord's Cricket Ground on the 29th March. On the 4th June he commenced his Flight Engineers training at Torquay. On 23rd December 1943 he was promoted to Sargent, spent some time at RAF Henswell and on the 25th June 1944 found himself at Ludford Magna with a new crew (his previous crew at Hemswell had just been lost). On the 19th July 44 he wrote: “on constant standby – took part in raid on Caen to support Army breakthrough – “an awe inspiring sight to see 1000 planes around you”… His last flight was the raid on Russelsheim on the 12/13 th August from which only one of the crew returned. He was 19.
A letter from the Air Ministry dated 1 April 1946 says "Captured German Documents show aircraft shot down at Morfelden 4.5 miles from Russlesheim. Further these records show that 5 members of the aircrew are buried at Gross Gerau 1 at Morfelden. 1 missing".....
In fact it turned out that 21 Aircrew lost at that time were buried together and were later reburied in Durnback War Cemetry.
A letter dated 4.7.1946 from The Rev Erckmann, Cross-Geren Hessen to Mr Horrocks. "Son buried here with 21 other aircrew who died between the 14th and 26th August 1944....."
Billy seemed fond of the following poem:
Rear Link
Faith is a weapon Wield it
Hope is a candle Shield it
Love is a garment Share it
Life is an adventure Dare it
Research is being pieced together from letters and records in family possession, incluing some remarkable correspondence between the families of the lost airmen.
The family are also indebted to Alan Barrow who has produced the following information, which is very much ongoing research.
It makes interesting reading in conjunction with the story on this same site of P/O Ronald Homes of a Pilots record of the same raid. Night of 12/13/08/44
- Pilot
Flt Sgt 1338028 Richard Howell Jenkins RAFVR (age n/k)
Newbridge Monmouthshire
Killed in crash (on 12th op), re-buried Durnbach Cemetery.
- Navigator
Flt Sgt 1459233 Thomas Horrocks RAFVR (age 21)
Son of Thomas and Margaret Horrocks
Flixton, Lancashire
Killed in crash,re- buried Durnbach Cemetery.
- Flight Engineer
Sgt 1836236 William Stanley Ballinger RAFVR (age 19)
Son of William Stephen and Louisa Ballinger
Chepstow, Monmouthshire
Killed in crash, (on 10th Op) re-buried Durnbach Cemetery.
- Bomb Aimer
Flt Sgt 1232857 James Myles RAFVR (age 21)
Son of George and Agnes Myles
Coventry
Killed in crash, re-buried Durnbach Cemetery.
- Wireless Operator
Flt Sgt 1474290 Leonard Gordon Spear RAFVR (age 21)
Son of Lt Col Richard William Spear CIE CBE and Grace Spear
Old Coulsden, Surrey
Killed in crash, re-buried Durnbach Cemetery.
- ABC Specialist
Sgt 2209024 Frank Thomas Edward Jones RAFVR (age 20)
Son of Edward and Elisabeth May Jones
Saltney, Flintshire
Killed in crash, re-buried Durnbach Cemetery.
- Mid Upper Gunner
Sgt 1045216 Joseph Thorley RAFVR (age 22)
Son of George and Mary Ann Thorley
Benwell, Newcastle upon Tyne
Killed in crash, re-buried Durnbach Cemetery.
- Rear Gunner
Sgt B H Cave
Baled out, survived POW
No further info.
The all NCO crew of Lancaster ME617 SR-N skippered by Flt Sgt Richard Howell Jenkins took off from Ludford Magna, to the NE of Wickenby, Lincolnshire at 2120hrs 12/08/44 as part of a total force of 297 aircraft from 1,3,4,5,6 and 8 (pathfinder) groups respectively, their target was to be the industrial/manufacturing town of Russelsheim (projected time over target 0014 to 0021 hrs). At the same time a force of 379 aircraft was detailed to attack Brunswick further to the north, (See Alan's tribute to F/O Hood at http://lancaster-lm658.co.uk/) their approach was via Bremen, this two pronged attack via indirect routes was designed to confound, or at least divide the night fighter force.
ME 617 carried an extra crew member (eight rather than the usual seven) as this aircraft along with many other from 101Sqdn was fitted with top secret equipment that required a specialist crew member to operate it. ABC or “airborne cigar” as it was known was basically the infancy stages of modern airborne electronic counter measures. An ABC equipped Lanc’ was only distinguishable by the prominent (usually two) antennae mounted on the top of the fuselage. Inside the aircraft the ABC operator would sit facing a radio frequency scanner on which he would search for the variable channels that were being used by the German ground controllers to guide the night fighters into an attack position. The ABC operator would scan the airwaves using his knowledge of the German language to locate and lock on to the frequency operative that night, he would then, using the powerful onboard transmitters broadcast a strong jamming signal to block communications between the “nachtjaeger” squadrons and their ground controllers, a method which did indeed help to delay and confound the enemy to some extent. Several methods of jamming were experimented with, one of the most successful was to mount a microphone under the cowling of each engine and jam the voice of the controller with the roar of all four Merlins at once! At one stage, when it became apparent to the enemy that some sort of organized jamming was taking place it was reported that the German controllers were using Wagnerian operatic society members to sing instructions to the night fighter pilots in the hope that such broadcasts would be mistaken for music channels.
Air ministry reports for the Russelsheim raid state that on this particular night the weather on the run in to the target was light cloud with some haze and 45mph winds at 20 000 ft. On the approach to the target there was heavy searchlight activity but only a slight ground barrage increasing in intensity as the raid progressed. The night fighters operating that night found themselves on track to intercept the bombers as they were heading across Belgium because the ground controllers assumed that the target was either Frankfurt or Mannheim, and had vectored the fighters accordingly, when Russelsheim was correctly identified as the target only slight changes of course were necessary to put the fighters close to the bomber stream.Visual green target indicators were dropped promptly and on time by pathfinder Mosquitoes of 8 group for the main force to bomb on, but visual identification of the target was not possible due to haze. Reconnaissance the following day showed that despite surrounding villages sustaining damage, the primary target, the Opel engineering works had sustained major damage.
Some raid statistics;
297 aircraft took off,
280 attacked target,
17 aborted/returned,
20 aircraft failed to return,
Of the 20 aircraft lost;
12 shot down by fighters (2 on approach to target, 2 over target, and 8 on return),
5 shot down by flak,
3 lost to unknown causes
Of the aircraft that returned;
18 had suffered varying degrees of flak damage (1 of which was severe),
2 had suffered fighter damage (1 of which was serious),
1 had suffered damage due to being hit by a drop bar from an incendiary case dropped from above,
2 aircraft collided on return approach but both managed to land.
