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F/O. Lonsdale C. Cowperthwaite
Royal Canadian Air Force 407 Squadron
from:Toronto
(d.12th Feb 1942)
Lonsdale Cowperthwaite served in the RCAF in 407 squadron, stationed at RAF North Coates in Lincolnshire, flying the Lockheed Hudson light bomber. On 12th of February 1942 he and his two man crew took part in Operation Fuller, attempting to stop the Channel Dash of the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.
In the letter that Dale's mother received, his commanding officer, Wing Commander A C Brown, wrote: "I can give you few details except that he took off at 13:15 yesterday afternoon with eight other aircraft and did not return. One of my other officers of whom you may have heard, Squadron Leader Anderson, is also missing. Their operation to them into the centre of a great battle of the air. There was good cloud cover, but this was not sufficient to bring back either Dale or Andy safely. All I know is that one pilot saw Dale leaving the cover of the cloud and going down of his own accord toward sea level. If he did do this then this probably accounts for any subsequent trouble he ran into. Pilot Officer Lister and his two regular wireless operators were with him on the flight."
