LANCASTER LM 178 of 300 Squadron

Thank you, Alex and Happy New year to you and all the wonderful folks here.

Cheers,
Don

 

Sam's crew began operations in May 1944 with 626 Sqn. based at RAF Wickenby in Lincolnshire. Pilot William Robinson flew 2nd dickey on May 24th with the crew of P/O Torrance on a mission to Aachen. On May 27th they flew their first operation (to Aachen again) as a full crew...

Pilot P/O William W. Robinson J.19883
F/Eng Sgt. Ernest L. Morter 1800371
Bomb Aimer F/O Thomas F. Gallagher J.28805
Navigator F/O C.M. "Joe" Forman J.25870
Wireless Op Sgt. Leslie T.J. Page 1581304
Mid Upper Gunner Sgt. James I. Rheubottom R.196199
Rear Gunner Sgt. Samuel Dunseith R.151859

According to the ORBs, they flew six more missions, all in the same aircraft, Lancaster III PA989 "U2". Their last mission with 626 Sqn was on June 11th, 1944. PA989 was lost on a mission to Russelheim on Aug 25, 1944. Two of the crew were killed and the rest became POWs.

In mid-June, they arrived at Faldingworth with several other Commonwealth crews sent to bolster the ranks of Polish 300 Sqn. At that time, 300 Sqn had been only able to muster up to eight crews for Bomber Command. These crews were kept in "A" Flight while the other Commonwealth crews formed "B" Flight. (Many thanks to Gregor for the 300 Sqn ORBs he sent to me.)

Coincidentally, they arrived at almost the exact same time as Lancaster B Mk. I, LM178. According to 300 Sqn. ORBs, Sam's crew flew this aircraft, BH-U "Uncle" exclusively until they were shot down.

Their first operation with 300 Sqn was flown on June 22/23 on the marshalling yards of Reims, France. Their next several missions were on more marshalling yards and V1 rocket sites in France. Their 10th and final mission was their first foray into Germany, Stuttgart, on the night of July 24/25.

Sam remembers preparing for this mission. He was seated in his turret, getting ready, when Joe Forman came around the wing with a strange young man following him. Their regular bomb aimer, Tom Gallagher was apparently too ill to fly that night. Joe said, "Sam, this is Jimmy Duguid, our bomb aimer for tonight." Sam reached between his four Browning .303s (he had removed the center perspex panel), shook his hand and said, "Pleased to meet you Jimmy." When Sam told me this story, he looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and said, "That was the first and last time I ever saw the guy." It was Jimmy Duguid's second mission. He had been pilfered from another new RCAF crew for the night's mission. Such are the vagaries of war. Tom Gallagher went on to survive WWII and return to Canada. He passed away in Toronto in August 1997 at the age of 75.

 

As a sad footnote to this story, I see from the Last Post (Legion magazine) that Joe passed away in Oct 2006, coincidentally on my father's birthday. I salute you, sir. May you rest in peace.

 

Yes, sad it is. I was aware of his death, note of the watch story. May Jo rest in peace.

 

I can say with complete honesty that meeting Sam changed my life. I had just recently retired and was looking for something to fill my time. Meeting him rekindled a long dormant passion for the air war in Europe and my love of modelling. Also, living in Windsor has also afforded me the great opportunity of volunteering for the restoration of Lancaster FM212, a longtime fixture in Jackson Park. When the Lanc was taken down off its pedestal in 2005, it became quickly apparent that a complete restoration was required. Forty years of exposure to the elements has taken its toll. It was a no-brainer for me to volunteer my time on such a worthwhile endeavour.

On September 29 last, we had the great pleasure of hosting the Mynarski Lancaster VR-A, one of only two still flying in the world, at the YQG Open House. To add to that pleasure, Sam and some of his buddies came down for the day. It was a real honour to have him and Lancaster pilot Jim Henderson show up. Jim flew 35 missions (with 419 Sqn if my memory serves me) and was a non-stop source of stories and information all day. I hope to meet with him soon to chronicle some of his experiences.

After VR-A made its spectacular welcome pass, it taxiied in to the visitor's area and stopped directly in front of Sam and Jim. One of the ground crew informed the pilot of their presence and he immediately walked up to both of them, shook their hands and thanked them for their service. It was an incredibly moving and emotional moment which I will never forget.

Here is a link to a couple of videos I took with my iPhone. The second is of VeRA's farewell pass after she left. Turn up the volume on your computer and dig the sound of four roaring Merlins!

Lanc arrives | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Farewell pass | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Here are a few pics of the day.



Jim and Sam




At the tail of FM212



An emotional moment (photo compliments of Barry Pigeon)



Sam and yours truly

Cheers,
Don

 

It's been a while since my last post. Today was a great day as I received some photos from Sam's son, showing the whole crew at OTU and just after arriving at Faldingworth.

Here they all are at OTU..



And after arriving at 300 Sqn Faldingworth..



And finally, one of the Freteval Evaders at their Cleveland Reunion. (This photo was also published by Alex Campbell I believe). Sam (kneeling) and Joe are 3rd and 2nd from the right in the middle row.



Many thanks to Darrel for sending these to me!

Cheers,
Don

 

Wonderful pictures. Thank you for these new addtions.

 

It is with a heavy heart that I report the passing of my friend Samuel Sovereign Dunseith, who died Monday, April 8th, 2013, in his 93rd year. The crew of Lancaster LM178 are re-united one more time. Rest in peace my friend. It was an honor to know you.

 

That is sad news. Be at peace, Mr. Dunseith. :S!

 

This is sad news. As a matter of coincidence I drove through Marchenoir and Saint Laurent yesterday and thought of Sam. May he rest in peace. He"ll always be a hero to me.

 

Thank you so much for posting all of this information.. I am Jo Forman's daughter and the people that found my dad's watch in France are the ones who directed me to this site.. It is amazing all of the information that Sam gave to you.. Sam and my Dad stayed in touch all the time until my dad's passing in 2006. and we were so saddened to hear of Sam's passing.. He was part of our family. I am overwhelmed with emotion at the detail of their flight and what they endured when shot down , and the pictures of the crew are ones that even I dont recall seeing before... thank you so much!!!! (oh yes.. to the commentor who said my fathers name was clement mergatrude ..or something...haha.. acutally it was Clement Murray Forman(without and e) and the nickname "Jo" came from his football days in highschool and university...just wanted to clear that up...

 

Wonderful to have you here. I will always remember Jo Forman. I went to Faldingworth in 2005 and brought relics from another 300 Sq to the base. The relic was incoporated in the memorial which stands at the end of the former runway. They have a book in the church which mentions your dad's aircraft and has a picture of the crew. Also the stained glass of the Faldingworth church had the red and white of 300 Sq .

 

Hi, I’m Ernest Leonard Morter's grandaughter, Gill. Ernest was the flight engineer on the Lancaster Bomber with Sam Dunseith. I have just recently come across Don Christopher's article on the Aircrew Remembered website and this forum, giving details about the night that the Lancaster LM 178 was shot down and of what the crew went through. I feel really grateful to Don Christopher for making this information available. It has meant a lot to my mum, Ernest’s daughter, who now has some insight into what happened to her dad.

It has also been so interesting to hear about Sam and Joe and their bravery. I only wish that I had searched for this information a little earlier so that I could have perhaps had the chance to make contact with Sam, which would have been a privilege. Unfortunately, when I did carry out the occasional search on Earnest Leonard Morter, over the last couple of years, I only found official details, naming squadron etc. Obviously, I realise that a thorough search would have probably come up with more telling information. The information I now have is so valuable to me, and has been great to share with my family. And as upsetting as some of this information is, I’m so glad to now have it and be able to pass it on to my children in the future.

It has been our intention to visit Ernest’s grave, after my mum got the grave details from a relative that we met up with a few years ago. But for various reasons, we haven’t got there yet and have been planning to visit his grave for the seventieth anniversary of his death. However now, for me, it will be a trip to honour all of the crew of Lancaster LM178.

Thanks again to Big Daddy and others on this forum who have provided information about Lancaster LM178; the events of that night and the crew.

 

To rinkrat2013 and gill.

I am so pleased to hear that you have found this wonderful forum. It was a great honour to know Sam and to be able to share some of his stories. In the brief 2 years that I knew him, he made a huge impact on me and whenever he spoke of his crew-mates on LM178, it was very emotional for him.

Sam spent many years working for the Township of Sombra, Ontario. The Sombra Museum will soon be celebrating its 100th anniversary and they are planning a display to honour Sam and the rest of the crew of LM178. I am trying to find as much memorabilia, pictures, etc. as I can to donate to this display. If anyone has anything they would like to contribute, please contact me.

Sam's widow, Grace, informed me that she has an piece of Sam's parachute that was donated by a man from France. It will be displayed along with his medals and the model of LM178 that I gave him.

Thanks again to everyone here who has been so helpful.

Cheers,
Don

 

Hi Don, great to see Sam is not forgotten.

 

Thanks, Skipper. Did you get my PM?

Don

 

Yes, I have I will send you an answer asap.

 

Hi Don,

The display sounds great. When will they need photos etc.? I will try to find any photos I can, though I'm not sure how much will be available. My mum isn't sure what happened to my granddad's medals, but it seems likely that they went missing a long time ago. I'm going to contact her cousin in case he has been given anything. He sent her an album a few years back, which records a lot of Ernest's time in India, while he was in the army. But this has no relevance to his time in the RAF after 1940. I'll also contact my aunt, wife of my late uncle (Ernest's son) in case she knows what happened to them.

As a request myself - I would love to find out as much about my granddad as I possibly can, and kick myself daily for not doing something thoroughly before now. Therefore, if you or rinkrat2013 perhaps heard Sam or Joe mention Ernest or have stories of the crew generally I would love to know. Also to TD-Tommy776, Skipper, LRusso216, or anyone else from this forum - if any suggestion could be made as to where or how I might obtain more information about my granddad, such as the best WWII magazines to perhaps place an ad in. I will also place a 'hello' in your New Members Forum in case somebody out there spent some time with him. And thank you to this fab forum for keeping this history alive.

For the first time, I went to the Airbourne Show over Eastbourne beach, East Sussex with the family and saw the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight with the Lancaster Bomber. How amazing it was - with that awesome deep rubbling sound. The Lancaster just stood out over any other plane that day.