Lesley James Fieldhouse's crew from 514 Squadron

Does your father remember being on such a photo? It says '45 on the photo, but it doesn't have the exact date it was actually taken... But even if he's not on it, I'm sure some of his friends are.
( I must admit that I'd love the idea that my grandfather and Alex could be on that same picture !)

 

postings have been merged /moved and Andrew now has his own thread!

 

Hi Skipper,

thanks for the thread, I felt a bit like an intruder. That way I can feel free to ask questions without being a pain. Of course, I will still enquire about Marcel Liger, as I promised (and enjoy !) and try and give as much info to the Campbell's. Their thread is just absolutely fascinating and amazing to read.

 

Wow, I've only just realised you managed to transfer all the posts concerning my grandfather !!!
Brilliant !!! Thanks !!!

 

Andrew

for you records as Earl C. posted, January 2/3 1945 the 4 claims were made by two pilots of IV./NJG 6 in the area of Stuttgart and one was even claimed over Luxembourg

 

Hi Erich, I knew it wouldn't take long before you'd come here and give a hand.

Andrew: you are welcome, I'm glad you are enjoying having your own thread. I will wait until the kids go to bed and then I can check my files for more details.

 

well Skip hopeful Andrew will find it beneficial

also with the 31 December 44 crew listing I show 5 Lancasters claimed :: 3 by NJG 1, 1 by 3./NJG 3 on a gardening op and 1 shot down by Krause of I./NJG 11 flying a Bf 109G-14/AS south of Oberhausen for the date.....

 

WOW! Not sure how I missed this thread! Amazing stuff! Thank you so much for all of this, all of you. I'll be watching for further updates!

 

Hi Erich, I'm honoured of your visit here. I've just sent an e-mail to Wendy who has wrote that she had information on my grandad's crew.
Erich, you have to excuse me for my lack of knowledge, but them claims you are talking about, they were made during his ops, right? And what's a gardening op...(sorry...), I'm only a beginner !

 

Andrew

Earl Campbell had posted some dates I find that your grand-dad also had flown on, am I correct ? what I was giving you is the Luftwaffe night fighter response(s) for those dates as to numbers of Bomber Command bombers shot down as claimed.

A Gardening operation was one that twin or four engine Bomber Command aircraft took on to Mine the straits of Denmark. I. gruppe/NJG 3 who was stationed in Denmark and in the northern tip of Germany were ordered to protect that area from Allied air attacks from late 1944 till wars end at night.

Erich ~

 

Ok, now I REALLY apologise for the next few lines. I am not (yet) an expert on WWII, actually no, compared to all of you here, I know next to nothing about WWII...Only what they teach you in french schools.I've always been kept interested thanks to my grandfather's time in the RAF, but I've never done any research up to now.I also admit (with great shame) that I loved reading Alex's thread, but didn't always quite get everything...For instance I had to research things like "Schragge Musik", "Flak", "ME109" and loads of other definitions half of which were in german...(you can imagine how long it took to reach page 25 of Alex's thread...).
So if I understand what you're saying Erich, NJG 3 shot down one of the 2 Lancasters that were lost out of the 155 that carried out a G-H raid on the railway yards in Vohwinkel ( by the way, what does G-H stand for, I found that info on the RAF website...)
Also on the night of 2/3 of January 45, you say 4 Lancasters were claimed by NJG 6 pilots over Stuttgart and one over Luxemburg, but in another report, it says "4 Lancasters lost and 2 crashed in France", could that be another op?
Erich, Skipper, Wendy and anyone else, if I get hold of the rear gunner's name killed on one of grandad's op, do you think I can find out what happened?
And how can I find out if any of the crew are still alive?

 

Hi Andrew. To find the Gunner ,this is the strategy I follow( maybe someone will find him before I do, it's just a matter of time.) "All" we have to do is to check the losses from 514 Squadron in 1944-1945. Then see who was a gunner . Thirdly match these with your granddads shedule. It looks easy doesn't it? I am currently checking Chorley's Volume of Bomber Command Losses for 1944.

 

Hi Skipper

Well that does look easy...Where on earth do you get all these books from? When I go back to Manchester, I'm going to the library and whatever bookshops I come across...I guess internet is not the only way to get info!
This is what Wendy sent me.


11/30/1944 D Lancaster NG350 JI-C Ops Osterfelde A418705 P/O AE Munro Sgt
L Fieldhouse Sgt A Fairfax Sgt FE Coe W/O SA Pope Sgt OH Taylor
Sgt GW Scott

12/4/1944 D Lancaster NG350 JI-C Ops Oberhausen A418705 P/O AE Munro Sgt L
Fieldhouse Sgt A Fairfax Sgt FE Coe W/O SA Pope Sgt OH Taylor Sgt
GW Scott

12/5/1944 D Lancaster LM733 JI-F Ops Hamm A418705 P/O AE Munro Sgt L
Fieldhouse Sgt A Fairfax Sgt FE Coe W/O SA Pope Sgt OH Taylor Sgt
GW Scott

12/6/1944 N Lancaster PB419 JI-N Ops Merseburg A418705 F/O AE Munro Sgt L
Fieldhouse Sgt A Fairfax Sgt FE Coe W/O SA Pope Sgt OH Taylor Sgt
GW Scott

12/8/1944 D Lancaster NG350 JI-C Ops Duisburg A418705 F/O AE Munro Sgt L
Fieldhouse Sgt A Fairfax Sgt FE Coe W/O SA Pope Sgt OH Taylor Sgt
GW Scott

12/11/1944 D Lancaster PB756 JI-B Ops Osterfeld A418705 P/O AE Munro Sgt L
Fieldhouse Sgt A Fairfax Sgt FE Coe W/O SA Pope Sgt OH Taylor Sgt
GW Scott

12/31/1944 D Lancaster LM717 JI-C Ops Vohwinkle A418705 P/O AE Munro Sgt L
Fieldhouse Sgt A Fairfax Sgt FE Coe W/O SA Pope Sgt OH Taylor Sgt
GW Scott

Pilot- Munro
Flight Engineer-Fieldhouse
Navigator- Fairfax
Bombaimer-Coe
Wireless operator- Pope
Mid upper gunner-Taylor
Rear Gunner- Scott

I'm thinking that GW Scott was not the rear gunner that was killed during an op. We remember him as "Tommy", but I might be wrong...
Is there anything registered about this crew? Did they claim anything? Were they ever attacked (well I suppose they were if they lost their rear gunner...)?
At the end of the month, I'm spending my holiday in my grandmother's attic.
When my mother said that his jacket and boots had been thrown out years ago I felt sick. What a shame...! Anyway I hope I'll come across something useful!

 

By the way, I have something that might interest Erich.One of my friends at work brought me photos of her mother standing on the wing of an aircraft that was lying in the field behind her house. I'm not sure what aircraft it is.
It as F-*-G9 painted on it (* being a star).

 

Hello everybody. Well I'm back from a short holiday in Manchester, and my grandmother got out a box saying : "oh you won't find all this interesting, It's only a few pictures and papers...".
Well that was not exactly right. She handed a red little book that had loads of information about the planes, calculations, engine parts... and at the end was a very little diary for 1945 of a couple of pages written by my grandad.
and this is how it starts:

January 1945
Mon. the 1st : "Yesterday we bombed the marshalling yds at VOHWINKEL. Did an air test today-stranded at MEPLE".

Tues. the 2nd : "Arrived back at stn from MEPLE-on battle order. Took off at 16.00".

Wed. 3rd JANUARY 1945 - NUREMBURG :
"Tonight we went to Nuremburg. Having reached the target succesfully, we proceeded to bomb. -Bombs away after 3 runs over target.-Flak- moderate. As bomb doors closed an ME410 attacked from the STBD QTR UP. We corkscrewed past at 20000ft and the fighter closed in. A short burst from him and our 2 STBD engines burst into flames.
Ted dived the A/C and at approximately 12000ft we pulled out. During the dive we attained a speed which must have exceeded 400 mph. The terrific airflow and the fact that I had feathered (I'm not sure about "feathered") the two engines + the fire extinguishers quelled the fires. It took the pilot, the B/A and myself to haul Sugar out of her dive. - Having collected ourselves we checked the damage and found many things wrong. During the trip back from the target the B/A and myself repaired many broken feed lines, wires and air lines. On reaching the french coast we were below the height we had obtained at briefing. The A/A forces in France fired on us with light flak, which in the glare of the S/RS (?) could not be seen.
Suddenly the A/C dived which, although we could not afford to loose height, was rather lucky, because we escaped our own guns. On re-checking the A/C I found that external damage had been inflicted on the Port Rudder and elevator. Ted could not hold the A/C level. So the B/A took the strain by means of a rope and oxygen pipeline, which I tied from the B/As waist round the pilots seat and to the control column. A report from the skipper that the P.O engine was "knocking" made me check... The oil pressure was "0" and the temp: was off the clock. After 3 mins we feathered. Flak from an A/A gun in France had severed a main oil pipeline which I could not reach owing to its position in the wing. We were at 7,300ft and loosing height rapidly. Our position was approx 0235°E which made us almost 95 miles from the English coast.-In our condition about 50 minutes flying.
After a consultation, we decided to lighten the A/C. Th W/OP and myself smashed the rivets out of the H2S scanner which dropped away taking the tail wheel with it. We then dumped through the hole where the H2S scanner had been the following:
- Rounds of ammunition and guns from the Rear, M/U and front turrets - Marconi set "G" set, "H2S" set, bomb sight parachutes and harness (we were too low to bale out by this time). All fire extings oxygen bottles etc.
There was now nothing more we could do exept wait.
The P.Inner engine was behaving well and height loss was now much less. After what seemed hours we saw the lights of Woodbridge on the English coast. We were by this time at height of 200ft. We went straight in and belly landed-wheels up. The A/C was ruined but we were safe and ...(the words here have faded away) Thank ... (and the last few words have also faded away)."

 

How quick was that for an explanation !!! Thanks.
By the way, with cross reference, do you think it would be possible to know what squadron the ME410 came from?
And do you know why nothing is mentionned in his logbook? It came to me as a suprise and my grandmother said that he even got a medal ( one that you get when you land in sea or something of that kind apparently).
Also, I tried to find reference of that event on the internet and ... nothing!
They used to "debrief" after their ops so they must be trace of that somewhere!

 

Fantastic Andrew!
Thanks so much for sharing! It's so great that your Grandmother saved all those things!

 

Andrew the only German Luftwaffe night fighters in your relatives area was NJG 6 flying the Bf 110G-4 and the Ju 88G-6. the Me 410 squadrons had stopped flying raids over England as Intruders by the spring of 1944 and were never used as defense night fighters as they carried no radar sets..........they were entirely used as bombers by 1945.

most likely Skipper or Martin can give you the claims by the night fighters for the 3rd of Janaury 1945 as I do no have the second volume of Dr. Boitens book on the Nachtjagd .....yet. I have 4 claims made for bomber command craft from two German crews this night.

thank you for the continued sharing and to be more specific the two German pilots were Hauptmann Weigel of 11./NJG 6 and Hauptmann Martin Becker of Stab IV./NJG 6 flying a Ju 88G-6, each claiming 2 4-motors for Weigle and 2 Lancasters for Martin Becker. the information is direct from the NJG 6 War Diary.

Erich ~