Lancaster Bomber 514 Squadron

These are the wheels I mentionned. They look very similar. The picture is taken from "Lancaster" by Dan Patterson

 

Thank you Mr Campbell !

Here is the wheel in question, I think ( bottom right ) as fitted to the later-Mark BBMF Lancaster....

http://www.flyingzonedirect.com/lancastercdrom/screen2.htm

 

Martin- photos #11 and #12 are looking aft from the starboard side of the cockpit. The spoked wheel is the aileron trim wheel used to adjust a wing up or down, rolling the a/c about the longitudinal axis. The larger and lugged disc wheel trims the elevators and rotates the a/c about it's lateral axis giving a nose up or nose down attitude. Directly behind the aileron trim is the rudder trim wheel(not visible in this photo) turning the plane to the left or right about the vertical axis.
And Skipper I can see how one could pick out the fuel cocks as being the wheels in question.One day in early Aug./44 two of us came across a frame building in Freteval Forest. It was near an abandoned ammo dump. Inside were various items of German army apparel including greatcoats,helmets, webbing, backpacks and this belt.The leather has since disappeared. On the same foray I saw my first(and only) wild boar, two of them and both dead. We were unable to determine the cause of their demise. One had a broken tusk.
Glad you are interested in these happenings. Will try to add a few more bits and pieces.
Cheers Alex Campbell

 

What a nice story! I didn't know about this dump. An interesting clue. I have also some new elements about Freteval. One lady told me that some German Romeos would go in the forest with their Juliets to have some privacy. Sometimes a German patrol was supposed to search the forest, so they stood in a row and machine gunned randomly whenever they heard a noise. May be you heard such shooting from far away?
The boars were usually hunted by the Germans with local hunters who were forced to show them the way. Several villagers also poached with dogs and pikes at the time because guns were obviously illegal for civilians. I often meet boars right next to my house when I go jogging,they usually flee and they taste great ! Our local forest is a national park and there are platforms where you can climb to watch herds of boars, deer etc..

 

We may have already posted this link, Dad wrote a few paragraphs about Freteval Forest:
http://www.hilaroad.com/RCAF/freteval/freteval.html

He mentions an incident with some "Romeos".

 

Yes, I have read the story but it is always a pleazure to browse it over again. The wasps must have been terrible. They are attracted by apples and I bet you must have had many of those.
There was a memorial service there last Summer. Although I didn't go, I was recently told about a woman who helped the flyers and who was still alive. They called her "la petite Jacqueline" in 1944. Does that ring a bell?

 

This is an interesting development in this story. You may recall an earlier discussion about a 100 Franc note with signatures of the evaders in Freteval Forest. Dad remembers taking a 100 Franc note between the two camps to be signed, strangely his name is not on this note, apparently he had forgot to sign it. The image of this note is on the Internet somewhere.

I just received an image of a 100 Franc note from my brother, it is covered with signatures. He found it in some old school stuff, apparently he had used the 100 Franc note as part of a foreign currency project at school and it was still in the project folder.
Dad has just looked at the image and thinks this must be the note he remembers getting signed. He remembers that the RAF escape kit included a 100 Franc note, there were a number of them in the camp.
There are probably more of these around.
I uploaded the image here,

Freteval 100 Franc Note
My brother's wife, working with a magnifying glass, attempted to record all the names. Her record is under the image. Let us know if you can help with the spelling or identity of some of these fliers.

Wayne

 

Well Skipper67 that name does ring a bell. It could very well be a girl we briefly met just before leaving Freteval. I remember thinking it would be gentlemanly to offer her a kiss in appreciation. She thought otherwise as I received a sharp slap on the cheek instead. C'est la guerre.
A nice surprise- the 100 fr note. I can still picture nearly every one of those fliers. Met some of them again at our reunion in Cleveland OH.
Thanks Bob and Wayne. Cheers EA Campbell

 

I will try to find out more about Jacqueline.
The bill is a great relic, I will have to compare my files with it. For a start I can add some information regarding Richards and Peloquin. One should read L for Lawrence. Lawrence C. Richards 44FG 506SQ was at Freteval with his friend Joseph Peloquin. They were two evaders from their May 11th 1944 crash near Alençon. (B-24H 4294999). You may remember Joe Peloquin, as he had small wounds from sharpnel on his face, neck , arm and elbow. the sharpnel near his jugular vein were never to be retrieved. Peloquin must have been limping too because of a bad ankle. Richards was from Emmaus, Pennsylvania and Peloquin from Biddeford, Maine. They were both Sergeants.

 

Skipper, Erich and others, I recently made a presentation to a group of 25 of our community educators, politicians and leaders. The presentation was about interesting uses for the Internet. I was able to feature this site and this story. Images of Dad, Strassner and his JU88 and Skipper's images from St. Cloud were displayed on a huge screen.
The group followed the flow of this thread from the beginning video, through the misidentification of the Lanc as a Halixax, identifying Strassner and the communication with Heinz Rokker, to the images from France. An impressive bit of detective work that was succesfull because of the contributions from a number of persistant and resourceful "detectives". Everyone in the room had a family story that could be expanded using a forum like this.
I imagine that this thread and the many other excellent stories being told on this forum will become part of the literature that future historians will study.

Wayne

 

That's very flattering Wayne - and indeed gratifying that we are in some way doing something worthwhile.....

 

Wayne bring those fine folk over here to this forum and we can have a bit of fun......... seriously ! I know many would like closure or at least some answers to "unsolved" events

there are enough here very willing to help indeed with access to many research details

Erich ~

 

Now I'm starting to feel guilty because I haven't been back to St Cloud since last Summer. I still need to identify the Arthur's farm and the exact spot of the crash for you.

 

I think we need more photos for this fine thread .......... ?

 

I posted the four pages from my presentation that pertain to this site, they don't make a lot of sense unless you have been following this thread.
http://hila.webcentre.ca/514/514_squadron.html
With the images on-screen I spoke about this site, the development of the story, the people who contributed etc. - the pages make sense with the narrative.
Wayne

 

A very nice presentation indeed. Are some of the veterans your former crew members?
I will take many more pictures next time I go to St Cloud. I will try to push it as far as Freteval. Erich, I will have a picture for you later today. It's a picture from the fities with a former Falk platform on top of a church tower at the Chateaudun runway. The Germans took off the roof because it was too high for aircraft which may not notice it on time. Also it was a strategic place for a flak gun. The roof was restaured in the fifties.

 

This is the church tower which used to have a Flak battery on it. It's at Lutz en Dunois, which is less than a mile from the Chateaudun base and one mile from Saint Cloud en Dunois. Many allied aircrafts fell near that place, including a B-24 bomber in march 1944.

 

Yes,on the 100fr note the names in red ink are some of my crew members.
Here's a bit about ammumition. While in an American hospital under canvas I saw a soldier who was being treated for wounds from wooden bullets. They had splintered on striking the bone in his arm. The medics told me such wounds were difficult to deal with as they did not show up on X-Ray. I somehow aquired a small number of these that ended up back home with me. The calibre was about.303 with a brass cartridge and a wooden bullet. They were painted in different colours. They were live shells and I won a round of drinks in the Legion by some who disputed my claim.
I'm sure I was told the enemy used them but I can't comfirm that. They may have been practice rounds. This would be third week in August/44 at an unknown distance from Orleans (Patton's 3rd Army). More info on wooden bullets? They existed. Enough for tonite. Cheers Alex Campbell

 

The wooden bullet story is amazing. I have heard several veterans who mentionned those. These were fit for rifles only. This is why most veterans stories are post D-Day, but they existed before in all kinds of colours, red, black and others I dont remember. These were firstly practise rounds, although not blanks. They were ok for short range combat and have apparently been used in combat by soldiers who had nothing else left to fire with. Splinters were painful and could easily get infected. However they were not as deadly as metal bullets, but good enough to get a man off the field. The germans used these for practise because they were cheap and helped to save metal.
If the wounded GI you mention was hit near Freteval, it must have been around August 13th. Orleans was liberated on August 16th.

 

Dad e-mailed images of shoes he bought in France in 1944.
Shoes
" I bought these in either Le Mans or Orleans.
The name inside reads J. TACHON with S 9 R 1 4 4 just below it. The underside reads S 9 R"

Look like wood soles. He will post more details.

Wayne