Lancaster Bomber 514 Squadron

My Father was a Lanc II pilot with 514 and was downed in Jan 1944 then spent the rest of the war as a POW in Stallag Luft III. Trying to catch up on his experiencies as he spoke little of this time of his life while he was alive. He passed away over 30 years ago now and never fully recovered from his experiencies. Inmemory ofhim I do voluteer as a restoration crew member of a Lancaster at the Toronto Aerospace Museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

 

LR

welcome aboard. If you would like to start up a new thread on your Father and squadron/bomb group that would be a good start, maybe with all the expertize on the forum help in regards to service background and the missions he flew.

Erich // and your Father must appear as pilot on the raid to Magdeburg on 21/22nd January 44 ~

 

Welcome Lancrestorer. You may also introduce yourself in the new member section. Feel free to give us more details about your dad's story.

 

Good to hear from you. I'm sure you will be pleased with results of your query. It's in good
hands as already shown by the quick response from two of our experts.
Cheers Alex Campbell

 

Hello Alex,

I think it's about time I start a new lead and look for witnesses around the quary and the actual crash place. Maybe some people there might remember something. I hope someone kept a relic before dumping the Lanc, you never know.

 

Roger Skipper, out. EAC

 

Hi Alex . Look at the present I got last week! Are these the wooden bullet you are mentioning in this thread? They are Mauser wooden "plast patronen" . There are also French equivelants for the Lebel rifle and the 36.5. The Mauser clip is mine too.

 

They sure do look like it to me. Believe I had one red and one purple. Also I thought the nose was more pointed as on the red one. Are these all centre fire shells like the one we exploded in the Legion hall? Glad you showed us these it proves I wasn't dreaming. Good work Skipper! EAC

 

Luckily I have a good memory Jeff: She is a relative of Sgt Bob Lane from Thomas Harvell's crew, 514 Squadron who was shot down on the night of July 28th/29th 1944 . I would be happy to help and to put everybody in contact. The person can send me a pm and I will send my email.

 

Has this site been mentioned before on the forum?
Lost Bombers - World War II Lost Bombers
This entry is for the Lancaster Dad was flying July 28, 1944. We could fill in some of the missing details.

The site seems to have a well thought out interface with a range of search capabilities and extensive data base of aircraft.

 

a fine site I know quite well, nothing new for me there however. I visit this site quite often as it's faster than checking Chorley's books which inspired it. Thanks for mentionning it though.

 

Skipper,
I thought you would be familiar with it. The site mentions that some information from 1944 is missing about the Lanc that Dad was flying.
We could provide some of that information. I assume the aircraft is "C2" in Dad's log book. I see some early mentions of C2 - May 22, 1944 - Dortmund, June 15, 1944 Valenciennes etc.
There is an e-mail address at the site, I'll send them some information from the period mentioned.
Wayne

 

Yes Wayne I'm sure that site is a useful source of info. Hope you are successful with their email address.I have tried before to correct our Bomb Aimer's name from Chassinger to F/O J.E. Chapman. The mix-up re J1-C2 and A2-C remains a mystery to me. Maybe the shifting from one squadron to another and so on caused some confusion. However not to complain. England survived that whole ordeal with heads held high. Cheers Alex Campbell

 

Yes I think flight "A" used this code only. It took me a while to figure it out too. Everybody seems to use to the wrong code. I used it myself until you told me the difference. I think the webmaster will be happy to have the correct information

 

Is there a central collection of 514 Sqn photos? I think it would be invaluable if all available photos were collected somewhere. The squadron is usually overlooked in published accounts of the bomber campaign (I have just finished reading 'Men of Air'which is otherwise excellent, including as it does a chapter on the Stuttgart ops mentioned above, but which does not mention 514 Sqn once! Would others with an interest in the squadron be interested in colaborating on this?

Alex: Thanks for posting your material and making it accessible via this forum. My great uncle was on the Stuttgart ops ('A' flight) and the route maps were very helpful.

This forum is first rate; thanks to all contributors.

 

Robo283
Glad to hear from you knowing that you enjoy and appreciate the work and efforts of others. Had not thought of collecting the photos but does sound worthy of consideration.
I'm afraid such an endeavour is a bit beyond my expertise. As Erich once commented (years ago?) "This thread needs more photos". Example: Glad to see "Sapper" in a recent photo.
Thanks Robo for helping cheer up a very cold and dreary winter here in Ontario.
Cheers Alex Campbell

 

route maps for the Stuttgart mission.............where if I may ask. Dang have I been gone that long ?

 

It's part of the Operational report from the RAF availlable at the national archives . I have them for two of the three July 44 ops.

 

will he write an autobiography anytime soon