The last flight of Lancaster ED559
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100 Squadron Memorial - Holton-le-Clay

31/5/2015

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Visited RAF Grimsby and located the 100 Squadron Memorial.
Picture
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Bomber Command Roll of Honour - Lincoln Cathedral

30/5/2015

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I visited the magnificent Lincoln Cathedral today. The cathedral was a prominent landmark for many aircrew during the war. Within the cathedral is the Airmen's Chapel (the Chapel of St. Michael) which contains the Roll of Honour of 25, 611 aircrew who lost their lives between 1939 and 1945. The seven members of ED559 are recorded within the book. I was allowed to photograph the names of each crewman.
Bomber Command Roll of Honour 1939-45 - Lincoln Cathedral
The cover of the Bomber Command Roll of Honour within Lincoln Cathedral - contains the names of all crewmen on ED559.
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WW2 Lancaster Crew Bomb Run Chatter

22/5/2015

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A remarkable recording of a Lancaster crew on the bomb run over Berlin and being attacked by a German night-fighter.

The recording, made by BBC correspondent Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, on the night of 3 September 1943, recorded live from a Lancaster bomber on a bombing raid. The BBC outside sound engineer was Reginald Pidsley

The Lancaster ED586, EM-F (F for Freddie) was from No. 207 Squadron Lancaster and piloted by Acting F/Lt Kenneth Harry Francis Letford 132892 RAFVR. They dropped their bombs at 23.28 at 20,000 ft. During the bomb run they were attacked by an unidentified enemy aircraft, which was claimed shot down by rear gunner Sgt Devenish and Mid Upper Gunner W/O Fieldhouse.
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WW2 Colour Photo of Lancaster and Sea Mines

18/5/2015

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Came across this remarkable colour image of the Lancaster 'Admiral Prune' with sea mines in 1942. There are so few photographs of sea mines so it was especially interesting to see one in colour. For some reason Getty have inadvertently reversed the image.
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WW2 Colour Photos Of Lancaster Bombers

16/5/2015

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Via a number of forums (for example, colour photographs of WW2 aircraft) and sites I have collated a number of colour photographs from the Second World War showing Lancasters in flight, being constructed and serviced and on various airfields. 
Colour photo of WW2 Lancasters
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Colour photo of WW2 Lancaster
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Colour photo of WW2 Lancaster
Colour photo of WW2 Lancaster
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Lancaster ED932 101 Squadron
Lancaster ED932 101 Squadron
Lancaster bombing up
Lancaster bombing up
King George VI Lancaster inspection
King George VI Lancaster inspection
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 The rear gunner of Avro Lancaster R5740 - KM-O.
The rear gunner of Avro Lancaster R5740 - KM-O.
Lancaster R5666 KM-F gets its screen cleaned and guns maintained.
Lancaster R5666 KM-F gets its screen cleaned and guns maintained.
Lancaster fuselages at Woodford
Lancaster fuselages at Woodford
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Picture
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Picture
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Charles Challoner - Manchester Police Memorial

10/5/2015

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Charles Challoner, ED559's bomb aimer, has unfortunately, not been easy to trace. However, I came across a match for a Pilot Officer CS Challoner on a memorial to members of the Manchester Police who died whilst on active service in the Second World War. I am assuming this is the same person as on ED559. Hopefully, this will provide an additional avenue for research.
UPDATE: I emailed the Greater Manchester Police Museum regarding Challoner and received some limited information confirming he was indeed a policeman before resigning to join the RAF. 

He joined the police on 18 April 1934 aged 19 and it shows he was from Shrewsbury and was a Salesman. He married on the 21 April 1937. He resigned from the police service on 5 October, 1941 to join the RAF and his record card notes he was Killed in Action on 4 March 1943.

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Errol Crapp - Singleton, New South Wales

9/5/2015

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Errol Crapp, Argus, 10 January 1944
I emailed the local historical society in Singleton, New South Wales asking if they had any information on Errol Crapp, ED559's navigator. Unfortunately, they informed my that Errol's father, the Rev. Arthur Frank Crapp, had only moved to the town in 1941 when he became a local Methodist minister. Due to this they surmised there would be relatively little about Errol in their records. They did send a small piece dated 10 January, 1944, from the local newspaper, the Argus, confirming that Errol Crapp was now presumed dead. The information from the same source did mention that Errol has two brothers in service, Bombardier Garth Crapp of the 7th Div (elder brother) and Gunner Alan G. Crapp (younger brother). The snippet also confirmed Errol Crapp's birthday as 17 February, 1919 in Grenfell, NSW. 
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100 Squadron's Researcher & Historian

5/5/2015

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I made contact with 100 Squadron Association's historian, Greg Harrison, over the bank holiday weekend. He supplied the movement card for ED559, something I had not seen. Greg has also be kind enough to answer my myriad questions about ED559, 100 Squadron, Lancasters and the RAF. 

One gem Greg sent me was a picture of Richard Curle during training at his OTU.
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    As and when information is found I'll post to this blog.

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  • About ED559
  • The Crew
  • Building ED559
  • RAF Grimsby (Waltham)
  • 100 Squadron
  • The Target
  • The Lost
  • Remembering ED559
  • Research about ED559
    • Caterpillar Club
    • Lancaster loss card
    • Crew memorials
    • F/Lt Richard A Curle RAFVR Record of Service
    • Harry Riding's Flying Log Book - 1942/43
    • Letter from Wing Commander J.G. Swain
    • Night Bomber Report
    • Guy Normandin
    • German defences in the Gironde
    • RAF Gardening Operations during the Second World War
    • Pilot Officer Robert Herbert Chapman
  • About me
  • Links
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Site Map