Aircraft | Handley Page Halifax II |
Serial Number | JB858 |
Markings | EQ-S |
Burial/Memorial Country | Germany |
Burial/Memorial Place | Reichswald Forest War Cemetery |
Grave Reference | 12. D. 4.. |
Epitaph | HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR THOSE HE LOVED. I WILL NOT SAY HE IS DEAD; HE IS JUST AWAY |
Phase | 2 |
Panel Number | 121 |
Service Number | J/18289 |
Service | Royal Canadian Air Force |
Group | 6 |
Squadron | 408 (Goose) |
Trade | Air Gunner |
Country of origin if different | Canada |
Aiken D (P/O) |
Culbert F C (F/O) |
Hunter J D B (P/O) |
Male J F (F/S) |
McNess J H (P/O) |
Milligan B R (P/O) |
Start Date | 25-06-1943 |
End Date | 26-06-1943 |
Takeoff Station | Leeming |
Day/Night raid | Night |
Operation | Gelsenkirchen. 473 aircraft, 30 losses (6.3%). The first raid in around two years on this Ruhr town. Cloud cover and unserviceable Oboe equipment in 5 of the 12 Mosquitoes meant that the target was not well marked. As a result the local report puts the number of buildings destroyed at just 24. 16 deaths on the ground. Some nearby towns were hit in error, particularly Solingen with more people being killed there than in Gelsenkirchen itself. A good illustration of the dependency on PFF marking for raid success. |
Reason for Loss | Shot down by a night-fighter and crashed at Holtwick, NNW of Coesfeld, Germany |