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AIRY ABR
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AIRY, Andrew

Aircraft Information
Aircraft Vickers Wellington X
Serial Number HF544
Markings HD-
Memorial information
Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Runnymede Memorial
Grave Reference Panel 191..
Epitaph
IBCC Memorial Information
Phase 2
Panel Number 121
Enlistment information
Service Number 406634
Service Royal Australian Air Force
Group 4
Squadron 466 (Australian)
Trade Pilot
Country of origin if different Australia
Last Operation information
Start Date 25-06-1943
End Date 26-06-1943
Takeoff Station Leconfield
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 in the Ijsselmeer near Urk, Holland