Wellington LQ-P W5521
On the night of 6th / 7th July 1941 this crew were one of a number of 405 Squadron crews tasked with an operational flight to bomb Dortmund. This aircraft left base at 22.57hrs but bombed Wesel instead of Dortmund at 01.23hrs from 10,000 feet and the bombs were seen to burst near a railway marshalling yard. The aircraft was holed in the fuselage, probably by flak and on the return flight the Gyro failed. The crew landed safely at Pocklington at 04.24hrs and one assumes could see the burning Wellington W5490 on the ground as they landed. The identity of the aircraft given in the squadron ORB was "LQ-P", two months later "LQ-P" failed to return from Ops to Berlin and with two of the crew listed below on board; all became PoW's. "LQ-P" was Wellington W5521 in September 1941 and was probably the same aircraft in July 1941.
Pilot - Sgt William Lawrence Scott RCAF (R/61631), of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Second Pilot - P/O George Howard Fleming RCAF (J/4870), of Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada.
? - P/O C Lockyer.
? - Sgt Ronald Perkin RAF (551888).
? - Sgt Joseph Stanley Courtnall RAFVR (939096). POW# 9575
Rear Gunner - P/O J S McArdle (04506?) (Jack McArdle?).
On the night of 24th / 25th July 1941 Scott, Lockyer, Perkin and Courtnall were flying Wellington "LQ-L" on Ops to Brest to attack the Gneisenua, they were attacked by a "He113" over Brest though the aircraft broke away from the attack without scoring any hits on the Wellington, the Wellington was then attacked by an Me109 and its cannon and machine gun fire damaged the fuselage and seriously injured their then rear gunner Sgt Hubert Dearnley. The Wellington was severely damaged, on crossing the English coast Sgt Scott force landed the Wellington at Roborough in Devon probably so the rear gunner could get medical attention, Sgt Dearnley was trapped inside the aircraft so the fuselage was further damaged to extract him. Sadly their efforts were in vein as Sgt Dearnley died later in hospital from his injuries. Their attacker the Heinkel He113 never actually existed as a type of aircraft and was a mythical aircraft so must have been another smaller Luftwaffe fighter aircraft.
The rest of the crew returned to Pocklington and 405 Squadron the following day in an aircraft that was flown down to Plymouth to collect them. Sgt Courtnall and F/Sgt Perkin were on board Wellington W5521 on 7th / 8th September 1941 when they failed to return and spent the rest of the War as PoW's. Sgt Courtnall's full identity was probably Joseph Stanley Courtnall who died in Chesterfield, UK in 2003, someone with the same name (possibly his father) served in the RAF in WW1.
Sgt Scott was the pilot of a Wellington that was damaged by flak on Ops to bomb Berlin on 7th / 8th November 1941 and was further damaged on landing at Hutton Cranswick airfield. He later converted to fly the Halifax and the then WO1 Scott was reported missing flying Ops to Bremen when Halifax W1110 crashed into the North Sea off Holland on 27th June 1942. He was twenty three years old and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
P/O McArdle was posted out of 405 Squadron on 25th July 1941 and nothing more is known about him.
George Fleming was posted out of 405 Squadron on 28th July 1941 but must have returned soon after as on 15th August 1941 he was the pilot of Wellington W5496 that failed to returnn from Ops to Hannover. He was the son of Howard and Martha Fleming of Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. His body was never found and he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, he was twenty four years old.
Wellington W5521 was built to contract B.71441/40 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd at Weybridge, it was awaiting collection in April 1941 and was delivered to 405 Squadron at Driffield on or about the 23rd April 1941 when the unit was formed. On 20th June 1941 it moved with the unit to Pocklington. The incident detailed above is not recorded in it's history given in the Air Britain service history books detailing RAF aircraft serial numbers. It was written off with Cat.E(m) damage when it failed to return from Berlin on 8th September 1941.
405 Vancouver Squadron RCAF (Ducimus), RAF Pocklington. Wellington Mk II aircraft W 5521 LQ-P was lost during an operation against targets in Berlin, Germany. The bomber was intercepted and shot down near the target area by night fighter ace Oberleutnant Helmut Woltersdorf of the 7/NJG1. Everyone survived.