Operation: Shipping Strike
Date: 1st May 1943 (Saturday)
Unit No: 143 Squadron, Coastal Command
Type: Beaufighter XI
Serial: JL943
Code: HO:Q
Base: RAF North Coates, Grimsby
Location: Sea 20 miles off Stavanger, Norway
Pilot: WO. Victor Albert Bain 741596 RAFVR Age 24. PoW No: 1167 * (1)
Obs: Sgt. Cecil Albert Room 1189747 RAFVR Age 23. PoW No: 1198 * (2)
* Stalag Luft 6, Heydekrug, Memelland now Šilutė in Lithuania
Above: WO. Victor A. Bain as a Sgt. (Courtesy of Mike Seymour)
REASON FOR LOSS:
On the 1st May 1943 JL943 was one (1) of eight (8) Beaufighters that took-off from RAF North Coates at 19:00 hrs detailed to attack, a code worded target called "Nuremburg", which was a German Naval Unit off the SW coast of Norway.
The flight, led by Sqn Ldr. P.J.E. Ritchie, was attacked by a force of Fw190s from Jagdfliegerführer Norwegen.
Note: Jagdfliegerführer (Jafü) Norwegen was formed in June 1941 from units of Jagdgeschwader 5 (JG 5).
Note: Sqn Ldr. Patrick John Emmerton Ritchie DFC, 42767 RAFVR was KiA and his navigator Fg Off. Eric Wilson Marsden 126699 was posted MiA on the 13th June 1943 when their 143 Sqn Beaufighter XI JL882 failed to return from an operation over the North sea.
WO. Bain’s Beaufighter was shot down at about 23:15 hrs and was one (1) of three (3) Beaufighters lost on this operation:
The others were:
Beaufighter JM108 HO:U - flown by Flt Sgt. Joseph Foster MiD, 1380014 RAFVR who was KiA and his Navigator Sgt. Brinley Ivor Curnock 1284841 RAFVR was posted MiA;
Beaufighter JL945 HO:W - flown by Flt Sgt. Wilson John Ceybird 1195282 RAFVR, which was badly shot up by the Fw190s and forced landed at Tealing near Dundee. His Navigator Flt Sgt. Jack Baker 1354329, RAFVR was killed in the engagement with the German fighters.
Note: Fg Off. Wilson John Ceybird DFM, 155474 RAFVR was posted MiA on the 17th March 1945 along with his Navigator Flt Lt. Norman Harwood 144442 RAFVR, after their 143 Sqn Mosquito FB.VI PZ438 was shot down by Flak over Aalesund, Norway.
It appears that the aircraft was successfully ditched some 20 miles out to sea off Stavanger in Norway. The crew took to their dinghies and some fifteen (15) hours later they were picked up by a German sea plane and taken to Stavanger.
Above: WO. Bain’s Goldfish Club card
WO. Bain was suffering from exhaustion and taken to hospital whilst Sgt. Room was sent to Stavanger gaol. The following day, on the 3rd May, they were sent to separately to Oslo. At intervals they were sent by aeroplane to Berlin and then by train to Dulag Luft at Oberursel.
(1) A ‘General Questionnaire for British/American Ex-PoWs’ for WO. Bain is not available but a record has been found that records that he was held at Stalag Luft 6, Heydekrug.
WO. Victor Bain Victor standing 1st on the left: Note: The original caption describes that he was at Stalag Luft 3, 1943, however, the only record found lists him being at Stalag Luft 6
However, WO. Bain submitted an Affidavit to a British Military Court that tried five (5) German Nationals for war crimes committed at Dulag Luft, Oberursel (insert Link when complete) which described his treatment during the time he was being interrogated.
This treatment is the same as that described by his Navigator, Sgt. Room, whose ‘General Questionnaire for British/American Ex-PoWs’ does exist and is documented below at serial (2). Until new information is found then it is probable that his PoW experiences were substantially similar to those of Sgt. Room.
After the war WO. Bain was appointed to a commission and promoted to 196750 Plt Off. on the 24th March 1945 (London Gazette 22nd May 1945).
Fg Off. Bain was killed aboard 525 Sqn Dakota IV KN500 which crashed at Teloché in France on the 30th January 1946. He was the Co-Pilot of one of the two crews flying that day. Eight (8) crew members and three (3) passengers were all killed
(2) In his ‘General Questionnaire for British/American Ex-PoWs’ he reported that he was taken to Olso where he was initially interrogated by a Luftwaffe Officer and a Kriegsmarine Officer.
He was then transferred to Dulag Luft, Oberursel arriving there on the 12th May. He described that he was interrogated by Luftwaffe and what appeared to be civilian interrogators and subjected to his cell being heated to extreme heating, designed to weaken his resolve, for six (6) days.
Note: This was the same treatment that WO. Bain described in his Affidavit to the British Military Court that tried five (5) German Nationals for war crimes committed at Dulag Luft, Oberursel (insert Link when complete)
On the 23rd May 1943 he was then transferred to Stalag Luft 1, Barth-Vogelsang arriving there on the 26th May 1943. On the 4th November 1943 until the end of the war it became a camp for commissioned officers of the Allied Air Forces and the SNCOs were transferred to Stalag Luft 6 at Heydekrug in Memelland. He was amongst the PoWs that arrived at the camp on the 9th November.
In early 1944 the Russian Army were advancing into the Baltic States from the North and the East preparation for evacuating the camp was being made. PoWs from Stalag Luft 6, the camp closest to the Russian advance, were in the "northern route" of the force-marches, and were transported to Stalag 20A at Thorn (Toruń) in Poland by train on the 16th July 1944 and from there took part in the forced-march to Stalag Luft 4 at Groß-Tychow in Pomerania arriving there on the 19th July.
On the 6th February 1945 he was amongst the PoWs that were force-marched from the camp and arrived at Stalag 11B at Fallingbostel in Schleswig on the 29th March 1945.
About a week later on the 8th April 1945 the PoWs continued on the forced-march heading eastwards away from the Allied advances on the western front. On the 13th April 1945 he along with a WO. D.J. Paul PoW No 39731 evaded the columns. They hid in a farmyard until they were apprehended by German civilians and a Wehrmacht guard.
Note: Warrant Officer (WO) Dennis John Paul DFM, 745094 RAFVR was the pilot from 15 OTU Wellington IC R1791 which was shot down by a German night-fighter on the night of the 30th/31st May 1942, the first 1000 bomber raid on Köln. Three (3) of his crew were KiA and the Tail Gunner, Sgt. Bernard Evans DFM, MiD, 755262 RAFVR, successfully evaded and returned to the UK on the19th August 1942.
They hid with the guard for three (3) days until the arrival of Allied troops when the guard voluntarily became a prisoner. The now promoted Warrant Officer (WO) Room was interviewed on the 26th April 1945.
He remained in the RAF after the war and on the 29th June 1950 he was appointed to a permanent commission in the Secretarial Branch and promoted to Plt Off. (London Gazette 25th July 1950). He was promoted to Fg Off. on the 29th June 1951 (London Gazette 10th July 1951).
He was promoted to Flt Lt. on the 29th December 1954 (London Gazette 28th December 1954). Promoted to Sqn Ldr. on the 1st January 1961 (London Gazette 30th December 1960). At his own request Sqn Ldr. Room retired from the RAF on the 14th October 1967 (London Gazette 17th November 1967).
Cecil Albert Room was born on the 15th February 1920 in Witney, Berkshire. He was employed as a sorting clerk and telegraphist with the General Post Office (GPO) prior to enlisting in the RAFVR on the 25th September 1940. Cecil passed away on the 5th December 2004 in the New Forest, Hampshire, England.
Above: Courtesy of The Daily Telegraph, dated 9th December 2004
Below: Images taken by the Gun Camera of a Beaufighter conducting a strike against enemy shipping.
Left: representative Beaufighter Cockpit
A: Reflector site socket / dimmer switch.
B: Reflector Gunsite.
C: Direct vision windows.
D: Wing camera gun button (Independent).
E: Gun 'Fire' button and auto camera.
F: Wheel brake lever.
Researched by Kelvin Youngs (Webmaster) and dedicated to the crew and their families with appreciation for the great assistance of Colin Bain, son of Victor Bain, for supplying us with a great deal of information and photographs. Also thanks to Mike Seymour for additional details of crew (Sep 2017). Reviewed and updated with new information by Aircrew Remembered (Oct 2026).
Other sources listed below:
