AR banner
Search Tips Advanced Search
Back to Top

Info LogoAdd to or correct this story with a few clicks.
Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.
Check our Research databases: Database List

.

We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.

44 Squadron Crest
27/28.06.1944 No. 44 Squadron Lancaster I ME743 KM-G Fl/Lt. Merrick

Operation: Marquise

Date: 27/28th June 1944 (Tuesday/Wednesday)

Unit: No. 44 Squadron

Type: Lancaster I

Serial: ME743

Code: KM-G

Base: RAF Dunholme Lodge, Lincolnshire

Location: North Sea off France/Belgium

Pilot: Fl/Lt. Francis Xavier Merrick 151469 RAFVR Age 33. Missing - believed killed

Fl/Eng: Sgt. Ronald David John Campbell Carling 934352 RAFVR Age 24. Missing - believed killed

Nav: F/O. John Poulter 142340 RAFVR Age 34. Missing - believed killed

Air/Bmr: F/O. Raymond Neil Bartlett J/24141 RCAF Age 30. Missing - believed killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Clifford Dickinson 1511926 RAFVR Age 21. Missing - believed killed

Air/Gnr: (mid-upper) Fl/Sgt. Harold Peter Warll R/206109 RCAF Age 20. Missing - believed killed

Air/Gnr (rear): Sgt. John William Thomas 1588612 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Another operation attacking the various V1 Flying Bomb sites in Northern France. The allies had been hitting them for several days in succession. Tonight some 721 aircraft made up from 477 Lancasters, 207 Halifaxes and 37 Mosquitoes from various squadrons attacking 6 different sites - all reported to have been a success.

A further 214 Lancasters with 9 Mosquitoes from 1, 5 and 8 Group were also active - bombing various railway yards in support of the landings at Normandy earlier in the month.

Lancaster ME743 took off at 22:57 hrs to bomb the site at Marquise.

The German Luftwaffe were hampered by both a mandrel screen and also a force of Operational Training Unit aircraft sent to add to the confusion at around midnight, once they crossed the Channel their work was done and returned at 00:30 hrs. It wasn’t until oo:13 hrs that the German controllers could place a plot on the approaching bombers but they were still confused as to their target. Eventually they engaged the bomber streams but not in sufficient numbers to inflict many casualties.

The allied bomber crews managed to claim four Ju88s, one Me410 and one Fw190. The night fighters shot down four Lancasters and two Mosquitoes on the operations to the railway yards with the loss of twenty four aircrew killed, four taken PoW and four others evading capture.

Two aircraft were lost on the flying bomb operations. Lancaster ME743 was shot down by a night fighter and it is probable that they were shot down by the Luftwaffe ace Obstlt. Helmut Lent (1) of Stab NJG3 at 01.10 hrs, with combat taking place at 5,200 mtrs. during their return trip. Also listed as a probable night fighter attack is by Oblt. Jakob Schaus (2) of 4./NJG4 with combat taking place at 2.800 metres with the aircraft crashing into the sea off France/Belgium at 01.25 hrs.

Only one of the crew from ME743 was recovered. Sgt. John Thomas’s body washed up at Terschelling on the 07th September - the remaining crew are remembered as shown below.

(1) This was the 103rd victory for Obstlt. Helmut Lent. On the 7th October 1944 he died after suffering injuries sustained during a crash landing on the 5th October 1944 during a crash landing in his Ju88 G-6 at Paderborn airfield following engine failure and subsequent collision with a high tension cable. His crew were rescued - injured from the crash. Walter Kubisch (radio operator) and Hermann Klöss (2nd radio operator) died the same day, Werner Kark (War correspondent and Air/Gnr) died the next morning.

(2) The 18 claim for Oblt. Jakob Schaus who went on to have a total of 23 during the war from which he survived. On the 2/3rd February 1945 he was wounded in a crash at Rockenhausen near Bad Kreuznach after being shot down by what is thought to have been a Mosquito from 239 Squadron.


Left: One of the Panels at Runnymede - with thanks to our volunteer Andrea Ruddick she has taken a full resolution one for each of the crew. Please contact us if you are a relative/friend and a copy will be sent to you - courtesy of Andrea.







Burial details:

Fl/Lt. Francis Xavier Merrick. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 203. Son of William and Gertrude Merrick, of Salford, Lancashire, England. Held a B.Sc. degree of London.

Sgt. Ronald David John Campbell Carling. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 226. Son of Thomas Edward and Lily Kate Carling, of Canterbury, Kent, England.

F/O. John Poulter. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 208. Son of John and Catherine Poulter; husband of Mary Poulter, of Fallowfield, Lancashire, England.

F/O. Raymond Neil Bartlett. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 245. Born on the 01st June 1914, the son of William Noel Bartlett and of Rosetta Bartlett (née Crosswell), of Unionville, Ontario, Canada and husband of Violet Helen Bartlett (née Tandy).

Sgt. Clifford Dickinson. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 228. Husband of Doris Dickinson, of Herne Hill, London, England.

Fl/Sgt. Harold Peter Warll. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 255. Born on the 11th December 1923. The son of Ernest Peter and Edith Rubina Warll (née Trail). 180 Hamilton Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Prior to service worked as an Office Boy. Previously served with the 48th Highlanders in the band. (ID Card shown below, courtesy Edie Albisser)


Sgt. John William Thomas. Terschelling General Cemetery (West-Terschelling). Grave 125. Son of Peter and Mary Elizabeth Thomas, of Walton, Liverpool, England. Grave inscription reads: "Beautiful Memories Of A Loving Son. Till We Meet Again. Mother".

Researched for Edie Albisser - relative of Fl/Sgt. Harold Peter Warll and dedicated to the relatives of this crew. With many thanks to Andrea Ruddick who has taken the photographs of all the panels on the Runnymede Memorial for this crew - high and full resolutions are available to any of the relatives - courtesy of Andrea. With thanks to sources as shown below.

KTY 11.07.2017

Pages of Outstanding Interest
History Airborne Forces •  Soviet Night Witches •  Bomber Command Memories •  Abbreviations •  Gardening Codenames
CWGC: Your Relative's Grave Explained •  USA Flygirls •  Axis Awards Descriptions •  'Lack Of Moral Fibre'
Concept of Colonial Discrimination  •  Unauthorised First Long Range Mustang Attack
RAAF Bomb Aimer Evades with Maquis •  SOE Heroine Nancy Wake •  Fane: Motor Racing PRU Legend
Acknowledgements
Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and MWO François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
Click any image to enlarge it

Click to add your info via ticket on Helpdesk •Click to let us know via ticket on Helpdesk• Click to buy research books from Amazon •Click to explore the entire site
If you would like to comment on this page, please do so via our Helpdesk. Use the Submit a Ticket option to send your comments. After review, our Editors will publish your comment below with your first name, but not your email address.

A word from the Editor: your contribution is important. We welcome your comments and information. Thanks in advance.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2024
Last Modified: 01 April 2021, 14:03

Monitor Additions/Changes?Click to be informed of changes to this page. Create account for first monitor only, thereafter very fast. Click to close without creating monitor