Operation: Gardening - Kiel Bay
Date: 16/17th August 1944 (Wednesday/Thursday)
Unit: No. 433 Squadron (RCAF)
Type: Halifax III
Serial: MZ808
Code: BM-P
Base: RAF Skipton-on-Swale
Location: Langøre island of Fyn
Pilot: F/O. John Archibald Wynn Morgan J/25000 RCAF Age 22. Killed. (1)
Fl/Eng: Sgt. Robert Faulkner Young 753314 RAFVR Age 32. Killed
Nav: F/O. George H. Gill RCAF PoW No: 5284 Camp: Stalag Luft Barth Vogelsang
Air/Bmr: F/O Jacques Oliver Clerc J/28197 RCAF Age 27. Killed (2)
W/Op/Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt Courtney Raymond Stewart J/88141 RCAF Age 25. Killed
Air/Gn: Fl/Sgt John Winning Moffat R/206348 RCAF Age 21. Killed
Air/Gnr: F/O. Philippe. E. Marchildon RCAF PoW No: 7741 Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan and Belaria
REASON FOR LOSS
Took off at 21:27 from RAF Skipton-on-Swale to lay mines in Kiel Bay (Quinces/Radishes Region).
When outbound flying at 4400 metres height, the Halifax was attacked by a night fighter piloted by Oblt. Herbert Koch (3) 1./ NJG 3. The crew managed to bail out of the stricken Halifax before it caught fire and exploded in the air and crashing at Langøre between the island of Fyn and Helnæs at 23:52 hours.
Crew of MZ808 (courtesy of RCAF 6 Group) Back row in no certain order: Sgt R. Young, Flight engineer- Fl/Sgt. Stewart - Wireless Op, Fl/Sgt. Moffat - Mid upper gunner and on the far right is F/O. Marchildon - Rear Gunner. Front Row L to R: F/O. Clerc - Bomb aimer, Fl/Lt. Morgan - Pilot and F/O. Gill - Navigator. Right: Monument at crash site (courtesy of Airwar over Denmark, Søren Flensted)
Around 01:00 hours people living in the area of Sønderby Klint heard shouts for help from the sea and a motorboat was launched to try to rescue the crew. It found Navigator F/O. George H. Gill and Air/Gnr. F/O. Philippe R. Marchildon, 1 kilometre off the farm “Strandlyst” and took them to the hospital in Assens.(2) Cleric Lake in Ontario was renamed after F/O Jacques Oliver Clerc
(3) Oblt. Herbert Koch survived the war as an ace with 17 confirmed abschüsse. Lived in Waldbröl joining the new Luftwaffe in the 1950’s flying transport aircraft.
Burial Details:
Fl/Lt. John Archibald Wynn Morgan. Sønderby (Assens) Churchyard. Coll. grave 174. From Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. A student of the University of Manitoba at the time he enlisted.
Sgt. Robert Faulkner Young. Sønderby (Assens) Churchyard. Coll. grave 174. Son of John Faulkner Young, and of Edith Mary Young, of Colchester, Essex, England.
F/O. Jacques Oliver Clerc. Sønderby (Assens) Churchyard. Coll. grave 174. Son of Charly and Andree Clerc, of Zurich, Switzerland. Professor at University of Saskatchewan.
Fl/Sgt. Courtney Raymond Stewart. Sønderby (Assens) Churchyard. Coll. grave 174. Son of George and Alice Stewart, husband of Enda Stewart, of Goole, Yorkshire, England.
Fl/Sgt. John Winning Moffat. Sønderby (Assens) Churchyard. Coll. grave 174. From Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
With thanks to sources already quoted and to those shown below.
KTY 01.08.2015 Page updated
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them. - Laurence
Binyon
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