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.

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29/30.08.1944 No. 101 Squadron Lancaster III ME592 SR-D F/O. Gordon L. Piprell

Operation: Stettin, Germany

Date: 29/30th August 1944 (Tuesday/Wednesday)

Unit: No. 101 Squadron

Type: Lancaster III

Serial: ME592 

Code: SR-D

Base: RAF Ludford Magna, Lincolnshire

Location: North East Ängelsholm 

Pilot: F/O. Gordon Leslie Piprell J/86656 RCAF Age 22. Killed (1)

Fl/Eng: Sgt. John Alan Gibbon Brown 1591851 RAFVR Age 19. Killed

Nav: Sgt. James Charles Fawcett 1685718 RAFVR Age 21. Killed

Air/Bmr: Fl/Sgt. Edgar W. Cunningham RAFVR - Interned, Sweden - released October 1944

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. William George Noel Heath 1582590 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. George Farrington 1389162 RAFVR Age 21. Killed (2)

Air/Gnr: P/O. Wilfred Herbert Howie J/92950 RCAF Age 19. Killed

Air/Gnr: P/O. Francis James Kendall J/92949 RCAF Age 20. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off at 21:25hrs from Ludford Magna, Lincolnshire on ABC duties to Stettin (2). Overall, the average age of the crew was 20. 

This successful raid on Stettin involved 402 Lancasters and 1 Mosquito with a total loss of 23 Lancasters. Much damage was caused to the town and industrial premises of Stettin and the dockyard with a loss of 1,033 lives and with 1,034 people injured. 

Lancaster ME592 was claimed to have been shot down by Fw. Gottfried Schneider of 1./NJG3 at 00:53 hrs. his 18th abschüsse of the war - his final kill. He survived the war - no further details. Fl/Sgt. Edgar Cunningham managed to bale out of the aircraft before it went down.

101 Squadron Lancaster "Bombing up" (archives)

(1) Piprell Lake in Saskatchewan is named after F/O. Piprell 

(2) Sgt. George Farrington was the specialist operator on this operation.

(3) ABC equipped Lancaster were equipped by an extra crew member, a Special Operator, whose job it was to identify and jam any VHF transmission presenting a threat to the bomber stream.

Burial details:

F/O. Gordon Leslie Piprell. Helsingborg (Palsjo) Municipal Cemetery, Sweden. Sp. Mem. Sec. XV. 81. Son of Charles Gordon Piprell and Dorothy Margaret Piprell of Borden, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Sgt. John Alan Gibbon Brown. Helsingborg (Palsjo) Municipal Cemetery, Sweden. Sp. Mem. Sec. XV. 70. Son of Elizabeth Mary Brown of Wolsingham, Co. Durham, England.

Sgt. James Charles Fawcett. Helsingborg (Palsjo) Municipal Cemetery, Sweden. Sp. Mem. Sec. XV. 72. Son of James and Emily Fawcett of Kendal, Westmorland, Cumbria, England.

Sgt. George Farrington. Helsingborg (Palsjo) Municipal Cemetery, Sweden. Sp. Mem. Sec. XV. 70. Son of George and Annie Elizabeth Farrington of Herne Hill, London, England.

Sgt. William George Noel Heath. Helsingborg (Palsjo) Municipal Cemetery, Sweden. Sp. Mem. Sec. XV. 71. Son of Frederick Harold and Lucy Eleanor Heath of Alvaston, Derby, England.

P/O. Wilfred Herbert Howie. Helsingborg (Palsjo) Municipal Cemetery, Sweden. Sp. Mem. Sec. XV. 71. Son of Herbert and Maud Howie of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada.

P/O. Francis James Kendall. Helsingborg (Palsjo) Municipal Cemetery, Sweden. Sp. Mem. Sec. XV. 81. Son of Thomas and Eleanor Jane Kendall of Deep Cove, British Columbia, Canada.

Researched by Aircrew Remembered, researcher and specialist genealogist Kate Tame for relatives of this crew. Acknowledgments: Ms Carin Olofsson and her fine remembrance website for grave photographs.

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