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.

427 Squadron Crest
30/31.07.1943 No 427 Squadron Halifax V EB242 Sgt. Bruce W. Westerberg

Operation: Remscheid

Date: 30/31st July 1943 (Friday/Saturday)

Unit: No. 427 Squadron (motto - Ferte Manus Certas – "Strike with a Sure Hand")

Type: Halifax V

Serial: EB242

Code: ZL-?

Base: RAF Leeming, Yorkshire

Location: Delhoven, Germany

Pilot: Sgt. Bruce Wilfred Westerberg AUS/420319 RAAF Age 25. Killed

Fl/Eng: Sgt. L.C. Goss 1803289 RAFVR Age ? PoW No: 222421 Camp: Stalag Muhlberg (Elbe 4B)

Nav: Sgt. R.A. Marriott 1190134 RAFVR Age ? PoW No: 222464 Camp: Stalag Muhlberg (Elbe 4B)

Air/Bmr: Sgt. R.T. Marshall 1515973 RAFVR Age ? PoW No: 222474 Camp: Stalag Muhlberg (Elbe 4B)

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. R.S. Bodycote 1433692 RAFVR Age ? PoW No: 222465 Camp: Stalag Muhlberg (Elbe 4B)

Air/Gnr: Sgt. William Rex Black AUS/417292 RAAF Age 19. PoW No: 222465 Camp: Stalag Muhlberg (Elbe 4B)

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Thomas Kitchener Boord AUS/410829 RAAF Age 27. PoW No: 222465 Camp: Stalag Muhlberg (Elbe 4B)

REASON FOR LOSS:

Leaving RAF Leeming in Yorkshire at 22:20 hrs to bomb, for the first time in the war, the town of Remscheid. A total of 273 aircraft made up the force with 95 Halifaxes, 87 Stirlings. 82 Lancasters and 9 Mosquitoes were on the raid.

The town was almost completely destroyed with 871 tons of bombs dropped. 107 Industrial buildings were destroyed together with 3,115 houses killing 1,120 people and injuring a further 6,700. It is reported that 83% of the town was devastated and the town lost 3 months production from their industries, it never regained previous levels.

The Allies lost a total of 17 aircraft with 74 aircrew being killed, 30 being made PoW and another 1 escaping capture.

Halifax EB242 was initially hit by anti-aircraft fire by 1./schw. Flak Abt 803 during final approach to the target. Then Ofw. Hans Becker (1) of 1./JG Hermmann fired on it before the aircraft crashed at 01:35 hrs at Delhoven. The pilot ordered the crew to abandon the aircraft whilst he remained to try and hold it steady - all the remainder of the crew made their successful exit and landing.

The crew were informed whilst at the Dulag that their pilot had been killed in the crash. But any months before his death was confirmed to his next of kin in Australia!

(1) This was the first and only claim for Ofw. Hans Becker - he is understood to have survived the war despite being wounded in 1944.

Burial details:

Fl/Sgt. Bruce Wilfred Westerberg. Rheinberg War Cemetery Collective grave 4.A.2-5. Born on the 11th April 1918 at Balmain, the son of George Oscar and Ruby Ida Westerberg, of Balmain, New South Wales, Australia and husband of Betty Westerberg, of Flat 3, Lamrock Avenue, Bondi Beach, New South Wales, Australia. Grave inscription reads: "Resting Where No Shadows Fall".

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to sources as shown.

KTY 20.12.2018

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: 25 March 2021, 12:27

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