Archive Report: Allied Forces

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02/03.11.1944 102 Squadron Halifax III MZ798 DY-M Lt. Begbie

Operation: Düsseldorf, Germany

Date: 2/3rd November 1944

Unit: No. 102 Squadron

Type: Halifax III

Serial: MZ798

Code: DY-M

Base: RAF Pocklington, Yorkshire

Location: Leuven

Pilot: Lt. James Errol Begbie 79229V SAAF Age 26. Killed

Fl/Eng: Sgt. Cyril James Jauncey 937799 RAFVR Age 22. Killed

Nav: Sgt. J.P. Robinson RAFVR Survived.

Air/Bmr: F/O. Harry Worden 154603 RAFVR Age 21. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Henry J. Griffiths RAFVR Survived

Air/Gnr: Sgt. R.H. Mathews RAFVR Survived

Air/Gnr: Sgt. R.D. Scott RAFVR Survived

REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off at 16:12 hrs from RAF Pocklington, Yorkshire to attack Düsseldorf, Germany. Massive raid (Last on Düsseldorf of the war by bomber command) with 992 aircraft taking part. (561 Lancasters, 400 Halifaxes and 31 Mosquitoes).

The raid resulted in 5,000 houses destroyed or badly damaged including steel manufacturers, 7 industrial firms were destroyed and a further 18 seriously damaged. Over 678 people on the ground were killed and another 1,000 were injured. 19 Aircraft were lost (11 Halifaxes and 8 Lancasters)

Over Düsseldorf, Germany 02/03rd November 1944 (archives)

Halifax MZ798 was hit by machine gun fire from another bomber in the friendly force and then intercepted by a night fighter, thought to have been flown by Lt. Wolfram Möckel of 4./NJG2 at a height of 3,500 mtrs. over Brussels at 19:42 hrs. 3 Crew members were killed and the remainder survived after falling over liberated territory in Belgium.

Lt. Möckel was made a POW on the 24/25th December 1944. They shot own a Mosquito from 613 Squadron on a patrol over the Ardennes, an hour and a half later they ran out of fuel and baled out of his Ju88 G-1 4R+BM. He is thought to have survived the war (5 Kills-unconfirmed)

Burial details:

Lt. James Errol Begbie. Brussels Town Cemetery Grave X. 26.3. Son of James Warburton Begbie and Frances Helen Begbie, of Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa.

Sgt. Cyril James Jauncey. Brussels Town Cemetery Grave X. 26.1. Son of George and Annie Jauncey, of Edgbaston, Birmingham, England.

F/O. Harry Worden. Brussels Town Cemetery Grave X. 26.2. Son of William Henry and Eleanor Ann Worden, of Blackburn, Lancashire, England.

Researched for Gill Ellison - (Harry Worden was her mothers fiancée) With thanks also to Joanne Wagner for original grave photographs - December 2017.