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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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148 Squadron Crest
148 Squadron Halifax B.II JP292 FS-W W/O. Charles T. Fairweather

Operation: Sombor, Yugoslavia, (Serbia)

Date: 3/4th July 1944

Unit: 148 Squadron RAF (Special Duties-SOE), Balkan Air Force

Type: Halifax B.II

Serial No: JP292

Code: FS-W

Base: Brindisi, Italy

Location: Backi Gracac. Serbia

Pilot: W/O. Charles Thomas Fairweather 656958 RAF Age 24. Killed

Fl/Eng: Fl/Sgt. Richard Jacques 1672823 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

Nav: P/O. Allen Haigh 182988 RAFVR Age 21. Killed

Air/Bmr: F/O. John Stanley Brown J/22188 RCAF Age 24 Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. Ronald Frederick Houghton 1146101 RAFVR Age 23. Killed

Air/Gnr/Disp: Fl/Sgt. Leonard James Smith 1335857 RAFVR Age 22. Killed

Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. John Easton 1568744 RAFVR Age 20. Killed


We are pleased to be able to offer the story of Fl/Sgt. Leonard James Smith as researched by Terry Maker. This remarkable 90 page article "Missing - believed killed" can be downloaded free of charge - please contact us.


Reason for Loss:

Halifax JP292 FS-W, took off from Brindisi, Italy at 20:45, local time, Monday 3rd of July 1944, on Operation 401C, and failed to return.

JP292 was delivering supplies to Josip Broz Tito’s Partisans, in the vicinity of Sombor, (drop zone ‘Macmis’), when the aircraft was intercepted, and shot down by a night fighter, a Dornier D-o 217, piloted by Oblt, Johannes Krause, KC, of 6/NJG101, at 23:52, (local time), at Lat. 45.57.30.00 N, Long. 19.28.20.00 E, in present day Serbia, 35Km South Southeast of Sombor, and 3.5Km North Northeast of the town of Backi Gracac, in farmland.

Above L-R: W/O.. Fairweather, Fl/Sgt. Jacques, P/O. Haigh, F/O. Brown, Fl/Sgt. Houghton, Fl/Sgt. Smith and Fl/Sgt. Easton

It was a disastrous night for thus SOE squadron losing 4 crews, the others:

Halifax JP179 Flown by Fl/Sgt. Leonard John Blattman Aus/412369 RAAF (4 crew killed - 3 PoW)
Halifax JP286 Flown by Sq/Ldr. Surray Philip Victor Bird 70064 RAFVR (all 8 crew killed)
Halifax JP247 Flown by Fl/Lt. George Raymond Wood 125855 RAFVR (2crew killed - 5 PoW)

W/O. Fairweather, needed just 50 more hours of operational flying, to complete 300 hours, which would have been his second tour of duty. His Commanding Officer said of him: “(He), was one of the ‘Old Hands’ of the Squadron, and an extremely capable pilot, who could be relied upon to react well in any emergency.”

The ‘recovery’ of their story, after its loss for 65 years, owes itself to one ‘dog-eared’ photograph that raised interest, and had to be investigated.


Burial details:

W/O. Charles Thomas Fairweather. Belgrade War Cemetery, Yugoslavia, Collective grave 1.E.1-7. Son of Charles and Catherine Fairweather (née Tomlinson - died 30th March 1956, age 65), of North Shields, Northumberland, England.

Fl/Sgt. Richard Jacques. Belgrade War Cemetery. Collective grave 1.E.1-7. Son of George Jacques (died 16th October 1965, age 78) and Margaret (née Turnbull - died 14th February 1978, age 89) of Ashington, Northumberland, England.P/O. Allen Haigh. Belgrade War Cemetery. Collective grave 1.E.1-7. Son of Mr Ernest, and Isabella Haigh, of Birkenhead, the Wirral, Cheshire, England.

F/O. John Stanley Brown. Belgrade War Cemetery. Collective grave 1.E.1-7. Born on the 23rd January 1920 in Wetaskawin, Albert, Canada. Enlisted on the 29th October 1941. Son of Herbert Brown (died 1956, age 78) and Laura Brow (née Martin - died 29th January 1962, age 83) of Wetaskawin, Albert, Canada

Fl/Sgt. Ronald Frederick Houghton. Belgrade War Cemetery. Collective grave 1.E.1-7. Son of Frederick and Clara Houghton, husband of Betty Houghton, of Blackpool, Lancashire, England.

Fl/Sgt. Leonard James Smith. Belgrade War Cemetery. Collective grave 1.E.1-7. Son of James and Margaret Smith, husband Of Ethel Annie Smith, of Coventry, England.

Fl/Sgt. John Easton. Belgrade War Cemetery. Collective grave 1.E.1-7. Son of John and Mary Cook Easton, of Dundee, Scotland.

Article prepared by Terry Maker, cousin of Fl/Sgt. Leonard James Smith. Terry runs the Operation Dark of the Moon Yahoo group about these specialised squadrons and more can be read on his website.

KTY - 17.11.2024 Page updated

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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 Captain 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', Andrew Mielnik: Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Polish graves: https://niebieskaeskadra.pl/, PoW Museum Żagań, 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.
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