Archive Report: Allied Forces

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16/17.03.1945 No. 12 Squadron Lancaster I PD275 PH-K Fl/Lt. Keith W. Daymond

Operation: Nuremberg

Date: 16/17th March 1945 (Friday/Saturday)

Unit: 12 Squadron

Type: Lancaster I

Serial: PD275

Code: PH-K

Base: RAF Wickenby

Location: Kammerstein, Germany

Pilot: Fl/Lt. Keith William Daymond J/21582 RCAF Age 23. Killed

Fl/Eng: Sgt. Arthur William Hathaway 1894125 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

Nav: F/O. Bertram Clarence Kerr J/40366 RCAF Age 30. Killed

Air/Bmr: F/O. J.H. Clarke RCAF Survived. PoW No: 147063 Camp: Nuremberg / Mooseburg (13D/7A)

W/Op/Air/Gnr: P/O. William John Malyon J/93612 RCAF Age 20. Killed

Air/Gnr: P/O. Harry Woffenden 190918 RAFVR Age 36. Killed

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Neil McNicol 302106 RAFVR Age 21. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Take off at 17.07 hours from Wickenby on an operation to bomb the City of Nuremburg. 231 Lancasters of 1 Group, 46 Lancasters and 16 Mosquitoes from 8 group took part in the last Bomber Command raid on this city.

The raid hit the southern and south western districts as well as the ruins of Alstadt which had been destroyed on a previous raid. A serious fire erupted in the Steinbuhl district and the railway station was also hit. The gasworks were so seriously damaged that it did not resume production before war's end. 529 people were killed on the ground.

Left: P/O. Harry Woffenden (see credits)

At 36, P/O. Woffenden was well over an age normally associated with operational airmen and Fl/Lt. Keith William Daymond was drawing near to the end of his operational tour with twenty-six sorties completed.

German records show that at 21:31 hrs. on 16th March 1945, a Lancaster bomber was shot down by Feldwebel (Sergeant) Schuster from Luftwaffe 1./NJG5, north of Nuremberg. By all accounts, his aircraft was a Junkers JU88. The Lancaster crashed near Kammerstein, the administrative region of Roth, Bavaria, and South of Nuremberg. As mentioned above, there is an investigation report to the Air Ministry, dated 6th December 1946, the full text of which is-

“Herr Koelisch, Pfaffenhofen, near Roth was detailed on 17th march 1945 by an officer from the Luftwaffe Station at Roth to proceed to the New cemetery at Schwabach and bury seven English flyers - the dead members of two crews who crashed near Schwabach in the evening of 16th March 1945. Six of these flyers were brought to the churchyard from a crash in the Penzendorfer Strasse, Schwabach, and Koellisch said that 3 were Canadian and 3 were English (The aircraft was Lancaster 1 PD275, and the seventh crew member, another Canadian, was captured by the Germans and became a prisoner of war. (This was in fact the Air Bomber of PD275 sergeant J.H. Clarke RCAF).

After their burial another English flyer was brought from a crash near Kammerstein. The other six crew members were taken prisoner but the deceased had crashed with the burning aircraft. The papers belonging to these airmen had been taken by the Luftwaffe authorities in Roth. They were the only aircraft to crash in this area on 16th march 1945 and therefore the airman taken from the crash with the bodies of the crew of PD275 was from the crew of a 166 squadron Lancaster 1 RF154 AS-B, Sergeant Jacob ”Jack” Goldstein RAFVR

A graves concentration report dated 2nd July 1948 identifies the six airmen originally buried at Schwabach as the crew of PD275. Sergeant Goldstein was described as “Body1” of seven.They were all reburied, in individual graves on 18th of June 1948 at Durnbach War Cemetery. This information has been given with permission of Michael Goldstein, son of Jacob” Jack” Goldstein and the Goldstein family.

Burial details:

Fl/Lt. Keith William Daymond. Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany. Grave 11.K.27. Cambelltown, New Brunswick, Canada.

Sgt. Arthur William Hathaway.Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany. Grave 11.K.24. Son of Henry William and Agnes of Luton, Bedfordshire, England.

F/O. Bertram Clarence Kerr. Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany. Grave 11.K.25. Son of Robert and Mary Ellen (Cooper) Kerr of Huntsville, Ontario, Canada. Born on June the 24th 1914 in Huntsville, Ontario.

P/O. William John Malyon. Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany. Grave 11.K.23. Son of William E. Malyon and Lillian of Cornwall, Ontario, Canada.

P/O. Harry Woffenden. Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany. Grave 11.K.26. Husband of Edith Woffenden of Kilnhurst, Yorkshire. Harry Woffenden was born on the 25th of October 1908 at Kilnhurst, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England to Jessie Bygate (formerly Woffenden). Before enlisting he worked for the large Co-Operative Society in Victoria Road, Kilnhurst as a rep. He met Edith of Kilnhurst, South Yorkshire and they married on the 13th of May 1940 at Goldthorpe, South Yorkshire and had a daughter, Anne (13.7.1940) and son Harry (23.8.1940)

Sgt. Neil McNicol. Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany. Grave 11.K.28. Son of Duncan Neil and Elizabeth of Saltcoats, Ayr, Scotland.

Researched by: Linda Ibrom Aircrew Remembered for Harry Woffenden son of P/O. Woffenden and for all the relatives of the crew. Acknowledgments: With thanks to the following: Michael Goldstein - son of Jacob” Jack” Goldstein. Other sources as quoted below.

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