Archive Report: Allied Forces

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578 Squadron Halifax III MZ511 Fl/Lt. Alastair Tennant Hope-Robertson

Operation: Bottrop

Date: 20/21st July 1944 (Thursday/Friday)

Unit: No. 578 Squadron (motto: Accuracy')

Type: Halifax III

Serial: MZ511

Code: LK-M

Base: RAF Burn, North Yorkshire

Location: Between Oldebroek and Heerde

Pilot: Fl/Lt. Alastair Tennant Hope-Robertson 127900 RAFVR Age 21. Killed

Fl/Eng: Sgt. George Johnson 1590858 RAFVR Age 19. Killed

Nav: F/O. Kenneth Charles Parsons 1339172 RAVR Age 22. Evaded

Air/Bmr: P/O. John Smith 177571 RAFVR Age 29. PoW No: 5188 Camp: Stalag Luft Barth

W/Op/Air/Gnr: P/O. David Faulkner Jones 178696 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. Gwyn Hughes Jones 1125703 RAFVR Age 23. Killed

Air/Gnr: P/O. Thomas Reginald Gunn 1433278 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 23:05hrs with 25 others from the squadron to bomb the oil production centres in Bottrop - 166 aircraft in total.

The aircraft carried 10 x 500 lb. 8 x 500 lb. general-purpose bombs. One aircraft returned early with the airspeed indicator unserviceable, another returned with the port inner engine unserviceable. Weather conditions were described as good with no cloud but a little haze.

Flak defences were in marriage from 16-21,000 ft. many searchlights but they were reported to be useless due to windows being utilised. Some types of rocket projectiles were observed at up to 19,000 ft which illuminated the aircraft with an orange glow.

MZ511 was shot down by the Luftwaffe ace Hptm. Martin Drewes of III./NJG 1 flying Bf110 G-4 G9+MD at 5,800M above Apeldoorn. The aircraft came down at 01:11hrs. Hptm. Drewes (1) with his crew Ofw. Georg Petz and Fw. Erich Handke survived when they were forced to bale out after suffering damage by the explosion of a Lancaster they also claimed.

Above rear L-R: P/O. Smith, P/O. Gunn, Fl/Lt. Hope-Robertson, Sgt. Johnson, P/O. Jones, F/O. Parsons and P/O. Jones, Front: their ground crew.

The bombing was described as successful as it was so concentrated considering the opposition. 19 aircraft returned from 578 squadron, six failed to return, the others:

Halifax III LK834 LK-E P/O. William Davidson 179653 RAFVR - killed with 7 crew when their aircraft collided with MZ696 over Balkholme, near Goole, Yorkshire.

Halifax III MZ556 LK-P Flown by P/O. Kenneth Thomas Hutton178775 RAFVR, 3 Crew Killed, 4 others PoW - details here.

Halifax III MZ572 LK-C Flown by F/O. Trevor Gordon Harrison 177077 RAFVR - missing with all 7 crew - details here.

Halifax III MZ617 LK-D Flown by Fl/Lt. Joseph Arthur Leo Couture J/20061 RCAF - killed with all 7 crew

Halifax III MZ696 LK-K Flown by Fl/Lt. Maurice Charles Day 172955 RAFVR - killed with all 7 crew in collision with LK834

(1) Drewes survived the war. In February 1947, Drewes was released from captivity. He then left Germany, travelling to Italy. In Genua, he took the ship, North King, to Brazil, arriving in Rio de Janeiro on the 20th of August 1949. From 1950 to 1951, he worked as a pilot and aerial photographer. There he built a career as an entrepreneur and married Dulce Hurpia, a Brazilian woman, who gave him a son, Klaus Drewes, a lawyer in Brazil. The long marriage ended only in 2010 by the death of his wife. He returned at least once each year on visits to Germany. He died on the 13th of October 2013 in Blumenau, southern Brazil, of natural causes. (Wikipedia)

Burial details:

Fl/Lt. Alastair Tennant Hope-Robertson. Heerde General Cemetery. Grave 664. Son of Laurence Hope-Robertson and of Mora Tennant Hope-Robertson (nee Sloan), of Moffat, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Grave inscription: 'He Has Outsoared The Shadow Of Our Night . . . He Is Secure'.

Sgt. George Johnson. Heerde General Cemetery. Grave 660. Son of Joseph and Margaret Johnson, of Great Lumley, Co. Durham, England.

P/O. David Faulkner Jones. Heerde General Cemetery. Grave 662. Son of Richard and Mary E. Jones, of Rhos-on-Sea, Denbighshire, Wales. Grave inscription: 'We Cannot, Lord, Thy Purpose See But All Is Well That's Done By Thee'.

Fl/Sgt. Gwyn Hughes Jones. Heerde General Cemetery. Grave 661. Son of James and Margaret Jones, of Rhymney, Monmouthshire, Wales. Grave inscription: 'His Sun Went Down While It Was Yet Day'.

P/O. Thomas Reginald Gunn. Heerde General Cemetery. Grave 659. Son of Joseph Reginald and Florence Gunn, of Fallowfield, Manchester, England. Grave inscription: 'So Young To Die But Yet So Brave, His Life For Peace He Nobly Gave'.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to Kracker Archives, Theo Boiten, Nachtjagd Combat Archives 1944 Part 3, AIR 27/2050, National Archives, other sources as quoted below:

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
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