Operation: Berlin, Germany

Date: 16th December 1943 (Thursday)

Unit: No. 619 Squadron

Type: Lancaster III

Serial: JA867

Code: PG-X

Base: RAF Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire

Location: Eberswalde-Finow, Brandenburg, Germany

Pilot: P/O. Glen Benson Loney, J/18815, RCAF, Age 23 – Killed

Fl/Eng: Fl/Sgt. John Gray, 620057, RAF, Age not recorded – Killed

Nav: F/O. Henry Andrew De Vries, 134208, RAFVR, Age not recorded – Killed

Air/Bmr: F/O. Max Gennis, J/22054, RCAF, Age 25 – Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Leslie Banks, 1531755, RAFVR, Age not recorded – Killed

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Daniel Corbitt, 1591475, RAFVR, Age 19 – Killed

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Robert Francis Dearden, 1590663, RAFVR, Age not recorded – Killed

Update September 2026 - Would David Smith please contact us? A relative of Danny's fiancée wishes to correspond. (Email of David no lomger works)

Reason for Loss

The aircraft took off from RAF Woodhall Spa at 16:30 hrs for a bombing raid on Berlin, part of a large force of some 490 aircraft – 483 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitoes, with a further 5 Mosquitoes detailed to drop decoy flares south of Berlin. The Lancasters met many German fighters, both over the coast of Holland and in the target area.

Berlin was covered by cloud, but most of the bombs fell within the city, and little damage was caused in the industrial area. Lancaster JA867 collided with a No. 9 Squadron Lancaster (DV293) after leaving the target area, and both aircraft crashed in a wooded area near Eberswalde-Finow, about 50km from Berlin. A further 25 Lancasters were lost on this mission.

(DV293 flown by 20-year-old P/O. Richard Anthony Bayldon 156689 RAFVR and all crew were either listed as killed or missing) Pilot shown left.

On the return flight to England, further aircraft were lost, having crashed or been abandoned when their crews parachuted, owing to extremely low cloud over their home bases.

Sgt. Daniel Corbitt – Danny and Dorothy

David Smith contacted us in November 2015 regarding Sgt. Daniel Corbitt:

“This is the story of Danny and my aunt Dorothy. There is nothing exceptional about it – merely a boy-meets-girl situation, ordinary people called upon to do extraordinary things.

Danny and Dorothy both worked at the same department store, Shepherd's of Gateshead, and that is where they met. They lived approximately a mile or two from each other, Danny in Hebburn-on-Tyne and Dorothy in Jarrow-on-Tyne, and romance soon blossomed.

As we all know, war with Germany commenced in September 1939. At that time Dorothy was sixteen years of age and Danny was fifteen. Danny turned eighteen in 1942, and they both realised that he would soon be called up (drafted) into the services. I donot know Danny's exact date of birth, but I do know he was nineteen when he was killed on 16th December 1943, as his obituary (Roll of Honour) states his age at the time of death, and someone cut it out of the newspaper for my aunt, who kept it.

P/O. Glen Benson Loney (courtesy of Richard Loney); Fl/Sgt. John Gray and F/O. Max Gennis; Sgt. Corbitt (courtesy of David Smith)

Dorothy and Danny decided that they would both volunteer before they could be called up, so that they could each choose which arm of the services they wished to join, naively hoping they might get to serve together. So, before volunteering for the RAF, they became engaged to be married. Dorothy enrolled on Christmas Eve 1942, and I would assume Danny enrolled around the same date. He lived less than twelve months beyond this date.

Danny was posted to various training units, eventually being posted to his operational unit at RAF Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire. Dorothy, I believe, was posted to RAF Ringway, just outside Manchester.

Once Danny was operational, Dorothy would telephone him every day. On 17th December 1943 she phoned him and was told that ‘he isn't available.’ She knew immediately that he was missing – the words ‘he isn't available’ were engraved on her memory for ever.”

P/O. Loney is also remembered on a family headstone in Union Cemetery, Metcalfe, Ontario. Fl/Sgt. Gray is remembered on the Lossiemouth War Memorial.

Above L-R: P/O. Loney, Fl/Sgt. Gray, F/O. De Vries, F/O. Gennis. Sgt. Banks, Sgt. Corbitt, Sgt. Dearden.

Burial Details

All members of the crew were initially buried at Eberswalde-Finow cemetery and, after the war ended, were reinterred at Berlin 1939–1945 War Cemetery.

P/O. Glen Benson Loney. Berlin 1939–1945 War Cemetery, Grave Ref: Coll. Grave 2. B. 8–14. Son of William Albert Loney (died 1958, age 83) and Sarah Ethel Loney (née Booth, died 1950, age 69), of Kenmore, Ontario, Canada. On 26th September 1943, while still under training with No. 1660 Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Swinderby, Sgt. Loney was involved in a night-training accident. Flying Lancaster W4937 with his instructor, P/O. Marcel Redmond Charles Cuelenaere, the aircraft swung on landing. Sgt. Loney corrected the swing, but as he was centralising the rudders his instructor's foot became jammed between the rudder pedal and the aircraft, and the Lancaster swerved off the runway. Glen Loney was born on 11th June 1920 in Kenmore, Carleton County, Ontario, and is also remembered on a private headstone in Union Cemetery, Metcalfe, Ontario. Epitaph: 'How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling-Place, O Lord Of Hosts, To Me (From Hymn - How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling-Place - 1650)

Fl/Sgt. John Gray. Berlin 1939–1945 War Cemetery, Grave Ref: 2. B. 7. Son of Alexander McCracken Gray and Margaret Gray, of Glasgow. Husband of Isabella Souter Gray, of Lossiemouth.

F/O. Henry Andrew De Vries. Berlin 1939–1945 War Cemetery, Grave Ref: Coll. Grave 2. B. 8–14. Henry had previously served with No. 207 Squadron. Born in London, England, in May 1921. No further information at present.

F/O. Max Gennis. Berlin 1939–1945 War Cemetery, Grave Ref: 2. B. 6. Son of Joseph Gennis (died 1968, age 73) and Fanny Gennis (née Finebroon, died 1982, age 82), of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Max was born on 8th May 1918 in Ontario and enlisted in June 1941; part of his training took place at St. Johns, Quebec. F/O. Gennis is remembered on the Scroll of Honour of the Jewish War Veterans of Ottawa.

Sgt. Leslie Banks. Berlin 1939–1945 War Cemetery, Grave Ref: 2. B. 8–14. Sgt. Banks is remembered on the St. Helens Roll of Honour. Born 28th October 1922 in St. Helens, Merseyside, England. No further information at present.

Sgt. Daniel Corbitt. Berlin 1939–1945 War Cemetery, Grave Ref: 2. B. 3. Born in 1924 in Hebburn, South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. Son of the late Patrick Campbell and Elizabeth Atherton, and stepson of Henry Atherton, of Hebburn-on-Tyne, Gateshead, England. Fiancée: 2037855 ACW2 Dorothy Dixon, WAAF, of Jarrow, England.

Sgt. Robert Francis Dearden. Berlin 1939–1945 War Cemetery, Grave Ref: Coll. Grave 2. B. 8–14. Born on 18th August 1921 in North Yorkshire, England. No further information at present.

Supplementary Information (Additional Research)

The following material was located during additional research for this report and supplements the original account above. 

The IBCC database also records that Sgt. Robert Francis Dearden, and by extension the crew of JA867, are commemorated on two further memorials in Lincolnshire in addition to their Berlin war graves: a stone memorial at Thorpe Camp, Tattershall Thorpe (dedicated to those who flew from RAF Woodhall Spa, including No. 619 Squadron), and an inscribed metal plaque at St. Peter's Church, Woodhall Spa, dedicated to all who served with No. 619 Squadron during the Second World War.

Sources and Acknowledgements

• Kate Tame, for her dedicated research
• David Smith, for photographs and details relating to Sgt. Corbitt
• Canadian Virtual War Memorial
• Donald Stewart – Lossiemouth Book of Remembrance
• Jeff Keenan – St. Helens Roll of Honour
• National Archives, Kew (AIR 27/2131)
• Paradie–Dutil RCAF Archive
• Lisa Capps
• CWGC
• Aircrew Remembered Archives
• International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC) Losses Database – supplementary research