Operation: Stuttgart

Date: 20/21 February 1944 (Sunday/Monday) (1)

Unit: No. 156 Squadron PFF (motto: 'We light the wa') 6 Group

Type: Lancaster III

Serial: ND345

Code: GT-C

Base: RAF Warboys, Cambridgeshire

Location: Rheinsheim, Germany

Pilot: Fl/Lt. Donald Kenzie MacKay DFC. C/4002 RCAF Age 24 PoW No. 3612 Stalag Luft Sagan and Belaria (2)

Fl/Eng: Sgt. John Charles Lewis Reed 1806981 RAFVR Age 23. Killed

Nav: P/O. Ronald Halperin DFC,162792 RAFVR Age 22. Killed

Air/Bmr: Sgt. Gerard Patrick Roche 1600671 RAFVR Age 35. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Fl/Lt. Basil Oliver Petrides DFM. 115353 RAFVR Age 22. Killed

Air/Gnr: Sq/Ldr. Andrew Muir DFC. 115170 RAFVR Age 32, Killed

Air/Gnr: F/O. James Moffat DFC 115170 RAFVR Age 24. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 00:24 hrs. on a massive attack on Stuttgart.

The primary raid involved 598 bombers, consisting of 460 Lancasters, 126 Halifaxes, and 12 Mosquitos.

Diversions: Two diversionary flights were successful in drawing away German night fighters, resulting in relatively low losses for the RAF.

Seven Lancasters and two Halifaxes were lost over the main target area.

Damage: The raid caused serious damage to the city centre, cultural buildings, and the important Bosch factory. The city centre was heavily damaged, as were the suburbs of Bad Canstatt and Feuerbach.

Having bombed the target they were homeward bound ND350 was hit by flak from Mannheim-based Flak of the 21. Flak Division whilst over the city. The Lancaster exploded with the pilot was thrown clear the remains crew were killed. The main wreckage of the aircraft crashed 1.5km, south of Rheinsheim. F/Lt. Mackay survived with slight injuries and was captured within days.

(1) Operation Argument, (after the war dubbed 'Big Week') was a sequence of raids by the USAAF and RAF Bomber Command from 20 to 25 February 1944, as part of the Combined Bomber Offensive against Nazi Germany. The objective of Operation Argument was to destroy aircraft factories in central and southern Germany in order to defeat the Luftwaffe before the Normandy landings during Operation Overlord were to take place later in 1944.

Burial details:

Sgt. John Charles Lewis Reed. Rheinberg War Cemetery. Grave 8.C.5. Son of Charles and Maud Reed, of Barking, Essex, England. Epitaph: 'Happy Times Spent Together, Mum And Dad Will Always Remember. God Bless'.

P/O. Ronald Halperin DFC. Rheinberg War Cemetery. Grave8.C.1, Son of Frank Halperin, (died 1939, age 46) and of Yetta Halperin (née Siegler - died )1935, age 38). Epitaph: 'Ronald, Our Brother. May We Be Worthy Of Your Sacrifice. Rest In Peace'.

Sgt. Gerard Patrick Roche. Rheinberg War Cemetery. Grave 8.C.2. also remembered on family grave in St. Mary's Cemetery, Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland. Born on the 15th November 1908. Son of Henry Joseph Roche Sr. (died 1947, age 86) and Mary Josephine DeSales Roche (née Shriver - died 1950, age 74) of Castlehill, County Mayo, Ireland.

Left T-B: Fl/Lt. MacKay DFC, Sgt. Reed, P/O. Halperin DFC, Sgt. Roche, Fl/Lt. Petrides, Sq/Ldr. Muir DFC and F/O. Moffat DFC.

Fl/Lt. Basil Oliver Petrides DFM. Rheinberg War Cemetery. Grave 8.C.4. Also remembered on a stone Plaque dedicated to him in the English Church in Kyrenia, Cyprus. (his relatives originated from the Island of Symi). Son of Basil Cecil and Olive Petrides. Husband of Anne Merriel Petrides, of East Dean, Sussex.
DFM Citation - London Gazette on 10th February 1942.:
'This airman has displayed outstanding ability as a WoAG throughout the many sorties in which he has participated. One night in September 1940, Sergeant Petrides machine-gunned trucks and wagons in a railway siding and set two of them on fire, On another occasion in November he used his guns with such good effect that he extinguished six searchlights. This airman has not had a wireless failure in any operation in which he has been engaged. He has shown great keenness and set a fine example'.

Sq/Ldr. Andrew Muir. DFC. Rheinberg War Cemetery. Grave 8.C.3. Son of Andrew and Katherine Muir, of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland. Husband of Frances Muir.

F/O. James Moffat DFC. Rheinberg War Cemetery. Grave 8.C.6. Son of David and Margaret Moffat, of Edinburgh, Scotland. Epitaph: 'At The Going Down Of The Sun And In The Morning We Will Remember Them'.

Fl/Lt. Basil Oliver Petrides DFM. Rheinberg War Cemetery. Grave 8.C.4. Son of Basil Cecil and Olive Petrides; husband of Anne Merriel Petrides, of East Dean, Sussex, England.

(21) Fl/Lt. Donald Kenzie MacKay DFC. Survived the war as a PoW until liberated on the 29th April 1915 by the US 14th Armored Division. Returne to London where in hospital underwent an emergency appendectomy. He spent some time in Scotland and returned to Kintail in 1946. MacKay continued to fly in northern Ontario as a bush pilot. In 1949, he briefly operated a general store in Brucefield but, despite his war experience, still enjoyed flying and went back to being a flying instructor. At one family Christmas, MacKay landed his plane beside his parents home for the holiday. He continued to fly well into the 1950s as he was instructing RCAF pilots in New Brunswick in 1954

After marrying his wife, Louise, MacKay settled in Burnaby, B.C., where he operated a popular campground for many years. They had one daughter, Sharon-Lee. In failing health, MacKay died Aug. 12, 1997, at the age of 82 in New Westminster, B.C.

Borm on the 13th March 1915 in Kintail, Ontario, Canada. Son of John S Mackay (died 1945, age 82) and Christina Ann MacKay (née McKenzie - died 1852, age 72) Husband of M. Louise MacKay (née McMillan - died 2014, age 89) of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Died at Royal Columbian Hospital of Congestive Heart Failure on the 12th Aug 1997, aged 82. Remembered in the Ocean View Burial Park. Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.

To view the graves and further information on Rheinberg War Cemetery, please click on image below.

To inspect the operational record book for that day, click the image below:

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to the National Archive, Kew, AIR-27-166-13/14, Bluemermaid68 for extensive information on pilot (FAG - used with permission) Greeks in foreign cockpits (Petrides), Paradie RCAF Archives. The Lewisham War Menorial. IBCC Loncoln

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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