Operation: Stuttgart, Germany
Date: 24/25th July 1944
Unit: No. 50 Squadron
Type: Lancaster I
Serial: LL842
Code: VN-F
Base: RAF Skellingthorpe
Location: 2 km south south west Nogent-le-Rotróu, France
Pilot: F/O. Gordon Howard Parker J/25943 RCAF Age 22. Killed
Fl/Eng: Sgt. Thomas William Thompson 966222 RAFVR Age 27. Killed
Nav: F/O. John Mason Neal J/27480 RCAF Age 21. Killed (1)
Air/Bmr: Fl/Sgt. J. H. Spencer 658681 RAFVR PoW No: 630 Camp: L7
W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Leslie Salway 1587294 RAFVR Age 21. Killed
Air/Gnr: Sgt. R. Hampton 2211459 RAFVR Evaded capture. PRO Kew list - File No: 3321. Report:2115 (2)
Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. David Sinclair Campbell J/90306 RCAF Age 31. Killed.
REASON FOR LOSS:
Took off from Skellingthorpe, (Nicknamed "Skelly" by aircrews) Lincolnshire at 21.51 hrs as part of a 412 Lancaster and 138 Halifax force to attack Stuttgart. During this operation some 23 bombers were lost.
Lancaster I LL842 VN-F crew (courtesy Michel Beckers)
This raid was the first in a series of 3 such attacks on this city and this, for the first time used masses of long window (1.8 metres long and 7 cm wide) effectively jamming the German night fighter A/1 radar. Stuttgart was extremely badly damaged during this raid.
Lancaster LL842 Ground crew (courtesy of J. Phillips)
(2) Sgt. Hampton arrived back in Northolt, England on the 18th August 1944 - leaving from B14 Airstrip Bayeux, France.
Burial Details:
F/O. Gordon Howard Parker. Nogent-LeRotrou Communal Cemetery, France. Plot 33. Coll grave 4-7. Son of Arthur W. Parker, Toronto, Canada.
Sgt. Thomas William Thompson. Nogent-LeRotrou Communal Cemetery, France. Plot 33. Coll grave 4-7. Son of Peter and Polly Thompson, of Atherton, Lancashire, England.
F/O. John Mason Neal. Nogent-LeRotrou Communal Cemetery, France. Plot 33. Coll grave 4-7. Husband of Norma Neal (née Finch) of Manitoba, Canada.
Sgt. Leslie Salway. Nogent-LeRotrou Communal Cemetery, France. Plot 33. Coll grave 4-7. Son of Charles and Carrie Dorothy Salway, of Bristol, England.
Fl/Sgt. David Sinclair Campbell. Nogent-LeRotrou Communal Cemetery, France. Plot 33. Grave 2. Son of Andrew and Cecelia Campbell, of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
With thanks to Christine Head for details on pilot - January 2017. For further details our thanks to the following, Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vol's. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', ‘Bomber Command Database’, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vol's. 1 and 2', 'Kracker Luftwaffe Archives'. Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries (Updated 2014 version), 'Paradie Archive'. Oliver Clutton-Brock 'RAF Evaders’. Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
KTY - 13.01.2017 details added
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