Operation: Braunschweig (Brunswick)

Date: 12th/13th August 1944 (Saturday/Sunday)

Unit: 101 Squadron

Type: Lancaster III

Serial: LM598

Code: SR:M2

Base: RAF Ludford Magna, Lincolnshire

Location: Sulingen, Weagerfeld

Pilot: Flt Lt. Neville Marwood Tucker 114383 RAFVR Age 32. Killed

Flt Eng: Sgt. George Howard Eaton 1822142 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

Nav: Fg Off. John Aldred Turner 139703 RAFVR Age 29. Killed

Air Bmr: Sgt. Douglas Waldo Peers R151027 RCAF Age 25. Killed

Spec/Op: Sgt. Monty Barss 1864380 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. Arthur Sydney Lewis 1243743 RAFVR Age 23. Killed

Air Gnr: Sgt. Eric Hankinson 2209952 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

Air Gnr: Sgt. Brian Samuel Barber 1819384 RAFVR Age 19. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off at 21:20 hrs. from RAF Ludford Magna, Lincolnshire, to join 241 Lancasters and 137 Halifaxes in an experimental raid to establish how they could bomb a target without the aid of pathfinder aircraft and to simply use the H2S and ABC (1) sets. The aircraft carried the following bomb load: 1 x 2000 HC and 12 x 500 Nose fused type clusters.

Another operation was launched at the same time involving some 297 aircraft to bomb he Opel Works at Rüsselsheim. Other Units of Mosquitoes were also sent to Kiel and Frankfurt try and fool the Germans where the main targets were. This helped keeping the interception by night fighters away from the bomber stream during the outbound flight.

Specialist Equipment on board: IFF and ABC. (see “abbreviations”)

The ten aircraft provided by 101 Squadron carried specialist radar jamming equipment code named ABC. Each aircraft also had an eighth crew member being a specialist operator of the equipment. The specialist operator on board Lancaster LM598 was Sgt. Monty Barss, selected because of his fluency in German and therefore able to monitor and jam night fighter traffic with their controllers, understood to have fled Germany as a Jewish refugee.

The raid was a failure with bombs scattered over a large area with no concentration, in fact bombing also took place on other towns some 20 miles away! 99 people were killed on the ground.

The allies lost 27 aircraft with the deaths of 125 aircrew with a further 61 being made PoW.

101 Squadron lost two other aircraft during this operation:

Lancaster I DV292 SR:O - Flown by 26 year old, Flt Lt. Leonard Ormond Tugwell 416728 RAAF. All 8 crew killed, 5 from the RAAF.

Lancaster III PB258 SR:V Flown by 22 year old, Fg Off. Gene Mitchell Atyeo J28179 RCAF PoW No: 7331 Camp L3 Stalag Luft Sagan and Belaria - 6 Crew PoW, 2 killed. 4 RCAF, 1 RAAF.

It is thought “probable” that Lancaster LM598 was intercepted and shot down by Maj. Werner Husemann (2) of Stab I./NJG3 over Sulingen, Weagerfeld at 00:47 hrs. This was the 24th claim for the Luftwagge Ace.

Maj. Husemann shown left in the centre with his crew and ground crew. L to R: Ogefr. Meisolle, mechanic, Ofw. H.G. Schierholz, BF, Maj. Husemann, FW. Moller, BS, FW. Fehmannn 2nd BF. (courtesy Kracker Archives)

(2) Hptm. Werner Husemann - Born on the 10th November 1919 the holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. He went on to claim a total of 32 night abschüsse surviving the war. Awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross - 250 combat operations. Died on the 2nd February 2014.

(1) A system code named "Airborne Cigar" or ABC for short, was devised to jam the VHF frequencies used by the German controllers. The equipment consisted of a panoramic receiver and three transmitters, which enabled the frequency being used by the fighter controller to be identified and then jammed. An 8th crew member, the Special Operator, who was a German-speaker, operated the equipment and listened in for the controller's transmissions. When he was sure that he was listening to the master controller, he jammed that frequency and if the Germans changed frequency he had to find the new frequency and jam that within seconds.

Burial details:

Flt Lt. Neville Marwood Tucker. Hanover War Cemetery. Grave: 8. K. 3. Son of Charles and Norna Marwood Tucker, of Sortridge, Devon, England. Brother to Margaret Marwood Tucker. (Batchelor of Arts - Oxford). At first, joined the Royal Artillery early in the war and later transferred to the RAFVR to train as a pilot.

Sgt. George Howard Eaton. Hanover War Cemetery. Grave: 8. K. 4. Son of William M. and J. C. Eaton, of Yoker, Renfrewshire, Scotland.

Fg Off. John Aldred Turner. Hanover War Cemetery. Grave: 8. K. 5. Son of John George and Annie Turner, of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England.

Plt Off. Douglas Waldo Peers. Hanover War Cemetery. Grave: 8. K. 9. Born on the 21st October 1918 in Cumberland, Nova Scotia. Son of James Lelacher and Nina May (née Ellis) Peers. Husband to Ada Elsie (née Brander) Peers of Pugwash, Cumberland, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Sgt Peers was commissioned and promoted to Plt Off with Service No of J89378 on the 11th August 1944.

Sgt. Monty Barss. Hanover War Cemetery. Collective grave: 12. E. 8-10. Son of Daniel and Lily Barss, of 258 West End Road, Ruislip, Middlesex. Volunteered on the 10th December 1941.

Sgt. Arthur Sydney Lewis. Hanover War Cemetery. Grave: 8. K. 6. No further details - are you able to assist?

Sgt. Eric Hankinson. Hanover War Cemetery. Grave: 8. K. 7. Son of Thomas and Mary E. Hankinson, of Queensway, Rochdale, Lancashire, England.

Sgt. Brian Samuel Barber. Hanover War Cemetery. Grave: 8. K. 7. Son of Samuel and Florence May Barber, of Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England.

Researched for Richard Deacon, nephew of the pilot, Fl/Lt. Neville Marwood Tucker and dedicated to the relatives of this crew, with thanks to Roy Wilcock of Aircrew Remembered for additional information, Bob from “find-a-grave” for grave photographs. Thanks to Richard Deacon for the update to Flt Lt Tucker's NoK Details (Apr 2021). Other updates by Aircrew Remembered (Apr 2021).

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