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Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.
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103 Squadron Crest
10.05.1940 No. 103 Squadron Fairey Battle I K9372 PM-K Fl/Lt. Maurice C. Wells

Operation: Luxembourg

Date: 10th May 1940 (Friday)

Unit: No. 103 Squadron

Type: Fairey Battle Mk I

Serial: K9372

Code: PM-K

Base: RAF Betheniville

Location: crashed near Dippach, 11 km WSW of Luxembourg

Pilot: Fl/Lt. Maurice Clunes Wells 37535 RAF PoW No. 331 Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan and Belaria

Nav: Sgt. H.F. Bullock 565115 RAF PoW No. 13050 Camp: Stalag Lamsdorf

W/Op/Air/Gnr: LAC. T.H. Bowen 521480 RAF PoW No: 62 Stalag Kopernikus

REASON FOR LOSS: 

Taking off at 13:05 hrs to attack enemy columns.

After the engine was hit by small arms ground fire, also hitting the coolant tank the crew abandoned the aircraft which crashed in flames at about 15:00 hrs, near Dippach, 11 km WSW of Luxembourg.

Fl/Lt. Wells was captured almost immediately, his crew were picked up four days later and taken into captivity.

Two other aircraft were also lost from the squadron on this operation (see map):

K9264 PM-L Flown by 20 year old, P/O. Kenneth John Drabble from Truro in Cornwall killed with all his crew.
K9270 PM-O Flown by Sgt. C.H. Lowne, made PoW, both his other crew member killed.

Burial details:

None - crew survived.

Research and photographs by Michel Beckers for Aircrew Remembered March 2015. 

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Acknowledgements
Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and MWO François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
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