Crowland (mid-air collision) Lancaster Memorial

## INTRODUCTION

## REASON FOR LOSS

## 70TH ANNIVERSARY MEMORIAL SERVICE

## CEREMONY OF DEDICATION OF PLAQUES COMMEMORATING COBHAM MEN KILLED IN WW2

## On 26 October 2023 we received the following information from David Cooke, Secretary of the Cobham Conservation and Heritage Trust

## BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS OF THE CREW

## BURIAL DETAILS, MEMORIALS AND EPITAPHS

Date: 23 June 1944 (Friday)

Unit: No. 97 Squadron. Motto: "Achieve your aim."

Badge: An ogress pierced by an arrow, point downwards. The badge is indicative of accurate aim. Authority: King George VI, January 1937.

Type: Avro Lancaster III

Base: RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire

Location: Deeping Fen, Lincolnshire

Pilot: Fl/Lt. Edward Leslie John (Ted) Perkins 53366 RAF Age 24 - Killed (1)

Fl/Eng: Sgt. Frank Ernest Coxhead 1583248 RAFVR Age 20 - Killed (2)

Nav: Fl/Lt William James Hunt 152730 RAFVR Age 22 - Killed (3)

Air/Bmr: Fl/Sgt. John Fairbairn 1456224 RAFVR Age 30 - Killed (4)

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Joseph Paul (Joe) Coman (5)

W/Op/Air/Gnr: W/O. Denis Gilbert Partos DFM 1394153 RAFVR Age 23 - Killed (6)

We appeal to anyone with further information and/or photographs to please contact us via our HELPDESK

Pilot Officer Ted Perkins and his crew were posted to No. 97 Squadron at RAF Bourn, Cambridgeshire in late 1943 or very early 1944 probably from an Operational Training Unit. On 14/15 January 1944 he was detailed for his first operational flight flying as second dickie on Lancaster JB299 OF-W captained by Sqn/Ldr. Charles Peter Craufurd de Wesselow DFC. The squadron detailed 21 aircraft for this raid on Brunswick involving 496 Lancasters and 2 Halifaxes. 38 Lancasters were lost including 2 from 97 Squadron of which 12 of their 14 crewmen killed and two taken as prisoners of war.

It would be a month later on 15 February before he flew operationally again but this time as captain and with his own crew. The crew were, Flight Engineer Sgt. Rosenberg, Navigator Bill Hunt, Air Bomber John Fairbairn, Wireless Operator Joe Coman and the two Canadian Air Gunners Sgts. J.K.Russell and M.H.McBride. For some reason Frank Coxhead, his usual Flight engineer did not take part in this raid. The target was Berlin, a daunting prospect for an experienced crew but for Ted Perkins and his crew a true baptism of fire. 891 aircraft were dispatched including 17 from No. 97 Squadron, the largest force ever sent to Berlin and the largest non-1000 bomber force sent to any target. The 2642 tons of bombs dropped was also a record. 43 aircraft were lost including one from 97 Squadron.

Frank Coxhead returned for the next operation and for all the ensuing operations the crew consisted of the same personnel.

Bombing operations followed with fearsome regularity and by the end of March 1944 Ted had 8 operations to his credit and the rest of the crew had 7.

The target for 30 March 1944 was Nuremberg and a force of 795 aircraft was despatched. The main force was under fighter attack throughout the raid and 95 aircraft or almost 12% of the force was lost, the biggest Bomber Command loss of the war.

In mid-April 1944 the Squadron was withdrawn from the Pathfinder Force and returned to No. 5 Group at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.

The number of operations completed by Ted and his crew mounted steadily and by the of May Ted had completed 20 operations and the crew 19 (excluding Frank Coxhead who had completed 18)

The Operations Record Book records that on 5 June 1944, the eve of D-Day,"F/O Perkins and crew paid a visit to the USAAF at Alconbury and were impressed by the high quality of the navigational radar aids".

Ted and his crew do not figure in any of the missions on or immediately after the invasion of France. This may or may not be related to an incident involving Ted's two Canadian Air Gunners Sgts. J.K.Russell and M.H.McBride. It seems that at some point after their last operation of 27/28 May to St Valery-en-Caux they were responsible for smashing up the Sergeants' Mess and as a consequence of their actions had been sent to the Aircrew Refresher Centre at RAF Norton, Sheffield which was, in effect, a punishment or correctional centre. It was a sequence of events that inadvertently saved their lives yet sadly condemned another man to his death.

W/O.

Local remembrance and memorial support

Local authority responsible for memorial upkeep

Account of Lancaster ME625 OF-O piloted by Australian Fl/Lt Van Raalte. The aircraft became trapped in the slipstream of the lead Lancaster during a gentle turn, causing the fatal collision. ME625 crashed two miles from ND981 with no survivors.

Van Raalte Australian, aged 31ME625 crashed two miles from ND981No bail-outs observed from ME625