On Wednesday 03 September 1941, a member of the 104 Sqdn, Pilot Officer R Dawson, took off from an unknown RAF station in the United Kingdom. His mission is mentioned elsewhere on WW2 History Europe. You can find the other details of this mission by searching here. Training and cargo flights are not separately mentioned as a mission. The plane left at an unknown time .
He flew with a Vickers Wellington (type II, serial W5435, code EP-F).
Information by Peter Webster and http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/:
On 3rd September 1941 the crew of this aircraft had left Driffield for Ops to Brest, details as to why the aircraft was in the Dishforth area at 22.25hrs are not known but it is probable that they had returned early from Ops and had been diverted to land at Dishforth because of poor visibility at Driffield.
The aircraft crashed into trees near Minskip, to the south-west of Boroughbridge at the given time before they could land.
The crew were all taken to hospital for treatment to their minor injuries.
P/O Doherty was awarded the DFC for service with 104 Squadron (Gazetted on 24th October 1941). He rose through the ranks and was later posted to 608 Squadron. On 23rd February 1945 as F/Lt he was killed and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. He was twenty seven years old.
Sgt Hegan would later recover from his injuries and be involved in a second accident in Yorkshire on 16th January 1942. Flying in Wellington W5493 with 104 Squadron the aircraft crashed onto the North Yorkshire Moors sadly killing a number of the crew. He was seriously injured and returned to Canada later in 1942. This second accident is detailed on this website here .
For service with 104 Squadron Kenneth Boyce was awarded the DFM, Gazetted on 7th July 1942 and the citation refers to the incident near Dishforth; it reads.. "This airman has participated in 40 sorties, 22 of which were over Germany and occupied territory in France. On one occasion, after a night raid on Brest, one engine of his aircraft caught fire in the air, and Sergeant Boyce was compelled to crash land. While operating from Malta, he received multiple injuries when an engine failed when landing and his aircraft crashed. After his recovery, he insisted on participating in further operations. During an attack on a convoy, Sergeant Boyce scored hits on a merchant vessel which subsequently sank. he has on many occasions been responsible for successful attacks in most difficult conditions."
He enlisted into the RAFVR in 1940 and was posted to 104 Squadron in 1941 after training. He was posted on detachment to Malta with 104 Squadron and later to Egypt. He received his commission to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) on 8th October 1942 (134529) and was promoted to F/O (war subs) on 8th April 1943 and to F/Lt (war subs) on 8th October 1944. He sadly died on 21st February 1946 in the Poole area of Dorset and is buried in Northampton General Cemetery. He was thirty two years old.
No report
September
More favourable weather brought an increase in operational tempo during the early part of September. 140 aircraft were despatched to Brest during the night of the 3rd/4th, but were recalled due to deteriorating weather. However, 53 aircraft failed to receive the signal and continued the mission, bombing the estimated position of German warships through a smoke-screen with little success. The heaviest raid on Berlin to date was flown during the night of the 7th/8th when 197 aircraft (Wellingtons, Hampdens, Whitleys, Stirlings, Halifaxes and Manchesters) attacked the German capital. Fifteen aircraft were lost. The daylight career of No 90 Squadron and its Fortresses was brought to a halt less than two months after it had started, the type having had little success in the high-altitude daylight role since its first operation in early July.
With thanks to the RAF and USAAF.net!This record can also be found on the maps of WW2 History Europe with Google coordinates. You can find the maps by clicking on this link on this location.
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