6 Group Unavailable
<424 Tiger Squadron (Castigandos Castigamus) RAF Skipton on Swale. Halifax BIII aircraft NP 947 QB-Y was attacked by night fighter pilot Hauptman Eduard Schroder of 3/NJG 3 after dropping their payload during GARDENING (mining) operation to Flensburg Fjord between Germany and Denmark. The order to bale was given before the bomber crashed into the fjord near Schausende, Germany with the loss of all but one crew member
Flying Officer MC Grant (RCAF), Pilot Officer WE Archer (RCAF), Pilot Officer RC Carnegie (RCAF), Flying Officer MG Fife (RCAF), Pilot Officer CT Rielly (RCAF) and Pilot Officer J Pollard (RAFVR) were all killed in action
Navigator Flying Officer JG Agnew (RCAF) was the sole survivor from his crew and was taken as a Prisoner of War
On 1945-01-15, Squadron Leader A. Ross Dawson, the Chief Technical Officer with 424/433 Sqns at Skipton on Swale, after returning from leave, wrote in his diary:
"Jan 12 . . . 5 from each sqdn were put up on bombing & 3 from each on mining. The bombing was finally scrubbed but the gardening effort got off ok with no non-starters or early returns. However 424 had some bad luck & 2 of their 3 kites didn't come aback including F/Lt Mackie one of my good friends here " and he only had two more trips to do here unfortunately"
Diary of A Ross Dawson, courtesy CWMThere is some confusion regarding the 424 Squadron serial of this aircraft, stated on the HH card and some other sources as LV 998 but with the Squadron ORB stating serial NP 947. CASPIR has accepted the ORB information as correct
There were two 424 Squadron Halifax III aircraft lost on this operation. Please see aircraft serial Halifax MZ 805 QB-X
[Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database]... [Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database]... Halifax III NP 947 crashed in Flensburg Fjord 12/1-1945 RAF plane crash during WWII - Ribewiki Minelaying on the night of January 12/13. 1945
Bomber Command Museum Monthly ORB