405 City of Vancouver Squadron (Ducirnus), Pathfinder Force. Lancaster aircraft PA 977 missing during a night raid against Bingen, Germany. Took off from Gransden Lodge at 15:49 in Lancaster Mk III (Sqn code LQ-D Bomber Command) on an operation to Bingen Germany.
Claim by Oblt Peter Spoden 6/NJG6 - Kylburg area North of Trier (QO 7):4,000m at 18:59. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1944 Part 5 - Theo Boiten) shot down and burned as it came down. Hit the ground and flipped over. The tail and one engine came off before it hit. Crashed at Wiersdorf Fell 60-70 yards behind a farm in Western Germany not far from the Luxembourg border. Flying Officer f Biggs RCAF was captured on 22 December 1944 at Bingen.
Killed: Flying Officer Harry Denis Davy RCAF J/35523 KIA Rheinberg War Cemetery grave 8. E. 22; Pilot Officer James Frederick Devitt RCAF C/92768 KIA Rheinberg War Cemetery grave 8. E. 21; Flight Sergeant Joseph Barney Rynski RCAF R/148282 KIA Rheinberg War Cemetery grave 8. E. 20.; Flying Officer Joseph Tite DFC RCAF J/28523 pilot KIA Rheinberg War Cemetery grave 8. E. 19.
POWs: Flight Sergeant Jean Charles Horace Mathieu RCAF R/54717 POW Stalag 9C Muhlhausen; Flight Sergeant Gerald Thomas Haase RCAF Dulag Luft Frankfurt Stalag XIII-D Nuremburg-Langwasser/Stalag VII-A Moosburg/PoW Number? Escaped whilst on a forced march from Bittsburg to Geroldstein. Recaptured by Hitler Youth North of Strasbourg (No food or clothing); Flying Officer Herbert Darrell Biggs RCAF Stalag XII Limburg/Dulag Luft Frankfurt Stalag XIII-D Nuremburg-Langwasser/Stalag VII Moosburg-A/PoW Number?
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