Squadron: 50 (B) Sqn (RAF)
Start Date: 1944-09-23
Completion Date: 1944-09-23
Mission: Bombing
Operation: unspecified
Target City: Ladbergen Germany
Target Specific:
Base: RAF Skellingthorpe
Take Off Time: 18:43:00
Squadron Code: VN-V
Radio Code:
Return Base:
Return Time:
Crash City: Netherlands
Crash Specifics: Welsum near Dalfsen in Overijssel, Netherlands
Crash Latitude: 0.00000000
Crash Longitude: 0.00000000
Crash Reason: fighter
Flak Battery:
Enemy Claim: Hauptman Dietrich Schmidt of 8/NJG1
War Diary Unavailable

6 Bomber Group September 23, 1944

34 Halifaxes from 424 and 433 Squadrons were ordered to attack the coastal guns at Domberg. The crews were over the target at between 3,000 and 9,000 feet, releasing 350,000 lbs of high explosives. According to reports, this site was accurately bombed. Richard Koval (6bombergroup.ca)


50 Squadron (From Defence To Attack) RAF Skellingthorpe. Lancaster I aircraft ME 700 VN-V was intercepted on the return flight from a night operation to bomb targets in Ladbergen, Germany and shot down at 23:31 by night fighter pilot Hauptman Dietrich Schmidt of 8/NJG1. The bomber crashed at Welsum near Dalfsen in Overijssel, Netherlands with the loss of four aircrew members

Flying Officer John Murray Dunsmuir (RCAF), Flying Officer Angus Beverley Harvey (RCAF), Flight Sergeant Raymond Larcome (RAFVR) and Flight Sergeant Eric Henry Tunnell (RAFVR) were all killed in action

Flying Officer Oliver George Korpela (RCAF), Flying Officer Charles Dallyn Lucas (RAFVR) and Sergeant Henry Harrison MacFarlane (RAFVR) all survived and avoided capture as Evaders

Addendum 2: According to the pilot, Flying Officer Korpela (RCAF), they had dropped their bombs and were on the way home when they realized they were off course. They were attacked by a German fighter and the Lancaster burst into flames. The pilot soon realized the aircraft was beyond saving: the plane was burning and full of smoke; the navigator and wireless operator were dead; the intercom was out of order and the air-gunners could not be reached either physically nor by intercom. The order was given to abandon the aircraft, the flight engineer and the bomb aimer complied and shortly after Flying Officer Korpela also jumped. Flying Officer O. Korpela (RCAF), Sgt. H. MacFarlane (RAF), and Sergeant C. Lucas (RAF) were Evaders. Detail provided by N. Murphy, Windsor, Ontario

Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1944 Part 4 24 July - 15 October by Theo Boiten, page 86

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