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Cogger, Walter Leonard (Warrant Officer 2nd Class)

Killed in Action 1943-August-18

Birth Date: 1914-September-22 (age 28)

Born: Prince Albert, Saskatchewan

Alfred & Alice (nee Dare) Cogger of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

Verna Mae (nee Scriver) Cogger of Hastings, Ontario whom he married in April of 1942. They had one daughter, Lynne Marie.

Home: Toronto, Ontario

Enlistment: Toronto, Ontario

Service
RCAF
Unit
428 (B) Sqn- Squadron
Usque Ad Finem To the Very End
Base
RAF Middleton St George
Rank
Warrant Officer 2nd Class
Marshal
Air Chief MarshalA/C/M
Air MarshalA/M
Air Vice MarshalA/V/M
Air CommodoreA/C
Group CaptainG/C
Wing CommanderW/C
Squadron LeaderS/L
Flight LieutenantF/L
Flying OfficerF/O
Pilot OfficerP/O
Warrant Officer 1st ClassWO1
Warrant Officer 2nd ClassWO2
Flight SergeantFS
SergeantSGT
CorporalCPL
Senior AircraftmanSAC
Leading AircraftmanLAC
Aircraftman 1st ClassAC1
Aircraftman 2nd ClassAC2
Position
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner
Service Numbers
R/100606

Took off from Middleton St. George at 21:21 in Halifax Mk V (Sqn code NA-F Bomber Command) on an operation to Peenemunde Germany.

Aircraft was shot down, most likely by a night fighter and crashed at Creifswald, Germany, one of 40 Allied aircraft lost on this raid.

Killed: Warrant Officer Class 2 Walter Leonard Cogger RCAF R/100606 KIA Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery Joint grave 7. G. 24-25. Flight Sergeant Thornhall Baldur Lifman RCAF R/147416 KIA Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery grave 2. Z. 10. Flight Sergeant Merton Barnabas Murphy RCAF R/128648 KIA Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery grave 2. Z. 13. Flight Sergeant John Francis Sheridan RCAF R/63606 pilot KIA Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery grave 2. Z. 12. Warrant Officer Class 2 Edward Reginald Marks RCAF R/134206 KIA Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery Coll. grave 13. F. 1-7. Sergeant Daniel Kennedy RAF KIA Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery Coll. grave 2. Z. 15-19. Sergeant Norman Rhine Mitchell RAF KIA Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery grave 2. Z. 9.

Canada Source Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Commonwealth War Graves Commission -walter-leonard/, Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Commonwealth War Graves Commission International Bomber Command Centre

Find-A-Grave.com Finadagrave.com

Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial

Canada Primary Source Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Warrant Officer 2nd Class Walter Leonard Cogger was exhumed and reburied.

Home
Google MapToronto, Ontario
Target
Google MapPeenemunde Germany
First Burial
Google MapGreifswald Cemetery, Germany, near crash site
Re-Burial
Google MapBerlin War Cemetery
Plot 7 Row G Coll Grave 24-25

Halifax EB211

Handley Page Halifax

(RAF Photo, 1942)(Source Harold A Skaarup Web Page)A Royal Air Force Handley Page Halifax Mk. II Series I (Serial No. W7676), coded TL-P, of No. 35 Squadron, RAF, based at Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire in the UK, being piloted by Flight Lieutenant Reginald Lane, (later Lieutenant-General, RCAF), over the English countryside. Flt Lt Lane and his crew flew twelve operations in W7676, which failed to return from a raid on Nuremberg on the night of 28/29 August 1942, when it was being flown by Flt Sgt D. John and crew.

The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester.

The Halifax has its origins in the twin-engine HP56 proposal of the late 1930s, produced in response to the British Air Ministry's Specification P.13/36 for a capable medium bomber for "world-wide use." The HP56 was ordered as a backup to the Avro 679, both aircraft being designed to use the underperforming Rolls-Royce Vulture engine. The Handley Page design was altered at the Ministry to a four-engine arrangement powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine; the rival Avro 679 was produced as the twin-engine Avro Manchester which, while regarded as unsuccessful mainly due to the Vulture engine, was a direct predecessor of the famed Avro Lancaster. Both the Lancaster and the Halifax would emerge as capable four-engined strategic bombers, thousands of which would be built and operated by the RAF and several other services during the War.

On 25 October 1939, the Halifax performed its maiden flight, and it entered service with the RAF on 13 November 1940. It quickly became a major component of Bomber Command, performing routine strategic bombing missions against the Axis Powers, many of them at night. Arthur Harris, the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Bomber Command, described the Halifax as inferior to the rival Lancaster (in part due to its smaller payload) though this opinion was not shared by many of the crews that flew it, particularly for the MkIII variant. Nevertheless, production of the Halifax continued until April 1945. During their service with Bomber Command, Halifaxes flew a total of 82,773 operations and dropped 224,207 tons of bombs, while 1,833 aircraft were lost. The Halifax was also flown in large numbers by other Allied and Commonwealth nations, such as the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Free French Air Force and Polish forces. Wikipedia

YouTube Halifax Heavy Bomber WWII

General Harold A Skaarup Web Page

Wkikpedia Wikipedia Halifax Bomber

Museum National Air Force Museum of Canada

last update: 2023-12-08 20:34:11

Halifax B.Mk.V EB211

NARAF RoundelF
Served with No. 428 (B) Squadron, RCAF, coded NA*F. Failed to return from attack of the experimental rocket site at Peenemunde on 17/18 August 1943, crashed in Baltic Sea. All were killed.

1943-08-18 Failed to Return Failed to return from attack of the experimental rocket site at Peenemunde, crashed in Baltic Sea. All were killed. 2019-08-20

428 (B) Sqn Usque Ad Finem ("Ghost")

History of the Squadron during World War II (Aircraft: Wellington III, X, Halifax V, II, Lancaster X)

No 428 Squadron was the ninth long-range heavy bomber squadron and the 26th RCAF squadron formed overseas during the Second World War. It was formed at RAF Dalton in Yorkshire, England on November 7, 1942. The squadron was initially assigned to No. 4 Group RAF Bomber Command. With the creation of No. 6 Group RCAF, the squadron was reallocated on January 1, 1943 operating with it until April 25, 1945.

The squadron was originally equipped with Vickers Wellington Mk III and X, and its first operational mission was on January 26–27, 1943, when five Wellingtons bombed the U-Boat base at Lorient in Brittany, on the Bay of Biscay. In the early part of June 1943, the squadron moved to RAF Middleton St. George, Durham where it remained for the remainder of the war. Around this time the squadron was converted to Handley Page Halifaxes (Mk Vs, and later supplemented by Mk II Series IIA). In January 1944, Halifax bombers from No. 428 Squadron participated in the first high-level mining raid "Gardening", when mines were dropped by parachute from 15,000 feet (4,570 m) over Brest on 4/5 Jan and Saint-Nazaire on 6/7 Jan 1944. The squadron flew its last sortie with the Halifax on June 12, 1944 then converted to the Canadian-built Avro Lancaster Mk X, the first sortie taking place on June 14, 1944.

For the final phase of the air campaign against Germany, the squadron took part in day and night raids, with its last operational sortie taking place on April 25, 1945, when 15 Lancasters bombed anti-aircraft gun batteries defending the mouth of the Weser, on the Frisian Island of Wangerooge. The squadron remained in service in the United Kingdom until the end of May 1945, then flew to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia . The squadron was intended to be part of the "Tiger Force" to carry on the war against Japan, but the Japanese surrender led to the disbandment of the force. The squadron was therefore disbanded at Yarmouth in September 1945.

In the course of WWII operations, the squadron flew 283 missions involving 3467 individual sorties. 84 aircraft were lost and a total of 9378 tons of bombs were dropped. the aircrew earned 2 DSO's, 71 DFC's, 2 CGM's and 6 DFM's. Battle Honours were: English Channel and North Sea 1943-44, Baltic 1944, Fortress Europe 1943-44, France and Germany 1944-45, Biscay Ports 1943-44, Ruhr 1943-45, Berlin 1943-44, German Ports 1943-45, Normandy 1944, Rhine, Biscay 1943-44. Wikipedia, Kostenuk and Griffin

Squadron History (Bomber Command Museum PDF)

Maps for Movements of 428 Squadron 1942-45

MAP 1: 428 Squadron Bases 1942-45 (marked in green). Right-click on image to display enlarged in new tab

428 Squadron History Summary 1942-45

History of the Squadron Post-WWII (Aircraft: Canuck)

The squadron was re-activated as the fifth Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck equipped squadron, on June 21, 1954, at RCAF Station Uplands as 428 All-Weather (Fighter) Squadron. It was re-activated, as one of nine Canadian based RCAF squadrons, to be operating under the new RCAF Air Defence Command, protecting North American airspace from Soviet intruders and long range bombers. The squadron was finally disbanded on 1 June 1961.

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