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Conroy, Robert Fitzgerald (Flying Officer)

Killed in Action 1944-March-25

Birth Date: 1921-April-14 (age 22)

Born: Middle Stewiake, Nova Scotia, Canada

William D Conroy & Bertha E Conroy

Home: Middle Stewiacke, Colchester County, NS (parents)

Service
RCAF
Unit
429 (B) Sqn- Squadron
Fortunae Nihil Nothing to chance
Base
RAF Leeming
Rank
Flying Officer
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
Pilot
Service Numbers
J/17939

Halifax B.Mk.III LV914

Bombing Berlin Germany 1944-March-24 to 1944-March-24

429 (B) Sqn (RCAF) RAF Leeming

429 Bison Sqn (Fortunae Nihil) RAF Leeming. Halifax III aircraft LV 914 AV-L lost during a night trip against targets in Berlin, Germany. Extremely strong winds on this night caused major difficulties for aircrews, scattering the bomber stream, especially on the homeward flight. Of the 811 aircraft involved in this operation, 72 aircraft and crews (8.9%) were lost to flak and night fighters. This was the last major RAF raid on Berlin during the war

The cause of loss was not established, but pilot Flying Officer RF Conroy (RCAF) maintained control of his aircraft and stayed at the controls while the crew abandoned the Halifax. He was unable to get clear himself and was killed in action

Squadron Leader JW Bell DFC (RCAF), Flight Lieutenant GW McIntyre (RCAF), Flight Lieutenant AP Smith (RCAF), Warrant Officer Class 2 OD McLean (RCAF), Sergeant LCP Spencer (RCAF) and Sergeant G Wilton (RAFVR) survived and all were taken as Prisoners of War

Previously, as a Flight Sergeant, Conroy had survived two events in 1943. He had been injured when 429 Squadron Wellington X aircraft BJ 755 AL-Z had crashed during take-off from RAF East Moor for an operation to Essen, Germany, 1943-03-05. Three months later, Flying Officer Conroy had been the sole survivor of 429 Squadron Wellington X aircraft HE 593 AL-Z shot down by a night fighter 1943-06-12 on a raid to Dusseldorf, Germany. Flying Officer Conroy survived as an Evader and with the help of various people in the Bourgogne Escape Line made his way to Gibraltar, returning to the UK and his unit 1943-10-02

An article by his niece on Flying Officer Conroy and his loss appears in the June 2018 issue of Airforce magazine

There were three 429 squadron Halifax aircraft lost on this operation. Please see aircraft serials LK 805 AL-H and LW 688 AL-J for additional information

Footprints on the Sands of Time, RAF Bomber Command Prisoners of War in Germany 1939-45 by Oliver Clutton-Brock pages 243,358,359,405,408,437

The Bomber Command War Diaries, by Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt

The Battle of Berlin, Bomber Command Over the Third Reich 1943-1945 by Martin W Bowman page 329

General Aircraft accidents in Yorkshire

General Flying Officer Gerald Conroy, 429 sqn, Berlin raid-24 Mar 44 I WW2Talk

General July I 2020 I RCAF Snowy Owl

General [Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database]...

Took off from Leeming at 18:59 in Halifax Mk III (Sqn code AL-V Bomber Command) on an operation to Berlin Germany.

Shot down by a night fighter and crashed at Merbitz, about 7km west of Dresden, Germany.

Killed: Flying Officer Robert Fitzgerald Conroy RCAF J/17939 pilot KIA Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery grave 4. Z. 1.

POWs: S/Ldr Jerrold Walton Bell RCAF J/7020 POW Stalag Luft L1 Barth Vogelsang. F/Lt George Wesley McIntyre RCAF C/18367 POW Stalag Luft L1 Barth Vogelsang. Pilot Officer Oliver Douglas McLean RCAF J/86247 POW Stalag Luft L1 Barth Vogelsang. F/Lt Andrew Payton Smith RCAF J/10025 POW Stalag Luft L1 Barth Vogelsang. Sergeant Lambert Charles Patrick Spencer RCAF R/225387 POW Stalag Luft L1 Barth Vogelsang. Sergeant Gerald Wilton RAF POW Stalag Luft L1 Barth Vogelsang.

Canada Source Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Commonwealth War Graves Commission International Bomber Command Centre

Find-A-Grave.com Finadagrave.com

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

Flying Officer Robert Fitzgerald Conroy was exhumed and reburied.

Home
Google MapMiddle Stewiacke, Colchester County, NS (parents)
Target
Google MapBerlin Germany
First Burial
Google MapCemetery at Merbitz, Germany, near crash site
Re-Burial
Google MapBerlin War Cemetery
Plot 4 Row Z Grave 1

Halifax LV914

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.III LV914

ALRAF RoundelV
With No. 429 (B) Squadron, RCAF, coded "AL*V". Failed to return from attack on Berlin on 24/25 March 1944. 1 crew killed and 6 POW.

1944-03-25 Failed to Return Failed to return from attack on Berlin. 1 crew killed and 6 POW. 2019-08-20

429 (B) Sqn Fortunae Nihil ("Bison")

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

No 429 Squadron was the 10th bomber unit and 27th squadron formed by the RCAF overseas in WWII. It was formed in November 1942 at East Moor, Yorkshire, UK as part of No 4 Group of RAF Bomber Command. On April 1, 1943 it became part of No 6 (RCAF) Group at No 62 (RCAF) Base, still remaining at East Moor until August 1943, when it moved to Leeming, Yorkshire as part of no 63 (RCAF) Base: it remained at Leeming until its disbandment in May 1946. It undertook strategic and tactical bombing operations. After the cessation of hostilities in Europe, it remained in England and transferred to No 1 Group, where it was engaged in transporting troops from Italy (Operation DODGE).

The squadron, with squadron code AL, flew Vickers Wellington Mks III and X until August 1943, when it re-equipped with Handley-Page Halifax Mk II, which it flew between August 1943 and January 1944, and Mk V between November 1943 and March 1944. These were superseded by Halifax Mk III aircraft in March 1944. In March 1945, the squadron re-equipped with Lancaster Mk I and III. In summary of its activities, it flew 3221 sorties, including airlifting 1055 PoWs back to England, for the loss of 71 aircraft. 9356 tons of bombs were dropped. The squadron was awarded45 DFCs and 2 Bars to DFC, 1 AFC, 1 CGM and 7 DFMs. Battle Honours were: English Channel and North Sea 1943-45, Baltic 1943-45, 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,Moyes, Kostenuk and Griffin

Squadron History (Bomber Command Museum PDF)

Maps for Movements of 429 Squadron 1942-46

MAP 1: 429 Squadron Bases 1942-46 (marked in green). Right-click on image to display enlarged in new tab

429 Squadron History Summary 1942-46

History of the Squadron Post-WWII (Aircraft: Buffalo, Hercules, Globemaster)

The squadron was reactivated at St. Hubert, Quebec on 21 August 1967 as a Tactical Transport Unit. It flew de Havilland CC-15 Buffalo aircraft for the Canadian Forces Mobile Command and was integrated into the Canadian Armed Forces on 1 February 1968. In August 1981 it was renamed 429 Transport Squadron and moved to CFB Winnipeg . The final move was in 1990 to 8 Wing in Trenton, Ontario . The squadron was disbanded in 2005.

Two years later in August 2007, 429 Squadron was again re-activated, this time operating the CC-177 Globemaster III strategic transport aircraft. It used these new aircraft in support of Canada's operations in Afghanistan.

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