420 Snowy Owl Squadron (Pugnamus Finitum). Halifax aircraft LW 427 crashed in enemy territory during a night trip to Schweinfurt, Germany. P/O. M.A. Knight, FS. D.B. Richardson, Sgt.s H.E. Hirst, D. Crawley, and W.H. Botterill (RAF) were also killed. One other crew member, not Canadian, missing believed killed. addendum 2: See page 431. The seventh member of the crew was Tech. Sgt. R.J. Gile s/n 10601564//R157466. T/Sgt. Gile had enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba with his brother who both had dual citizenship with the U.S.A. After he joined 420 Squadron, Gile was transferred to the U.S.A.A.F. but continued to fly with his Canadian crew to finish their tour. Halifax bomber LW427 took off from Tholthorpe airdrome in a 6 Group raid to Schweinfurt, Gennany Oil Feb. 24/44. As they flew over Germany they were shot down by an enemy fighter at 11P.M. and crashed with a full bomb load near the village of Ostelheim, west of Stuttgart. Next morning a enemy crew arrived to get a report for the International Red Cross and ordered the mayor to bury them as terrorists in that bomb crater. Instead two bodies were placed in separate coffins and five in another. Contrary to orders, a solemn burial service was conducted at 5 P.M. Feb. 28th, attended by a large number of citizens. The translation of the original address given by the mayor follows: "My dear fellow citizens, at an unusual hour and under unusual circumstances, we are assembled here on our cemetery. Today, we meet not to mourn a fellow-villager or a near relation, but the first common grave has been opened in our cemetery for the crew of seven men of an enemy plane. "About the particulars of the deceased we know nothing as yet. What we know are but the names of an English or Canadian lieutenant Long and a sergeant- major Cranley. The former presumably wanted to get out by means of a parachute which did not open, the latter was rescued with danger to life out of the burnt up plane in an entirely unrecognizable state. Only two identification disks showing the names of a Can. Airman and John Gile were found. The names of the other three men are not known. "The crew with their load of bombs might easily have been fatal for our community if they had been shed over our village. Easily a common grave might have been opened for our inhabitants. I know that many people here, and certainly the leadership, reject a Christian and humane burial, but the prevailing majority of us Ostelheimers affirm it. We ourselves have sons of our community in the front and can Sympathize with their parents, knowing how they would feel when they learn that their sons were done away with as terrorists. Such a burial, as it has actually been ordered, would not give us any satisfaction, "We are standing here before this grave with other feelings, it is true, than if they were our own people, but hatred certainly has to vanish in the face of Death. Every one of the deceased has father and mother, perhaps also wife and child in his native country, fretting in the same way as we do, for enemies by this action, but we simply act as Christians. If we would not act like this, we should not be a trifle better than those who know but hatred. "We have now surrendered the seven men of the crew to the earth in our cemetery, not entirely without feeling and emotion and even tears in the face of Death. But let us all be thankful in this our to our Lord that we have been spared from the charge of bombs, that very easily might have fallen on our village. "As the deceased probably were members of a Christian creed, a Christian burial shall be apportioned to them which is now to be undertaken by our parson the Reverend Helbling." "Otto Gehring, Buergermeister." Note-After this there was a prayer and an obituary with consecration of the deceased by Reverend Helbling. Many inhabitants, especially mothers, shed tears, probably in remembrance of their own sons. Detail provided by David E. Thompson, Stockton-on-Tees, England.

Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Crew on Halifax B/A.Mk.III LW427

 Serial Groups  Specifications 

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

Halifax Heavy Bomber WWII

Harold A Skaarup Web Page

Wikipedia Halifax Bomber

National Air Force Museum of Canada

CASPIR Aircraft Groups:

RCAF On Strength (5), RCAF 6 Group (1596), RCAF 400 Squadron (1443), Canadian Aircraft Losses (1562), Canadian Museum(2)

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

Halifax B/A.Mk.III LW427

PTC

With No. 420 (B) Squadron, RCAF, coded "PT*C". Failed to return from attack on Schweinfurt on 24/25 February 1944, shot down by a night fighter. All were killed. However, according to Halifax file, it crash landed at Friston after being shot up on ops, Stuttgart, 16.3.44
Unit 420
1944-02-25 Failed to Return Failed to return from attack on Schweinfurt, shot down by a night fighter. All were killed. 2019-08-20

420 (B) Sqn- Squadron Pugnamus Finitum ("Snowy Owl")

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

420 Squadron RCAF was the fourth RCAF bomber unit formed overseas in WWII. It was formed at Waddington, Lincolnshire, UK on December 19, 1941 as a unit of No 5 Group of RAF Bomber Command flying Handley Page Hampden Mk 1 aircraft, with the squadron code letters PT. In early August 1942 the squadron transferred to No 4 Group of Bomber Command, and was based at Skipton-on-Swale, Yorkshire : at this time it was equipped with Vickers Wellington Mk. III aircraft. In October 1942 it moved to Middleton St. George, Durham , where on January 1, 1943 it became a unit of the newly-created no. 6 (RCAF) Group of Bomber Command. It remained there until May 1943, when, by now flying tropicalized Wellington Mk X aircraft, it flew to Tunisia in North Africa to join No 331 (RCAF) Wing of No. 205 Group. From the bases of Kairouan/Zina and Hani East Landing Ground (both locations approximate)it attacked targets in Sicily and Italy as part of the invasion force. In October, the squadron returned by sea to England, leaving its aircraft behind, and rejoined 6 Group at Dalton, Yorkshire, re-equipping with Handley Page Halifax Mk. III aircraft. The squadron finally moved to Tholthorpe, Yorkshire in December 1943, where it remained until the end of hostilities in Europe. From April 1945 the squadron re-equipped with Lancaster Mk. X aircraft, although they were not used operationally. In June 1945 the squadron flew its aircraft to Debert, Nova Scotia , where it disbanded in September of 1945

In the course of hostilities, the squadron flew 4186 sorties for the loss of 65 aircraft. 9771 tons of bombs were dropped. The squadron won 38 DFC's, 1 Bar to DFC, and 9 DFM's. Battle Honors were: English Channel and North Sea 1942-44, Baltic 1942, Fortress Europe 1942-44, France and Germany 1944-45, Biscay Ports 1942-44, Ruhr 1942-45, Berlin 1944, German Ports 1942-45, Normandy 1944, Rhine, Biscay 1942-43, Sicily 1943, Italy 1943, SalernoWikipedia, Kostenuk and Griffin, Moyes

420 Squadron History (Bomber Command Museum (Large PDF)

420 Tholthorpe Airfield Operations Record Book

420 Squadron Operations Record Book

Maps for Movements of 420 Squadron 1941-45

MAP 1: 420 Squadron Movements in England 1941-45 (right-click on image to display enlarged new tab)

MAP 2: 420 Squadron Movements in Yorkshire and Durham 1942-45

MAP 3: 420 Squadron Movements in Tunisia, North Africa 1943

420 Squadron History Summary 1941-45

420 Squadron History Summary 1941-45 Page 2

History of the Squadron Post-WWII (Aircraft: Harvard, Mustang, Silver Star, Tracker)

No. 420 Squadron reformed at London, Ontario on 15 September 1948, and flew North American Mustang and Harvard aircraft in a fighter role until the squadron disbanded on 1 September 1956. The squadron was re-formed as an Air Reserve squadron based initially at CFB Shearwater, Nova Scotia flying the de Havilland Canada Tracker aircraft that had once been the backbone of the Canadian Naval Air's anti-submarine program. As an Air Reserve Squadron it participated with regular fisheries patrols. It was one of the few active Air Reserve Squadrons in Canada and was paired with the Regular Force's 880 Squadron. The Squadron was rebased to CFB Summerside, Prince Edward Island when their base was downsized. No 420 Squadron was reduced to nil strength on 15 May 1995.