Webb, Stuart Douglas
Killed in Action 1944-11-10
Birth Date: 1921
Born:
Son of Harry and Zoe Edith Blair Webb, of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
Home: Windsor, Ontario
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: Unknown
Service
RCAF
Unit
608 Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Omnibus Ungulis With all talons
Base
Rank
Flight Lieutenant
Position
Flight Lieutenant
Service Numbers
J/5122
Home
Windsor, Ontario
First Burial
Brookwood Military Cemetery, Woking, Surrey, Uk
On the night of August 24th 1944, Flight Lieutenant Stuart Douglas Webb of 608 Squadron, 8th group Pathfinder and Light Night Striking Force RAF Downham Market took off at 21:35hrs detailed to attack Cologne. While on a bombing run over the target his Mosquito B-XX KB242 was coned in by searchlights and as the bombs were released it was hit by very heavy flak. Shortly after, on the return home, a Focke Wulf FW 190 night fighter flown by Hauptmann, Friedrich-Karl "˜Nasen' Muller of Nachtjagdgruppe 1./NJGr.10 made four continued attacks on his aircraft over Eindhoven, actually claiming a kill. On the last attack the Mosquito was thrown into a steep spiral dive from 25,000 feet. Doug regained control at about 9,000 feet. The elevator trimming tabs were shot away, the hydraulic lines severed and the A.S.I. unserviceable. He then set course for home and despite great difficulty he was able to keep the stricken aircraft in stable flight. As the emergency hydraulic system was by now also unserviceable he landed with the undercarriage retracted at Woodbridge airfield in Suffolk at 01:10hrs. The rear of the fuselage was so badly damaged by cannon fire that the entire tail section of the aircraft fell off completely on touching down. He received a letter of commendation for his actions.
Later however, on Friday 10th of November 1944, Stuart was tragically killed in an accident when 10 minutes after take off, the Mosquito B-XX KB360 that he was piloting, call sign H for Harry, suffered port engine failure and crash landed at Maltmas Farm, Friday Bridge near Wisbech in Cambridgeshire at 22:05hrs. He was on a mission to Hanover and had taken off at 21:55hrs. He was 23 years old. His navigator Flying Officer John Campbell RAFVR was badly injured but survived. Due to the radio silence rule the aircraft was listed as missing since no one was aware of the tragedy until the crashed aircraft was discovered the next morning just 8 miles from home. It had been a bitterly cold winter night on the bleak Cambridge Fens and Stuart had died during the night from a combination of his injuries and from exposure.
source: The Wartime Memories Project Website (David Jones)
Canadian Virtual War Memorialde Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British twin-engine shoulder-winged multi-role combat aircraft, introduced during the Second World War. It was one of few operational front-line aircraft of the era whose frame was constructed almost entirely of wood. Nicknamed The Wooden Wonder, it was affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews. The total number of DH98 Mosquito aircraft built was 7,781, the type serving with the main Allied air forces, including both the United States and Russia.
When Mosquito production began in 1941 it was the fastest propeller driven operational aircraft in the world. The first variant was an unarmed, high-speed, high-altitude photo-reconnaissance aircraft. Originally conceived as an unarmed fast bomber, the Mosquito's use evolved during the war into many roles including low to medium-altitude daytime tactical bomber, high-altitude night bomber, pathfinder, day or night fighter, fighter-bomber, intruder, and maritime strike aircraft. It was also used by the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) as a fast transport to carry small high-value cargoes to, and from, neutral countries, through enemy-controlled airspace. The crew of two, pilot and navigator, sat side by side, but a single passenger could ride in the aircraft's bomb bay when necessary.
The Mosquito FB Mk. VI was often flown in special raids, such as Operation Jericho, an attack on Amiens Prison in early 1944, and precision attacks against military intelligence, security and police facilities (such as Gestapo headquarters). On the 10th anniversary of the Nazi' seizure of power in 1943, a morning Mosquito attack knocked out the main Berlin broadcasting station while Hermann Goering was speaking, putting his speech off the air. Goering later said: "It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy. There is nothing the British do not have. They have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops."
The Mosquito flew with the RCAF and other air forces in the European, Mediterranean and Italian theatres. After the end of the Second World War Spartan Air Services flew 10 ex-RAF Mosquitoes, mostly B.35's plus one of only six PR.35's built, for high-altitude photographic survey work in Canada. There are approximately 30 non-flying Mosquitos around the world with five airworthy examples, three in the United States, one in Canada and one in New Zealand. Harold Skaarup web page and Wikipedia
Mosquito
BAE Systems (formerly De Havilland) 
Wikipedia Mosquito 
Harold A Skaarup Web Page 
USAAF F-8 Mosquito Serial Numbers