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Gordon, Kenneth William (Flying Officer)

Prisoner of War 1944-March-27

Male Head

Birth Date: unkown date (age unknown)

Service
RCAF
Unit
626 (B) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
To Strive And Not To Yield To strive and not to yeild
Base
RAF Wickenby
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
Navigator
Service Numbers
J/23480
PoW: 4704

Lancaster Mk.I LL839

Bombing Essen Germany 1944-March-26 to 1944-March-27

(B) Sqn (RCAF) Wickenby

Battle of Berlin

705 aircraft - 476 Lancasters, 207 Halifaxes, 22 Mosquitoes. The sudden switch by Bomber Command to a Ruhr target just across the German frontier caught the German fighter controllers by surprise and only 9 aircraft- 6 Lancasters, 3 Halifaxes - were lost, 1·3 per cent of the force.

Essen was covered by cloud but the Oboe Mosquitoes marked the target well and this was a successful attack. 48 industrial buildings were seriously damaged and 1,756 houses destroyed. 550 people were killed, 49 missing and 1,569 were injured. .The figures for killed and missing are broken down in the Essen report as follows:

Germans - 192 women, 155 men, 27 children, 6 soldiers, 4 policemen and 2 Hitler Youth. Foreigners - 74 forced workers and I prisoner of war. The remaining 138 victims were mixed German and foreign concentration-camp prisoners, large numbers of whom were now providing the labour forces in German factories.

source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt

Flying Officer K.W. Gordon RCAF was captured and became a Prisoner of War. P.O.W. No.4704 and was incarcerated in P.O.W. Camp Stalag Luft - Bart Vogelsang (L1). Near the German city of Barth, 169 km NW of Berlin near the Baltic Sea and was liberated by the Russians on Monday 30th April 1945. He is Reference No.11 in the section "�Prisoners of War' No.626 Squadron

Target
Google MapEssen Germany

Lancaster LL839

Avro Lancaster

Avro Lancaster Mk. X RCAF Serial FM 213
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling, all three aircraft being four-engined heavy bombers adopted by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the same wartime era.

The Lancaster has its origins in the twin-engine Avro Manchester which had been developed during the late 1930s in response to the Air Ministry Specification P.13/36 for a capable medium bomber for "world-wide use". Originally developed as an evolution of the Manchester (which had proved troublesome in service and was retired in 1942), the Lancaster was designed by Roy Chadwick and powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlins and in one version, Bristol Hercules engines. It first saw service with RAF Bomber Command in 1942 and as the strategic bombing offensive over Europe gathered momentum, it was the main aircraft for the night-time bombing campaigns that followed. As increasing numbers of the type were produced, it became the principal heavy bomber used by the RAF, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and squadrons from other Commonwealth and European countries serving within the RAF, overshadowing the Halifax and Stirling. Wikipedia

YouTube Lancaster Bomber

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General Harold A Skaarup Web Page

last update: 2021-09-18 14:32:33

Lancaster Mk.I LL839

UM X2

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