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Emmett, W.C.E (Sergeant)

Prisoner of War 1944-October-25

Male Head

Birth Date: unkown date (age unknown)

Service
Unit
158 (B) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Strength In Unity
Base
RAF Lissett
Rank
Position
Flight Engineer
Service Numbers

Halifax B/A/Met.Mk.III MZ945

Bombing Essen Germany 1944-October-25 to 1944-October-25

(B) Sqn (RAF) Lissett

771 aircraft - 508 Lancasters, 25r Halifaxes, 12 Mosquitoes. 2 Halifaxes and 2 Lancasters lost

The bombing was aimed at sky-markers, because the target area was covered by cloud. The Bomber Command report states that the attack became scattered but the local Essen report shows that more buildings were destroyed - 1163 - and more people were killed - 820 - than in the heavier night attack which had taken place 36 hours previously. The foreign workers, who were now present in large numbers ln German industrial cities and who usually had poorer air-raid shelters than the German people, once again suffered heavy casualties; 99 foreigners and 2 prlsoners of war were killed. A photographic reconnaissance flight which took place after this raid showed severe damage to the remaining industrial concerns in Essen, particularly to the Krupps steelworks. Some of the war industry had already moved lo small. dispersed factories but the coal mines and steelworks of the Ruhr were still important.

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The Krupps steelworks were particularly hard-hit by the two raids and there are references in the firm's archives to the 'almost complete breakdown of the electrical supply network' and to 'a complete paralysis'. The Borbeck pig-iron plant ceased work completely and there is no record of any further production from this importnnt section of Krupps.

Much of Essen's surviving industrial capacity was now dispersed and the cltyl lost its role as one of Germany's most important centres of war production.

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

Halifax MZ945 Took off from Lissett at 12:20 in Halifax Mark III (Sqn code NP-W Bomber Command) on an operation to the Krupp Werks, Essen Germany. It was hit by flak and crashed at Bedburg, Germany

Killed: F/Lt Geoffrey Winston Woodward RAF KIA Flt Lt Woodward was initially buried in Vynen Cemetery as an unknown. Reinterred Rheinberg War Cemetery on 9 September 1948.Plot 10. Row D. Grave 22. (CWGC). Flt Lt Woodward and his crew were able to bale out of the flak damaged aircraft, he was last to leave and while on his parachute he was shot at and killed by ground forces. (Aircraft Accidents In Yorkshire)

Crew POW s Sergeant Emmett; Sergeant James Michael Currie; Sergeant Charles Henry Brookes RAF POW Stalag Luft L7, POW# 1094; Plt Off William Charles Wilson RNZAF - POW/Stalag Luft 3 Sagan & Belaria POW Number 8710. Flying Officer William Thomas John Clark RAF POW/Stalag Luft 3 Sagan & Belaria , Pilot Officer Leonard Cyril Packer RAF POW Stalag Luft L3, Sagan & Belaria, POW# 8713.

source: John Jones

Target
Google MapEssen Germany

Halifax MZ945

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/A/Met.Mk.III MZ945

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