Carpenter, Eric Charles
Killed in Action 1944-12-23
Birth Date: 1919
Born:
Harry Sidney Carpenter & Blanche Carpenter (nee Hodkinson)
Home: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: Unknown
Service
RCAF
Unit
109 (PFF) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Primi Hastati The first of the legion
Base
RAF Little Staughton
Rank
Flight Lieutenant
Position
Flight Lieutenant
Service Numbers
J/4918
Prev: R/62477
Target
Cologne Germany
First Burial
Warcemetery At Rheinberg, Germany
Took off from Little Staughton at 10:31 in Mosquito Mk XVI ML-998 on Pathfinder operation to the Gremberg Marshalling yards at Cologne Germany.
Shot down over the target area by a night fighter and crashed at Jüchen near Cologne.Germany.
Claim by Maj Anton Hackl II CO/JG26 - Koln/Monchengladbach at 12:56.(JG26 Luftwaffe Fighter Wing War Diary Volume 2 : 1943-45)
Killed:F/Lt Eric Charles Carpenter RCAF J/4918 pilot KIA Rheinberg War Cemetery grave 11. A. 17.Flying Officer William Thraves Lambert RAF KIA Rheinberg War Cemetery grave 11. A. 16.
Carpenter had completed over thirty trips and had begun his second tour of operations when he lost his life. His pilot was S/L. R.A. Palmer D.F.C., who was a veteran RAF pilot of some 110operations, and was leading a Sqn of Lancaster bombers on a daylight raid against the Marshalling Yards at Cologne when they went down. S/L. Palmer received the Victoria Cross for this and other operations.addendum2: See page 107. F/L. Carpenter was a pilot of Mosquito aircraft ML998. The reference to S/L. R.A. Palmer is an error and is to be ignored. Detail provided by A. Radcliffe, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
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