Irwin, Wesley Douglas (Flight Lieutenant)

627 Squadron (At first sight). Target- Trondheim, Norway. Mosquito aircraft DZ 642 crashed north-west of the Shetland Islands. The RAF pilot was also killed. addendum 2: See page 352. Mk. IV Mosquito aircraft DZ642 was "Marker Three" of three Mosquitos from 627 Squadron which were to mark the target at the U-boat pens at Trndheim for the Lancasters of Five Group. The Mosquitos first flew from Woodhal Spa to Lossiemouth where their fuel tanks were to be topped up. For some reason, 642 was not refuelled and the error was not noticed by the pilot on take-off. For part of the f l ight to Trondheim, one of the Lancasters had its radio transmission button in the "on" position, and details of the target were inadvetently transmitted to the Germans. When the aircraft arrived at Trondheim, the target was hidden under a smoke screen, and the mission had to be aborted. By that time, 642 was now very short of fuel and the pilot headed for Shetland with the intention of landing at Scatsta. With its radio faulty, the other two Mosquitos accompanied the aircraft to relay messages. Contact was made with air-sea rescue at Lerwick which reported the Shetland weather as ten-tenths cloud at a thousand feet, with patches down to eight hundred feet. The unit also gave the aircraft a course which would bring it within sight of the Sandra light at Sumburgh. When 642 came within radio range of Sumburgh, the other two Mosquitos set course for Pterhead. As they flew south, the pilots heard Sumburgh warning 642 of high ground along its route, but no acknowledgment was transmitted. Radio contact between the Mosquito and Sumburgh was very bad, the last message from the aircraft being that it was turning onto a course of 230 degrees. It was not until December 6th that three men driving sheep on Royl Field Hill came across the crashed Mosquito. It had not caught fire in the crash and its fuel tanks were found to be empty. The pilot of the Mosquito RAF FiL. J.A. Reid was buried at Winchester. Detail and photo provided by David E. Thompson, Stockton-on-Tees, England.