10 Sqn (Rem Acu Tangere) RAF Melbourne, Halifax III aircraft LV 818 ZA-F crashed two miles west of Rocci, at Les Bernes, France during a night operation, an attack against Duisburg, Germany. The aircraft was involved in a mid-air collision with 432 Sqn Halifax VII aircraft NP 699 QO-O. Both aircraft and aircrew were lost but for a single survivor from NP 699.
Pilot Officer WH Leese (RCAF), Sergeant KF Matthews (RAFVR), Sergeant WE Mawson (RAFVR), and Flight Lieutenant NC Tatam (RAFVR), Flying Officer DJ Mole (RAFVR), Flying Officer JH Waldron (RAFVR) and Sergeant NC Tatum (RAFVR) were killed. Flight Lieutenant GD Body (RAFVR) missing, believed killed and commemorated on the Runnymede War Memorial. Pilot Officer Bomb Aimer Leese was buried in the Fosse Cemetery, exhumed, and reinterred in the War Cemetery, Leopoldsburg, Limburg. Belgium. He was the brother of Pilot Officer RG Leese (RCAF) 15 Sqn SAAF, killed 1943-10-02
Please see Cann, RL for casualty list and detail on NP 699
Leese, William Hewison (Pilot Officer)
Killed in Action 1944-December-18
Birth Date: 1924-March-09
Born:
Parents: Son of Robert Vernon Leese and Mary Adeline Leese, of Powell River, British Columbia.
Spouse:
Home: Truro, Nova Scotia
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: unkown date
Service
RCAF
Unit
10 Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Rem Acu Tangere To hit the mark
Base
Rank
Pilot Officer
Position
Bomb Aimer
Service Numbers
J/92069
Home
Truro, Nova Scotia
Target
Duisburg Germany
Temporary Burial
Fosse Cemetery, Near Crash Site
Remains were later exhumed from this location and reburied
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Finadagrave.com
Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)Unit Desciption
10 Sqn Rem Acu Tangere (Blackburn's Own)
No 10 Squadron RFC was originally formed at Farnborough, Hampshire on January 1, 1915. It served on the Western Front in WWI, transferring to the RAF when the latter was formed in 1918. The squadron returned to England in February 1919 and was disbanded on December 31.
The squadron was re-formed as a heavy bomber unit in January 1928. A heavy-bomber unit, it flew Handley-Page Hyderabads, followed by Hinaidis and then Heyfords through the 1930s. By the time that WWII started, the squadron was equipped with Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley aircraft. Operating from Dishforth, Yorkshire, it took part in a number of leaflet raids over Germany, including being the first RAF aircraft to drop leaflets over Berlin on 1/2 October 1939. Detachments of the Squadron were based in France (Villeneuve) and Scotland (Kinloss), between October 1939 and March 1940, the latter being with Coastal Command. The squadron's first bombing raid was on the night of 19/20 March, 1940, attacking the German mining seaplane base at Hornum, on the island of Sylt. When Italy entered the war in June 1940, the squadron flew from Guernsey in the Channel Islands to attack targets in Italy.
In July 1940 the squadron moved to the nearby base of Leeming, Yorkshire, where it remained until August 1942. From December 1942 the squadron was re-equipped with Halifax aircraft. In the first quarter of 1942, There were detachments to Lossiemouth, Scotland, for operations against the battleship Tirpitz, which at that time was based near Trondheim, Norway. It was on one of these operations, on the night of 27/28 April that the squadron commander. W/C D.C.T. Bennett, was shot down, but he and his crew escaped to Sweden and were interned and subsequently returned to England. W/C (later Air Vice Marshal) Bennet subsequently was appointed to form and lead the Pathfinder Force, which became No. 8 Group of Bomber Command. From June 1942 a detachment of the squadron (16 aircraft and crews) moved to Palestine and then to Egypt, operating against Tobruk. This detachment then combined with No. 6/462 squadron to form No.462 (RAAF) Squadron in September 1942. The main No. 10 Squadron continued to operate with No. 4 Group, Bomber Command from Leeming at this time, but then moved to Melbourne, Yorkshire in August 1942, where it remained until May 1945. It was transferred to Transport Command on May 7, 1945 and disbanded on December 20 1947. It later was re-formed and flew Canberras and Victors.