Webber, Francis Maxwell
Killed in Action 1943-10-04
Birth Date: 1923
Born:
Son of Percy and Mary E. Webber, of Castor, Alberta, Canada.
Home: Castor, Alberta
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: Unknown
Service
RCAF
Unit
120 Sqn- Squadron
Base
Rank
Flying Officer
Position
Flying Officer
Service Numbers
J/14447
Home
Castor, Alberta
First Burial
Runnymede Memorial Surrey, Uk
Canadian Virtual War MemorialLiberator B 24 FL923
Convoy Patrol 1943-October-04 to 1943-October-04
(CS) Sqn (RAF) Reykjavik
The following account of the action is compiled from German records.
Liberator FK 923, which was mistakenly identified as a Lancaster, was sighted at 1123 hrs when 7-8000 metres away, approaching at an altitude of 800 metres. All the boats flak guns which consisted of two twin and one quadruple 200-mm, were immediately manned and fire was opened. despite heavy flak the aircraft circled, drawing slowly closer to the U-boat, Until at 1138 hrs it ran into the attack replying to the -boats fire with cannon when at a range of 1000 metres. Although hit several times, the aircraft pressed home the attack, dropping six depth charges that fell ahead of the poet bow at a distance of between 10 and 159 metres from the U-boat, which was shaken violently. Both the aircraft's starboard engines were seen to have caught fire and shortly afterwards it came down in the sea, exploding on impact with the water. On assumption that none of the aircrew would escape from the wreckage, the CO ordered the U-boat to dive so that a proper inspection of damage, which turned out to be relatively minor , could be made. One of U 539's crew was slightly wounded
Flt Lt JNG Bruce RAF 66528; Wg Cmdr RM Longmore RAF;Warrant Officer EA Mincham 406306 RNZAF Flt Sergeant AE Parsons 901162 RAF;Warrant Officer W Stott 407563 RNZAF; FO RW Tait 21402 RAF; FO FM Webber RCAF J/14447
source: Malcolm Deeley, Ulster Aviation Society
Consolidated Liberator B-24 / F-7
Consolidated Liberator G.R. Mk. VIII, RCAF (Serial No. 11130) ex-USAAF Consolidated (Vultee) B-24L Liberator USAAF (44-50154)
ex-RAF (Serial No. 5009), ex-Indian Air Force (Serial No. HE773).
Currently preserved in the Canada Aviation and Space Museum Ottawa Ontario.
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber flown by the RCAF during the Second Word War. It was designed with a shoulder-mounted, high aspect ratio Davis wing which gave the Liberator a high cruise speed, long range and the ability to carry a heavy bomb load. Early RAF Liberators were the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean as a matter of routine. In comparison with its contemporaries the B-24 was relatively difficult to fly and had poor low speed performance; it also had a lower ceiling compared with the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Of the roughly 18,500 B-24s built in the USA during the war, 148 were flown by the RCAF on long range anti-submarine patrols, with the B-24 serving an instrumental role in closing the Mid-Atlantic gap in the Battle of the Atlantic. The RCAF also flew a few B-24s post war as transports.
Roughly half of all (RAF) Liberator crews in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theatre were Canadian by the end of the war. John Muir of Vancouver flew the longest mission of the war: 24hrs, 10mins from Ceylon to Burma and back. (Kyle Hood) Harold Skaarup web page
Liberator bomber
Wikipedia Liberator bomber 
Harold A Skaarup Web Page Liberator FL923 B 24 - Convoy Patrol - 1943-10-04 to 1943-10-04
6 Group Unavailable
The following account of the action is compiled from German records.
Liberator FK 923, which was mistakenly identified as a Lancaster, was sighted at 1123 hrs when 7-8000 metres away, approaching at an altitude of 800 metres. All the boats flak guns which consisted of two twin and one quadruple 200-mm, were immediately manned and fire was opened. despite heavy flak the aircraft circled, drawing slowly closer to the U-boat, Until at 1138 hrs it ran into the attack replying to the -boats fire with cannon when at a range of 1000 metres. Although hit several times, the aircraft pressed home the attack, dropping six depth charges that fell ahead of the poet bow at a distance of between 10 and 159 metres from the U-boat, which was shaken violently. Both the aircraft's starboard engines were seen to have caught fire and shortly afterwards it came down in the sea, exploding on impact with the water. On assumption that none of the aircrew would escape from the wreckage, the CO ordered the U-boat to dive so that a proper inspection of damage, which turned out to be relatively minor , could be made. One of U 539's crew was slightly wounded
Flt Lt JNG Bruce RAF 66528; Wg Cmdr RM Longmore RAF;Warrant Officer EA Mincham 406306 RNZAF Flt Sergeant AE Parsons 901162 RAF;Warrant Officer W Stott 407563 RNZAF; FO RW Tait 21402 RAF; FO FM Webber RCAF J/14447
source: Malcolm Deeley, Ulster Aviation Society