Birth Date: unkown date
Born:
Parents:
Spouse:
Home: Toronto, Ontario
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: unkown date
Service
RCAF
Unit
432 (B) Sqn- Squadron
Saeviter Ad Lucem Ferociously toward the light
Base
RAF Skipton-on-Swale
Rank
Warrant Officer 2
Position
Service Numbers
R/141458
PoW: 384
Toronto, Ontario
Cologne Germany
Took off from Skipton-on-Swale in Wellington Mk X HF493 on a bombing mission to Cologne Germany.
Over the target the aircraft was hit by flak. Sergeant Dabous baled out of the aircraft without orders to do so and was captured and made a POW.
The aircraft returned to England where the rest of the crew baled out safely and the aircraft was allowed to crash.
53 aircraft - 293 Lancasters, 182 Halifaxes, 89 Wellingtons, 76 Stirlings, 13 Mosquitoes. 30 aircraft - 9,Halifaxes, 8 Lancasters, 8 Wellingtons, 5 Stirlings - lost, 4.6 per cent of the force.
The aiming point for this raid was that part of Cologne situated on the east bank f the Rhine. Much industry was located there. Pathfinder ground marking was accurately maintained by both the Mosquito Oboe aircraft and the backers-up, allowing the Main Force to carry out another heavy attack on Cologne. 20 industrial remises and 2,200 houses were completely destroyed. 588 people were killed, approximately 1,000 were injured and 72,000 bombed out.
'l'hls night saw the first operations of' a new German unit, .Jagdgeschwader 300, equipped with single-engined fighters using the Wilde Sau (Wild Boar) technique. In this, a German pilot used any form of illumination available over a city being bombed - searchlights, target indicators, the glow of fires on the ground - to pick out a bomber for attack. Liaison with the local Flak defences was supposed to ensure that the Flak was limited to a certain height above which the Wild Boar fighter was free to operate. R.A.F. crews were not used to meeting German fighters over a target city and it was some time before the presence of the new danger was realized. The reports on this night from 4 bombers that they had been fired on over the target by other bombers were almost certainly the result of Wild Boar attacks. The new German unit claimed 12 bombers shot down over Cologne but had to share the 12 available aircraft found to have crashed with the local Flak, who also claimed 12 successes.
source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
Aircraft hit by flak during attack on Cologne on 3 / 4 July 1943. Bomb Aimer, A Dabous, bailed out without orders at 0112. On return to England aircraft was abandoned and crashed near Gravesend.
The Squadron was the twelfth RCAF bomber squadron to be formed overseas in WWII. It was formed on May 1, 1943 at Skipton-on-Swale, Yorkshire, UK as a unit of No 6 (RCAF) Group of RAF Bomber Command: indeed, it was the first bomber squadron to be formed directly into No 6 Group. Using the squadron identification letters QO it flew Vickers Wellington Mk X medium bombers until it moved to East Moor, Yorkshire on 19th September 1943, when it re-equipped with Avro Lancaster Mk II aircraft. East Moor was part of No 62 (RCAF) Base. The squadron re-equipped with Handley Page Halifax Mk III aircraft in February 1944, and with Halifax Mk VII in July of that year, and continued with them until the squadron was disbanded at East Moor on May 15, 1945.
In the course of operations the squadron flew 246 missions, involving 3130 individual sorties, for the loss of 73 aircraft. 8980 tons of bombs were dropped. Awards to squadron members included 2 DSOs, 119 DFCs,1 Bar to DFC, 1 CGM, 20 DFMs and 1 Croix de Guerre (France). Battle Honours were: English Channel and North Sea 1943, Fortress Europe 1943-44, France and Germany 1944-45, Biscay Ports 1944, Ruhr 1943-45, Berlin 1943-44, German Ports 1943-45, Normandy 1944, Rhine, Biscay 1943.Moyes, Kostenuk and Griffin
Squadron History (Bomber Command Museum PDF)
The squadron was re-formed at Bagotville, Quebec as an All-Weather Fighter unit on 1 October 1954. The squadron flew Avro CF-100 Canuck aircraft on North American Air Defence until it was disbanded on 15 October 1961.
53 aircraft - 293 Lancasters, 182 Halifaxes, 89 Wellingtons, 76 Stirlings, 13 Mosquitoes. 30 aircraft - 9,Halifaxes, 8 Lancasters, 8 Wellingtons, 5 Stirlings - lost, 4.6 per cent of the force.
The aiming point for this raid was that part of Cologne situated on the east bank f the Rhine. Much industry was located there. Pathfinder ground marking was accurately maintained by both the Mosquito Oboe aircraft and the backers-up, allowing the Main Force to carry out another heavy attack on Cologne. 20 industrial remises and 2,200 houses were completely destroyed. 588 people were killed, approximately 1,000 were injured and 72,000 bombed out.
'l'hls night saw the first operations of' a new German unit, .Jagdgeschwader 300, equipped with single-engined fighters using the Wilde Sau (Wild Boar) technique. In this, a German pilot used any form of illumination available over a city being bombed - searchlights, target indicators, the glow of fires on the ground - to pick out a bomber for attack. Liaison with the local Flak defences was supposed to ensure that the Flak was limited to a certain height above which the Wild Boar fighter was free to operate. R.A.F. crews were not used to meeting German fighters over a target city and it was some time before the presence of the new danger was realized. The reports on this night from 4 bombers that they had been fired on over the target by other bombers were almost certainly the result of Wild Boar attacks. The new German unit claimed 12 bombers shot down over Cologne but had to share the 12 available aircraft found to have crashed with the local Flak, who also claimed 12 successes.
source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
Aircraft hit by flak during attack on Cologne on 3 / 4 July 1943. Bomb Aimer, A Dabous, bailed out without orders at 0112. On return to England aircraft was abandoned and crashed near Gravesend.
