Goeson, Ronald Percy (Pilot Officer)
Prisoner of War 1944-March-31
Birth Date: unkown date
Born:
Home:
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: Unknown
Service
RCAF
Unit
432 (B) Sqn- Squadron
Saeviter Ad Lucem Ferociously toward the light
Base
East Moor
Rank
Pilot Officer
Position
Navigator
Service Numbers
R/159474 / J/9
PoW: 3455
Target
Nuremberg Germany
Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)Crew or Other Personnel
Halifax LW687
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Mission
Halifax B/A.Mk.III LW687
Bombing Nuremberg Germany 1944-March-30 to 1944-March-31
(B) Sqn (RCAF) East Moor
Battle of Berlin
This would normally have been the moon stand-down period for the Main Force, but raid to the distant target of Nuremberg was planned on the basis of an early recast that there would be protective high cloud on the outward route, when the moon would be up, but that the target area would be clear for ground-marked robing. A Meteorological Flight Mosquito carried out a reconnaissance and reported that the protective cloud was unlikely to be present and that there could be cloud over the target, but the raid was not cancelled.
795 aircraft were dispatched- 572 Lancasters, 214 Halifaxes and 9 Mosquitoes. The German controller ignored all the diversions and assembled his fighters at 2 radio beacons which happened to be astride the route to Nuremberg. The first fighters appeared just before the bombers reached the Belgian border and a fierce battle in the moonlight lasted for the next hour. 82 bombers were lost on the outward route and near the target. The action was much reduced on the return flight, when most of the German fighters had to land, but 95 bombers were lost in all - 64 Lancasters and 31 Halifaxes, l l ·9 per cent of the force dispatched. It was the biggest Bomber Command loss of the war.
Most of the returning crews reported that they had bombed Nuremberg but subsequent research showed that approximately 120 aircraft had bombed Schweinfurt, 50 miles north-west of Nuremberg. This mistake was a result of badly forecast winds causing navigational difficulties. 2 Pathfinder aircraft dropped markers at Schweinfurt. Much of the bombing in the Schweinfurt area fell outside the town and only 2 people were killed in that area.
The main raid at Nuremberg was a failure. The city was covered by thick cloud and a fierce cross-wind which developed on the final approach to the target caused many of the Pathfinder aircraft to mark too far to the east. A to-mile-long creep back also developed into the countryside north of Nuremberg. Both Pathfinders and Main Force aircraft were under heavy fighter attack throughout the raid. Little damage was caused in Nuremberg: 69 people were killed in the city and surrounding villages
source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
Halifax BIII aircraft LW 687 QO-Z was shot down by an ME-110 night fighter aircraft, flown by German ace Oblt Martin Becker, during a attack against Nuremberg, Germany. The Halifax crashed at Grossmaischeid, Germany
Pilot Officer CR Narum (RCAF), Pilot Officer S Saprunoff (RCAF), Pilot Officer RW Rathwell (RCAF) and Sergeant R Thomson (RAFVR) were all killed in action
Three Canadians, FS RP Goeson (RCAF), FS JAH Marini (RCAF) and FS LE Pigeon (RCAF) survived and were taken as Prisoners of War
This was Pilot Officer Narum's 5th operation and his was one of 108 Allied aircraft lost this night
There were two 432 Squadron Halifax III aircraft lost on this operation. Please see Clarkson, RL for information on Halifax MZ 504 QO-C
Daily Operations 6bombergroup.ca
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Halifax serial: LW687
(RAF Photo, 1942)(Source Harold A Skaarup Web Page)
A Royal Air Force Handley Page Halifax Mk. II Series I (Serial No. W7676), coded TL-P, of No. 35 Squadron, RAF, based at Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire in the UK, being piloted by Flight Lieutenant Reginald Lane, (later Lieutenant-General, RCAF), over the English countryside. Flt Lt Lane and his crew flew twelve operations in W7676, which failed to return from a raid on Nuremberg on the night of 28/29 August 1942, when it was being flown by Flt Sgt D. John and crew.
The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester.
The Halifax has its origins in the twin-engine HP56 proposal of the late 1930s, produced in response to the British Air Ministry's Specification P.13/36 for a capable medium bomber for "world-wide use." The HP56 was ordered as a backup to the Avro 679, both aircraft being designed to use the underperforming Rolls-Royce Vulture engine. The Handley Page design was altered at the Ministry to a four-engine arrangement powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine; the rival Avro 679 was produced as the twin-engine Avro Manchester which, while regarded as unsuccessful mainly due to the Vulture engine, was a direct predecessor of the famed Avro Lancaster. Both the Lancaster and the Halifax would emerge as capable four-engined strategic bombers, thousands of which would be built and operated by the RAF and several other services during the War.
On 25 October 1939, the Halifax performed its maiden flight, and it entered service with the RAF on 13 November 1940. It quickly became a major component of Bomber Command, performing routine strategic bombing missions against the Axis Powers, many of them at night. Arthur Harris, the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Bomber Command, described the Halifax as inferior to the rival Lancaster (in part due to its smaller payload) though this opinion was not shared by many of the crews that flew it, particularly for the MkIII variant. Nevertheless, production of the Halifax continued until April 1945. During their service with Bomber Command, Halifaxes flew a total of 82,773 operations and dropped 224,207 tons of bombs, while 1,833 aircraft were lost. The Halifax was also flown in large numbers by other Allied and Commonwealth nations, such as the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Free French Air Force and Polish forces. Wikipedia
Halifax Heavy Bomber WWII
Wikipedia Halifax Bomber
National Air Force Museum of CanadaRead More ....
Unit Desciption
432 (B) Sqn Saeviter Ad Lucem ("Leaside")
History of the Squadron during World War II (Aircraft: Wellington X, Lancaster II, Halifax III, VII)
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)
Maps for Movements of 432 Squadron 1943-45
MAP 1: 432 Squadron Bases 1943-45 (marked in green). Right-click on image to display enlarged in new tab
432 Squadron History Summary 1943-45
History of the Squadron Post-WWII (Aircraft: Canuck)
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.
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Halifax LW687 B/A.Mk.III - Bombing Nuremberg Germany - 1944-03-30 to 1944-03-31
Squadron: (B) Sqn (RCAF)
Start Date: 1944-03-30
Completion Date: 1944-03-31
Mission: Bombing
Operation: Battle of Berlin
Target City: Nuremberg Germany
Target Specific:
Base: East Moor
Take Off Time: 22.08
Squadron Code: QO Z
Radio Code:
Return Base:
Return Time:
Crash City:
Crash Specifics:
Crash Latitude: 0.00000000
Crash Longitude: 0.00000000
Crash Reason:
Flak Battery:
Enemy Claim:
NUREMBERG
{{webimage,wardiaries.jpg,float:right;width:150px;,Book no longer in print}}This would normally have been the moon stand-down period for the Main Force, but a raid to the distant target of Nuremberg was planned on the basis of an early forecast that there would be protective high cloud on the outward route, when the moon would be up, but that the target area would be clear for ground-marked bombing. A Meteorological Flight Mosquito carried out a reconnaissance and reported that the protective cloud was unlikely to be present and that there could be cloud over the target, but the raid was not cancelled.
795 aircraft were dispatched - 572 Lancasters, 214 Halifaxes and 9 Mosquitoes. The German controller ignored all the diversions and assembled his fighters at 2 radio beacons which happened to be astride the route to Nuremberg. The first fighters appeared just before the bombers reached the Belgian border and a fierce battle in the moonlight lasted for the next hour. 82 bombers were lost on the outward route and near the target. The action was much reduced on the return flight, when most of the German fighters had to land, but 95 bombers were lost in all - 64 Lancasters and 31 Halifaxes, 11.9 per cent of the force dispatched. It was the biggest Bomber Command loss of the war.
Most of the returning crews reported that they had bombed Nuremberg but subsequent research showed that approximately 120 aircraft had bombed Schweinfurt, 50 miles north-west of Nuremberg. This mistake was a result of badly forecast winds causing navigational difficulties, 2 Pathfinder aircraft dropped markers at Schweinfurt. Much of the bombing in the Schweinfurt area fell outside the town and only 2 people were killed in that area. The main raid at Nuremberg was a failure.* The city was covered by thick cloud and a fierce cross-wind which developed on the final approach to the target caused many of the Pathfinder aircraft to mark too far to the east. A o-mile-long creep back also developed into the countryside north of Nuremberg. Both Pathfinders and Main Force aircraft were under heavy fighter attack throughout the raid. Little damage was caused in Nuremberg; 69 people were killed in the city and the surrounding villages.
DIVERSION AND SUPPORT OPERATIONS
49 Halifaxes minelaying in the Heligoland area, 13 Mosquitoes to night-fighter airfields, 34 Mosquitoes on diversions to Aachen, Cologne and Kassel, 5 R.C.M. sorties, 19 Serrate patrols. No aircraft lost. Minor Operations: 3 Oboe Mosquitoes to Oberhausen (where 23 Germans waiting to go into a public shelter were killed by a bomb) and i Mosquito to Dortmund, 6 Stirlings mine Iaying off Texel and Le Havre, 17 aircraft on Resistance operations, 8 0.T.U. sorties. 1 Halifax shot down dropping Resistance agents over Belgium. Total effort for the night: 950 sorties, 96 aircraft (10.1 per cent) lost. Pilot Officer C. J. Barton, a Halifax pilot of 578 Squadron, was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for carrying on to the target in the Nuremberg operation after his bomber was badly damaged in a fighter attack and 3 members of his crew baled out through a communication misunderstanding. Although the navigator and wireless operator were among the men who had parachuted, Barton decided to attempt the return flight to England in spite of the fact that only 3 engines were running. An unexpected wind took the Halifax steadily up the North Sea and it was short of fuel when the English coast was reached near Sunderland. Barton had to make a hurried forced landing when his engines failed through lack of fuel and he died in the crash, but his 3 remaining crew members were only slightly hurt, Pilot Officer Barton's Victoria Cross was the only one awarded during the Battle of Berlin, which had now officially ended.
*Readers might like to consult Martin Middlebrook's The Nuremberg Raid, London, Allen Lane, 1973, 1980; New York, Morrow, 1974; and, as Die Naeht in der die Bomber Starben, Berlin, Ulistein, 1975. The Bomber Command War Diaries, Middlebrook and Everitt
6 Bomber Group March 30/31, 1944
25 Lancasters from 408 and 426 Squadrons were joined by 93 Halifaxes from 420, 424, 425, 427, 429, 432, and 433 Squadrons on an attack at Nurnberg. The crews were over the target at between 18,000 and 23,000 feet, releasing 98,000 lbs of high explosives and 396,000 lbs of incendiaries. According to reports, bombing was scattered due to many fighter attacks and some bombing fell on Schweinfurt due to a wind. This was a most terrible night for bomber command, as 108 aircraft were missing or destroyed in crashes This number was never exceeded.
While most crews went to Nurnberg, 30 Halifaxes from 419,428, and 434Squadrons were ordered on a mining operation to Heligoland. The crews were over the garden at between 14,000 and 15,000 feet, sowing 58@1500 lb mines. Richard Koval (6bombergroup.ca)
This would normally have been the moon stand-down period for the Main Force, but raid to the distant target of Nuremberg was planned on the basis of an early recast that there would be protective high cloud on the outward route, when the moon would be up, but that the target area would be clear for ground-marked robing. A Meteorological Flight Mosquito carried out a reconnaissance and reported that the protective cloud was unlikely to be present and that there could be cloud over the target, but the raid was not cancelled.
795 aircraft were dispatched- 572 Lancasters, 214 Halifaxes and 9 Mosquitoes. The German controller ignored all the diversions and assembled his fighters at 2 radio beacons which happened to be astride the route to Nuremberg. The first fighters appeared just before the bombers reached the Belgian border and a fierce battle in the moonlight lasted for the next hour. 82 bombers were lost on the outward route and near the target. The action was much reduced on the return flight, when most of the German fighters had to land, but 95 bombers were lost in all - 64 Lancasters and 31 Halifaxes, l l ·9 per cent of the force dispatched. It was the biggest Bomber Command loss of the war.
Most of the returning crews reported that they had bombed Nuremberg but subsequent research showed that approximately 120 aircraft had bombed Schweinfurt, 50 miles north-west of Nuremberg. This mistake was a result of badly forecast winds causing navigational difficulties. 2 Pathfinder aircraft dropped markers at Schweinfurt. Much of the bombing in the Schweinfurt area fell outside the town and only 2 people were killed in that area.
The main raid at Nuremberg was a failure. The city was covered by thick cloud and a fierce cross-wind which developed on the final approach to the target caused many of the Pathfinder aircraft to mark too far to the east. A to-mile-long creep back also developed into the countryside north of Nuremberg. Both Pathfinders and Main Force aircraft were under heavy fighter attack throughout the raid. Little damage was caused in Nuremberg: 69 people were killed in the city and surrounding villages
source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
Halifax BIII aircraft LW 687 QO-Z was shot down by an ME-110 night fighter aircraft, flown by German ace Oblt Martin Becker, during a attack against Nuremberg, Germany. The Halifax crashed at Grossmaischeid, Germany
Pilot Officer CR Narum (RCAF), Pilot Officer S Saprunoff (RCAF), Pilot Officer RW Rathwell (RCAF) and Sergeant R Thomson (RAFVR) were all killed in action
Three Canadians, FS RP Goeson (RCAF), FS JAH Marini (RCAF) and FS LE Pigeon (RCAF) survived and were taken as Prisoners of War
This was Pilot Officer Narum's 5th operation and his was one of 108 Allied aircraft lost this night
There were two 432 Squadron Halifax III aircraft lost on this operation. Please see Clarkson, RL for information on Halifax MZ 504 QO-C
Daily Operations 6bombergroup.ca