O'Leary, Michael Brian (Flying Officer)

Prisoner of War 1944-May-09

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Birth Date: unkown date

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Service

RCAF

Unit

432 (B) Sqn- Squadron
Saeviter Ad Lucem Ferociously toward the light

Base

Rank

Flying Officer

Position

Bomb Aimer

Service Numbers

J/87886
PoW: 4918

Took off from East Moor at 01:30 in Halifax Mk III (Sqn code QO-G Bomber Command) tasked to bomb the rail yards in Belgium.

Shot down by a night-fighter and crashed near Grosselies.

Killed: Flying Officer Stanley Allen Hawkins RCAF J/19193 KIA Gosselies Communal Cemetery Row 2. Coll. grave 32-33. Pilot Officer Harry Ibbotson RAF KIA Gosselies Communal Cemetery Row 2. Coll. grave 32-33. Flying Officer William Henry Parkinson RCAF J/24930 KIA Gosselies Communal Cemetery Row 2. Coll. grave 32-33.

POWs including O'Leary: Flying Officer Alvin Isadore Raetzen RCAF J/25024 POW Stalag Luft L3 Sagan and Belaria.

Evaders: Sergeant G Hand RAF Evader Sergeant R B Haxton RCAF R/190579 Evade Sergeant R H Banks RCAF R/190579 Evader

Mission

Halifax B/A.Mk.III LW594

Bombing Haine-Saint-Pierre Belgium 1944-May-09 to 1944-May-09

(B) Sqn (RCAF) East Moor

123 aircraft - 62 Halifaxes, 53 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitoes « of 6 and 8 Groups. 6 Halifaxes and 3 Lancasters lost. Severe damage was caused to half of the railway yards and to locomotive sheds.

source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt

Halifax aircraft LW 594 missing from a night trip to Haine St Pierre, France. F/Os W.H.Parkinson, S.A. Hawkins and Pilot Officer H. Ibbotson (RAF) were killed. Three Canadians, Flying Officer A.I. Raetzens, Sergeants L.S. O'Leary, and K.A. Banks taken Prisoners of War. One of the crew, not Canadian, missing believed killed. Shot down by a night-fighter (Oblt Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer Stab 1V.

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.