Shelter, Lorne Melvin (Pilot Officer)

Prisoner of War 1944-May-25

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Service

RCAF

Unit

429 (B) Sqn- Squadron
Fortunae Nihil Nothing to chance

Base

RAF Leeming

Rank

Pilot Officer

Position

Bomb Aimer

Service Numbers

J/86643
Prev: R/150081
PoW: 280

Took off from Leeming at 22:56 in Halifax Mk III (Sqn code AL-N Bomber Command) on an operation to Noord-Brabant Holland.

Shot down by flak near Tilburg (Noord-Brabant) crashing into a wood near Erica Farm on the road between Tilburg and Dongen Holland.

Killed: Pilot Officer Robert Foster Christie RCAF J/88365 KIA Bergen-Op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery grave 5. H. 8. Pilot Officer Mario Alfred Fernandez de Leon RCAF J/86015 KIA Bergen-Op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery grave 5. G. 12. Pilot Officer Kenneth Hawley Jackson RAF KIA Runnymede Memorial Panel 211. Pilot Officer William Mcgill Stewart RCAF C/86790 KIA Bergen-Op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery grave 5. G. 9.

POWs includes Shelter: Flight Sergeant Herbert Dawson RAF POW Stalag Luft L7 Bankau near Kreuzburg, Upper Silesia. Flying Officer Ronald Beattie Rudd RCAF J/20248 POW Stalag Luft L3 Sagan and Belaria.

Mission

Halifax B.Mk.III LW124

Bombing Aachen Germany 1944-May-24 to 1944-May-25

429 (B) Sqn (RCAF) RAF Leeming

429 Bison Squadron (Fortunae Nihil) RAF Leeming, Halifax III aircraft LW 124 AL-N missing during night operations against Aachen, Germany. Homeward-bound, the aircraft was intercepted and shot down by night fighter pilot Oberleutnant Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer of the Stab IV/NJG 1,flying in Bf 110 G-4 G9+DF. The aircraft was abandoned and crashed at Erica farm between Tilburg and Dongen, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands

Pilot Officer RF Christie (RCAF), Pilot Officer WM Stewart (RCAF) and Pilot Officer MA Fernandez de Leon (RCAF)(Gautemala) were all killed in action

Pilot Officer KH Jackson (RAFVR) was missing, presumed killed in action. Pilot Officer Jackson has no known grave and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial

Flying Officer RB Rudd(RCAF) and Flight Sergeant H Dawson (RAF) survived and were taken as Prisoners of War. Warrant Officer Class 2 LM Shelter (RCAF) survived evaded until being captured 1944-06-15 in Antwerp to became a Prisoner of War

There were three 429 Squadron Halifax III aircraft lost on this operation. Please see aircraft serials HX 352 AL-L and LW 137 AL-K for additional information

Unvetted Source [Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database]...

Unvetted Source Aviation Safety Network

Unvetted Source Daily Operations 6bombergroup.ca

Unvetted Source 5f14544e3b3c4f0791fec445_NCA1944

Unit Desciption

429 (B) Sqn Fortunae Nihil ("Bison")

History of the Squadron during World War II (Aircraft: Wellington III, X, Halifax II, V, III, Lancaster I, III)

No 429 Squadron was the 10th bomber unit and 27th squadron formed by the RCAF overseas in WWII. It was formed in November 1942 at East Moor, Yorkshire, UK as part of No 4 Group of RAF Bomber Command. On April 1, 1943 it became part of No 6 (RCAF) Group at No 62 (RCAF) Base, still remaining at East Moor until August 1943, when it moved to Leeming, Yorkshire as part of no 63 (RCAF) Base: it remained at Leeming until its disbandment in May 1946. It undertook strategic and tactical bombing operations. After the cessation of hostilities in Europe, it remained in England and transferred to No 1 Group, where it was engaged in transporting troops from Italy (Operation DODGE).

The squadron, with squadron code AL, flew Vickers Wellington Mks III and X until August 1943, when it re-equipped with Handley-Page Halifax Mk II, which it flew between August 1943 and January 1944, and Mk V between November 1943 and March 1944. These were superseded by Halifax Mk III aircraft in March 1944. In March 1945, the squadron re-equipped with Lancaster Mk I and III. In summary of its activities, it flew 3221 sorties, including airlifting 1055 PoWs back to England, for the loss of 71 aircraft. 9356 tons of bombs were dropped. The squadron was awarded45 DFCs and 2 Bars to DFC, 1 AFC, 1 CGM and 7 DFMs. Battle Honours were: English Channel and North Sea 1943-45, Baltic 1943-45, Fortress Europe 1943-44, France and Germany 1944-45, Biscay Ports 1943-44, Ruhr 1943-45, Berlin 1943-44, German Ports 1943-45, Normandy 1944, Rhine, Biscay 1943-44. Wikipedia,Moyes, Kostenuk and Griffin

Squadron History (Bomber Command Museum PDF)

Maps for Movements of 429 Squadron 1942-46

MAP 1: 429 Squadron Bases 1942-46 (marked in green). Right-click on image to display enlarged in new tab

429 Squadron History Summary 1942-46

History of the Squadron Post-WWII (Aircraft: Buffalo, Hercules, Globemaster)

The squadron was reactivated at St. Hubert, Quebec on 21 August 1967 as a Tactical Transport Unit. It flew de Havilland CC-15 Buffalo aircraft for the Canadian Forces Mobile Command and was integrated into the Canadian Armed Forces on 1 February 1968. In August 1981 it was renamed 429 Transport Squadron and moved to CFB Winnipeg . The final move was in 1990 to 8 Wing in Trenton, Ontario . The squadron was disbanded in 2005.

Two years later in August 2007, 429 Squadron was again re-activated, this time operating the CC-177 Globemaster III strategic transport aircraft. It used these new aircraft in support of Canada's operations in Afghanistan.