Siddall, Bruce Stewart (Flight Lieutenant)

Prisoner of War 1944-July-05

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Birth Date: unkown date

Born:

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Home: Forest, Ontario

Enlistment:

Enlistment Date: unkown date

Service

RCAF

Unit

229 (B) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Be Bold

Base

Rank

Flight Lieutenant

Position

Service Numbers

J/16174
PoW: 4356

427 Lion Squadron (Ferte Manus Certas) RAF Leeming. Halifax BIII aircraft LW166 ZL-S was missing from night operations against the rail yards at Villeneuve St Georges France.

Aircraft was shot down by a night fighter shortly after completing its bombing run and crashed at Obville, Yvelines, France

Killed: Flying Officer Claude Alexander Moss RCAF J/28603 pilot KIA Allainville Communal Cemetery Joint grave. Sergeant William Arthur Steel RAF KIA Allainville Communal Cemetery Joint grave.

POWs includes Siddall: Flight Sergeant Harold Atkin RCAF R/68318 POW Stalag Luft L3 Sagan and Belaria. Sergeant George Grant Cunningham Brown RCAF R/216134 KIA Stalag Luft L7 Bankau near Kreuzburg, Upper Silesia. Sergeant James Erlund Finnie RCAF R/207670 POW Stalag Luft L7 Bankau near Kreuzburg, Upper Silesia.

Mission

Halifax B.Mk.III LW166

Combat 1944-July-04 to 1944-July-05

427 (B) Sqn (RCAF) RAF Leeming

427 Lion Squadron (Ferte Manus Certas) RAF Leeming. Halifax BIII aircraft LW166 ZL-S was missing from night operations to bomb the rail yards at Villeneuve St Georges, France. The Halifax was shot down by a night fighter after completing its bombing run and crashed at Obville, Yvelines, France. There are multiple claims for this loss but it was most likely shot down by Hptm Fritz Sothe of 4/NJG4

The pilot, Flying Officer Claude Alexander "Bud" Moss (RCAF) and Flight Engineer, Sergeant William Arthur Steel (RAFVR) were both killed in action

Flight Sergeant Grant George Cunningham Brown (RCAF) and Flying Officer James Erlund Finnie (RCAF) survived and captured to become Prisoners of War

Flight Sergeant Harold Atkin survived and evaded for a time with the aid if the French Resistance until he was betrayed and arrested. Atkin was one of 168 Allied Airmen deported to Germany and sent to Buchenwald Concentration Camp. The German Luftwaffe intervened on behalf of these airmen and they were transferred to Luftwaffe controlled POW camps

Flying Officer John David Siddall (RCAF) and Flying Officer John Francis Bester (RCAF) survived and avoided capture as Evaders

unvetted Source Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database

unvetted Source Search for France-Crashes 39-45

unvetted Source 04/05 07 1944 427 (Lion) Squadron RCAF Halifax III LW166 Fg Off Claud...

unvetted Source Cimetiere d'Allainville-aux-Bois (78) I Ils venaient du ciel...

Halifax serial: LW166

(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

YouTube Halifax Heavy Bomber WWII

unvetted Source Harold A Skaarup Web Page

Wikipedia Wikipedia Halifax Bomber

Museum National Air Force Museum of Canada