Wood, David George (Pilot Officer)

Prisoner of War 1944-April-28

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Service

RCAF

Unit

166 Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Tenacity

Base

Rank

Pilot Officer

Position

Bomb Aimer

Service Numbers

J/23989
PoW: 4725

Target
Google MapFriedrichshafen

Took off from Kirmington at 21:30 in Lancaster Mk I (Sqn code: AS-B Bomber Command).

Shot down by a night-fighter and came down on the Lancaster flying at 15000 feet skirting Freiburg-im-Bresgau and.crashed Heiteren, Haut-Rhin

Five casualties in the crash, all buried in Heiteren Communal Cemetery, France: Pilot Officer James Lever Atherton RAF 162805 KIA Heiteren Communal Cemetery Grave 1. Sergeant James Arthur Buncher RAF 1610917 KIA Heiteren Communal Cemetery Grave 2. Sergeant John Alfred Hargreaves RAF 575689 KIA Heiteren Communal Cemetery Grave 5. Sergeant John James Opie RAF 1312291 KIA Heiteren Communal Cemetery Grave 4. Sergeant John Fenwick Weatherell RAF 605522 KIA Heiteren Communal Cemetery

Two POWS: Pilot Officer Douglas Milton Bridges RAF 172067 POW Stalag Luft L3 Sagan and Belaria Flying Officer David George Wood RCAF J/23989 POW Stalag Luft L3 Sagan and Belaria

Unit Desciption

166 Sqn Tenacity (Huddersfield's Own)

No 166 Squadron RAF was originally formed at Bircham Newton, Norfolk on June 13, 1918, designed as a heavy bomber unit, to fly the Handley Page V/1500 aircraft. The squadron was never fully mobilized because the Armistice intervened. The squadron was re-formed in November 1936 as a heavy bomber unit, flying Handley Page Heyfords, later equipping with Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys. It was based at Boscombe Down, Wiltshire from November 1936 to January 1937, when it moved to Leconfield, Yorkshire. The squadron became part of an air observer's school on June 7, 1938, and then became a 1 Group pool squadron in May 1939. From September 1939 it was based at Abingdon, Berkshire until April 1940. In that month the squadron merged with no. 97 Squadron to form No. 10 OTU.

In January 1943 the squadron was re-formed at Kirmington, Yorkshire (53.578,-0.344, now Humberside Airport), from flights of Nos. 150 and 170 squadrons, when parts of these squadrons were posted to the Middle East. It was again bomber squadron, flying Vickers Wellingtons in No. 1 Group of Bomber Command. It remained at Kirmington until the end of WWII, later re-equipping with Avro Lancasters. In the period 27/28 January 1943 and 25 April 1945, it dropped 27,287 tons of bombs and laid 333 tons of mines. The squadron won "at least" 2 DSOs, 2 CGMs, 117 DFCs and 108 DFMs in the course of WWII. The squadron was disbanded on November 18, 1945.