Cross, George Henry (Warrant Officer )

Prisoner of War 1944-February-20

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Birth Date: unkown date

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Distinguished Flying Cross Distinguished Flying Medal

Service

RAF

Unit

35 (PFF) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Uno Anima Agimus We Act with One Accord

Base

RAF Graveley

Rank

Warrant Officer

Position

Flight Engineer

Service Numbers

1268573
PoW: 3039

Took off from Graveley at 23:51 in Halifax Mk III (Sqn code TL-J Bomber Command) on an operation to Leipzig Germany.

Outbound at 20000 feet shot down by a night fighter. The aircraft crashed at Beedenbostel, Germany.

Killed: Squadron Leader Douglas Julian Sale RCAF J/9929 KIA Choloy War Cemetery, France grave 1. G. 8. Flight Sergeant Kenneth Knight RAF KIA Hanover War Cemetery grave 5. C. 7.

POWs: F/Lt Boris Oleh Bodnar RCAF J/17669 POW Stalag Luft L3 Sagan and Belaria. Squadron Leader Gordon Henry Francis Carter RCAF J/11213 POW Stalag Luft L3 Sagan and Belaria. Squadron Leader Douglas Julian Sale RCAF J/9929 POW camp not listed. W/O George Henry Cross RAF POW Stalag 357 Kopernikus. Flight Sergeant Robert Lionel Lamb RAF POW Stalag Luft L3 Sagan and Belaria. F/Lt Harold John Rogers RAF POW Stalag Luft L3 Sagan and Belaria.

Footprints on the Sands of Time, RAF Bomber Command Prisoners of War in Germany 1939-45 by Oliver Clutton-Brock page 274

Mission

Halifax B/GR.Mk.III HX325

Combat Leipzig Germany 1944-February-19 to 1944-February-20

35 (PFF) Sqn (RAF) RAF Graveley

35 Squadron RAF (Uno Anima Agimus), Pathfinder Force, RAF Graveley. Halifax III aircraft HX325 TL-J was shot down by a Ju88 night fighter flown by Felwebel Frank of NJG3 on February 21, 1944 while engaged in an operation against targets in Leipzig, Germany. The aircraft crashed at Beedenbostel, Germany

Knight was killed by the night fighter. Sale, although wounded during the action, stayed at the controls so his crew could bale out, crash-landed his aircraft and managed to get out. It was his fiftieth trip. Sale was taken Prisoner of War and died in hospital a month later from his wounds. The rest of his surviving crew, Carter, Bodnar, Lamb, Rogers and Cross were taken as Prisoners of War

Unvetted Source Halifax HX325 (19/02/1944) I No.35 Squadron

Unvetted Source Aircraft losses from Graveley 1942-1945. I RAF Graveley

Previous Events

1943-December-20 Warrant Officer Survived

Halifax B/GR.Mk.IIITL-J

35 PFF Sqn RAF

Halifax B/GR.Mk.III HX328

Combat Frankfurt Germany 1943-December-19 to 1943-December-20

35 (PFF) Sqn (RAF) Graveley UK

35 Squadron RAF (Uno Anima Agimus), Pathfinder Force, RAF Graveley. Halifax III aircraft HX 328 TL-J, returning from an operation to Frankfurt, Germany had a Target Illuminator (TI) munition malfunction, which ignited in the aircraft bomb bay as it was preparing to land. Sale gained altitude to allow his crew to bale from the burning aircraft, which most were able to do. As Sale was himself about to bale, he realized that his mid-upper gunner, Lamb was unable to bale due to a fire-damaged parachute. Sale resumed control of the bomber and managed to land it safely and taxi off the runway. Both he and Lamb escaped from the aircraft, which exploded as they ran to get clear. Both men survived and continued to fly together. Carpenter suffered a broken ankle.

Sale was awarded a Bar to his DSO for this act of determination and braveryinformation from book: The Pathfinder Companion War Diaries of the RAF Pathfinder Force-1942-1945 by Sean Feast, Grub Street Press 2012

Unvetted Source 1943-02 I No. 35 Squadron