Kemm, Jack (Sergeant)
Killed in Action 1943-08-28
Birth Date: 1922
Born:
TOM AND FLORENCE KEMM, OF SALISBURY.
Home:
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: Unknown
Service
RAFVR
Unit
115 (B) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Despite The Elements
Base
RAF Little Snoring
Rank
Sergeant
Position
Sergeant
Service Numbers
1315685)
Nuremberg Germany
Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)Lancaster DS659
Lancaster Mk.II DS659
Bombing 1943-August-28 to 1943-August-28
(B) Sqn (RAF) Little Snoring
674 aircraft - 349 Lancasters, 221 Halifaxes, 104 Stirlings. 33 aircraft - I I of each type on the raid - lost, 4·9 per cent of the force.
The marking for this raid was based mainly on H2S. 47 of the Pathfinder H2S aircraft were ordered to check their equipment by dropping a 1,000-lb bomb on Heilbronn while flying to Nuremberg. 28 Pathfinder aircraft were able to carry out this order. Heilbronn reports that several bombs did drop in the north of the town soon after midnight. The local officials assumed that the bombs were aimed at the industrial zone; several bombs did fall around the factory area and other bombs fell further away. No industrial buildings were hit; one house was destroyed but there were no casualties.
Nuremberg was found to be free of cloud but it was very dark. The initial Pathfinder markers were accurate but a creepback quickly developed which could not be stopped because so many Pathfinder aircraft had difficulties with their H2S sets. The Master Bomber (whose name is not recorded) could do little to persuade the Main Force to move their bombing forward; only a quarter of the crews could hear his broadcasts. Bomber Command estimated that most of the bombing fell in open country south-south-west of the city but the local reports say that bombs were scattered across the south-eastern and eastern suburbs. The only location mentioned by name is the Zoo, which was hit by several bombs. 65 people were killed.
source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
Took off from Little Snoring at 21:43 in Lancaster Mk II (Sqn code: KO-T Bomber Command) on an operation to Nuremberg Germany.
Shot down by a night fighter and crashed near the target area
KIlled:Sergeant Jack Kemm RAF KIA Durnbach War Cemetery grave 11. J. 27.;F/Lt Guy Leslie Mott RAF pilot KIA Durnbach War Cemetery grave 11. J. 28.
POWs:Flying Officer William Blades RAF POW Stalag Luft L3 Sagan and Belaria.;F/Lt Carl Clifford Bggild RCAF J/22440 POW Stalag Luft L3 Sagan and Belaria.;Sergeant Theodore Buchak RCAF R/178563 POW Stalag 4B Muhlberg (Elbe).;Sergeant Lewis Richard Alberte George Carpenter RAF POW Stalag Luft L3 Sagan and Belaria.
Avro Lancaster
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum
The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling, all three aircraft being four-engined heavy bombers adopted by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the same wartime era.
The Lancaster has its origins in the twin-engine Avro Manchester which had been developed during the late 1930s in response to the Air Ministry Specification P.13/36 for a capable medium bomber for "world-wide use". Originally developed as an evolution of the Manchester (which had proved troublesome in service and was retired in 1942), the Lancaster was designed by Roy Chadwick and powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlins and in one version, Bristol Hercules engines. It first saw service with RAF Bomber Command in 1942 and as the strategic bombing offensive over Europe gathered momentum, it was the main aircraft for the night-time bombing campaigns that followed. As increasing numbers of the type were produced, it became the principal heavy bomber used by the RAF, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and squadrons from other Commonwealth and European countries serving within the RAF, overshadowing the Halifax and Stirling. Wikipedia
Lancaster Bomber
Wikipedia
Harold A Skaarup Web Page115 (B) Sqn Despite The Elements ()
No. 115 Sqn was originally formed on Dec 1, 1917 as a heavy bomber squadron and joined the Independent Air Force of the RAF in August 1918. It was disbanded in 1919, then re-formed in June 1937. It formed part of RAF Bomber Command No. 3 Group in WWII. Starting with Handley Page Harrow aircraft, it transferred to Vickers Wellingtons in 1939, which it flew until March 1943, when it transferred to Avro Lancaster B. Mk. II and later B. Mks I and III. Between April 1940 and September 1942 the squadron was seconded to Coastal Command and based at Kinloss, Scotland. It rejoined Bomber Command and flew from Mildenhall, East Wretham and Little Snoring in 1942 and 1943 before settling at Witchford, Cambridgeshire from November 1943 until the end of hostilities.
In April 1940 the squadron made the RAF's first bombing attack on the mainland of Europe, at Stavanger in Norway. In August of 1941 it participated in the service trials of the new navigational aid, GEE, and as a result of its report the device was put into mass production. Overall, in WWII the squadron flew 5392 sorties and dropped about 23,000 tons of bombs. This was the second-highest tonnage of bombs in Bomber Command. The squadron was 3rd in the number of raids in the course of the war. Since it was active over the whole span of WWI, it lost the greatest number of aircraft of any squadron in Bomber Command: it was the only squadron to lose more than 200 aircraft.
Lancaster DS659 Mk.II - Bombing - 1943-08-28 to 1943-08-28
6 Group Unavailable
674 aircraft - 349 Lancasters, 221 Halifaxes, 104 Stirlings. 33 aircraft - I I of each type on the raid - lost, 4·9 per cent of the force.
The marking for this raid was based mainly on H2S. 47 of the Pathfinder H2S aircraft were ordered to check their equipment by dropping a 1,000-lb bomb on Heilbronn while flying to Nuremberg. 28 Pathfinder aircraft were able to carry out this order. Heilbronn reports that several bombs did drop in the north of the town soon after midnight. The local officials assumed that the bombs were aimed at the industrial zone; several bombs did fall around the factory area and other bombs fell further away. No industrial buildings were hit; one house was destroyed but there were no casualties.
Nuremberg was found to be free of cloud but it was very dark. The initial Pathfinder markers were accurate but a creepback quickly developed which could not be stopped because so many Pathfinder aircraft had difficulties with their H2S sets. The Master Bomber (whose name is not recorded) could do little to persuade the Main Force to move their bombing forward; only a quarter of the crews could hear his broadcasts. Bomber Command estimated that most of the bombing fell in open country south-south-west of the city but the local reports say that bombs were scattered across the south-eastern and eastern suburbs. The only location mentioned by name is the Zoo, which was hit by several bombs. 65 people were killed.
source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
Took off from Little Snoring at 21:43 in Lancaster Mk II (Sqn code: KO-T Bomber Command) on an operation to Nuremberg Germany.
Shot down by a night fighter and crashed near the target area
KIlled:Sergeant Jack Kemm RAF KIA Durnbach War Cemetery grave 11. J. 27.;F/Lt Guy Leslie Mott RAF pilot KIA Durnbach War Cemetery grave 11. J. 28.
POWs:Flying Officer William Blades RAF POW Stalag Luft L3 Sagan and Belaria.;F/Lt Carl Clifford Bggild RCAF J/22440 POW Stalag Luft L3 Sagan and Belaria.;Sergeant Theodore Buchak RCAF R/178563 POW Stalag 4B Muhlberg (Elbe).;Sergeant Lewis Richard Alberte George Carpenter RAF POW Stalag Luft L3 Sagan and Belaria.