St Peters church Llanbedr (RAF Fortress crew)

[ianbache]

Pictures i took today 15/05/10




The script was taken from The Cambrian News
The origin of the scheme came about in march 1945 when an RAF flighing fortress was believed to of caught fire on a bombing raid over germany.
The pilot was flight lieutenant John Wynne, from Llanbedr who ordered the crew to bail out while he iventually managed to bring the burning plane down.
John Wynne survived, but the crew mwmbers were captured on the ground.
they were not to knowthat three weeks earlier that town they landed in had been distroyed by the RAF in a fire storm which in twenty minutes killed 18,000 people, a quarter of the population.
as the RAF prisoners were marched through the suberb of Huchenfeld they were stoned that evening in revenge for the attack on Pforzheim, a group of Hitler youth teenagers, under orders from the district commendant an egged on by a mob, overpowered the guards and dragged the prisoners to a cemetery. One airman Tom Tate, managed to escape, but his five fellow airmen had been murdered. It was nearly fifty years before Flight Lieutenant John Wynne was traced and found out the fate of the other airmen.
Llanbedr as now been twinned with Huchenfeld in a reconsiliation and friendship between the people of Huchenfeld 65 years after the massacre.

[ianbache]

Hi Denis
Its actually three this week, a memorial of a RAF B 17 crew was unveiled at St Peters church Llanbedr, the pilot FLT J Wynne from Llanbedr and airman Tom Tate survived, the rest of the crew were murdered by the Hitler Youth

[ianbache]

Pictures i took today 15/05/10




The script was taken from The Cambrian News
The origin of the scheme came about in march 1945 when an RAF flighing fortress was believed to of caught fire on a bombing raid over germany.
The pilot was flight lieutenant John Wynne, from Llanbedr who ordered the crew to bail out while he iventually managed to bring the burning plane down.
John Wynne survived, but the crew mwmbers were captured on the ground.
they were not to knowthat three weeks earlier that town they landed in had been distroyed by the RAF in a fire storm which in twenty minutes killed 18,000 people, a quarter of the population.
as the RAF prisoners were marched through the suberb of Huchenfeld they were stoned that evening in revenge for the attack on Pforzheim, a group of Hitler youth teenagers, under orders from the district commendant an egged on by a mob, overpowered the guards and dragged the prisoners to a cemetery. One airman Tom Tate, managed to escape, but his five fellow airmen had been murdered. It was nearly fifty years before Flight Lieutenant John Wynne was traced and found out the fate of the other airmen.
Llanbedr as now been twinned with Huchenfeld in a reconsiliation and friendship between the people of Huchenfeld 65 years after the massacre.

I forgot to put this in, there was a party of school children over from Huchenfeld last week on a exchange party at the church, and there will be a party from Llanbedr going over to Germany in the near future , to show the friendship between both towns (village)

[REF]

Thats a nice memorial Ian - thanks for letting us know about it. Intersting story to go with it too.

[cbrjock]

Just a quick query, are they sure it was a B17? Didn't realise the RAF used them that late in the war! If so what happened to the other 3 crewmen? Forts were 10 man planes, Lancs, Halibags and Stirlings were 7.

Pete

[ianbache]

Just a quick query, are they sure it was a B17? Didn't realise the RAF used them that late in the war! If so what happened to the other 3 crewmen? Forts were 10 man planes, Lancs, Halibags and Stirlings were 7.

Pete

HI Pete
There were 3 other survivers but tht Cambrian news didnt mention them they were, FS Norman Bradley Flt/Ft Dudley heal and Flt/Lt G Pow


The graves at Huchenfield Germany. Flt/Lt Sidney C Matthews DFC. Fg/Off James Vinall, Fg/Off Harold Frost, Fg/ Off Gordon Hall, FS Edward Percival

The French soldiers who had been the first of General Patten's army to enter the area had Inscribed each cross with simple but telling words: 'British airman, assassinated by the SA, 17/18 March 1945.'

FS Norman Bradley, Flg/Off Tom Tate, Flt/Lt Dudley Heal, Flt/Lt G Pow and Flt/Lt John Wynne survived.


Crew of Flying Fortress Mark II HB779 BU-K consisted of :

FS Norman J Bradley DFM, Waist Gunner, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Nationality : United Kingdom, POW 15 March 1945
Fg/Off Harold 'Jack' Frost DFM MiD, Non Com 1475544 Com 169864, Top Turret Gunner, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Nationality : United Kingdom, KIA 17 March 1945, Aged 24, POW 15 March 1945
Fg/Off Gordon Albert Hall MiD, Non Com 1258412 Com 149916, Wireless Operator, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Nationality : United Kingdom, KIA 17 March 1945, Aged 22, POW 15 March 1945
Flt/Lt Dudley Percy Heal DFM, Navigator, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Nationality : United Kingdom, POW 15 March 1945
Flt/Lt Sidney Clayden Matthews DFC MiD, Non Com 1375209 Com 142217, Rear Gunner, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Nationality : United Kingdom, KIA 17 March 1945, Aged 25, POW 15 March 1945
FS Edward Arthur Percival DFM MiD, 1263001, Waist Gunner, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Nationality : United Kingdom, KIA 17 March 1945, Aged 30, POW 15 March 1945
Flt/Lt G P 'Tubby' Pow DFC, Bomb Aimer, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Nationality : United Kingdom, POW 15 March 1945
Fg/Off Tom H Tate, Special Wireless Operator, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Nationality : United Kingdom, POW 15 March 1945
Fg/Off James William Vinall DFM MiD(twice), Non Com 747157 Com 169518, Flight Engineer, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Nationality : United Kingdom, KIA 18 March 1945, Aged 40, POW 15 March 1945
Wg/Cdr John Wynne DFC, Pilot, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Nationality : United Kingdom
Taken from
http://www.214squadron.org.uk/Crews_...Fortress_m.htm

[cbrjock]

Thanks for that Ian, one of the (many) things I like about this forum, learn something new every day.

Pete

[canberra]

As it was an RAF B17 my guess is that it was from 100 group ie one of the jammers/spoofers.

[Dave Smith]

Yes, it was part of 100 Group on radar/radio jamming. No 214 Sqn lost no less than eight B-17s between 8 Feb and 22 March 45.

[airfields man]

Just a quick query, are they sure it was a B17? Didn't realise the RAF used them that late in the war! If so what happened to the other 3 crewmen? Forts were 10 man planes, Lancs, Halibags and Stirlings were 7.

Pete

A good question Pete. Like you I didn't know that the RAF were still using B17s that late in the war. Regards the amount of crew on board for individual aircraft by August 1944 the Eighth Air Force were only using nine crew on their B17s. One of the waist gunners was removed as unnecessary.