大象传媒

These are the six other members of the crew who perished with Jim 1n 1944;

Pilot Officer JONES Thomas George 174018 Pilot

Flying Officer JONES Philip Chambers 151767 Air Bomber

Sergeant GILL Albert James 1462241 Wireless Operator/Air Gunner

Flight Sergeant TYLER Frank Thomas 1812660 Air Gunner

Sergeant BENJAMIN Thomas Evan Edward 1255181 Air Gunner

Flying Officer HORTON George Aubrey James 142461 Navigator

They were the crew of Lancaster ED 473 which took off from RAF Mildenhall at 00.18 hrs on 8th May 1944 on Operation Nantes, to bomb airfields in France as part of the air campaign to reduce the effectiveness of German military installations and communications prior to D-Day. 73 Lancasters attacked Bougenais in Brittany, where there is still an airport today. Only ED473 failed to return. While over the target area it was hit by anti-aircraft fire and exploded on impact with the ground. After the crash the Germans removed the bodies of six of the crew and buried them together in six graves marked 鈥淯nbekannter Englisch Flieger鈥� - Unknown English Airman. Flying Officer Horton鈥檚 body was flung 200 yards away from the crash and lay undiscovered for three months.

Bomber Command鈥檚 operational loss record for this sortie records that a main navigational point for the crew on their way to Nantes from Mildenhall was Start Point in Devon. Hopefully this brought some happy memories of home to Jim in his last few hours.

LINKS
A2539956
A2540017
A2540044
A2540062
A2544266
A2575019
A2575091

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