RAF 'Heavies' Lost Over Normandy [KO-T]

Hi All,

This thread has been opened to facilitate research into the loss of Lancaster III LM533/'KO-T' on the night of June 6th/7th 1944 during a raid on the railway junction and marshaling yard at Lisieux, France.

'KO-T', part of 115 Squadron, 3 Group RAF, was on its second mission in twenty four hours having returned from a raid on a coastal battery at Ouisterham during the night of 5th/6th June as part of the huge 'maximum effort' on enemy batteries prior to the landings on D-Day morning.

The aircraft's pilot on both raids was Flying Officer J.M. Wesley, a well respected member of the Squadron, which was based at RAF Witchford in Cambridgeshire. The other crew members were:

• Flt Sgt P.J. Edmonds
• Sgt B.J. Lee
• Sgt R.E. Dodson
• SgtC.I.D. Campbell
• Sgt R. Langan
• Sgt F.J. Franklin

All seven of the crew were presumed killed when 'KO-T' was "lost without trace" during the raid and are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

What exactly "lost without trace" means, I am currently trying to establish. Did the aircraft make it to Lisieux? Was it lost on the return leg of the flight? It is known that there was little or no flak over the target and night fighters were not encountered by other aircraft on the raid.

I am also trying to track down the crew positions in the aircraft for the six men listed above.

The screenshot below shows reconnaissance photo NCAP_ACIU_US7GR_1761_0741 flown on the 6th of June, probably just hours before the raid:

Image Credit: RCAHMS/www.aerial.rcahms.gov.uk​

The sidings in the marshalling yard are full to overflowing with rolling stock and there appears to be two trains forming up ready to depart on the sidings next to the main lines.

The linkage ties to the present Google Earth extract below are shown thereon:

​

Note the now removed turntable location and the scrub growing in the disused marshalling yard. I have also marked the north and south exits of a tunnel on the single track northern line in red circles. Doubtless this tunnel saved many lives during the raid.

The following day, 7th June another sortie is flown over the town and one of the frames from this mission, NCAP_ACIU_106G_0741_4019 is located on the NCAP site here. Those of you with NCAP accounts can zoom the photograph which unfortunately is the closest frame to the railway yard which they have digitised. Below is an extract:

Image Credit: RCAHMS/www.aerial.rcahms.gov.uk​

Note one hit on the northern line circled in yellow and the northern tunnel exit is again circled in red. The fires burning in the town from the raid are clearly seen but of course the bomb craters may be from an earlier raid. I note with interest that the building I take to be a church is completely missing on Google Earth...I have a feeling that the raid by No. 115 Squadron on the night of 6th/7th June was just the beginning for the French people living in the town. There is a figure of 800 townspeople killed in total from bombing raids during the war on this French page.

I found a reference to Flying Officer J.M. Wesley in his King Edward VII School Magazine dated July 1945 which reads:

If anyone can add to any aspect of this story, please do.

Regards,

Pat

 

Hi All,

Thanks to Allan, we now have the crew positions from the extract of the Squadron's Operations Record Book (ORB):

​

I'll fill in the index table tomorrow as it's 01:35am!

Regards,

Pat

 

Thanks Sean,

From another Google search this morning, I see from the December 1945 issue of the school magazine that Flying Officer J.M. Wesley attended King Edward VII School from 1935 to 1939.

He must have been in his early twenties when killed in 1944. Glad a monument specific to Bomber Command is now finally in place.

Regards,

Pat

 

Thanks Allan,

I see from this page on the B24.net site that the town of Lisieux was hit again within hours of 115 Squadron's raid during daylight by B24s of the USAAF 577th Squadron/392nd Bomb Group.

Regards,

Pat

 

Very likely Allan

Regards,

Pat