Photos & images from WWII

SOME OLD PHOTOS FROM CHRIS & NITA BEST OF THE DEVESTATION WROUGHT ON GERMANY

These are 'Cooks Tour' or 'Baedeker' Ops photos (two different names for the same thing). You can tell from the oblique camera angles that they were not 'Revue' photos (which were vertically taken, in pairs and overlapping), and from the daylight time that they were not Bombing Photo flare photos. The camera was probably the ubiquitous K24 which was used as the post bomb-drop camera on Ops.

In case I haven't explained, the 'Revue' photos were taken with a downward pointing stereoscopic camera and were to map both the UK and any possible aggressor nation. The photos still exist in various archives - the Scottish ones are great!

The Baedeker Ops were not so successful, with many crews and ground crews being traumatised by the damage they had inflicted or supported. They caused quite a few mental problems and did not prove a success. A good report is here -

https://raf-pathfinders.com/2019/01/29/cooks-tours/

Thanks to Alan Fraser 149 (East India) Squadron historian for this information.

Photos - IWM copyright, from Nita Best).

Click on an image to enlarge it.

AN OLD LIST OF MEMBERS TURNS UP!!

Our 622 Sqn Historian, Howard Sandall recently discovered what he thinks is a membership list from around 1982. They all seem to be XV & 622 Squadron men. Have a browse and see how many names you recognize.

Click on an image to enlarge it.

PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN CREWS - SOME NOW IDENTIFIED

If you can identify any of the others (click on the photo to enlarge it), please let us know.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Picture 1:

I am indebted to Paul Dunn for identifying the crew photo. His father was F/Sgt Daniel Francis Dunn the mid upper gunner in the crew. The crew commenced operations in December 1944 and quickly established themselves as a proficient crew. As 1945 commenced, the squadrons of 3 Group Bomber Command, carried out a greater number of daylight missions utilising the navigational aid G-H. This navigational aid presenting the navigator with a topographical image of the ground assisting with identifying the target below.

Perhaps the most memorable mission for the crew, apart from the infamous mission to Dresden on 13/14th February, was on 28th January 1945 to Cologne. Whilst over the target their aircraft was hit by flak on the fuselage near the mid upper turret area and also the wing area. Considerable damage was done to the aircraft and one engine had to be feathered. F/O Darville skilfully piloted the bomber back to Mildenhall and the award of the DFC.   Howard Sandall 622 Squadron Historian

Picture 2:

After a long period of time the photograph of the crew next to ‘Take It Easy’ has been identified by Gunther Wagner. Gunther was very informative and let me have some additional information which has enabled me to include the following details about the crew: L-R: Sgt R. W. Reid (F/E), 2nd Lt G. Dietrichson (Norwegian Air Force-Nav), F/O B.F. Scott RNZAF (B/A), F/S J.E. Hulland (MUG), F/Lt V.S. Robbins (Pilot), F/O H.A. Smith (W/op), F/S E. Parker (R/G).

F/Lt Victor Stanley Robbins & Crew KIA 20th April 1945 target: Regensburg

On 20th April F/Lt Robbins and crew took off on their 21st mission in daylight to bomb a fuel storage depot at Regensburg. Shortly after dropping their bombs the crew’s Lancaster was hit by flak forcing the crew to bail out. Only F/Lt Robbins and the rear gunner, Sgt E. Parker was able to get out in time. Unfortunately F/Lt Robbins parachuted into high tension cables and was killed. Sgt Parker was badly injured on landing and spent the rest of the war in a German hospital until liberation. Five members of the crew are buried in Durnbach War Cemetery.  

2nd Lieutenant Gustav Dietrichson was the son of a well-known Norwegian Naval Air Force pilot (Lief Dietrichson). In 1928 he was one of Roald Amundsen’s crew members on the French flying boat ‘Latham’, searching for the Italian explorer Umberto Nobile in the Arctic Ocean. ‘Latham’ disappeared en route to Spitsbergen, and was never heard of again.

THE FOLLOWING LINK TAKES YOU TO PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE LATE MRS MILDRED SEAGER (NEE WEBB) WHO SERVED IN THE WAAF DURING WW2:

218 (GOLD COAST) SQUADRON PHOTOS

Photos courtesy of Steve Smith.

Click on a photo for more detail.

214 SQUADRON PHOTOS OF WARRANT OFFICER WALTER McGILL

Photos courtesy of Russell Ives.

Can you please tell me anything about my step-father Warrant Officer Walter McGill, Air Gunner. He flew two tours, 214 on Stirlings and 622 on Lancs. I don't know who he flew with but I do know that on VE Day he was on leave with his crew in London.

Click on a photo for more detail.